The LORD is my Shepherd: YHWH Ra'ah

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. This is week number six in our

series where we're talking about names. What

are names about, anyway? I've entitled the series,

Hello, My Name is God, but there are three things

that we talk about that are encompassed in names.

The first one is identity. Each one of us have

a name, right? We go by that name. That's how

we're identified or distinguished from other

people is by our names. And I've shared this

with you. For those who haven't been here, you

might not know this, but my official name in

the state of South Carolina is No Name Forrest,

for those of you who haven't been with us. You're

like, how could you be No Name Forrest? my parents

didn't name me before we left the hospital and

the hospital sent in the records no name forest

unnamed forest and then when i tried to play

junior high football i had to get a south carolina

estate birth certificate when it came in it had

no name forest on it so i couldn't play the first

two or three games of my junior high football

career which was amazing by the way I was a defensive

back, not a guard or a center like you look at

me today. You'd think I was a guard or a center.

I was a defensive back. I caught punts. I was

a running back, defensive back. But anyway, I

was no -name Forrest, and I had to get my real

name put on my birth certificate before they

would let me play. So to this day, my South Carolina

state birth certificate has an asterisk on it.

Because my name's been changed. My official name

is no name, Forrest, but for the first 10, 11

years of my life, I guess that's what I was,

but then I changed it to Jeffrey Dean Forrest.

I go by my middle name, Dean, and I spelled Jeffrey's

name different with a G instead of a J because

I didn't want people calling him Junior, even

though he's Jeffrey and I'm Jeffrey. But I go

by Dean. One other name. that became my name

when I was nine years old is that I am a Christian.

That is my identity. It's not just something

added on. It's just as much my identity as Jeffrey

Dean Forrest and no name Forrest. Christian is

just as important as those. Everybody say identity.

But names also signify relationship. We have

a lot of names. If you think about it, right?

My mom always called me her baby. Even when I

was like 50 years old and she was introducing

me to other people, she would say, this is my

baby. I was bigger than her, you know. This is

my baby. And sometimes she would say, Dean. Sometimes

she wouldn't. She would just say, this is my

baby. Because I was the youngest of four. Any

other young people in their family, you're the

youngest, right? So maybe you experienced that

growing up. My dad never introduced me as his

baby. My dad introduced me as this is my son.

And then I became a husband in 1984. Again, and

I got married. I became a husband, but she doesn't

call me husband, even though that's one of my

names, right? She calls me honey most of the

time if I've been good. Now, if I've done something

wrong or if I've messed up, how many of you know

that probably happens a lot? You know, sometimes

she doesn't call me honey. Sometimes I won't

tell you why she calls me. Anyway, I'm a father.

I became a father in January of 92. Yeah, 92.

Jeffrey was born. But he doesn't call me father.

He never has called me old father because we

don't live in the UK. He called me daddy for

the long part of his life growing up, and then

we dropped the Y on the end. He calls me dad.

Those are my names. I'm also, when I think about

these types of names, I also am an uncle. I'm

a great uncle. I am a nephew. See, we have a

lot of names, a lot of relationship names. And

as I tell you those names, you find out that

I've got, you know, my mom and my dad had multiple

siblings. I mean, see how much you can find out?

Because if they would have been an only child,

then I wouldn't have an uncle or an aunt. I have

nieces and nephews, so that means I've got brothers

and sisters and they have children. So you learn

a lot about me just by knowing my names. But

names also signify activity. Everybody say identity,

relationship, activity. I've got a lot of names

that I've gone by. I was a student for a long

time. I've got to count up the years and tell

you how many years I've been a student. I was

a cook when I was in high school. Over one summer,

I was a salesman for multiple businesses. I've

been a sound man. I've actually been paid for

that. I was a custodian where I was a trainer

and a coordinator. I've been a janitor. Again,

I had some contracts where we would go clean

offices after the business closed in the afternoon.

We'd go three times a week and clean. I was a

screen printer. I had my own screen printing

business, making screens. doing t -shirts and

things like that. I was an A &R director for

Mark V Records. I was a vice president of state

and national organizations, a music director

for state and national organizations, an event

planner. I planned events all over the place

in the United States. I've been a crusade director.

