Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles and if you don't have one, there's one right in front of you in the pew there. We're going to turn to a very familiar part of the Bible. Just if you don't know where this is, take your Bible right in half.
[00:00:14] That's where the Psalms are. I think Psalm 118 is the halfway point, but let's go to Psalm 23. All right. Psalm 23. You know, I know I'm doing a series on Jeremiah, but I just felt so impressed as I was really praying and thinking and meditating on Scripture. I felt directed by God to share from this beautiful psalm. This is actually my favorite psalm. So I've been meditating on it for six weeks and I thought, you know, I think I need to share this with my beautiful family. That's you, my beautiful family. I need to share it with you. So I'm going to share. And you know what? I got so excited. This is only part one. So next week we're going to do part two. But you know what I found out in the first service? I got so excited, I didn't even finish part one. How's that? So we're going to do our best. Only six little verses. There's so much to unpack here. Maybe you know this psalm. It's very familiar, but hopefully you're going to hear it in a way you haven't heard it before. I think there's many reasons. You can see my title there, how to Find Peace in an Anxiety Filled World. How many think there's a lot of anxiety today? Maybe some of you are experiencing that right now. My prayer is that when you leave, you won't have anxiety, but you'll have God's peace. How many would like to change your anxiety for God's peace? Anybody want to do that? Let's make an exchange. We're going to do that today. We're going to give God our anxieties and our fears today and trust for his peace. You know, I think there's a lot of reasons for us feeling anxious in this ever changing world. There's the uncertainties that come from political leaders that, you know, obviously make decisions that affect our lives. How many know there's people above us, they decide something and it affects us. We'd have no control over that at times.
[00:01:56] Then there's times of dramatic change in our lives. Maybe we're going through a time of difficulty and it's a dramatic change and it creates high levels of anxiety. In our lives.
[00:02:09] And then we have the ordinary pressures of life. They create anxieties. You know, for some of us, it's raising a family in a world of ungodly values. And we're trying to make sure that our children, you know, develop a good godly value system.
[00:02:24] Maybe some of you are in school, you know, maybe you're in high school, or especially the middle schoolers all left. But it really applies to them, you know, they're just trying to be accepted. How many say that's true? I'm just trying to fit in, just trying to find someone that, you know, basically will accept me for who I am. And that's sometimes challenging. And then maybe for those that are in college, they're thinking about the cost of school, or maybe they're thinking about, hopefully when I finish school, I won't just have debt, I'll have a job, right? And so that creates a level of anxiety in their lives. And I think decisions are constantly before us. We're making them every single day, every stage of our lives. We're constantly making decisions that are affecting our tomorrow. You know, some are trying to secure a job, you know, that will be meaningful to them. And maybe for others, it's about relationships, you know, who to marry, or maybe I'm having difficulty in my marriage, or how to be content in a state of singleness. For those who are struggling with aging, oh, boy. I'll tell you now, as I'm aging right now and I'm looking people around me, there's a lot of challenges when you get older. I don't know who ever coined the phrase the golden years. I don't know what anything about that is, because I see a lot of people challenged in health issues, and it creates a level of anxiety in their lives. And I witnessed it. And then we're living in a time of, I think, a quick tempo. How many know life just seems to be moving at a fast pace and changes are happening all the time and all around us. And then there. Not only are these, the external pressures, but then there's the internal pressures that we have, and we put them upon ourselves, our own expectations.
[00:04:01] There's also pressures that come from within our soul, from insecurities to disappointments in our lives. And believers, I think, also have the challenges of dealing with spiritual attacks that come into our lives. And how do they impact us? And then the question is, how do I find peace in a world filled with anxious thoughts and anxieties? You know, I've seen people that get so anxious they can't even function. They're just like, they can't even hardly breathe. You know, you got to tell them just, you know, take some deep breaths right now because they're just so anxious. Psalm 23 was written expressing some powerful concepts of a deep confidence in God and in God's loving care for us. How many think that's important? You know, when you know somebody's on your side that can do something about your situation, it changes things in a hurry. And that's what we want to hear this morning. It's the psalm that I as a pastor repeatedly go to define, to reflect upon, to help me in my own life to the pressures that I feel as a pastor. How many know sometimes when you're in a leadership role, you're probably juggling a few balls, you know, and I find that I'm juggling a lot of balls, but I'm not filled with anxiety. You know, I have a piece in this, which is a God given thing, because, you know, if you'd have given me all of these balls years ago, I'd have been overwhelmed. I would not have been ready for the things that God's allowed to come my way. But I rejoice because God is helping me through this. And, you know, when I feel moments of intense anxiety, then I have to stop and reflect. And this is the psalm I turn to, Psalm 23. When I'm under temptation, I'm under pressure. I just immediately my mind goes to the psalm. And I want to show you that reading a scripture, even memorizing a scripture, or even studying a scripture is a lot different than meditating on a scripture. And so I want to show you a little bit about meditation today. How do you meditate on the word of God? We're going to look at this at a slower pace. That's why it's taking me so long to unpack this six verses here in the psalm. We're invited into a metaphor, and it's very rich in meaning. In the inscription in the front of your Bible there underneath Psalm 23, it says, a psalm of David. In other words, David's the author. And David, if we know anything about his story, he was a shepherd boy who took care of his father's sheep. And then one day he fought a giant and eventually got God anointed him to become a king. And David became the king of Israel. And David understood from scripture that the kings or leaders were called shepherds in the Bible. And so he not only was a shepherd over sheep, but one day God made him shepherd over people. Beautiful. And how to care for those people as a leader. Now it becomes apparent that David is walking through a difficult season in his life, and he's affirming something very strongly. David is making what I call a strong affirmation. He's saying, the Lord is my shepherd. Now, how many know if David's saying that, it probably has more significance to a person who's been a shepherd because he understands the ins and out of taking care of these sheep. He knows what