The Valley of The Shadow of Death

All right, good morning. We have been trying to finish

this series for about a month and a half.

I think something always comes up, whether it's the weather or

I think we had two lessons left in this series when we had our

Christmas breakfast. Believe it or not, that's how

long it's been that we've been trying to finish this.

But we are going to finish today unless I get going long and then

we'll extend it to next week. Now.

I'm kidding. No, we won't do that.

Brother. Josh is ready to go.

He's been waiting in the wings for a few weeks.

So he will, he will start up a new series next week, I hope.

I think, I think it was several months ago now, Pastor preached

a message and I don't remember what the title or anything was,

but that the idea was that, you know, hopefully we have a

little, a little spark left in us that the Holy Spirit can blow

on it and ignite a, a fire within us.

And I hope that when he reads these, these articles and things

that that, that you're not, I hope it, it stirs something in

you, not of anger necessarily, but of that we need to stand for

truth, everybody. And, and it's the more you get

around, and I don't get around that much as far as churches go.

But the more you get around, the more you see that people are

just asleep. They don't care.

You know something that that DL Moody, whether he was would have

claimed to be independent Baptist or not doesn't matter.

He was a Christian that was a soul winner and he was on fire

for God. And he did a lot to see people

saved. And now that campus is just

willing to, you know, give it up, give it up to ecumenical for

ecumenical reasons. I hope that stirs something

inside of you that at least means there's something still

inside of you that wants to fight for the truth.

But it is, it is everywhere. And we don't have a choice.

I believe we don't have a choice but to stand for the truth.

And we we've got to do it and hopefully raise our kids to do

the same thing. We don't know, I think we don't

know who who we have in our homes as far as what God might

do with one of our kids. I, I believe that when DL Moody

was growing up, his parents had no idea what he was going to

grow up and do. He wasn't even saved.

He wasn't even going to church at all until he was, you know,

6th, 7th grade. And so we're trying to raise our

kids for God, but we have no idea what God has in store for

them. So we do the best that we can.

We, we lead them and teach them how to follow the Holy Spirit.

And then let, let him do that work.

And I hope, I hope that we're doing that.

I hope we're serious about it. Go to Psalm chapter 23.

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

And very probably one of the most, if more familiar, if not

most familiar passages in the entire Bible, Psalm chapter 23.

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

Even the unsaved use it at funerals.

But we're going to look at our last valley this morning and I'm

sure you can figure out which valley we're going to look at,

the valley of death or the valley of the shadow of death.

I was thinking about this while I was driving this morning.

Has anybody never been to a funeral?

Good. It'd be more likely if we had

the kids in here. Maybe they, some of them have

not been to. I was going to say if anybody

raised their hand, that's probably purposeful that you've

not been to a funeral because we all know somebody that has

passed away. Every one of us, it's something

that we, we can't get away from. We can't get around death.

And, and so the Bible talks about it head on.

It doesn't try to skirt the issue.

It, it, it, it addresses it in Psalm chapter 23.

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

I'll just read these 6 verses and then we'll pray and then

we'll get into this lesson. But it says the Lord is my

shepherd. I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of

righteousness for his name's sake, which is an interesting

verse. We're not going to talk about

that this morning. But He leads us in those paths

of righteousness, not so that we can be looked at as righteous,

but for His name's sake, so the world can see us, and for His

name's sake He's glorified because of our life.

But verse 4, this is where we'll focus on this morning.

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

will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine

enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,

My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall

follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the

House of the Lord forever. And you see at the top of Psalm

23, it says a Psalm of David, and we're going to talk about

that here once we pray. I believe David had very good

insight as far as this valley of the shadow of death.

We'll talk about it here in just a minute.

But let's pray. Father, I thank you for this day

you've given us. Thank you for another

opportunity We have to open your word.

God, thank you that we're able to meet with the snow we had

earlier this weekend. And God, I just pray that the

those that are still coming would would be, you'd bring them

here safely. And I got to just thank you for

the opportunity we have to meet in a church and under a pastor

who is still very serious about the truth being preached.

