Ben Carbone - Psalm 23 verses 1-3 (Sun 2/3/25)

let's

pray Lord God we thank you for your

church we thank you for the opportunity

to gather together time to exalt you and

lift you up and worship you and remember

you in all the things that we do and we

pray right now as we come around your

word that you would speak to

us that you would guide us that you

would lead

us in Jesus name amen

now as you most of you would be aware if

you weren't here last week we announced

that for the month of March we're going

to be walking through Psalm

23 and I thought just before we dig into

Psalm 23 bit by bit we thought it'd be

good to just give you a little bit of an

overview of the Psalms in general now

the Psalms are described described as a

book of poems or a book of songs and um

some Scholars would actually say that

the Psalms were the hym book of the Jews

because the Jews would actually sing

these Psalms together when they gathered

together to worship God a little bit

like what we would describe as liturgy

in modern Church they would come

together and they would sing them

together which reminded me of the fact

that that's what we do when we come

together U most of the songs we sing

many of them this morning were taken

straight from

and that we sing together to remind us

to and encourage us to stay faithful to

Jesus and his commands or his words and

the Jews did the same when they came

together with the Psalms they'd sing the

Psalms to remind them to stay faithful

to the Torah is what they knew as the

word of God and uh and in the Psalms

they they also talk about their waiting

for the Mah that they're expecting to

come so if there's some really

interesting stuff around the Psalms in

that it's it's divided into five parts

and those five parts reflect the Torah

the five books of that Moses wrote that

the Jews built their faith upon and um

and so when they were reading the Psalms

or singing the Psalms might try singing

it a little bit later who knows they uh

they were singing and ing that they were

going to stay faithful to the Torah but

also within those psalms there's this

common theme of they were looking

forward to the Messiah coming to fulfill

scripture does that sound good now in

the Psalms there are two types of Psalms

there are the Psalms of lament and the

psalms of praise now we know what the

Psalms of lament mean they those psalms

where the psalmist goes where are you

God why have you forsaken me why why

have you left me I sit all night in my

bed and I cried you know my bed is full

of tears you read those song or I'd be

better off dead and here sort of stuff

the lament stuff and then there's the

songs of praise which or the psalms of

praise which talk about how good and

faithful God has been and acknowledging

God is the Creator and the one who has

given us all and who is

amazing and I I really love that idea of

Psalms of lament and Psalms of pra

because it reminds me that when I come

to God I can I can come just as I

am whether I'm depressed and downtrodden

and had enough of life or whether I'm on

top of the world and I'm just thinking

God you're amazing you're God says it's

okay come as you are come openly and

honestly sometimes we're rejoicing and

sometimes we're

lamenting now the most famous power of

the Psalms is David King David he

literally wrote over half of the Psalms

79 out of the 150 Psalms that we had

David wrote 79 of them and it's believed

that he wrote Psalm 23 later in life as

he reflected on on his life and he

praised God for and acknowledge God's

hand upon his life from beginning to end

I I sort of have a thought that David

was probably writing Psalm 23 his old

life it was a it was something he was as

a boy as he was looking after his father

sheep in the back blocks of Israel he

was getting this revelation of who God

is is and um I think it's a really great

example for us of how God uses our life

experiences to reveal himself to

us David was serving his father looking

after the Sheep and as he did God

revealed himself to him as this amazing

Shepherd and the incredible thing

is over the thousands of years years

since this Psalm was

written David's revelation of God has

been an encouragement to Christians for

years and years and years and it just

made me think and I want to begin today

by just asking you a question as we

consider the psss

are we looking for and listening for God

in what we are

experiencing right now in our lives are

we looking for and listening for God in

what we are experiencing right now in

our lives reminded me a of a time in my

life where I just left our former church

with a plan to plant a church but it was

a very difficult time in my life and and

I

remember and I've probably told this

story before but I remember sitting up

on the go Coast getting up early in the

morning because they don't have daylight

savings about 4 in the morning everyone

else was asleep and I just felt to just

pray and in that time I was

lamenting I was in that space where it