the job of the shepherd is, and he knows how the shepherd is going to provide for the sheep. How. How the shepherd is going to care for the sheep and protect the sheep and lead the sheep and help the sheep. And he understands all of that. And David is saying, you know, he's probably seen some bad shepherds and he knows what a good shepherd is like. And now he says, lord, you're my shepherd. Wow, isn't that beautiful? And he goes, I can take about three deep breaths now because I know some of the things that I'm experiencing. You're going to take care of me just like a shepherd takes care of his sheep in the midst of danger. Okay? And David knew about this because he had fought off a bear and a lion. So he knew what a shepherd was willing to do, and he knew that God as a shepherd, would be willing to take care of him. So we're going to focus today on the first of two pictures painted for us of God's amazing care. So I'm only giving you point one today. Isn't that amazing? And it's the shepherding concept, and I'll give you a different concept here next week. So, in their book, the Psalms as Christian Worship A Historical Commentary, Bruce Walke and James Houston say the conditions of shepherding in ancient Israel differ from most modern practices because sheep were not fenced in and left to fend for themselves as they are today. Instead, they are totally dependent on shepherds for protection, grazing, watering, sheltering, and tending to injuries. In fact, sheep would not survive long without a shepherd. So when you go to the Middle east, and I've been there, and by the way, for some of you, I'm just going to let you know we're actually planning a trip back to Israel here in 2026. I'll just throw that out there and I'll give you more details later. But when you go to Israel, you can actually see shepherds, still Bedouin shepherds, and they got sheep out there, and you can see them leading their sheep. And it's a beautiful Picture. And David is going to really unpack this for us. How many know it's really rare for strangers to give something to us, you know what I mean? Freely to bless us? We would say that's unusual. How many say that's probably true. That's just not normal. But it does happen. But it's not the norm. But how many know that when we're in a loving home, we can anticipate as a child that our parents will take care of us? Isn't that true? Now, if you've been in a loving home, you don't even worry about it. If you've been in a loving home as a child, you don't even think about a lot of the things that your parents are addressing. Isn't that true? And some of you said, I wish I would have stayed a kid. I would have had a lot less anxiety and frustration and worries in life, right, because my parents were handling all those things. I was just the beneficiaries of their goodness to me and their kindness. Now, I know some of you may not have had a good home, but generally speaking, that's the case.
[00:10:31] Let's take a look at the Psalm. Psalm 23, verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Psalm 23 is actually, as I said, a metaphor describing the blessings of being a child of God. And it's the analogy of a shepherd and sheep. And it's used to paint a picture in our minds of the beauty of our relationship with God.
[00:10:52] Now, we don't always have the same appreciation that the people had in the first century or people in that time. That's actually a thousand years before the first century in David's time. But think about it. Unless you've been, you know, around sheep and involved in this, you, you and I can't seem to relate to this picture as well as the people did at that moment. Everybody kind of agree with that. That's the way it works. They had more of a knowledge of it and more of an understanding. They were acquainted with shepherds and flocks and what the psalmist is trying to convey. And I've already said David spent a lot of time reflecting on his relationship between himself and the sheep, and also he tied it into his relationship between himself and God. First we see this concept expressed of divine ownership. It's the Lord who's our shepherd. I think when we fail to recognize or appreciate that we are dependent entities, this is our biggest problem. You know, the number one sin is self reliance. We don't think of it that way. But it is a major problem and I'll tell you why. When you and I are relying on ourselves, we're not relying on God. How is it? It's just that simple. And it's problematic because what happens is when we get into these challenging situations that get beyond us now, all of a sudden, anxiety starts going to a higher level in our lives. We feel the pressure. It feels like it's all dependent on us and we're just starting to stress out. That's why I think we need to come back to the psalm and take a look who is going to take care of these problems. And it's obviously beyond my pay grade. And I think that's true of all of our lives. It doesn't matter how bright you are, how much resources you have, you and I cannot control tomorrow. You and I cannot control the decisions people are making that are going to affect our lives. We can't control that. You cannot control if a nation decides to go to war and you're part of that nation, you're stuck, you're in war now. That's what I'm trying to talk about. There's things that you and I have no control over. But you and I can come back to this beautiful psalm and recognize that God is the one who has control over all of these things, you know, so when we fail to recognize that we don't appreciate the gracious care of our Heavenly Father, we tend to struggle more intently with our limited resources and we try to make things happen. And the only thing that occurs is an anxious, stress filled life. How many go? I want to be delivered from anxiety. I don't want to live in anxiety. I want to live in peace. And I think there's a peace that God wants to give to us. And the apostle Paul talks about that, that in life, yeah, there'll be moments where we might experience a bit of anxiety. But he says, don't be anxious for anything. But in prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known. And the peace of God that passes human understanding will guard your heart and mind. How many would like to have you want to exchange today your anxiety for God's peace? Anybody signing up for that? Okay, a few of us. We're going to make that exchange. At the end of the service, we're going to say, okay, God, here's my anxieties. Thank you very much, I'll take your peace. We're going to make it a swap. You know, I know that you're getting the worst part of the Deal. But I just can't handle it anymore. I'll take what you have to offer. We're going to receive your divine peace. And you know what? It's one thing to hear a bunch of words. It's another thing to experience God's peace flooding our hearts. And I believe that can happen today. Now we have to come to grips with the idea that we do belong to God. We are not our own. Paul writes this in his letter to First Corinthians. He says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you? The Holy Spirit's in you. If you're a believer whom you've received from God, you are not your own. I don't know if you understand life. This is another thing. A lot of our anxiety is because we think we're owners rather than stewards or managers. I always tell people, this is the way you need to live life. Just no longer see yourself as being an owner. Just see yourself as being a manager. And all of the headaches belong to the owner.
