In God Alone - In Good Hands (North OC)

Dallas: All right, we're gonna be in a new series this year.

Uh, well, this, I guess in these first couple months,

um, it's called In God Alone.

Um, as we talked about last week in the regional, our, uh, focus as an Orange

County Church It's to trust in God.

Simply trust in God.

And if you've been around, you've known that we've been working through a lot

about how to become a healthier church.

Not just from the staff perspective, but also from the membership as well.

And as a whole congregation, we can come to trust in God alone.

And so here in the North OC, we're going to be going through

a series called In God Alone.

And the premise of it is going to be based in Psalm 23.

Psalm 23 is a very, very popular passage, one that, um, really, um, exemplifies, I

feel like, a, a deep, um, in, in a genuine and a very, um, profound trust in God.

Now, the goal, apparently, I, I, I just, I would just receive word of this, I

didn't have a say in this, but the, the goal is to have everyone in the O.

C.

Church memorize Psalm 23.

Don't worry, it's only six verses.

We're not having you memorize like, I don't know, what is it,

Eric, like Psalm 17 that has like 50 or something like that?

Yeah, we're not doing that.

It's just Psalm 23, six verses, and we're gonna go through all of them today.

But the, the key is that we can recite this as a, as a congregation

to remind ourselves, to ground ourselves that we trust in God alone.

Amen?

Okay, so, and apparently there's prizes, so if you come up here on stage, I

think, like, starting next week, And you can recite the whole scripture.

There's a prize.

I don't, you can fact check Marcel on that.

He just told me to announce it if you wanted to have a little extra incentive.

But the key is though, to recite the scripture, have it really resonate

and be written on our hearts as we go through this year in 2025,

let the spirit drive in 2025.

I don't know.

Someone said, let Jesus drive.

I mean, that's, I guess it's the same thing, but yeah,

let the spirit drive in 25.

But let's memorize Psalm 23 if we can, um, and let that be something

that sinks in, um, as we continue.

But, uh, before I get into my lesson today, um, we're going to be

taking time to pray, uh, to our God.

So bow your heads with me.

God, thank you so much for today.

Uh, thank you so much for, uh, your love and your mercy, God.

I just, uh, want to just be here with a heart of gratitude and humility, knowing

that, uh, I don't deserve to be here, none of us deserve to be here, but you

have offered graciously and willingly your son to die on a cross for us,

God, we are so grateful to be here to worship you and lift your name up, I

pray that today's lesson is encouraging and inspiring to all of our hearts,

including mine, and I just pray that you speak through me, and you just use me,

God, as an extension of your voice, um, but I pray that your words carry more

than mine, and I pray that, um, you can just continue to uplift and, uh, have

us, uh, grow deeper in our trust in you.

Uh, we love you, Father, and we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Alright, title of my lesson today is, In Good Hands.

Okay, we have In God Alone is our sermon series, but my lesson is In Good Hands.

And I'm kicking off this series, so I hope I don't derail us, so when Marcel

comes back next week, and he's like, what are you guys talking about, and

it's like a totally different, you know, lane, but I hope, I've never kicked off

a series before, but I hope that I do a good job setting the stage for us here.

So the context of, uh, like I said, we're gonna be in Psalm 23, so if you want,

you can turn your Bibles over to there.

Um, but it's written by David, and in the beginning of the

Psalm, it says, A Psalm of David.

And so, basically, this is, this, what it's recorded and what's, what's,

what's assumed and what's hopefully thought of is that David wrote this

Psalm later on in his life, when he was much wiser, much older, and much

more, uh, had a lot more wisdom to him.

In, in his, in his mind and in his heart.

You know, he's reflecting on his time as a shepherd.

I'm sure he was about king at around this time or maybe just after.

But it's, like I said, I said earlier, this is one of the most

popular and it's the most recited Psalms in the book of Psalms.

And I think you've heard it probably in, uh, the movies like

Green Mile or Schindler's List or the Pursuit of Happiness.

You know, you've seen, like, or maybe you've seen it, like, someone

has, like, a tattoo of it, or, like, it's in their, someone's bio.