wasn't a song of Praise coming from my

mouth it was a song of complain and

complaining and lament I was sitting

there going God I've left everything I'd

been in that church all my life pretty

well and I'd gotten to a position where

I had a Ministry in the church and I had

a role and a responsibility and I

thought God I'm leaving everything I

don't know what I'm doing here I'm

leaving everything that I have my

Ministry my this my that my friends my

all that and in that moment as I was

crying out to God

complaining that little still voice came

to my

ear and said what about

me aren't I enough for

you and in that moment I was reminded of

the

Revelation that it's not about my

Ministry and my this and my that but

it's about my relationship with God and

it's that Foundation that we've built

this church on a foundation that

relationships are what matter most

firstly our relationship with God then

our relationship with each other and our

relationship with our

community and in that experience in that

space god revealed himself to me

reminded me of what really mattered so

that's what I ask you this question

right now are we looking for and

listening for God in what we are

experiencing right now in our

lives now I'm going to ask you

to do something for me today and we've

got some handouts I believe is that

right are they up the

back um if I could grab

someone to I I thought wiita was going

to ask the ushers to do it but I

probably should

um there's big ones and there's little

ones so those of you who like me don't

like to wear your glasses there's bigger

ones for you but there's uh but those

younger ones who have 2020 Vision you're

welcome to take a smaller one but um

these are to give you for this month of

March put them on your fridge put them

in on the back of your toilet door put

them in your Bible wherever you want to

put them they Psalm 23 written out for

you and today I thought it would be

great in the tradition of the the Jewish

tradition of reading the Psalms together

we're not going to sing them we're going

to read them so um I'll get you to once

you've got your your uh little hand out

I'll get you to be

upstanding someone might want to help

Brenton so I think he needs a drink

big one or little

one so once you've got yours why you be

upstanding that's it stand

up you got a little one Brian oh you got

your glasses on

just showing off showing off all right

I'll have it on the screen for you as

well if you need

it everyone got one all right in big

voices and with enthusiasm today who's

got

enthusiasm anyone feeling enthusiastic

about God's

word yes

enthusiasm all right on the count of

three one two three the Lord is my

amen well done that was the best Bible

reading I think we've ever done in

church

fantastic thank you for standing up the

back there too Ryan that was wonderful

joining in it's

great what an amazing passage of

scripture an amazing piece of literature

and so over the next four weeks we're

going to walk through this Psalm bit by

bit there's actually four sections to

the psalm and today I'm going to do

verses one to three last week Emily

without knowing gave us an overview of

the Psalms and the relationship between

the shepherd and the sheep and we

discovered how the boundaries of our

relationship with God God should work

verse one says very clearly the Lord is

my

shepherd I shall not

want basically telling us that God is

the Lord and as the Lord he is our

Shepherd

and that means he is the shepherd and we

are the Sheep now don't get offended it

is

scripture but you are not sheep because

you are dumb right is that

okay it's simply explaining to us that

God is the provider of all we need and

we are to receive all we need from him

in other words God gives and we

receive God is the source of all and we

need to depend and rely upon him for

everything now this part where it says I

shall not

want this idea of what does it mean how

do we look probably two ways we can look

at it we can look at it firstly by

saying that God gives me all I

want and this can become a way of faith

in our world today it's a consumerism

type of faith that faith that has that

attitude that says that focuses on

us and

says God is some sort of Father

Christmas some sort of benevolent

benefactor that gives us everything we

desire now the problem I have with this

attitude is that what happens when we

don't get what we

desire when God doesn't heal us God

doesn't pay the bill God doesn't give us

that job God doesn't give us that wife

or husband that we

wanted and all of a sudden and I've

talked with people over the years and

I've seen them respond to this that

God's not giving me and they

that does God God doesn't even care for

me or they take it even further and they

start to question does God even really

exists and I I believe this image of God

is a distorted image that he would be

the god that gives us all we want and it

diminish diminishes God to be our