[00:15:07] And the owner is God. And so you have to point out to God, I'm just trying to steward what you've given me. And I think he makes us steward not only our homes, our families, but also our own human bodies. We're saying, hey, God, I'm just going to try to manage my body, do the best I can to take care of it. But really, every problem I have is your problem. How many go, you kind of like this? This is really not. It's your responsibility to help me out here, God. It's a whole different way of looking at life. And I think that's the biblical way of looking at life. And he goes on to say, you were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body. So what is God saying? He's saying, I want wholeheartedness from you. I want you to give yourself fully to God. You know, it really struck me the other day, and I was thinking about it. What is the first love? You know, because there was a church that God got upset about. He said, you know, you guys are doing a lot of good things, but you've missed out because you've left your first love. And what he's saying is, the first love is actually your love for God, that it becomes preeminent. And I'll say it to you this way, if you love God above everything and everyone else, you will love everyone else better.
[00:16:17] See, if you love God first, you'll love your spouse better. If you love God first, you'll love your kids better if you love God first, you'll love other people better.
[00:16:27] See, if you love God first, you'll love life better. That's the way it works. But whenever we put something other than God in the first spot and we bump God out, we make that an idol. And therefore, our life gets out of balance. And immediately we expect too much from the person we're putting or the thing we're putting in that spot. And what we end up doing, as Jonah tells us in his book, we end up forfeiting God's grace in our lives. We don't want to do that. We want God's goodness and peace and blessing and provision and protection in our lives. That's why we want God first. But if we have God first, everything else seems to be at a new level in our lives now.
[00:17:10] We need to know that we're not out here just doing our own thing. We are a special people with a divine destiny. You know, a lot of times we look at our lives and we say to ourselves, you know, I'm not that significant, or maybe I'm not that special. And I want to destroy that myth right now. I want you to know something. Everyone in this room is special.
[00:17:32] You are all special. You say, how is that, Pastor? When God designed you, he threw away the mold. He didn't, you know, he's not, you know, what do you call it? Manufacturing a bunch of duplicates. You know what I mean? You're not on a manufacturing belt. You're just pumping out 80 derricks. That's not what he's doing, Derek. He just made you and that's it. He threw away the mold that makes the derrick. You know, so you have a special purpose for God. And that's true of every single person in this room. How many think that's an amazing thought? See, if you began to see yourself the way God sees you and realize, you know, God has a purpose for me. He made me for a purpose. And as I start walking with him, that purpose is going to begin to unfold, and I'm going to begin to be able to accept myself better and begin to understand God's destiny for my life. Now, notice David describes the Lord here as my shepherd. I think that's important. My shepherd. A shepherd was the one who met the needs of his flock. Sheep are the most defenseless and generally gentle creatures, but they do, once in a while, bite each other. I did tell someone I'd say that for their sake.
[00:18:47] No, I said that in the first service, too. They are absolutely dependent upon the gracious care of their sheep. And David knew that the welfare of the sheep was entirely dependent upon the nature and the abilities of the shepherd. I'm sure David looked around. There was probably some people there were not doing a good shepherding job. But if you have a good shepherd, you're going, thank goodness. You know what Jesus says in the New Testament? He says, I'm the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. Going to find out what all that means. And David was delighted with the idea that God was his shepherd. I don't think there's any greater place to be than in God's fold. In other words, that you're part of God's flock, that you're experiencing God as your shepherd, that he's personally taking care of you.
[00:19:39] But the Lord isn't just the shepherd.
[00:19:43] He says he's my shepherd. How many see that? That's personalizing it. Does everybody understand that you can talk about God, you can study about God, you can learn the attributes of God, but you never know God personally. No, no. David said, no, I know him. He's my shepherd. This is the important thing, that we can actually appeal to him and say, lord, thankful you're my shepherd. You're the one that's looking out after me.