Like, it's a very popular scripture, because it's a lot

of things that we can relate to.

There's a lot about, about fear, a lot about trust, a lot

about abundance and blessing.

Like, there's just so many things packed into this thing that just make

it so relatable and so inspiring.

Now, before we get into the passage, I want to ask a question.

Are you in good hands?

Sorry, let me, let me, let me deepen my voice a little bit.

Are you in good hands?

You know, like, you know, Allstate, exactly.

Right?

It's from Allstate.

You're, right, you're in good hands.

Right?

Now, I know they changed the guy.

It's no longer the, you know, the really nice looking tall African

American man, you know, that was like, with the deep voice.

It's like this guy who always has like a band aid on him now and he's always

like getting hurt for some reason.

But the original, right, the, the question that they would always ask at the end of

the commercial is, are you in good hands?

Right?

And in the same way, I kind of thought about this when I

was like thinking to myself.

I was like, man, am I in good hands?

Is, are you in good hands?

Is the OC Church in good hands?

Right, and so this question, it begs for us to have to really

dig deep into our hearts and understand, are we in good hands?

Do we have the insurance and the assurance from God and to

trust that we are in good hands?

Amen, you guys with me so far?

So, I'm going to touch on three points that I feel like from this

passage, I feel like that we, that can hopefully at, by the end of this

sermon, help you affirm that when I ask you, are you in good hands?

It is a yes, absolutely.

It's a surely.

There's no question about it.

Amen.

First point.

Oh, actually, let's go back a little bit before I go into that.

Like I said, this whole, this whole passage is about sheep, but I'm

going to skip through this thing real quick and I'll come back to it.

It's very important.

I was out of order on my slides, but you'll see why.

First point is provision.

Alright, let's go read it on the screen real quick.

It says, The Lord is my shepherd.

I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right path for his name's sake.

And, like I said, I, like, we're, we're talking about David's perspective from him

being a king, but now, but from his time earlier as a young boy being a shepherd.

And, you know, he's describing God as the shepherd, the one that tends to the flock.

And who is his flock?

That's us, right?

We are the sheep.

And whether you like it or not, sheep are dumb.

Okay, we like sheep do not have any like real sense of direction.

They are like super scared.

They're fearful I mean, I have a couple videos here that I have to share.

This is some sheep trying to get through a door

And they just stop Because no one can get through the door and then

finally one goes and like, okay cool and they get stuck again and It

just happens over and over and over.

It's just like Just wait for one person to go and then exit.

It's simple or they're like this sheep, you know, we're in a ravine

You know, we're getting out.

God drags us out.

Okay, great.

Life is great.

I'm free.

Love and life.

Look it's free Oh, wait a minute

And we're back in the ravine, okay Sheep are not very intelligent on their own.

Okay, they need a shepherd need someone to guide Did we get the picture now?

Of what a sheep is.

Now, like I said, there's so much more, and I'll dive into more of

the, of more, little, little facts that I learned about sheep, um, as

we go through this lesson, but the premise is that sheep need provision.

They need something to be provided for, because obviously they

can't handle themselves, right?

Got people going out of a ravine and jumping right back into it.

It's like us, sometimes we come out of sin, and we're like, yes, this is great,

and we jump right back into sin, like it's nothing, like, you know, it's,

we are, we are in need of a shepherd.

We are in need of someone to guide us, right?

So, with that being said, I want us to understand that sometimes

even though we can wander and get lost, how grateful are we that God

is the shepherd that goes after us, the one, and never forgets the one.

He always, he can leave the 99, he said, that will be taken care of,

but I want to go after the one.

He goes after each and every one of us.

And I want to go back to the scripture here, because it

says, the Lord is my shepherd.

I lack nothing.

I love the, the, the personable, the genuine, the intimate

style that David is writing.

He's not just talking to us as a general sense.

He's not saying the Lord is our shepherd.

We lack nothing, but it's like when you read this for yourself, between you

and God, it's, the Lord is my shepherd.