And God, I pray that we'd be very serious about it as well.

If we don't accept the truth being preached, that's that'll

discourage any man from from preaching that.

And I pray that you'd give our pastor the strength he needs to

continue to do that regardless. But I pray that you'd help us to

want to hear the truth, to accept it, to make changes where

we need to so that that truth can continue to be preached and

we can pass it on to our kids and and that next generation can

go on living for you as well. Pray that you bless this hour as

we talk about this valley of the shadow of death in Jesus name, I

pray Amen. You know, has anybody here ever

been to Israel? OK, good.

So what I say if I'm wrong, nod your head like I'm right, and

then you can correct me afterwards.

All right? I've never been there.

But they say that the valley of shadow of the shadow of death is

an actual place, which makes sense.

Why would David? David's very poetic, but why

would he be talking about? Why would he put it that way?

The valley of the shadow of death?

I believe David probably actually took his sheep down

through this valley of the shadow of death.

Did anybody remember when, when pastor was doing the Bible

geography Wadi Kelt QQELT? Did anybody remember that?

It's it sounds familiar. You may not remember where it is

or whatever, but Wadi Kelt, a Wadi is a dry.

It's not necessarily a riverbed, but in the in the dry season,

there's no water in it. But then when in the rainy

season, it's basically a runoff. Think of a retention pond that

doesn't have grass around it and you'll see those channels

running through it when, when it's real heavy rain.

It's kind of like that, except probably 1000 times the size.

It's, it's a true valley that's been carved out by runoff.

And so that's what this Wadi Kelt was it goes from.

And like I said, I've never been there.

So I'm, I'm taking somebody else's word for it, but it says,

they say it's a valley located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

And it goes from 2700 feet above sea level at Jerusalem and

travels all the way down to the Dead Sea.

Remember, Pastor just mentioned this, I think Wednesday that

the, the Dead Sea has a lot of stuff running into it.

Nothing ever leaves. That's why it's the Dead Sea.

Nothing. There's no, no turnover of the

water coming in. Well, this, this water is the

same thing. And it has created this Wadi

Kelt, which has come to be known as the valley of the shadow of

death. And I don't think it's a recent

term because we have David, I believe, talking about that

valley. What the Wadi Kelt here in Psalm

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23. Yeah.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will

fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they come for me.

I think this was David impersonating his his one of his

sheep, maybe. Yeah.

Though I walk through this valley, I'm not afraid because

my shepherd David is with me. And then David uses that to to

basically make that portrayal of him and his his God walking

through the valley of the shadow of death.

But it but I do believe it was a a real place.

And in fact, I think it's very possible that this is where

David would have killed the the lion and the bear, probably in

this valley when he was taking his sheep down.

What would happen is the Highlands in the, in the dry

season would get very dry, hardly any, any grass.

And so these shepherds were almost forced to figure out a

way to, to feed their sheep. So they would take them.

It was a very much a shortcut without going all the way

around. They'd take them right down this

Wadi because it was dry, because it's the dry season and take

them down into the valleys. And they would during the dry

season would keep them there. And then once the Highlands got

rain again, they would back up the the Valley of the Shadow of

Death or Wadi Kelp, and they would graze them up in the

Highlands where they would like to be.

But the only way down there was through this valley of the

shadow of death. They had to do it.

And it was, it was a hideout really for think, think of any

animal, any prey animal. When it starts to realize that

there's a pattern, they just hang out there and wait for the

sheep to come down and then they attack them.

And sure, the shepherd might be with him, but all he needs is

one, right? And now he's got a meal.

And so I, I think it's very possible this is where David

killed that lion and that bear. These, these prey animals would

hang out in this valley of the shadow of death because it was

so easy to hide all the, the, the Craigs and the, and the

rocky terrain, even in the daytime, they say.

And you can still go there if you've ever been there.

Ben too, is they say even in the high noon, there's still all

these shadows. It's just a very eerie place.

And so I can imagine the shepherds don't hang out there.