[00:20:12] So I think it's tragic. There are people who do not know the great shepherd. There are people who've never experienced this personal relationship with God. And they live with that and never have that confidence that God is watching out over them. That, to me, is sad. It's tragic. I would to God that every person living on the planet right now would know God as their personal shepherd. Not that we're making everybody the same as us. No, we're not. We're all individuals, but we're all under his flock. And we all have him as the shepherd who is taking care of us, not just collectively, but he's taking care of each one of us individually because he made us all unique to do different things. And how encouraging is that?
[00:20:58] So, so when we fully embrace this personalized relationship with God, we have the same confidence. Like David says, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not lack or another translation, I shall not want. In other words, I'm content.
[00:21:16] There's nothing I need. If I need it, I have it. That's how my mind works. If I really need this, I'll get it. If I don't need it, I don't need it. Why would I want it? I don't need it. If it's not here now why would. Whenever I need it, it'll be there. Because he's my shepherd. He knows what's the best for me. You know, a lot of times we want things that's not the best for us. How many know that's true? Isn't that right? And when we get him, we go, oh, okay. And sometimes we want things that's actually harmful for us. Could you see this crazy sheep going and eating some stupid plant over there? That would be detrimental to his health. Good thing the shepherd's got his eye on him. But you know, sometimes sheep do wander off and do dumb things and they can actually get in trouble and the shepherd is out there looking for them while they're getting into trouble. And I think that happens as well to us as human beings. But here's the part I want to get at.
[00:22:09] I want you to think about David for a minute. He's actually in the Hebrew language. And I was really struck with this because Dr. Wahlke brought this out. He said, in the Hebrew language, this is the personal name of God, the Lord Adonai.
[00:22:24] But Bruce Walke says it this way. Remember when Moses saw this bush and it was on fire, but it wasn't being destroyed. He was curious. He went over there and then all of a sudden the bush talked to him. And God was in the bush. And God says, moses, he says, here I am. And he says, who are you? And eventually they had this whole conversation and God called Moses to go be a shepherd and lead his people out of Egypt. And Moses says, well, who are you? What's your name? And God spoke to Moses. He says, I am that I am. Anybody know that? Anybody seen the ten Commandments? You know, maybe you haven't, but anyways. But in the Bible it says, I am that I am. In other words, God says, I'm self existent. I've always been, I've always existed.
[00:23:13] I wasn't created. I am the creator. I. I created the universe. Now I want you to think about what David is really telling us here. He's saying that the God who created the universe, the God who spoke to Moses, the God who led Israel out of slavery, the God that did all those miracles, the God who came to earth as a baby, the God who did all the miracles in the New Testament, the God who was raised from the dead and now is going to come back again, that's our shepherd.
[00:23:49] Is that beautiful?
[00:23:51] That's my shepherd. That's your shepherd. If you're a believer, I want you to say this. The Lord is my shepherd. Say that the Lord is my shepherd.
[00:24:05] Isn't that encouraging? The God who did all of this, your shepherd? You know, here we are, panicking, fretting, worrying.
[00:24:16] Who's your shepherd? Are you your shepherd, or is the Lord your shepherd? You see, I think sometimes we usurp God's place and think we're the shepherd of our own soul. And then we're really anxious, we're frustrated, we're upset, we're uptight. Hey, listen, is the Lord your shepherd? Then you got to trust him. David says, I got complete confidence. I'm in the middle of a major pickle. There's people trying to kill me. Look at David's life. He was always in trouble. He had Saul trying to kill him for 13 years. He becomes a king. Then his son tries to kill him and revolts against him. How many go, david had a difficult life. Did David make mistakes? Of course he did. We'll talk about that. Because in this room, there's moments that you didn't deserve what you're getting. And there's moments that you do deserve what you're getting. How many say that's true? Come on now, let's be honest. There's moments that you don't deserve what you're getting. And there's other moments you're going, I deserve a lot worse than I'm getting.
[00:25:11] I'm getting mercy right now rather than what I really deserve. I'm getting God's grace.
[00:25:18] In the Lord we find rest for our troubled souls. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. You know, I say, it's sad to think that someone here today, even here, listening to me, even on the online here, may still be outside the detailed and total care of the good shepherd. And my prayer and concern for you is that you'll come to know him because he loves you. How do you know he loves me, Pastor? Because he died for you. He died for me? I didn't deserve to be forgiven? You don't deserve to be forgiven. God wants to forgive. God wants to restore. We're going to hear that in a moment. Philip Keller, in his insightful book on the Psalms, he tells of a neighbor because he was shepherding sheep, and his neighbor was shepherding sheep. And he looked over at these poor sheep and he said he showed no concern for sheep. They were drinking water from dirty mud puddles, picking up parasites and other various diseases. Their wool was shabby. It was sad to see him on the opposite side of the fence. Grazing on brown, dried out grass.