I lack nothing.

And lacking nothing doesn't mean that life is perfect.

It doesn't mean that you're free of trouble, and we'll get into that

later on, but the idea is that God provides all the things that we need

spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, even relationally.

He provides those things.

Not saying that, like I said, everything's perfect, you have everything

you want on your Christmas list.

Like, you know, it's not what it is.

It's about having this intimate, genuine sustainability that only God can provide.

Now I like this next part in verse 2, it says, I, um, He makes me lie down in green

pastures He leads me beside quiet waters.

He refreshes my soul.

And you know, I, I, when I, when I read over the scripture sometimes, like,

I just come like, Oh, green pastures, quiet waters, that sounds really nice.

But then I kind of stop for a second, I kind of beg the question of, Well,

why didn't God just say pastures?

Why didn't God just say waters?

Right?

It could have been very genuine, the general, like, you know, green is a

nice, like, description of it, but why?

Well, the significance of having that detail green in there, as

a sheep, sheep won't lie down if three conditions are not met.

I learned this as a fact.

Like I said, this is me fact checking, going to do my research,

and this is where God really kind of starts to become a really cool God.

Because sheep don't lie down if they're stressed.

They won't lie down if they're still hungry.

They won't lie down if they're still fearful.

But when there's green pastures, the green signifies abundance.

Signifies, uh, signifies sustenance, and it signifies peace.

All the things that a sheep needs to lie down, that's what green signifies.

And a sheep, us, we can find rest.

We can lie down.

And now you might be wondering, okay, well why would God put quiet waters?

What's wrong with just regular water?

Well, sheep are timid and afraid.

They're a highly sensitive animal.

They get scared very easily.

They get, they scurry off.

So, if you take a sheep next to some rushing water, and it's like,

alright, drink up, it's like, no, it's going to freak out, and it's going

to buck back and run the other way.

But God says, I lead you to quiet waters, so that way you don't feel stressed.

I bring you rest, I give you peace, that when you want to drink and be

refreshed in your soul, be restored, you don't have to be afraid.

Amen.

And I think like when I read that, I'm like, wow, God, you are so intentional.

I mean, think of a need in your life, but think about how about thinking back

to a time where God met not only the need, but exactly how you needed it.

Yeah, I want to share real quick.

This week has been very hectic for me.

Um, I started a new internship, um, for my grad school program that I'm in.

Um, but on top of that, I was moving.

Um, a couple of the brothers here in the front in the campus ministry, we

have a household and we had to add another brother, uh, Philip, who we, who

we baptized last year and we became a household of not only five, but now six.

So do the math.

You have six brothers, all who would make under 2k a month trying to find a three

bed two bath in North Orange County.

Not the greatest, not, not, not great.

We were, I'm now backstory.

I got some of the guys to kind of get riled up when we were like kind of

experiencing an increase in our rent and, and a decrease in our quality

of living in our old apartment.

And I was like, guys, 30 day notice, let's sign it, let's go.

And they're like, yes, let's do it.

So I signed that mess.

I turned into the leasing office.

I'm like, all right, guys, we got 30 days.

Let's find a house.

Now, it wasn't a wise decision, but at that time, give me something.

Give me something.

Now, listen, this is where I, this is where I kind of, I feel like I kind of

had a bit of a intuitiveness about this.

But at that time, it was only me and Phillip looking

for a house, like, actively.

But it wasn't until there was a threat of there being no home, that all the guys

were like, Okay, we gotta find one now.

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

Right?

So, we're praying, we're going through Zillow, we're going through Redfin,

we're going through Apartments.

com, Homes.

com, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp.

Like, we're checking everything.

And we're praying every day.

I'm like, Oh my, like God, like you, I'm like, please, like, just give us a

home, like, like, and it was hard because we don't want to settle either, right?

Like, I'm like, you got six guys, no way we're going to try

to fit into a two bed, two bath.

Like, that's just insane.

We've done it before, but we're not doing that again.

So, we're praying, we're like, I'm fasting, I'm trying to get

advice, I'm trying to figure out, like, hey, where can we go?