They they use it. They get through there, but they

get through there as quick as they can, as carefully as they

can with their sheep. So that's kind of a background

of, of what we see here in Psalm chapter 23.

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

I believe David is talking about this place.

It's also known to have a lot of robbers hanging out there

because they knew people were taking this shortcut to get down

to where they needed to go. A bit of a scary place.

But anyways, we the, the picture here is that all of us are going

to walk through this valley of the shadow of death.

And I want to look at that this morning.

This is not necessarily in fact, it's not the valley of death.

It's the valley of the shadow of death and the reason death is a

shadow to us. And we'll look at this in just a

minute is because of what Christ has has done to death.

And we can you can think of the verses that will be going along

with that and we'll talk about it in a minute.

So let's go ahead and get into it.

First of all, death is an acknowledged fact.

It's undisputed death is going to happen to every one of us.

Some of us have had death in our in our families that closer

closer than others. All of us have had acquaintances

of some sort, if not family members that have passed away,

but death is coming to every single one of us.

You've heard pastor say that they did a study and they found

out that 100% of all people die, right?

There is no way to beat it. I just, I did just hear I was

listening to a a podcast that since somebody got to talking

about some different health things.

There are people, in fact, I don't know exactly who he is.

I don't know him by by face or I don't personally know him, but

his name is Brian Johnson and you've probably seen him on some

some ads and things He does some kind of a protein mix or

whatever. If you recognize that name.

But he believes or he's trying to live forever.

That's literally his goal is to live forever.

So he's trying to be super healthy so that he can live

forever. I have news for him.

He's not going to he will die at some point because Hebrews

Hebrews 9:27

Chapter 9 verse 27 says it is appointed unto men wants to die.

Does Nick say is set for a few It is appointed unto men wants

to die. But after this, the judgment and

you've heard in boxing somebody wins the heavyweight title and

what do they call him? The undisputed champion of the

world, right. Well, death is physically the

undisputed champion of the world.

You will die. It's an acknowledged fact.

We, in fact, none of us except Brian Johnson think we're going

to live forever. We know it's coming all right.

Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says wherefore as by one man sin

Romans 5:12

entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon

all men. Now that's that's a physical and

a spiritual death, but it is a physical death.

Death, death passed upon all men.

We are now falling creatures because of sin.

And so death passed upon all of us.

It's an acknowledged fact. It is a promised thing.

It's coming, but it's also very personal.

Look at Psalm chapter 23 and verse 4.

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

This is really the verse we'll focus on.

But it says, yeah, though what's the next word?

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And every one of us, that's me. And you can say that about you.

That's me. Yeah, though I walk through the

valley of the shadow of death. We are going to die.

And you know, we talked about when we're sharing the gospel,

we tell people, you know, your sin has to be paid for and

somebody else can pay that debt for you, right?

Jesus Christ can't pay that. But when it comes to death,

nobody can die for you. They might die in your stead as

a punishment, but eventually you're still going to die.

And so we, but we all have to walk through this valley at some

point on our own. It is a personal, very personal

event. Yeah, though I walk through the

valley of the shadow of death. But then if we're smart, death

is a prepared for event. James chapter 4 and verse 14

James 4 · chapter mention

says, whereas you know not what shall be on the Morrow, for what

is your life. It is even a vapor that appears

for a little time and then vanisheth away.

I remember talking a few maybe months ago now, but it was in

this in this series and we I was it was as a way of introduction

on one of these lessons. But I said I asked a question,

does the Bible try to prove that God exists?

Do you remember that? And the answer I believe is no.

It just gives us that fact. In the beginning God created the

heaven and the earth. It doesn't say there was this

being. OK, let me explain what God is

to you. He just says in the beginning

God created the heaven and the earth.

It's a fact. And yes, there are places in the

Bible that give us a lot of detail about God, a lot of proof

that he does exist as far as our faith is concerned.

But death is the same way. It doesn't try to explain what

death is. It just tells us our life is a

vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

You're going to die. It's an acknowledged fact and we

need to prepare for it physically and spiritually.

I think if, and I'm not the best, I'm not the best at

planning or preparing or organizing.