We had 31, like, area -wide crusades. I've directed

a couple of those. J .T.'s dad directed a lot

of those. He worked with our ministry. I've been

the president of state and national organizations,

non -profit corporation. I've been a worship

leader. And again, my claim to fame of a worship

leader is I led worship in the Ryman Auditorium.

I think that's a big deal. Obviously, you don't.

It's a historical place, right? I've been a conference

director. We ran a conference for 21 years. I've

been a camp director. We ran some camps. An evangelist,

a chaplain, preacher, a pastor. When you hear

these names, you find out a lot about me. Like

we just met today, right? But now you know more

about me than you did by me just saying, hi,

my name's Dean. And you figuring out that I'm

the pastor. You find out a lot about my past.

And the things that I've done, the things that

I'm qualified to do, the things that, you know,

I was trained to do. I've shared with you over

29 names, but I'm only one person. And, you know,

obviously we're not just talking about me. That's

not why we're here today, right? But we're looking

at the names that God has given us in Scripture

so that we can know more about who He is And

what he does and what he wants to do. So in his

names we find his identity. Everybody say Yahweh.

Yahweh is his name that his people are supposed

to know him by. Is what we found out in week

number one. So identity and then relationship.

Some of his names have to do with the relationship

he wants to be in with us. And then some of his

names represent the activity that he does, what

he wants to do in us and for us. Okay? And here's

our verse. Here's our foundation verse for this

series. Psalm 910 says, And those who know your

name, everybody say God's name. Those who know

your name will put their trust in you. Now that

Hebrew word that's translated trust is also translated

confidence. Everybody say confidence. So what

this is telling us is that when we know who God

is, when we know his name, then we can put our

trust and we can put our confidence in him. Everybody

say faith. That's another word for that, right?

To have trust and confidence. So when we find

out who he is, what he wants to do, what kind

of relationship he wants to be in with us, we

have to know it before we can put our trust in

it. Does that make sense? We have to know who

he is and what he wants to do before we can put

our faith in him to be that or to do that. This

is important. It's not just simple. Because I

went so many years of my life not understanding

this. And I hope you're understanding it and

not just listening to a bunch of religious gibberish.

I hope you're taking hold of it, what I'm saying.

Because when we have confidence and trust and

faith in who God is and what He wants to do and

who He wants to be in our lives, then we know

this. It's like... He's not going to forsake

us. He's not going to turn His back on us. He's

not going to let us down when we seek Him based

on who He is. Are you with me? Elbow the person

beside you and say, at least smile about it.

At least smile just a little bit. So, hello,

my name is God. This week, We're going to look

at one of God's names, Yahweh. We can say Ra,

or we can say Ra 'al, which is the... If you

look it up in Hebrew, and you look up the phonetic

way to say it, it's Ra 'al. Now, you might hear

me say Ra, because that's just when I look at

it. All right? In English, it's saying it, but

in Hebrew saying it, you would say Ra 'al. Yahweh

Ra 'al. Does anyone know what that means? Don't

shout it out, just if you think you don't know.

Okay? So today, when we find out who God is,

what He wants to do, then we can put our confidence,

our faith, our trust in Him to be that for us.

You probably know this. The Lord is my shepherd.

Ra 'al. The Lord is my shepherd. And when you

look up the word Ra 'al, you also see in the

Strong's Concordance. Anybody know what I'm talking

about? Because you can look up the Hebrew words

in the Old Testament, Greek words in the New

Testament, and then you can look at definitions

for the words. You can also construct this definition.

My friend who rules over me. My friend who rules

over me. This tells us that God's a good shepherd.

There's probably been some shepherds in the history

that weren't very good to their sheep. You think

so? Might be some shepherds who are mean to their

sheep. I mean, every time I talk about God being

a shepherd and talk about us being sheep, I remember...

what happened to me in Romania. I was in Romania

on a mission trip and we were going to minister

at a women's prison in Romania. On the way there,

we were in a van and the driver could not speak

English at all and there was about four or five

of us in the back who could not speak Romanian

at all. And all of a sudden, we stop. The reason

why we stop is because we're on a little two

-lane road. And there are sheep everywhere. Everywhere.