And I got to a point where last week, um, a week and a half ago, I

remember I called, me and Phillip, we found a house, we found a place.

And we were, we were going back and forth and he was expressing to me his

frustrations about how like, like this leasing office lady was being very

difficult, she was asking for things and she was like, I needed it yesterday.

I'm like, this is today, but you were out of the office yesterday.

So it was just very like, just so discouraging and so frustrating.

And I remember I just literally walked out the house.

I went on a walk.

I just, I just, I was just praying and I was like, God, I don't

know what you want us to do.

And at this point we only had like.

Eight days left in the house.

So I was like, God, I was like, please.

I'm like, I don't know what you're going to do, but I just pray you do something.

Um, I get a call from, or I get a text from Derek.

Derek comes in or he texts a group that he says, Hey, we got

an email from the leasing office.

I checked my phone.

She says, Oh yeah, your guys income has been approved because at that

time, like I said, a few of us are still going income off our parents.

Some of us have jobs, but it's still low income.

So a lot of the places that we applied to are like, we're not, we can't do that.

We can't work with you guys on that.

But this leasing she said, Hey, your income got approved.

Let's move forward.

And we're like, Oh, okay.

So we hop in.

We get on a call with her.

We sign all the electronic signatures, the agreements, the lease.

We said we do everything in the day.

House was ours within 12 hours.

But not only that, what was also hard was because the fact we

were looking for something that was close to campus as well.

No more than 15 minutes.

That had three beds that was rent.

That was low enough to support all of us.

So that was low enough for us to be able to give consistently.

God met the income need we're only 10 minutes from campus and on top of

that, we have three beds praise God.

But I say that because the need was so specific and I asked God and I

prayed and I was like, God, I know that this it's somewhere, I don't

know where it is, but I know you're a God that meets the exact needs.

You're not just a God that just gives the general, like, you know, or like,

something that we can settle with, but when we pour out, and I, and I

just, and I, I pray, and I, and I ask humbly, like, I know that you're

a God that can meet the exact needs.

You're a God that gives me the green pastures.

You're a God that leads me to quiet waters.

That's the God that we serve.

The God that gave me a home and some of these brothers a home.

You know, like, but it's, but I just, I'm just so grateful to God that

He is a God that is so intentional.

That is so genuine that he, he knows all of us so intimately that he just wants

to fulfill the needs of our hearts.

And like I said, sure it was a lot of, like, just numbers and

paperwork and stuff like that.

But it was God along the way getting us to where we needed to be.

You know, it says he guides me along the right path for his name sake.

God is a righteous God.

God is a holy God.

God wasn't, well God wouldn't lead us anywhere that goes against his nature,

that goes against his character.

I don't know what need you're asking for in your life, I don't know what need

you're praying for, I don't know what that is, but what I do hope that you know, is

that God is leading you to be falling in line with his character to meet that need.

Anything else that falls outside of it, God is, it's not, that's not

something that God can really help fulfill or sustain, but one that

falls within his line of character, his heart, his desire is one that he

will provide in depth, in completion.

Does that make sense?

You guys with me so far?

All right.

So I got to ask, you know, are you truly trusting in God as your shepherd

or are you trying to be your own guide?

You know, it reminds me of this scripture here, it says in, uh, in Luke 12, it

says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not worry

about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.

For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

Consider the ravens, they do not sow or reap, they have no store

room or barn, yet God feeds them.

How much more valuable are you than birds?

Guys, how much more valuable are we than birds?

That God wants to provide all for us and we don't need to worry about that.

Why?

Because God is, if we're allowing God to guide us to these green pastures and these

quiet waters, we don't need to worry.

We don't need to stress.

I'm like, Oh my gosh, like what can I do?

I need to go here, but God's calling me here.

Like God will lead us to where we need to be.

But if we're trying to be our own guides, then we can't

claim to be all in God alone.

Nope.

And God plus me.

And then, you know, possibly, you know, it's in God alone that we can

be led to the green pastures and the quiet was one that refreshes our soul.