I, I acknowledge that. But if, if it, it's very wise

from a very practical standpoint, very wise to have a

will and all the rest of that, Who was I talking to?

Oh, I'm in a, I'm in a, I'm in a real estate group.

Anyways, we went to a meet up a few Saturdays ago and there was

a lady there and she said me and my husband made the, made the

decision to get into real estate.

And, and I think she said eight days later, he dropped out of a

heart attack and they had already kind of joined the and

paid for their membership and everything.

And she said I had a decision to make.

He left me no will. He had bought their house before

they got married. So her name wasn't on the House

and her name was not on the bank accounts.

She had nothing. He was not prepared for death.

And I say so from a practical standpoint.

We need to prepare for that physically, but we also more

importantly, need to prepare for that spiritually.

And if you've come to this church for any length of time,

you have heard the gospel. If you have not made that

decision to accept Christ as your Savior, today is that day.

It's so important to prepare for our physical and spiritual

death, but especially spiritual. That man that I was just talking

about, I had no idea he was in fact, he was going about his

life joining a real estate membership so that he could

start another business. And eight days later he's gone,

Not prepared. We need to prepare for it.

But but then I want to talk about this.

And this is this is key. And This is why it's called the

valley of the shadow of death. Death is an abolished foe.

I like to, I think often we read the Bible and we familiar

passages, we just mow right through them, right.

Especially if you're if you're reading on a on a schedule to

for your devotions or something like that.

We mow through these passages. Oh, this is a familiar passage.

Good. I got through that chapter.

But think about Christ on the cross.

The Bible says this in First Corinthians chapter 15, and you

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

can turn there if you'd like, but First Corinthians chapter 15

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

and verse 55, in fact, I will go there as well, 1st Corinthians

15 and verse 55. Very familiar passage, but think

about what it's saying. O death, verse 55, where is thy

sting? And O grave, where is thy

victory? And maybe, maybe we could read

it another way, almost in your face to, to, to death.

Oh death, where's your sting? Where, where is that sting at

engraved? Where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through

our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord. For as much as you know that

your labor is not in vain in the Lord, but thanks be to God,

verse 57, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus

Christ. This is, this is, we hear it

preach this way. But this is not necessarily

talking about victory over temptation or or victory over

other things in our life. This is talking about victory

over sin and death, death particularly.

O death, where is your sting grave?

Where is thy victory? So I like to think about it this

way. When Jesus Christ was on that

cross, he came face to face with sin and conquered it.

He took it on himself and then conquered sin.

And when he went to the tomb and, and, and lay there for

three days, he was dead. We don't deny that fact, right?

There are some that try to try to explain it away, a swoon or a

coma or whatever. But he was dead and he came face

to face with death and conquered it.

And so for us, death is no longer something to be afraid

of. It's a shadow of death.

Think about this. Pastor mentioned this a few

weeks ago that if he saw sees a picture of his wife or whatever,

he doesn't go hug the picture, right?

It's not the real thing. It's a picture of the real

thing. Well, so is a shadow a shadow?

I'm not afraid of a shadow. I I do remember when Emma was a

little girl. And, and probably most kids come

through this the first time they see their shadow, they're scared

of it and they're running from it and it's chasing them.

They don't know what it is. But a shadow is nothing to be

afraid of. It's the thing that's making the

shadow that we're afraid of, right?

But Christ conquered death. So we do have the shadow of

death on us. We do go through death, but it's

nothing to be afraid of. It's been conquered.

And so that's an exciting thing, but it is just a shadow.

It is not the real thing that we need to be afraid of.

But then there's also something that's important.

When you have a shadow, you have to have two things.

You have to have the physical thing that's making the shadow

right. And you have to have light.

Yeah, some, some light source, the sun or a flashlight or

whatever else. I remember being in Sunday

school and, and the Sunday school teacher doing object

lessons and, you know, using a flashlight to make big shadows

on the wall when it's really just this tiny little thing not

to be afraid of. I think Patch the pirate does a,

does a story and I'll, I won't remember Emma or one of the kids

would know it, but there's this legend of, of this, you know,

this, this beast that they are, are coming up to and they're

trying to, to conquer this or figure out what it is.