In the road, there was a small house. Beside

the road, they were all in the yard of this lady's

yard. The reason why I say lady is because she

came outside with a broom. I'm telling you, most

people in Romania have never mowed their lawns

in the area that I was in. Never. But this lady

was taking care of her place. She had flowers,

things like that. Very odd to see where I was.

And those sheep were like all in her flowers

and stuff. She's out there with a broom, swinging

that broom at those sheep. And the sheep are

just like, they don't know where to go. They're

trying to get away from the broom, but they don't

understand that they need to leave her yard.

Because she don't want them in their yard. So

we just sat there. The driver of the van was

blowing the horn. Sheep right in front of the

van. It's like, don't you realize a loud noise

probably means that you need to get out of the

way of the big white thing that's making the

loud noise. But the sheep, they didn't. We sat

there a little while, just watching all this

unfold. Then all of a sudden, a man walked beside

the house. He came out from behind the house.

He walked through the middle of the sheep. He

wasn't screaming. He just walked through the

sheep. And as he walked through the lady's yard

and across the road, all those sheep just lined

up right behind this guy and just followed him.

See, they didn't know the van. They didn't know

the lady with the broom. But they knew the shepherd.

And they followed him. He didn't have to scream.

I mean, we didn't have air conditioning on. The

windows were open. He wasn't saying, okay, sheep,

it's time to go. I mean, no, he wasn't. Let's

go, sheep. Come on, sheep. He wasn't screaming.

He just walked through. And they followed him

and off through the... All through the field

they went. God is our good shepherd. Everybody

say good shepherd. It doesn't say Yahweh good.

But we know from that word there's a friend connection.

So he's our friend who rules over us. One of

the places we find this in Scripture is the 23rd

Psalm. Has anyone ever read the 23rd Psalm before?

Or memorized the 23rd Psalm? It's very familiar,

right? But I want you to get a picture to set

up what we're going to talk about. Because the

actual Hebrew tells us that this was a psalm

written by David. Who is David? He's the king,

right? But he's also known for being a shepherd

boy. So I want you to think about this. One day,

as David was taking care of his dad's sheep,

the Holy Spirit began to show him something.

The Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit began to

show him that God, Yahweh, is his shepherd. Now

he's shepherding sheep, but all of a sudden it's

just like, revelation. Everybody say revelation.

All of a sudden it hit his heart. It hit his

mind. It did not come as an imagination that

he decided to write about. No, this is God's

word. Everybody say God breathed. God inspired.

And all of a sudden, he had one of those aha

moments. Have you ever had an aha moment looking

into the Word of God? Wow. So he's sitting there

taking care of his sheep. And the Holy Spirit

begins to unpack the truth of who God is to David.

See, with Yahweh as your shepherd, You have so

many things to receive by faith from God. Notice

I said you have to receive them. Just like we've

talked about before, God is our Savior. Do you

think God's big enough to save everybody? Do

you know that everybody's not saved? And everybody's

not going to be saved? Is it because God did

not want to save them? Some of you are thinking

way too hard on this. It's not God's will that

any should perish. That's what he said. It's

not my will that any should perish. So there

has to be a faith connection. We're saved by

grace, by God's work, through Jesus on the cross.

We're saved by grace through... Somebody help

me. Faith. Everybody say faith. That means we

have a part in it. We have to hear it. We have

to wholeheartedly believe it. We have to take

hold of it by faith. Right? Don't ever let this

get old. I've heard him say that before. Here

it goes again. I'm going to ask you if you have

received all it means for God to be your shepherd

if you are experiencing that by faith. Because

you can, just like you can experience salvation

by faith, that's the way it works for everything.

Hello? So don't tell me, well, you know, God

hasn't been a good shepherd for me all the time

in my experience. Well, Are you receiving Him

as your shepherd? Are you yielding to Him as

your shepherd? Are you believing that He's going

to do for you what a shepherd does for his sheep?

Are you connecting with that? If you're not,

then don't blame God for not experiencing it.