Amen.

Once again, I'm asking, are you in good hands?

Oh, we got to work on that.

Here we go.

Let's keep moving though.

Second point is protection.

We're going to be in verse four, and I'm sure this is probably

one that you guys have heard.

I feel like they say this before, like some, like some football

players play this before a game.

You know, even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for

you are with me, your rod and your staff.

They comfort me.

You know, sheep cannot defend against themselves.

I mean, you saw what the videos earlier, I don't think that's, they're

taking on any predators anytime soon.

And when a shepherd would have to transport the flock, right, he would

have to have a rod and a staff.

The rod to protect and fend off from, uh, from enemies and predators and the

staff to guide and to get sheep back in line if they start to wander off.

But I think one of the biggest things that we have to identify

when we read the scripture is what is the valley in our lives?

You know, life's darkest moments reveal the depth of our trust in God.

Our trust, honestly, is really tested when we're defenseless.

When we have no say or have no power over a certain situation.

You know, His presence in the valley gives us courage, comfort, and direction.

You know, in some of the valleys that I kind of thought of that, you know,

I feel like as a church that we can all go through as human beings, can

be grief or loss, illness, health struggles, financial hardship, hardship.

Depression, mental health, infertility, unemployment, broken trust, family

drama, persecution, natural disasters like the fire that we just had in L.

A.

My parents actually had to evacuate, luckily our house was intact,

but they did have to evacuate so that was a very scary time.

But there's valleys, we all go through valleys, can you guys relate?

We all have valleys in our life and there's different

valleys for different seasons.

And in the last three years, I will be honest, man, when I look

at that, I will fear no evil.

Man, it is hard.

It's so hard to not fear.

Even though God tells us 365, 66 times not to be afraid in the Bible.

It's so hard to be not fearful.

It's so easy to be fearful because it's just a reaction to, Oh, I

got to defend myself as a threat.

I need to protect myself.

You know, I, the last three years of my life have been just peak and valley,

peak and valley, peak and valley.

And I can't begin to explain how much the even though in

this scripture has spoken to me.

Even though, it's not saying that maybe, possibly, likely,

I walk through the valley.

No, it says even though I walk through.

Meaning that it's going to come whether you were in it or not.

If you're on the highest, this is like, this is the mountain of the Lord.

This is amazing.

Or whether you are, you are, you're coming into a situation where you feel like

you're starting to get into the valley.

The Lord is with you.

God is with you.

You are protected by the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, the rod

and the staff that brings comfort.

Even though

you're going through a hardship.

Even though.

You're financially struggling, even though you've lost trust in

people, even though your dreams are shattering right before you.

God tells us to fear nothing, to fear no evil.

You know, I, I, like I said, for me, I feel like my life has just been

peak and valley, peak and valley.

A couple of years ago, I lost one of my best friends, he was one of my roommates.

A year before that, I was, I had to step out of the ministry

because I was burning out.

Even now, I'm facing a little bit of persecution, getting, I'm

on the hot seat for some things,

from things that I, you know, are out of my control at this point.

But I will fear no evil.

With God as my shepherd, I will fear no evil.

There is nothing and no one that could ever separate us

from God, as scripture says.

So what do we have to fear?

And I've had to remind me that I have to dig deep.

We all have to dig deep, Church, because it's really easy to want to gain control,

to tap out, to run the other way when we meet trials, when we face adversity.

But when God says, I will fear no, when he says, he tells us, he tells us to

fear no evil, because he is with us.

He's not a distant God.

He's not an absent God.

He's not a circumstantial, tap in, tap in, tap out kind of God.

He is with us, through the valley.

And when you feel alone, and you feel isolated, reminder that

God says that He is with us.

That He comforts, He wants to bring comfort to us.

It reminds me of this, uh, this, this, this phrase.

I, I, I was in a West Coast School of Missions class.

Basically, it's like ministry and training.

And this phrase came up about shalom, about peace.

It says, Peace doesn't exist in the absence of conflict, but

in the assurance that God is with us, guiding us through it.