servant rather than the God who created

us with the purpose of relationship

the second way we can look at

this is is taking an attitude that says

with God as my

she I have all that I want or in other

words I

lack with God as my

shepherd I have all that I want and I

lack nothing you know this was my one of

my mom's favorite passages of scripture

she lived by and we've written on the

bottom of her gravestone

the Lord is my shepherd I lack

nothing and it's it's that attitude of

with God I have everything I need why

it's so important to take that attitude

is because God is the objective and I am

declaring my trust in whatever he has

planned for my life and David is exactly

saying this as he reflects over his own

life he's acknowledging that God has

been with me all the way and I see his

goodness and his Mercy wherever I look

and this is a relationship where God

leads and we

follow we when we accept that Jesus is

my Creator and my Lord what I'm saying

is I place my life in his hands and

believe in him is everything I need to

be all I was created to be I love a

quote from from r f that up he says

because the Lord is my shepherd I shall

not be in want and unless the Lord is my

shepherd I shall be in

want if I am not in want it is because

the Lord is my

sheer and if I

am then the Lord is not

my challenging

so verse one establishes the boundaries

of our relationship with God he is the

shepherd we are the Sheep now it goes on

then in verses two and three to show us

what God provides for us in that

relationship the first part says he

makes me lie down in Green Pastures that

sounds good doesn't it what what do you

focus on in that part what's the what's

the thing that makes sense to you I

don't know about you but for me the

first thing that I'm drawn to in my

carnal sort of nature is Green

Pastures oh provision everything I need

type of thing but the key word or key

words in this passage are not Green

Pastures the key words are lied

down see we want to focus on the

abundance that Green Pastures gives us

that picture of but the key message of

this verse is that the Sheep had found

safe place where with the shepherd where

they can Li lie down and

rest you know it's farmers will tell you

sheep will only lie down when they know

they are safe otherwise they're always

on guard always watching and ready to

run so this passage is telling us when

we make God Our Shepherd we are

safe the Green Pastures that David is

talking about is the is not physical

abundance but rather the safety that we

find knowing god both spiritually and

internally Jesus said it like this this

is eternal life that you know God and

his son who

sent so a relationship with the shepherd

allows us to stop

striving stop consuming when the Sheep

lies down in G pastures that isn't

eating the pastures it's resting in the

pastures and that happens when we God

the Reigns it's that same message that

Jesus spoke when he talked about take my

yoke Rest in Me So this verse reminds me

that truth that my value and worth is

not determined by what I have or what I

achieve or how trouble-free my life is

but it is determined by who I am

connected with and with God as my

shepher I am

the next part says he leads me beside

Still Waters again we quickly be

attracted to the idea of still waters

isn't that right but the key ver words

of this verse are the words he

leads he leads me be beside Still Waters

basically telling us that you will not

experience peace the Peace of still

waters you refuse to be led by

him choosing God as your Shepherd means

surrendering to his

leading there a

challenge now that doesn't mean you just

sit down and you get up in the morning

you say god what have you got for me

today should I eat wheat pigs or corn

flakes should I drive the car or catch

the train it's not that type of

leading it's that

that idea of his we have to be like

asking him what's the next thing we

should do

but waiting or being led by God is all

about making our relationship with God

the primary purpose of our

life it's that it's that understand that

God is always working for us Jesus said

that the father is always at work he's

always working on our behalf and we need

to understand that and that God is

working in my life and through my life

and so what I need to do is make loving

God with all my heart soul and strength

my

purpose and when we do that the natural

fruit of our life is doing life the way

God has called us to there's a really

powerful passage in Galatians where it

talks about walking in the spirit that

God has called us to walk in the spirit

Not In the Flesh and that idea is that

that idea of the sheep and the shepherd

is there that we follow the Holy Spirit

we are led by the Holy Spirit we're

watchful for the Holy Spirit and in

Galatians 5 it says very clearly that

the fruit of someone who walks in the

spirit who walks with God and and is

acknowledging God in all they do and is

is thinking that and trusting that God