Hello? That applies to all these names of God

that we're talking about. Here we go. Let's go

through it. The Lord is my shepherd. Everybody

say, the Lord is my shepherd. You might have

memorized it as, I shall not want. Who memorized

it that way? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall

not want. Have you ever thought about what you're

saying when you say that? Have you ever really

thought about it? Or is it just something that

you memorize without really thinking about everything

that entails? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall

not want. What does it mean to want? It means

that you lack or you need something. There's

something that you don't have that you need.

And if the Lord is your shepherd, you have all

that you need. You can believe him to provide

all that you need for every circumstance that

you face. By faith. Or you can say, well, I don't

believe that. Guess what? If you don't believe

it, you won't experience it. But is this what

the Bible says? The Lord is my shepherd. I have

all that I need. Now, I didn't look up every

Hebrew word and define every Hebrew word. Well,

I did look them up, but I didn't put them up

here and try to massacre trying to speak Hebrew.

Okay? But I looked up all these things that the

Lord our shepherd, all these things that it says

that He is in the original language, which is

the way the original hearers would have heard

it. So let's take a look at that. With Yahweh

as my shepherd, I never lack. I never want. I

never fail. That's all part of the Word. There's

another one. I never lessen, which means I never

decrease. Somebody say, wow. I mean, that's what

a shepherd does for his sheep. A good shepherd

makes sure that his sheep don't go hungry. That's

part of being a good shepherd. That his sheep

are going to succeed in their day and what's

going on. That they don't fail. I mean, this

is what the Bible says. I know some of you are

looking at it like a new gate. Like, Dean, what

are you talking about? No. I mean, I'm just telling

you what the Bible says. You can trust him. When

you know who He is and what He wants to do and

who He wants to be, then we can trust Him to

be that. And you might say, well, in my experience,

I've got a lot of lack and wants and a lot of

failure. Well, you've got to trust God that He

is your shepherd. Let's keep going. Well, let's

read 2 Peter. I read this a lot. But it reminds

us of the same thing. By his divine power, God

has given us everything we need for living a

godly life. We have received all this by coming

to know him, the one who called us to himself

by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

And because of his glory and excellence, he has

given us great and precious promises. And part

of that is wrapped up in who he is, right? These

are the promises that enable you to share his

divine nature and escape the world's corruption

caused by human desires. That's where the corruption

comes from. He lets... Okay, I'm back to Psalm

23. All right. Verse 2. He lets me rest in green

meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams.

That's what a good shepherd does. That's what

a good shepherd wants to do for his sheep and

does for his sheep. Now, an earthly shepherd

might not have the ability or the power or the

resources to accomplish this, but I'm telling

you, God can do everything. He's almighty. The

earth is the Lord's and the fullness there is.

Also, the whole galaxy is His. He created it.

It's all His. He doesn't lack. So because He

doesn't lack, back to verse 1, then we don't

lack because He doesn't lack. He lets me rest

in green meadows and leads me beside peaceful

streams. So, when we trust and have confidence

in God being our shepherd, we can have rest.

And peace. We can have rest. And peace. How many

people in the room have times in their life where.

I'm just wore out. I need some rest. And I'm

not finding any rest. Anybody? That should be

about all of us. Huh? Just worked all night last

night. And came to church this morning. before

you go home and crash. And you're sitting up

in your seat so you don't fall asleep right now.

And drinking coffee. When you put your confidence

and trust and faith in God to be Yahweh Ra 'al,

the Lord your shepherd, one thing a shepherd

does is he gives rest and peace to his sheep.

So we need to take hold of that. If we don't

have peace, we need to take hold of that. If

we don't have rest, we need to take hold of that.

Because God can give us supernatural rest, not

natural rest, not just natural rest. He can give

us supernatural rest and refreshing and peace.

He renews my strength. He renews my strength.

Does anybody feel weak sometimes? Well, Yahweh

Ra 'al will renew your strength. He'll renew

it. I mean, y 'all are looking at me like, I

don't know if I can take hold of this or not.