So, like I said earlier, life is not all well and dandy.

And that's not peace when there's no struggles in your life.

Peace is a consistent wholeness and assurance.

That God is with us in the midst of chaos.

And we have to ground ourselves in that.

Later on I'm going to share a scripture that kind of talks about the peace of God.

But for right now, just know that.

You're like feeling man.

I don't have peace in my life.

I feel like this the situation is this and it's that and it's the other It's not

about your circumstances It's about God being with you and you holding tight to

God Holding fast to him in his word and in prayer that even in the midst of conflict

conflict and confrontation and adversity Understanding that God is with you

leading you guiding you encouraging you supporting you God is with you, church.

God is with us, church.

Amen.

Uh, I, this scripture also, I think, uh, also speaks a lot to, um, the evil part.

Evil in, in Hebrew is ra'ah, in Hebrew, and it translates to some, it's,

it's just a bad, but in an elemental speak, it talks about water, and it

talks about fire, it talks about land.

It says, Isaiah 43, 2, it says, When you pass through

the waters, I will be with you.

And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.

The flames will not set you ablaze.

Raise your hand if that brings you comfort.

That no evil can overtake you.

No power can overtake you.

No person can overtake you.

No words said to or about you can overtake you.

Because God is with you.

He's with you through the waters.

He protects you from the rushing streams that try to overtake you.

He's with you in the fire when it hurts.

When it stings, when it breaks your heart, God is with you every step of the way.

In the darkest of valleys, in the darkest of nights, when you're questioning

and you're doubting if this is even worth it, God is still with you.

God is still close.

Last point here.

Let's, let's try this again.

Are you guys in good hands?

All right, I love this.

Last point is assurance.

And we're going to read in verses five and six through here, it

says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will

dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God's blessings are abundant, His mercy is constant, and His promise

of eternal life is unshakable.

You know, it's the, I love the, you prepare a table in the presence of

my enemies, and it's like, sometimes in that table, not sometimes, always,

that table that is being described is the abundance of God's blessings.

Six, the things that he's given us, things that he's, um, graciously given us even.

But love says in the midst of the presence of enemies.

And that doesn't mean just people, but that means circumstances, hardship trials.

Sure.

But what's hard sometimes is that when we wanna say that we're in good

hands, then we have this beautiful table, this feast buffet of blessings

laid out for us, but then all the noise of the world and our hardships

and our circumstances distracted.

We take our eyes off the table of the blessings that God has given us and we

focus on, well, ah man, this is, but I, I, man, I, I'm financially struggling

here and, you know, my kids are acting up here and I'm in this class and this

professor and like, you know, all of life's worries begin to then distract us.

And the distraction is not that God is trying to say, Oh, don't worry about

like, you know, like, like he's like, Oh, you know, the enemies I know are

hard, but hey, look at this table.

I think we invert that some, we, we, we, we look at it the wrong way.

We look at it as, well, I'm in the presence of my enemies and then God's

trying to provide this table for me.

No, no, no.

The, uh, the way we should be looking at it is that we have this table

despite all this going on around us.

We have blessings in front of us despite everything that's going on in our lives

because if we don't keep our focus on the table, we'll never see the abundance, the

provision, the protection that God has laid out for us on this beautiful table.

The spread of blessings.

And like I said, if you take time this week to just go through and

reflect on what God has given you, the troubles of the world just fall away.

They pale in comparison.

You begin to think, man, why did I give this so much like time and energy

when God has just been, when I know that God is with me and he's blessing

me with this table of blessings.

And yet I'm choosing to look around and focus on everything but the blessings.

Like I said, it's not being naive.

It's not being ignorant of what's going on around.

It's just not giving it the power that God never intended those things to have.

God is the sovereign God, the authoritative God over all creation.

And like I said, if He provides the needs of His own creation,

how much more valuable are we that He blesses us with this table.

You know, it says you anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows.

Um, another fact about sheep.

Some shepherds back in the day would put oil on their sheep.