[00:26:19] Meanwhile, Calder's taking care of his sheep. They're flourishing. I think it's so tragic not to see sheep, but people who are neglected and abused. Many people are living lives of quiet desperation and spiritual destitution. People struggling with life. Many are struggling with the sense that nobody really seems to care. And who can really provide for their essential needs for our well being, namely being loved without strings. How many here, you know, are one of the greatest needs we have is to be loved unconditionally. Isn't that beautiful? I want to say something to all of us. God loves you unconditionally. He loves you even when you're messing up. I want you to think about, I'm a parent, you know, you don't stop loving your child when they do the wrong thing. How many parents say, yes, I understand that I may not be happy with their behavior, but I still love that child. And I can say this, that, you know, there are a lot of people on the planet that God says, I'm not happy with that behavior, but I still, still love you. I still love you and I want to forgive you and I want you to move forward. Actually, I do forgive you. You just need to receive it and then you need to forgive yourself and move forward. That's what God is inviting us to. You know, who can really give us a sense of significance and value in our world? Only God can provide for those critical essential needs in our lives. And what a joy to see people who have been living in spiritual ignorance and darkness come the great shepherd of their souls and experience this wonderful life found only in Christ.
[00:27:53] So, you know, many times you work with people. I've had the privilege of being a pastor for over four decades and I've had all kinds of experiences. How many think that? I probably had quite a few experiences with people.
[00:28:04] Just a few. Okay, so I'm going to tell you a couple stories. So, you know, I worked with this one person. They were going to commit suicide. They had done some terrible things. The police had found out. I get this phone call, they're going to commit suicide. Suicide. Anyways. I get involved in their lives and we're working with this person. Then they prayed a prayer to give their life to Christ and they ended up going to jail, rightfully so, because what they did was wrong.
[00:28:27] Excuse me. But when they got out of jail, they forgot all about God. It was called a jailhouse. You call those jailhouse conversions. Right. You know, and so you get a little skeptical. And I'm not Saying everybody that went to jail, gave their life to Christ, did the wrong thing. As a matter of fact, I get another phone call a few years later and there's a guy and I get a phone call from the prison and they ask me, would you go visit this person? They want to have a minister come, would you come? And I said, yeah, sir, of course. So I go, but you know, how many know when you've had a bad experience, you have to overcome a bad experience? Anybody understand that? So I have to pass my little cynicism, a little bit of cynicism there and going, I hope this is not another jailhouse conversion. And we go through all of this stuff and nothing changes, right? So I get there and here's this middle aged guy and you know, he's just overwhelmed by his own sense of failure in life. I mean, he's been to jail more than one time, okay? So this is not a person that's noted for good behavior. He's been there quite a few times and he just says, I need help. I just can't keep living like this. I said, okay, let me explain to you the gospel. Do you really understand it? We said, well, I've tried to read the Bible. I didn't get anything out of it. I don't quite get it. So I sat down and I prayed and we went through the scriptures and he gave his life to Christ. And I was saying, oh, this is good. He made the first step. I hope this is, you know, because I've been before with people, they take the first step. But is this genuine? And anyways, to make a long story short, eventually I go back to visit him and when I come back the next time, I notice immediately there's a change. His countenance is brighter. I see, you know, there's joy in his life. You can see the joy in his life. It's really noticeable. And he's starting to tell me, so thankful he's in jail. Now, how many know that that's already a change? You know, most of the people that I visited in jail, they either tell me they're innocent or they just want out. This guy's telling me, I'm so happy I'm in jail. I'm going, okay, something's going on here. This is probably good that he's got this good attitude. And then he goes on and he tells me this. He said, you know what, I'm so excited. God stopped me in my tracks and got me to jail here so I could get my life turned around. And then he says, I've been eagerly reading the scriptures and for the first time I. I've been able to understand them.
[00:30:54] That tells me something. God's spirit is working inside of this guy. Where once his life was filled with hatred and anger, joy now filled his heart. He said, you know, in the past, when I'd spent time in this actual very jail, he said he would withdraw from people. He would be grunting at the guards. He was an angry person filled with anger. Now he's polite, he's appreciative of everything. And with a smile on his face, he said, and they don't know what to make of me, Pastor. I said, yeah, I'm sure. He says, the other prisoners think I'm crazy because I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I told them I've come out of darkness. They don't understand what that means, but I now do. He says, and it doesn't bother me. They make fun of me because I understand exactly where they're at because I was there. Isn't that beautiful? So what did Jesus do? He saved this man and, and now he's discovering that Jesus is his shepherd. I love it. So how many know that that's true in our lives? You know, if we have good parents, they want to give their children good things. And God is a good parent, he wants to give us good things. You know, many parents are willing to give more to their children, even at the expense of themselves. Isn't that true? Where does this magnanimity of spirit come from? I think it's an expression of the image of God in our lives. You know, I would easily do without to have my kids have more. I have no problem with that. I'm willing to share all the time. I always want to bless my kids. Where does that come from? That's not my nature. That's God's nature. Amen. God is like that.
[00:32:34] So God is truly our Father, the one who delights in meeting our needs. And once we understand the basis of God's provision for us is required relationship, then we can see what kind of provisions now he has in store for us. And he wants a very rich life for us. As a matter of fact, in his wisdom, Jesus has to make us lie down. How many know that? You know, it says, you know, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He, he, he leads. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. I don't know about you, but most of us, we're grow, we're going all the time. We're high activity. Some of Us are high activity people. And there are times in our lives that he slows us down so we have the opportunity to refocus on him and to find that our true place of rest and soul satisfaction is in our relationship with Christ.