I want you to take hold of it. God wants you

to take hold of it. God wants you to not be locked

in to the natural so much that you miss the supernatural

or the spiritual. See, He can renew your strength

in ways... See, you might think the only way

your strength can be renewed, the only way you

can have rest and peace is to go on vacation

and go sit in a chair under an umbrella and just

stare at the ocean and not work. not have responsibilities.

That's natural. Our good shepherd can do some

supernatural things in your life if you will

allow him to. He renews my strength. We talk

about this a lot, but Isaiah 40, 31 says this,

but those who trust have confidence. In God.

We'll find new strength. That's part of having

faith in God. Confidence in God. Trust in God.

Those who trust. Those who wait upon the Lord.

Those who trust in. The picture of this Hebrew

word is. That we bind together with Yahweh. With

expectation. When you bind together with Yahweh,

with expectation, you can find the strength that

you need. Hallelujah. Joel 3 .10, we don't quote

Joel much. Let the weak say, I am strong. When

you look up those words, in the Hebrew it means,

let the weak say, I'm a champion. Let the weak

say, I am mighty. Let the weak say, I am strong.

Look to the person beside you and say, what have

you been saying? What have you been saying? Huh?

Come on. What have you been saying? You know?

If you talk about your failure and talk about

your weakness, you're not tapping in to who God

is and what He wants to do, who He wants to be.

So with Yahweh as my shepherd, my strength is

renewed. My strength is renewed. I'm getting

happy just talking about it. Verse 3, he renews

my strength. He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name. That's what a good

shepherd does for his sheep. And God's a good

shepherd. So he guides me along right paths to

bring honor to his name. With Yahweh as my shepherd,

he keeps me on the right track. Now that means

I'm in fellowship and in communication with Him

in such a way that He is leading me. I'm being

led by the Holy Spirit in my life. Look to the

person beside you and say, you can be led. Or

you can do your own thing. Those sheep in Romania

could have followed the shepherd or turned and

walked off on their own. He didn't force them

to. He didn't make them follow. They could have

went their own way, but they didn't because they

knew they had a good shepherd who was going to

take them to their lunch today and to their dinner

and to their safety and to their rest. They wanted

to follow him because they trusted him. They

didn't trust the lady on the porch. They didn't

trust the big white van. They trusted the shepherd.

So they followed him. And if we really trust

God, if we really have faith in God, then we

want to follow Him. We want to be led by Him,

led by His Spirit in our decisions, in every

area of our life. And when we do that, He's going

to keep us on the right track. There's been times

in my life where I went my own way and I have

not been on the right track. Can anybody look

back and see that happen in your life at times?

You go your own way, you get on the wrong track,

and then you're like, shouldn't have done that.

It was bumpy and fearful and worrisome. But when

Yahweh is our shepherd, He keeps you on the right

track where you can flourish, where you can succeed.

And when you look up those words, He guides me

along the right paths. When you look up those

Hebrew words, you find even the word prosperity

in here. I don't like to put the word prosperity

on the screen a lot because prosperity has a

bad name. But that says that you will prosper,

you will be in prosperity when... The Lord is

your shepherd. And guess what? When you flourish

and when you succeed and you don't take credit

for it, hello? Because there's been some things

that God did in my life. I mean, you know, I

hate to be up here and be the bad guy, but there's

been some times. When I talked a lot about my

accomplishments and left out that, you know,

God did it. God did it. But with Yahweh as your

shepherd, He will keep you on track where you

can flourish, where you can succeed, and then

you can tell everybody about it. Hey, God did

this. It'll bring glory and honor to Him when

we start testifying of the amazing supernatural

things that God has done in our lives. It's going

to bring glory and honor to Him. Y 'all are listening

real slow today. Verse 4. Even when I walk through

the darkest valley... Has anyone been... through

some dark valleys in your life. Some dark days.

Some dark times. The good thing is we're going

to walk through them. We're not going to live

in them. You can choose to live in it if you

want to, but I'm saying keep on walking. Some

people are locked up. Some people enter into

a dark valley and then they stay there the rest

of their life. But this doesn't say, even when

I live in the darkest valley. It says, even when

I walk through the darkest valley. Keep on walking.