To give them healing for some wounds, to protect them against insects and fleas,

but then also in a traditional, in a religious tradition, it was anointing

of favor, of high praise, of high favor.

The fact that you think about, like, God anoints us with oil.

He favors us, guys.

Do you feel favored by God?

Do you know that you're favored by God?

That God loves you?

That God sees you as blank, as, as a clean slate for those that are in Christ?

That you are viewed as holy and favored by Him?

That he desires nothing more but to give you, to show you the honor and praise.

Obviously he deserves it more than any of all of any of us here combined, but

he does he out of his own love and his grace and his willingness, he does what

he, well, he does what he wants with this oil and he chooses it to anoint us

to show us favor, to show us blessings.

And I love that.

My cup overflows.

I had, I, I had a, I wanted to do a demonstration day but didn't

have enough time to set it up.

But I want you to, guys, to picture this.

When we pour into a cup, obviously when overflows, we kind of freak out.

We're like, oh no, we gotta clean it up and like make sure

everything stays in the cup, right?

But think about this, if I had a giant basin under the cup and I

said, your life is the cup and I'm pouring in water as it overflows, the

basin is your life, the community.

The people that you interact with and what I think or I believe and

I want to share this is that I feel like as a church I feel like in the

beginning of our time we were so gung ho about let's go, let's go, let's go

to the world, tell them everything.

I would hope that we would get filled up spiritually, but sometimes people

would feel burnt out by just going and going and going and feel like

man, like I don't feel filled up.

But I feel like now our church is moving into a stage where we're trying

to really focus on the internal.

Have an internal focus to really make sure that people are feeling not only

just seen, but also feeling like they're loved and blessed by God and reflecting

on that and being grateful for that.

Why?

Because when we have an internal focus on what God has done in our

lives, naturally the response is what?

It just overflows into the rest of our lives.

When we have the love of God, the grace of God, the mercy, we want

to extend that to other people.

But it's hard when we don't feel that in our lives, or we don't quote

unquote see it in our lives, or we don't choose to acknowledge it or

give it the time and the space to have some reflection, to acknowledge

that, man, our cup is overflowing.

We have God's love.

We have his spirit in us.

Our sins are forgiven.

Things that we feel like, I can feel like we can all water down, To just, oh yeah,

that's just as much as, you know, like, it's, it's not worth much saying that.

But when you really go deep, and we take time, and I need to do

this as well, I'm not saying like, I'm above this or anything, but,

I've had to take time to really reflect, man, is my cup overflowing?

Or am I just limiting my blessings to me and keeping it to myself?

No, our cup overflows, guys.

Our cup is meant to not just be filled halfway, three quarters or just

to the brim, but meant to overflow because that's how much God pours in.

He pours more than enough.

He gives more than enough.

And lastly, in verse five or verse six here, it says, surely your

goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell

in the house of the Lord forever.

I love how the word said it's, it's surely.

I don't know about you guys, but I, I mean, for me, when I take time to read,

when I see words like surely, and even though, and but, those words carry so

much more weight than we give them today.

Because I think sometimes we can be skeptical, we can, you know, be

critical about certain things, certain aspects, but God says, surely my

goodness and my love will follow you.

You don't have to doubt, you don't have to question, you don't have to worry.

Surely, surely, as sure as the sky is blue, as sure as you see me on stage

and I see you in the crowd, surely God's goodness and his love will

follow us all the days of our lives.

That not only that, but that we would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You know, there's a quote here from J.

Vernon McGee, he's a writer, a commentator.

He says, David's enemies cannot stop the Lord from blessing him.

In the same way, the believer's enemies may try to defeat us,

but they cannot take away the blessings that God has promised us.

Our provision is certain despite external struggles.

Our provision is certain.

What God provides in His love.

And it is goodness is certain.

You don't have to doubt you don't have to question, but the thing is, though,

what's different, what's, what's difficult is that when we start to try and find

that in other things, when we try to go to our career, to a relationship, when

we try to find it within social media or substances or whatever, that the

goodness and the love that we want to feel it's fleeting, it's temperamental,

it's empty, it's circumstantial.