is leading is that they will produce the

fruit of love joy peace in

there the peace we're looking for the

Still

Waters all these different things

perseverance and so on and so this is

what this passage is saying is when we

acknowledge that we are being led by God

that God is the one we're following that

we we're understanding that he is our

God he is our Shepherd and we submit to

him if you refuse to submit your life to

him you will never find

peace the next part says he restores my

soul now in this this one the key word

is

restores you happy about

that following the shepherd brings

Restoration in the original language in

the Hebrew this word restores can also

be translated as

refresh or another way which is really

interesting is returns as in it brings

it back to where it came

from that picture is in modern terms is

rebooting your computer when it's messed

up anyone do that anyone remember you

ring up the IT people and they say have

you tried turning it on and off again is

that right that's on and off again off

and on again off and then on again that

that idea that it's a reboot it's a

restart and the Bible teaches us that we

are created in God's image therefore we

will never discover our true selves

until we

reconnect with our Shepherd or our

creator so restoring or restoration of

our soul refreshing of our soul

returning our soul is all about

salvation we can try to F our lives with

all kinds of things to try and make us

feel better fill our lives with

relationships with possessions with

positions all those sorts of things to

try to refresh and restore us but it's

only a relationship with our creator

it's only a relationship with the

shepherd it's only a relationship with

God that will restore our soul refresh

our lives and return us back to who

created us to be this is what this is

saying about restoring my soul the great

thing about this is that Jesus has done

everything required for our souls to be

restored there's a beautiful Parable

that he tells to explain this where he

says he's the Good Shepherd and that he

is the shepherd who leaves the 99 to

find the one lost sheep

that's God restoring our he left Heaven

came to Earth died on a cross and rose

again the purpose of bringing those lost

sheep back to him how good is

that all we need to do is acknowledge

our

mistake declare our need for

him and his promise is to refresh

restore and return us back to who he

created us

the final thing that we'll look at today

is he leads me in Paths of righteousness

for his name's

sake again this

affirms the need for us as sheep to have

a

mindset that my life exists to follow

the

shepherd this is the key to this whole

first

these whole first three we love to focus

on Green Pastures Still Waters

restoration but the key to these first

and verses and it establishes very

clearly that if we want these things it

requires us to allow God to

live Emily said last week that it's no

accident that Jesus used the words

follow me

described himself as I am the Good

Shepherd and he encourages encourages us

to follow

him John 8:12 he says these words he

John 8:12

says whoever follows me will not walk in

darkness but will have the light of life

and that's what this passage is talking

about in Psalms the verse is literally

telling us that those who put their

trust in the shepherd

will always be on the right

path those who put their trust in the

shepherd will always be on the right

path this is God's promise to us trust

me and I will lead you where you

need put your faith in me and I will

lead you

to rest in

me put the full weight of your life upon

me because I can hold you and I will

take you where you need to go another

really powerful Psalm that David wrote

was Psalm

37 and uh in that Psalm he says these

words the Lord directs the steps of The

Godly he Delights in every detail of

their lives that's in the New Living

Translation in the Amplified it says it

this way the steps of a good and

righteous

are directed and established by the Lord

and He Delights in his way and blesses

his path the steps of a good and

righteous man are ordered by the Lord or

are directed and established by the Lord

now we know we understand that as

Christians nothing we can do makes us

righteous the Bible tells us our

righteousness is as dirty rags that's

why Jesus had to come but Jesus promises

us that if we put our faith in him if we

choose to trust him acknowledge Him as

our

Shepherd he then gives us his

righteousness and the Bible teaches us

that he leads us into all

righteousness that means that and if we

look at this verse that we've just read

that means that we could literally

translate as God is delighted in the

person who puts their trust in is

righteousness and he directs their

steps notice what I in this in this

paraphrase of it is God is delighted in

the person who

puts it's in the present

tense it's not Delights in the person

who has put his faith maybe years ago

you put your faith in Jesus and you