When I walk through the darkest valley, I will

not be afraid. For you, my good shepherd, are

close beside me. When I'm walking through this,

I know that you're right here with me. Every

day is not a bed of roses. Every day is not perfect.

We live in a fallen, broken world. We face trouble.

We face pressure. Tribulation. Do I have to tell

you that again? Some of you weren't here. So,

I want to remind you of a series that we did

where we discovered a very... Amazing verse that

Jesus has says, in this world, you will have

tribulation. Thank you, Jesus, for the encouragement,

right? I just appreciate that so much. Just gives

me warm fuzzies all on the inside. In this world,

I'm going to face tribulation. That word tribulation

is also translated trouble, pressure. In this

world, we're going to face some of that. In this

world, we're going to face some dark valleys.

But Jesus said, in this world, you're going to

face pressure and trouble. But then he said,

but be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Look

to the person beside you and remind them, that

means cheer up, buttercup. Go ahead and say,

cheer up, buttercup. Cheer up. Right in the middle

of the pressure. It doesn't say after it's over

and after it's alleviated and after you've gone

through it. No, he said, be of good cheer in

it. You might say, that's impossible. How can

I be of good cheer in the middle of pressure

and in the middle of trouble? How can I do that?

But Jesus went on to tell you. He says, in this

world, you will have tribulation, but be of good

cheer, because I have overcome the world. See,

when we walk through some dark valleys in our

lives, we're not overcome by what we're feeling,

by what we're seeing, by what we're thinking.

We're not overcome. We will not be afraid. No

fear here. No fear. Why? Because you're close

beside me. Now, if you're not believing God to

be your shepherd and to be close beside you in

the middle of it, then you might think that you're

just all alone. And guess what? You won't experience.

What God wants you to experience unless you're

by faith receiving Him as your shepherd. I know

that we sit there and we go, I didn't know that

this had to do with me responding. I thought,

you know, I just always thought, well, you know,

if God wants to be my shepherd today, He will,

but if not, I'm on my own. Isn't that the way

we've lived? Our lives? Are we living our lives

now? And we look and we say, well, God, you say

that you're the Lord, you're my shepherd, and

the preacher's talking about you being a good

shepherd, but I'm not seeing that evidence in

my life. So why are you holding out on me, God?

Well, you've got to hear it. And then what do

you have to do? Wholeheartedly believe it. To

the point where you have trust and confidence

in that's who God is and what He wants to do.

And then you act on it. First way I know to act

is start saying, in the middle, when I'm walking

through the darkest valley, when I'm walking

through this difficult situation, I need to start

saying, I will not be afraid. I know there's

opportunities for me to take hold of fear right

now, but I'm not taking hold of fear because

fear doesn't come from God. So I'm not taking

hold of it. I'm not going to experience everything

this dark valley is throwing at me. No, I know

I'm walking with Jesus and I'm walking with Yahweh

who is my shepherd right through the middle of

this. So the first act you need to do is start.

confessing the Word of God, the promises of God.

And when you do, all of a sudden, there's going

to be something supernatural that happens on

the inside of you. And even though you're in

the dark valley, you're going to start experiencing

peace and joy. Security. That's what you'll start

experiencing. But it's going to take some work

on your part. This is not just easy believism.

It takes work. Hebrews 13 .5 I will never leave

you. I will never forsake you. That's just one

of the many instances that truth is in the Word.

And you dig into it more. I will be with you

at all times. I will never fail you. I will never

abandon you. That's what that means. Somebody

say, that's my God. He's going to always be with

me. He's never going to fail me. He's never going

to abandon me. That's my God. With Yahweh as

my shepherd, I'm never alone. And because he's

with me, I will never fear. Some of you need

to start saying this. God is my shepherd. I'm

never alone. The good shepherd's with me, so

I'll never fear. Do you believe it's possible

to never fear? I'm telling you it's possible.

God is telling you it's possible. I'm just a

delivery boy for the news from God. Read all

about it. I'm never alone, so I will never fear.