And God is the opposite of all those things.

God is consistent.

God is, um, just.

He is sustainable.

He is infinite.

He is eternal in his love and his goodness.

And he's ever abounding.

He's ever, ever producing it.

It's just, it's just who he is.

You don't have to question where it comes from or how it comes.

It, it's just who he is.

It's how He's designed all of us to be able to receive it, to receive love.

So when we go and seek it out into the rest of the world, we're missing

out on the greatest provider.

We're missing out on the greatest, um, assurance and the greatest

abundance that we want to receive.

We're missing out on all of that.

When we say, oh, it's not in God alone, it's God plus this, plus this, plus this.

Guys, our focus is in God alone.

It's in God alone that we can find this kind of love and assurance.

I wanna finish out with the scripture here.

Philippians four, um, verse six through seven says, do not be anxious about

anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends

all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When I think about the peace of God, when you reflect this week on where you're

at, I want you to know that the peace of God transcends all understanding.

It's a peace like no other, where you're unoffendable, you're not reactive in your

emotions, you're not emotional, like to the point where you're not, you're not,

you can't, you can't control yourself.

You're not spiraling out, and you're not thinking too deep

in thoughts and overthinking.

The peace of God transcends all understanding.

It brings the calmness.

It brings us to the green pastures.

It brings us to the quiet water.

Knowing that we were led and guided by God the entire time.

Amen?

Can we get real practical real quick?

So some action steps this week.

Reflect on what God has provided in your life and protected you from.

Verses 1 through 4.

Read it.

Dive deep.

Secondly, I would like you to write a list of the abundance God has

shown you and pray with gratitude.

Verses 5, right?

The table that has been prepared for us.

That's what we should be giving our time, our energy, and our focus toward.

And our, and our, and our, and whatever is on that table, whatever

else is going on in our lives, know that God is taking care of it.

He is with you through it.

Like I said, it's not being naive, it's not being ignorant and just kind of

burying your head in the dirt about it.

No.

It's about acknowledging, yes, there is a presence, there's an

opposition, there's pressure, but God has laid out something greater

and that we know that God is with us.

So what do we have to fear?

And lastly, like I said in the beginning, memorize Psalm 23.

Memorize Psalm 23.

Like I said, even if you don't come on stage and recite it, memorize it for you.

It's not about being on here and doing it.

It's, we should be doing this not just with this scripture,

but with many scriptures.

Different seasons in our lives where God's Word needs to be the sword that

cuts through all the lies, cuts through all the chaos and all the noise.

Psalm 23 grounds each and every one of us.

Psalm 23 will ground you and keep you Keep you and keep you rooted in God's

love, his assurance of his promises, and the assurance of his protection.

And last but not least, are you in good hands?

Come on, love it.

We are in good hands.

You are in good hands because we are in the hands of God and it is in

God alone that we have good hands.

Um, I'm going to pray, um, before we have our, um, uh, our worship team

come out and lead us in a final song.

But like I say, guys, this is our, this is our series.

It's in God alone.

So let us fight, strive, and commit.

Each and every day, each and every moment and decision to putting

it and trusting in God alone.

Amen.

All right, let's pray.

God We are so grateful, uh for you.

God in you alone.

Can we find this everlasting peace?

This everlasting love the sovereignty that you have God over all creation gives us

assurance that we have nothing to fear God, I pray that as we continue through

this series and through these weeks and even just the rest of our Walks with you

in our faith God, that we know that you are the good shepherd, the chief shepherd,

the one that wants to lead us to green pastures and quiet waters, the one that

is with us in the midst of dark valleys, the one that prepares a table in the

presence of our enemies, the one that anoints our heads with oil, the one that

overflows our cup, and the one that has goodness and love and mercy that follows

us all the days of our life until we come into, um, go into heaven with you.

God, we are grateful.

Thank you for your blessings.

Thank you for your grace that you have lavished upon each and

every one of us in this room.

We love you so much.

We pray also in your son Jesus name.

Amen.