think well I did it then and that's

great so everything should be okay no

every day you put your faith in his

righteousness every step you take you're

putting your faith in his righteousness

it's active it's daily is Moment by

moment I am trusting God this is what

this passage David is trying to explain

to

us in this he leads me in Paths of

righteousness or God directs the steps

of the

is that he is telling us that we need to

put our faith in him Moment by moment

step

by it's not just something we

decided 25 years ago or 10 years ago and

it's all okay it's a

daily Moment by moment thing but it even

goes even deeper than that because

repeatedly the Bible encourages us

to live a life that trusts

God God's way above our own way so in

other words our job is to trust and it's

God's job to

lead and in Psalm 23 what we've just

read is a beautiful picture of God as

the shepher and we as the

Sheep the benefits are endless but the

challenge for us is to choose to

as next week we're going to go into the

next passage about the Valley of the

shadow of

death which reminds us is if we learn to

trust God it doesn't matter where he

leads us we

will doesn't matters us us

when when we decision to allow God to be

our his prom

is Ste Waters but his ultimate promise

is that he will guide us

every step

of We Are Not Alone the God who loves us

is with

us and

heighted to walk with us

no I want to close with this last

thought because I I found it really

interesting that there's a really

beautiful connection between David's

teaching around this idea of trusting

God as the shepher and we as the Sheep

IDE living a life of

trust continually Watching God through

his

dire and his son's teaching in the

Proverbs his son Solomon King Solomon

who followed on from David

after after David died and there's a

really interesting connection between

the two David talking about trusting the

Lord with everything we have and son

Solomon in the Proverbs he wrote

Proverbs teaches us the same thing and

the picture I get maybe it's just where

I'm at the moment but I have that

picture of David drumming this into his

son all his

life

he's Solomon don't forget the Lord's

your Shepherd stop trying to do it your

own way follow the

shepherd you

imagine it's like

having for me that that benefit and

that privilege of having a Godly mother

who continually encourage me to trust

God or she would say trust God Benny you

can do it trust him he's got everything

everything you

need trust him trust him and I can

imagine David doing the son same with

his son Solomon trust trust you're going

to be the next king need to learn to

allow the shepherd to lead let him lead

trust him trust him he orders the steps

of the good and righteous ones the ones

that are in right standing with him the

ones that are trusting him and then we

go

to

and maybe Solomon listen sometimes maybe

he didn't but at the end of the day

scripture teaches us that at some point

it's sunk in

because in

Proverbs 35 and

6 Solomon wrote these

words trust in the Lord with all your

heart and do not lean on your own

understanding in all your ways

acknowledge Him and He will make your

paths

straight let's pray

as we bow our heads and we reflect on

these first three verses of

Psalms take a moment just

to think about your life right now

what is God saying to

you maybe he's

saying give me back the steering

wheel make me your Shepherd

again you've got distracted youve you've

allowed yourself to be led your own ways

and God's calling you back and saying

trust me trust me

calling you to

reboot to

refresh maybe he's just wanting you to

know whatever you're going through right

now he wants you to

know it's okay you're safe with me I've

got you I'm holding you right

now doesn't matter what happens I'm with

you and you are safe maybe that's

today what I want you to do is just

reach out to

him talk to him acknowledge

Him take a moment to acknowledge him as

your

Shepherd say God I choose you to be my

shepherd maybe you need to say help me

be a sheep because I'm a stubborn

pigheaded

sheep who loves to do their own thing so

help me God to

the type of sheep I need to be one that

trusts

you you take a moment just

to ask God for his help

Lord God we thank you for your

word we thank you that it is life to

us that it reminds us

of what we're called to

do that the greatest thing we can do in

this life is trust

you trust you with their life the

greatest thing we can do is follow you

and your promise to us as you would lead

us and guide us and will be with us in

all

things pray for every person here you

know where they're at right now I pray

that over these next few weeks and even

today that you would give them a fresh

revelation of you as their Shepherd the

Good

Shepherd who

leads into Green

Pastures he restores our

he leads us in Paths of

righteousness he refreshes

us we lean into you and we rest in you

and we put our faith and trust in

you in Jesus

name amen