That evil is going to come upon me or overtake

me. I'm never going to fear that. Because God's

my shepherd. God's my shepherd. Your rod and

your staff protect me and comfort me. Everybody

say protection. Everybody say comfort. Your rod

and your staff protect me and comfort me. With

Yahweh as my shepherd, I'm protected and I'm

comforted. That's what a good shepherd does for

his sheep. And you can easily say yes to that,

but that's what God wants to do for you. He wants

to protect you and comfort you. The rod, shebet.

I don't know why I put the Hebrew in for the

rod and the staff, but your rod and your staff,

shebet. The rod is a stick. It's a stick for

fighting or punishing or fending off attackers.

How many of you know we're in a spiritual battle?

We live our lives every day in a spiritual battle.

And we know that God is our shepherd and God

has a rod. And that's for fighting off and punishing

our enemies, fending off our attackers. And it's

also for rioting. I found that interesting. That

word rod is used for riding and walking and ruling.

So there's authority attached to this rod. Your

rod and your staff. See, I told you I didn't

need to try to pronounce all that stuff. Your

staff. What's staff? It's a support. Signifies

what a person leans on for a support. So, God,

your word and your spirit protect me and comfort

me, support me. Rod and staff. Verse 5. You prepare

a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.

There's one thing to prepare a feast. There's

another thing to prepare a feast in the presence

of your enemies. You honor me by anointing my

head with oil. Listen, my cup, It's three -fourths

full. Quarter full. Got a few little mercy drops

in it. I love that old hymn. Every time I hear

somebody singing, I say, mercy drops? Really?

Mercy's flooding. It's not just little drops.

My cup overflows. Everybody say overflows. Overflows

with blessings. This can be your experience.

God wants this to be your experience. Listen,

God is with you. God is for you. And God will

vindicate you in the presence of those who wish

to harm you. When you look to him as your shepherd.

Just let me sit there a minute. Because sometimes

we get in situations where we think we've got

to vindicate ourselves. Has anybody ever been

in a situation like that before? When God's your

shepherd, he will vindicate you. right in front

of people who wish to harm you, He will vindicate

you. But you have to trust Him to do that. You

have to trust Him to do that. In David's day,

if he desired to honor someone, he would prepare

a formal meal, he would anoint the guest's head

with oil, and make sure they had everything they

needed. With Yahweh as my shepherd, I am honored.

I am anointed. I am blessed. And I am satisfied.

I even want you to say this one with me. With

Yahweh as my shepherd, I am honored. I am anointed.

I am blessed. I am satisfied. Keep saying it

until you see it. Because Jesus said to say it,

say it, say it, and then you'll have what you

said. Verse 6. Surely, your goodness... You're

my good shepherd, so... Surely, your goodness

and unfailing love will pursue me. Have you ever

took hold of this? Have you ever took hold of

the fact that God wants you to see His goodness

and unfailing love running you down, pursuing

you, always coming towards you? All the days

of my life. And I will live in the house of the

Lord forever. with Yahweh as my shepherd, I continually

experience it. Why do I continually experience

these things? Because they're chasing me down.

If you will have confidence and trust that God

is your good shepherd, there's going to be some

things running you down. And you're going to

continually experience these things. God's goodness.

God's mercy. God's love. And his manifested presence.

Continually. That's what God wants us to experience.