And it ends up being this tiny little little elf or something.

But because of the shadows, he, he portrays himself as this

giant monster. And I think death does that to

us. So many people are afraid to

die. And, and pastor says this as

well. I don't want to die, but I'm not

afraid of death. Why?

Because we, we know it's been conquered and we have the light

of Jesus Christ in our lives. Think about think about an

unsaved person, maybe you before you were saved and when you

would think about death, that's a fearful thing.

It really is. Who knows what's going to happen

after I die? Who knows what the afterlife

holds until we come to understand that Christ conquered

death. He paid for our sins.

He he redeemed us back to himself.

Now all of a sudden death is is not a a scary thing.

There's a light that is throwing that shadow, but there's a light

for the believer. But then lastly, and and we're a

little bit shorter today, but that's fine.

Death is an accepted not thing, but an accepted friend.

And you've heard pastor say this before.

You can't threaten me with heaven, right?

Death for the believer is not only not scary, it's it's a

friend. We're going we're going to be

going to our Savior and I I couldn't, I didn't write this

and I didn't I'm not going to memorize it.

So I'm just going to read it to you.

It says this though, if we carefully consider we will see

that death is for the benefit of the believer.

And here here's what he says physically, those who die in

Christ gain freedom from pain and temptation.

Have you ever I can't speak for the ladies, but I can speak for

the men. Have you ever had some, some

temptation that you constantly deal with and look forward to

the day that Christ comes? So you're just done with that

temptation? I, I think that's humankind in

general. Every Christian I believe comes

to that point. I can't wait till I go to be

with Christ so I can be done having to fight this temptation

and the pain. There are some I think of this,

I think of this often and I don't know if they're listening

or not, but JJ, most of you, in fact very few of you have

actually met JJI believe, but they live right behind the

church here. And for the last it's been 5 or

6 years. He's he's he's dying with ALS

and the pain that comes from just laying in that bed.

His mind is perfectly capable. He understands everything, but

he cannot communicate. He can't move the pain that

comes with that. What an accepted thing death is

a friend to be done with that pain and then to be present with

the Lord. But then he says mentally, those

who die in Christ gain liberation of mind and perfect

heavenly wisdom. Wouldn't that be nice to have

that perfect heavenly wisdom here on this earth?

And that's why we pray for it. We ask God for it.

We are. We do have access to it through

our God. But when we die, we will have

liberation of mind and perfect heavenly wisdom.

Think about them, the mental health crisis or the issues that

people have in our world today. I think a lot of it is, is

oppression from Satan. That's where it comes from.

But I can't I can't speak as an expert on that, but for the

Christian to finally be liberated from that the the

liberation of our mind. And then he says socially, those

who die in Christ gain friends and experience and eternal

reunion with loved ones. And then spiritually, and I

think this is key, those who die in Christ gain the pure,

undefiled, uninterrupted enjoyment of the presence of

God. We will be made like Christ in

the next life. And so in verse 4 of chapter 23

of Psalm, yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death, we're walking through it.

We're But I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

What a comfort that is for the Christian.

The unsaved cannot know that comfort.

They can't. They may act like they're not

afraid of death, but in the quiet of their home and they're

sitting there thinking about it, they are afraid to die.

However macho they may come across, they're afraid of death

because God put that in US so that we would turn to the

answer. We would search for the truth of

what happens when we die. And David encourages us here

that even though we're walking through that valley of the

shadow of death, all of us are, we don't have to fear evil.

And so we'll close with this, the shepherd's goal.

Remember, I told you the reason these shepherds would take their

sheep through this valley, through this Wadi kelp was for

what reason? Not to scare them, not to, you

know, to practice fighting off and predators.

What was the reason to get them down to fresh grass, right?

He always had a reason and and it was always with the sheep's

best interest in mind. And think about that.

For, for us, we must die to go to be with Christ.