[00:33:24] It's so true. You know, that doesn't negate the fact that we are busy at times. But here's what I'm going to say. He has to be the focus of our lives. And you know, I've discovered something. Some of you in this room, you're. You love reading. And there's some of you in this room, you don't like reading. Okay, that's true. I already know that. But here's what I'm going to tell you.
[00:33:46] You have to read a little and I'll tell you why.
[00:33:50] Or at least listen to audio. But I think it's better to read, especially if you're a visual learner like I am. That's why I like reading. I'm a visual learner. Okay, here's the thing. Jesus said we don't live by bread alone, but we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We need to read at least the Bible.
[00:34:09] Let's say you're not a big reader, okay, don't read any other book then. Just make sure you read this book. You say, why is that? Because this is a different book. It's a living book. It's God speaking to us. And you need to hear the voice of God. And I'll tell you what starts happening when you read the Bible. It starts to renew your mind. It starts changing the way you're seeing life. You begin to look at the world through God's eyesight and lens. You begin to have a different perception. You begin to learn what true wisdom is. You begin to understand the ways of God. You're not going to learn that just by ignoring it. And I think too many Christians, we don't read the Bible. We'll read all kinds of other stuff, but we're not reading the Bible. I'm going to challenge you before you read anything in any single day. If you haven't read the Bible first, don't read anything else. You start there.
[00:35:04] That's your priority.
[00:35:06] Feed your soul before you feed your mind.
[00:35:10] Now if you're disciplined.
[00:35:13] I actually listen to lectures before I even read my Bible in the morning. But I already know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go read my Bible. I've been doing it for a long time. I already have the habits.
[00:35:23] But for you that don't have the habit. Make the Bible your first read, okay? Unless you're really disciplined, you can read all kinds of things, you know, you're going to read your Bible every day anyways, then it's fine. You can be free from that restriction. But if you haven't developed that as a habit, you need to do that, okay?
[00:35:41] So in his wisdom now, Jesus is going to make us lie down and there are times in our lives where he has to slow us down. St. Augustine points out, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. So rest or peace is found in Christ. That's what we need to understand. And it may mean allowing circumstances. God will do this, or obstacles to come in our way to change the level of our activity that's leading us away from him now. I don't think, you know, sometimes God will give you more activity.
[00:36:14] I have to be honest, in my life, I'm moving a lot of balls right now. How many know if you're going to start learning how to juggle, you probably start with two things, right? One, back and forth. And then eventually you can do three. And if you're really good at three, you can probably add four. How many know what I'm talking about? You know, I was at Cirque du Soleil here not too long ago, and they had a juggler there, and I don't know how many balls he was juggling, but I think there must have been 8, 9, or 10. It was just like constant things moving, you know? But how many know that? Most of us, I couldn't do that. I don't even know if I could do two. I'm not a juggler, right? And I think you got to keep working on it. But I'll tell you, in my life, I'm probably juggling more than two balls. I can tell you that right now. I got a lot going on, but that's over a long period of time. I've been walking with God. In June, it'll be 50 years. And so I've learned to do certain things. But here's the challenge. We can overdo things, and then we're stressed out of our minds, and so we have to learn to rest. And I remember years ago, I was traveling in Delhi in India, and I've been there a few times, and it was really fascinating. You know, I've driven in some crazy places. I've driven in Manhattan. How many know, that's pretty crazy. Ever been to New York City In Manhattan? That's where people usually hire a cab to do things. I'm driving in there.
[00:37:29] So Tom Lesher is my witness. He was with me in the car. So was Patty and Karen. We were driving in Manhattan. I was driving. They were telling me which ways to go. It's pretty intense, okay? But I would never drive in Delhi. Never drive in Delhi. You go, why? Because it's just too. I can't even understand it. First of all, it's on the other side of the road. They come to a stoplight. There's like eight people coming in different directions. It's not like, you know, we come up and there's like two, you know, straight ahead and then there's two this way. No, there's all these different roads coming at different times. And not only that, they don't follow any of the rules. There's no rules there, guys. I'm going to let you know that right now. If there's two lanes, there's eight cars going, and bicycles are in there, cows are there, pigs are there. There's all kinds of things happening all at one time. And in Delhi, they actually have lights. And I don't know if they mean much because I was looking at one light and it turned red. And in the middle of the red light, there was a white light. And it had the word relax. I thought, wow, this is amazing. It was in English. I was reading it, and we stopped at the light. It said, relax. And then all of a sudden, I noticed on my right, this guy goes right on through there. And I said to the guys in the cars, he's not relaxing.
[00:38:41] And then the thought occurred to me. He's a danger to himself and everybody else because he's not relaxing. He is actually going beyond what he should be doing. And I think there's some of us here today that we need to be made to lie down in green pastures. And the pastor speaks to me of eating. Because if you're a sheep and you're in green pastures, that's what you're doing. You're sitting down and you're eating. And so the Bible paints these amazing pictures of us feeding on the word of God. And then it says, he leads me beside the quiet or the still waters.