We have to receive it. By faith. His name is

Yahweh. Raw. Yahweh Ra 'o. And if you'll seek

Him, you know what His name is, you know what

He wants to do, you know what His promises are

connected to His name. Now, you might not have

known that before today, but now that you know

it, and it's been explained to you, you have

the opportunity to put your trust in Him. I can't

make you. I can't... put trust and confidence

in Him for you. But I can tell you what He wants

to do for you and who He wants to be in your

life. It's up to you to take hold of it, to wholeheartedly

believe it, to receive it, to keep speaking and

align with it, even when you don't see it with

your eyes yet. It's up to you. Because I know

something. I know that God's not going to forsake

you. He's not going to turn His back on you when

you seek Him. He's not going to do it. You might

say, I tried that for like 10 seconds and I didn't

see a result. To God a day is like a thousand

years and a thousand years like a day. But I

tell you something, if you'll put your faith

in God, really put your faith in God, if you're

genuinely putting your faith in God and you're

speaking according to His promise and according

to who He is and according to what His Word says

and you're seeking Him, with all of your heart,

and you are consistent in this, there's going

to come a point where what's happening around

you isn't affecting you. Instead of your life

being like a roller coaster of ups and downs,

it's going to be like a drag strip. It doesn't

mean you're not going to have any pressures or

trouble. It means that the pressure and trouble

aren't going to take you on a roller coaster

ride every day. That's where you can be. That's

where God wants you. Hallelujah. John 10, 11,

he says, I'm the good shepherd. This is Jesus

talking now. And the good shepherd sacrifices

his life for the sheep. Here's how much God loves

you. Died for you. I was dead in my trespasses

and sin. The Bible says all of us have sinned

and fallen short of the glory of God. Every single

one of us have messed up. Look to the person

beside you and say, don't forget, you've messed

up. Big time. We've all fallen short of the glory

of God. The Bible says the wages or the paycheck

for that sin is death. We all deserve spiritual

death. If we get what we deserve, we get spiritual

death. But God and His great love and mercy.

Even while we were still sinners, Jesus came

and died for us. I deserve to die for my sin.

The eternal Son of God said, I will die for your

sin in your place. He stretched out his arms

and he died for you on a cross. Then he says

this. It says, if you will believe in me, you

won't perish. You won't have to experience eternal

spiritual death and be separated from me forever.

If you believe in me, I've got a gift for you.

That gift is eternal life. And how do we receive

that gift? Some people think that we receive

that gift by being dipped Dr. Sprinkle, baptized.

We can talk about all those different forms,

but I tell you, none of those things give you

the gift of eternal life. None of them. Some

people think you get that gift of eternal life

by joining a church somewhere. As long as you

join the church, your name's on the roll of the

church, you're good, you're going to heaven.

Here's the deal. God's not looking at church

rolls to see who comes to heaven. He's looking

in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's recorded in

heaven. How do you get your name in that Lamb's

Book of Life in heaven? By believing in Jesus.

Putting your faith in Jesus. The Bible says if

we confess our sin, He's faithful, and He's just,

and He will forgive us and wash us clean. The

Bible says, with the heart we believe, with the

mouth confession is made unto salvation. We have

to agree with it. We have to say it. So we confess,

and then the Bible says this, if you call on

the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. That word

Lord is a title. It's going to be one of our

names in coming up weeks. Names for God. One

of God's names is Lord. And there's different

Greek and Hebrew words that are defined in our

English Bibles. All is Lord. They're close, but

they have little bit differences of meaning.

So here's my question. Have you ever called on

the name of the Lord? Lord means that He's your

master, your boss. Just like in this good shepherd,

your friend who is going to rule over you, so

you give your life to him. Has there ever been

a time before today that you've said, Jesus,

up until today, my life's just been all about

me. But from now on, I want my life to be about

you. I want to live for you. I want to know you.

Jesus, be my Lord. I confess you as my Lord.

Has that ever happened? If it hasn't, I've got

some great news for you. You can do that today.

The Bible says today is the day of salvation.

It's always today. It's always now. If you would,

I want everybody to bow your head and close your

eyes. And if you've never... said those things

to God and you would like to say those things

to Him now, I want to ask you to pray with me.

It's not about repeating words after me. It's

about the words that I'm leading you in. It's

about them being personally from you to God.

I'm just putting in the words what I just said

to help you formalize a prayer. So if that's

what you want today, I ask you to pray with me.

I prayed a prayer that went like this, and I've

never been the same since. Jesus, tell them,

Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Tell

them that. I believe you died on the cross for

me, for my sin and my place. I believe you rose

again from the grave, just like the Bible says.

I realize today that I'm a sinner. I broke your

rules. I ask you to forgive me. Wash me clean.

Jesus, up until today, my life's just been about

me. But from now on, I want my life to be about

you. I surrender all that I am to you. Jesus,

be my Lord. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank

you for washing me clean. Thank you for sending

your Holy Spirit to be with me and in me. Thank

you. Thank you for giving me your gift of eternal

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