We have to, for that to happen unless he comes in and and takes

us in the rapture. But we have to die.

But there is a purpose in it. It's to to get us to a better

place to heaven. And the same thing with us in

our lives going through this valley.

There are trials that we run into, but it's always it's for

our good. And and because of that, we

don't have to fear evil because God is with us and that guidance

from the shepherd. Thou art with me.

I, I, I picture this and remember the staff of a

shepherd, right, has the, the hook on it.

And I remember in, in as a kid in Sunday school thinking, if

you can reach down, first of all, here's what happens in my

mind. There's a ledge and then, you

know, 10 feet down there's another ledge and the sheep is

down on the ledge and he's reaching down there to, to pull

them out. And in my mind, I'm like, what

is the sheep doing down there? Unless he fell, why would he be

that? There's no grass.

What is the sheep doing now down there?

But this valley of the shadow of death, this physical place kind

of makes a little bit more sense.

You can you can picture a sheep getting to an edge of maybe a

rocky outcrop and and knowing it needs to get down there.

And sheep are too stupid to go, OK, let me figure out another

path. So they just jump, right?

You can, you can imagine that and they're either hung up in

the rocks or, you know, or they hurt themselves when they land.

And then, and then here comes the shepherd and he helps them

up and he carries them or whatever.

So that's, that's what I picture here in this, this valley of the

shadow of death, the shepherd guiding them and, and leading

them and, and sometimes a sheep doing something stupid and

getting out of the way, but the shepherd's there with them and

he brings them back on the path and keeps them on their way.

The shepherd is guiding us, and I'll give you a quick story, and

then we'll be done. How many of you ever met my dog

Pete? I know a few of you have.

Yeah. He's really stupid.

He's a stupid dog. You know, he's he's really

friendly, but he is so, so stupid.

And he's just a dummy. He's 9 1/2, I think, years old.

And he's been dumb since we got him and he's still, he hasn't

learned anything. That might be my fault.

Maybe he's around me. He hasn't learned anything.

But he's a really, he's really, really a silly dog.

And I take him on a walk every single night.

And that is his the highlight of his day.

About 9:00 I'll take him for a walk and he soon as I get home

from work at whatever time that is until 9:00, he follows me

around the house ready to go for his walk.

And anyways, we'll see rabbit sometimes and he's a he's a he's

a puggle. So he's a pug and a Beagle,

right. Beagles chase animals.

They they sniff them out and and chase them down.

Not Pete, he I will see a rabbit, I'll put the flashlight

on the rabbit, go get it and it's 15 feet away and he'll put

his nose to the ground and, and head off that direction and I'm

like, it's, it's right there. Then he comes to the road where

what, what's right here? I don't know how he does it, but

he's, he's a goofy dog. But last night I knowing this

lesson in my mind. So we came back from

Pennsylvania last night and for the, the, the couple's retreat

and you all got a bunch of snow. What was it Friday?

I think Friday night. So, but they put a bunch of salt

down, but the snow was so fine and blowing around, they

couldn't really plow it. So they just melted it.

Well, we went for our walk last night and those puddles now had

started to sort of freeze over, but not really.

So on our walk, he's walking across that ice and, and fell

through. It's only, it's only, you know,

an inch thick. It's not like he fell through,

but he but his feet are wet now. So what happens to wet feet when

you now walk in the snow? It's binding up in his paws and

he can't figure out what is going on.

So I'm walking. I it's a walk for me too.

It's a little exercise. So I walk and I turn around

because I don't hear him behind me and I wish I could have get a

video of it. He's got his front foot in the

air and his back foot in the air like this.

And then he's switching 2 feet at a time.

And I look back, it looks so funny and I'm like, what is he

doing? And I came back to him and sure,

that's what I figured out. Oh, he's got ice in his paws and

he can't figure out how to get it off.

So he's shaking like a cat. And anyways, so we started

walking on the dry pavement. Now there's puddles on both

sides of the road. There's about a foot of pavement

that's dry in the middle. And if he walks on that, he's

not going to get ice in his, in his paws.