[00:39:18] And it's interesting to note that God has used this analogy of hunger and thirst. If pastor, as I said, speaks of some degree of hunger, then water speaks and rest. Then the thirst speaks of the soul that needs to find rest, satisfaction. And Jesus, we have another story of the good shepherd. He meets this Samaritan woman. I'M not going to go into all the details. But you know what he tells her? You know, give me a drink of water. And she's shocked because he's a Jew, she's a woman, and she's a Samaritan. He's breaking all the cultural rules, right? But eventually she gives him some water. And Jesus said, you know, I can give you water that you never have to come to the swell again. Of course, that sounds a appealing to her for a lot of reasons. And she said, I'd love that. I'd like to have that kind of water. But then he starts explaining that that water is eternal life and he's the Messiah. It's a very powerful story. And so I'm going to skip over that because I'm running out of time, and just say this. The shepherd now restores my soul. I want you to notice, he says, he restores my soul.
[00:40:25] It's not if he will restore us, but rather when he will restore us. And how many know the nature of sheep is that they wander. Sheep will get lost in a hurry. You know, I always tell that cute little story of the little boy who was growing up, you know, taking care of sheep. And there was a new teacher in their community, and she was teaching math to the kids. And she said, now, if you had four sheep and three of them, one of them went out of the fence, how many are left? And the little boy raised his hand and said, none. No, no. She said, you don't understand. I said, there's four sheep and one went out of the fence. How many are left? He said, none. She goes, no, there's three. He says, no, you don't understand. Sheep. They all went out of the fence. You know, we all have. We're all this way.
[00:41:11] We're just prone to wander away. And Isaiah says that. He says, all we, like sheep, have gone astray. And it's interesting, this text, when he says, he restores my soul. Now, I'm reading Dr. Wonka. He's a Hebrew scholar. He helps do translation work for our Bibles. And he puts down here the word restore. Could you know, that's a translator choice, but the word literally means to bring back.
[00:41:42] Now, how many know that that's still restoration he's bringing back. He's restoring the sheep back to where he needs to be. And I was reading Kenneth Bailey, and he said the literal Translation, he restores my soul. He brings back, makes clear that the sheep is lost, and the good shepherd's obliged to go after it and find it. And Carry it back. And all of us, you know, we have wandered from God. Now, some of you maybe have wandered further from God than other people have. But let's be honest here. How many people have put other things first in their life other than God while you were a Christian attending church?
[00:42:20] It's easy. You can put your family ahead of God. You can put your ministry ahead of God. You can put your job ahead of God. Come on, let's be honest. And it can happen in our minds. We can let our minds wander. We can do all kinds of crazy things. God has to bring us back. It's so important that we understand that. But, but let me close with this thought. My shepherd guides my life. Notice I'm changing the thing. I could easily have written, our shepherd guides our lives. But you know what? David is personalizing it, so I want you to hear this. My shepherd will guide my life. See, your life is being guided by God. He guides me in the paths of righteousness. It says for his name's sake. Now, that word righteousness means being in a right relationship with God or being right. Well, God says, I'm going to put you on the right path.
[00:43:12] How many? You know, sometimes we struggle. We go, well, what is God's will for my life? Anybody ever ask that question? Okay, I'm going to help you right now. It's real simple. Just keep following Jesus. That's the right path. Don't go off that path because every other path is the wrong path. Just do what the Bible says. It's the right path. I've just helped you all out. I've just straightened this all out for you. You know, a lot of you, you get this idea it's got to be this and this. And you're thinking all these, you know, weigh out thoughts. I'm just saying, just keep following the right path. Follow the shepherd. He'll take you down the right path for you to go.
[00:43:46] Does that make sense? Makes total sense to me. We make it a lot more than it is. So then he says, I'm going to take you down the right path because I'm doing it for my name's sake. Here's where I want to close my message here today. He can even lead us through the valley of the shadow of death. He's speaking here of this life where death casts its shadow. It's interesting that the very next verse offers guidance and deals with God's protective care in the hard and difficult places of life. We would tend to think that God either abandoned us when we reached those places or when we had strayed. Now, sometimes we get ourselves in difficulty because it's our fault. Sometimes God leads us in difficulty to strengthen us and to reveal Himself to us in that hard place.
[00:44:32] Are we following those two ideas?
[00:44:34] Yet he guides us in both places of rest and places of testing. Even in those hard and difficult places of life, he can lead us through them.
[00:44:48] So the scripture says, when you pass through the waters, I'll be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, they will not be. You will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze. God does not necessarily promise to spare us from difficulty. Rather, he promises to be with us through them, when we pass through them. You know what we're going to find out when I get next week, when I start talking about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, God's going to stop leading us. He's going to start being with us. He's going to change his posture. It's very powerful. You want to be here next week, but let me close with this.
[00:45:22] Walt D. Houston, in her book, said, the good shepherd does this for the sake of his name. This is the part I want to close on.