And so I, I got him up to me and he does pretty good.

I don't even put him on a leash or anything.

He, he follows me and we're out in the country.

So I said, stay with me. And if he, if I say that he

normally stays with me. And so he's walking right down

this path right behind me. We get through there and we

continue on our walk. We come to some more water.

He has not put any of that together that it's the water in

the snow, right? I don't really expect him to,

but he's dumb. He's very, very silly dog.

And what's he do? Walks right through the puddle

again and right into the snow. And then he starts doing like

this. Can't figure out what's going

on. And I thought about this, you

know, we're, we're like that so often with a, with our pastor

and then also with God. He's leading us.

He shows us the path. This is the path you've got to

take to stay out of this trouble.

And we go OK and then right into trouble again.

But on the way back home, I got him right with me.

We walked through the dry patch so he wouldn't happen again and

then got and that's what God's trying to do to us.

That's what this is talking about.

I will fear no evil because you're with me.

You're guiding me. If we listen, the only sheep

that get hurt when they're going through this Wadi Kelt down to

the to the grass at the bottom are the ones that aren't

following. If they're following the

shepherd, he's not jumping off the Cliff.

He knows better, right? And he's not sending you off the

Cliff. He's not pushing you here.

Hurry up. Just go that way.

He's guiding you carefully and and knowledgeably.

But here come the sheep. Here come, Here we come and we

don't follow. That doesn't mean necessarily

that won't, we won't eventually get to the bottom.

But if we want to get to the, if we want to get through this

valley of the shadow of death all in one piece, if we want to

get to the end of our life not in pieces, we've got to follow

the shepherd. I will fear no evil because

you're with me. You're Rod and thy staff, they

comfort me. And we, and we know all those,

we've heard those in Sunday school.

But the rod and the staff, it was, it was one thing, but one

was for correction and one was for, for the comfort of the

sheep, the, the, the shepherd would, you know, nudge them

along. And the other one was sometimes

he's correcting them and sometimes he's rescuing them.

But that rod and that staff, it doesn't need, we don't need to

be afraid of it. It's a comfort to us if we will

listen to the guidance of our Shepherd.

So hopefully that's a help to you.

But we are all going to face death.

There's no way around it. But if we listen to the shepherd

on our way through, we death has been conquered.

There's no, we don't have to fear that, but we need to listen

to the Shepherd as he guides us through this valley of the

shadow of death. All right, I hope you've enjoyed

it. I know we had so many weeks off,

you probably can't hardly remember the lessons, the 1st 12

lessons, but hopefully it's been a help to you, brother Josh.

We'll pick up with a new series starting next week.

And I know he's been, he's had a month to prepare.

So I told him his first one better be really good.

We don't care about the rest of them, but the first one better

be good. So anyways, let's pray and then

we'll be dismissed. Father, I thank you for this day

you've given us. God, I thank you for all these

passages in Your Word that help us as Christians.

God, we do get fearful. I know we do.

It's human nature. I do at certain times.

But God, I pray that we would put our full weight and our full

trust in you. Your word says that.

And in all our ways acknowledge you and you'll direct our paths.

I pray that we would do that. God, I pray when we get tempted

to just figure it out on our own, that we'd stop and get on

our knees and we would ask you for the guidance, for the

wisdom, and for the understanding that we need.

And God, we're so thankful that you conquered sin and death for

us. And I pray that we would, as we

come through this life, that we would let you lead us.

And, and God, we look forward to the day when we'll finally be

with you. God, we envy those that have

gone before us and been done with this life.

And they're and they're in your presence now.

I pray that you'd, God, just help us to look forward to that

day. God, I pray that you would come

soon and come, come back and get your, your people.

And God, I just pray that as with the time that we do have

left here on this earth, you'd help us to rescue those that are

perishing and care for the ones that are dying.

And we'd and we'd show them the way, show them the the truth of

your word and the gospel and they would come to know you as

their savior. Pray that you bless the next

hour. Be with our pastor, give him

power as he preaches and feed us from your word.

In Jesus name, I pray, Amen. We're dismissed.