[00:45:28] Because names represent the personality, bearers must be concerned with their names, in other words, their reputation. One acquires a name in the sense of fame. If one increases one's honor through mighty deeds. How many know that we're impressed with God because He's amazing? I mean, all the things he's done right. The. That's what impresses us. Now he goes on to say, the idea of acting for your namesake often along with the concept of maintaining personal integrity, means acting to uphold this reputation, whether by guiding, pardoning, sparing or delivering. This is all speaking about. God goes on to say, since name and persons are inseparable, one loses his name and he fades from memory and ceases to exist on earth.
[00:46:13] Well, it's true. If people forget about you, they forget about your name, they forget about you. You know, a lot of people that have lived are totally forgotten about. And very few people are remembered unless they've done something extraordinary. How many say that's true? That's true about life, isn't that right? Of course it is.
[00:46:32] But the ontological. I am. I know these are theologians. What they're saying is ontological means that God exists, He says, but the episcopalogical or the limits of human knowledge. So let me go back here, because I got to go back in this context. Since the name and person are inseparable. If one loses his name, he fades from memory and ceases to be on the earth. The ontological I am the name of God cannot die.
[00:47:01] Even if everybody stopped believing God on the planet, God still exists. That's what he's saying, okay? But the epistemological or the limits of human knowledge that he should cease to exist in human consciousness. He lives existentially because he acts faithfully and beneficially to those who trust in him. What he really is basically saying is, because God is so faithful and keeps doing such amazing things, you and I never forget about him because he's constantly doing these things. People are constantly having God do amazing things. So everybody's remembering who he is. Not everybody. But you know, the people who know who he is, they keep remembering because he's faithful to do what he's doing. Therefore, were he to lose one sheep along the path of life due to misadventure, his name would be tarnished in its honor and could not be trusted with all of his subjects, hearts. Or in other words, I am will not lose any of his faithful people to death. He's the pioneer and completer of the Christian pilgrimage. We live in a universe where God's interests and his people's interests are the same and they don't compete. So what God is saying is, listen, I can't fail. I won't fail. I'll never let you down.
[00:48:16] See, sometimes we think he's let us down, but what he's let us down with is what we expected. God says, I'll never let you down with what I expect to do for you, which is really to take you through this earthly life and bring you to myself in eternity. I'll get you there. I'll take you through every challenge, I'll take you through every difficulty. I'll take you through every situation where you may feel like you don't have enough, but you have more than enough because what you have is God Himself and He will take you there. Is that encouraging? And he says, I'm doing this because it's, I've got my name on the line. I cannot let one of you down or I diminish myself as who I am. I'm God, he's saying, are you impressed? He can't let you down. He's going to take you all the way to the end. Let's stand.
[00:49:06] So here's what we're going to do today. Tonight.
[00:49:09] I'll be back tonight.
[00:49:12] I do this three times. Okay? So here's what we're going to do, Jesus, we keep reading the psalm. First of all, we have no lack. And what we're about to come to next week is we have no fear.
[00:49:28] But this morning, I want to focus in on. We have no anxiety.
[00:49:33] No anxiety. How many go? I like that. No anxiety. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to take your hands and bring them out before you and say right now, here's all my anxiety.
[00:49:47] Here it is. All my fears I'm giving to you and I'm exchanging them for your peace and the quiet confidence that you're more than enough.
[00:50:04] I thank you, Father.
[00:50:07] Your name is on the line and you're not going to fail me.
[00:50:12] You're my shepherd.
[00:50:15] I don't have to want.
[00:50:18] Thank you.
[00:50:20] Okay, we've made a little agreement with God. We said, lord, here's my anxiety.
[00:50:27] Here's my fear.
[00:50:29] I now receive your peace.
[00:50:32] My peace, I leave you.
[00:50:35] Jesus says, my peace, I leave you.
[00:50:39] Isn't that beautiful? My peace I give you.
[00:50:44] Receive his peace.
[00:50:47] Leave your anxiety right here with God. When you walk out that door, you say, lord, you are my shepherd.
[00:50:58] You're my shepherd. That beautiful. Are you encouraged? How many say, I'm encouraged, Pastor. I know who my shepherd is. I'm encouraged. I have no anxiety. I left it with him. I have no lack, I have no fear. I have no worries. I have God's peace.
[00:51:19] See, what we just did was exactly what Paul told us to do. Casting all our cares, Peter says on him, because he cares for us. Paul says, we be anxious for nothing. But in everything, with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let our request be made known. And the peace of God which passes human understanding will now start to guard your heart and your mind.
[00:51:40] Now the devil will come back and go, oh, that's not that simple. He's going to try to torment you. Go, whoa, hold it. The moment you start feeling distressed, just whoa. I have a shepherd. He's my shepherd. He's the great I am. He's my Jesus.
[00:51:58] He's the creator of the universe. I just remind the devil, he's the creator of the universe. He's my redeemer. He's my savior.
[00:52:07] He defeated all the powers of darkness. Want me to remind you of that again? Satan? He defeated all the powers of darkness on the cross.
[00:52:15] Amen.
[00:52:17] Lord, thank you for this day. Help us to go in peace in Jesus name. Amen. God bless.
