The Lord Is My Shepherd - Summer of Psalms

Yes, our little Joyce.

She would always say, You get over here, big fella, and give me a hug.

And she would hug me around the left leg or the right leg, you know, whichever it was.

But it was you could tell it was coming straight from the heart.

Um today uh gonna look at a uh one of the summer and uh in the psalm series, um my favorite or one of my m my favorite songs, number 23, also known as the shepherd psalm today, where uh David paints, I believe, one of the most picturesque scenes in the scriptures uh of what it looks like to follow Jesus.

And um I believe anyone who spends even a little time pondering this poem, this song of David, if you would, today maybe is your opportunity to do that.

But you're gonna see how uh the Lord will bless you in spiritual, emotional, even physical ways, based on David's words here from experience following the Good Shepherd.

And uh so today I want us all to see just how involved Jesus is and he longs to be uh in a personal way uh with your journey from here on earth into glory.

And there's just six small verses.

I would pray that at some point you would commit these verses to your memory because they're uh they're packed with spiritual truth and the blessings of God that that come with following after him.

So we are his people, the sheep of his pasture, the Bible says.

So we should enter his gates with thanksgiving.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we uh ask you to provide to us your spiritual insight, your understanding of what the Good Shepherd is and what it means for us to follow you closely and to be a part of your fold today.

And uh as we walk through this beautiful and powerful and uh picturesque song today, uh we ask you to enlighten our eyes and encourage us and help us to follow you more closely.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

The shepherd song number twenty-three uh begins with uh some beautiful pictures here.

So just as we read it, just try to pull it up in your mind.

The Lord is my shepherd, David says.

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters.

Here uh David is pointing out that the Lord belongs to him.

So every time I uh recite this little psalm, I think that in my head, you've got to make this personal uh as David did.

He is my shepherd.

So I kind of accentuate that uh that word.

I shall not want.

Uh Christians, all those who follow in his fold belong to the good shepherd, and he belongs to you when you put your trust in him.

Uh so that's why David made this so personal.

He was a shepherd as well, as you know.

And uh when he looked at his sheep, he he knew which ones were his.

Jesus once said, I know my sheep, they know my voice.

I call them each by name, so I I would assume David named his sheep too.

Uh sheep are not the brightest uh of all the animal kingdom, as you know, but they do know their name and they follow when you call them.

Um you don't have to uh chase behind them, you just walk forward and they tend to walk in a straight line.

Someone went recently went to a uh play down in Pennsylvania and the they had the sheep running in, and all the sheep knew where they were going.

They just went to their spots like perfect actors in the play.

But I was pretty amazed because I've seen videos of sheep that just jump into a hole and then you pull them out and then they just jump right back in the same hole.

So uh like I said, not the not the brightest uh of all God's creation, but unfortunately, Isaiah likens us to the sheep, right?

He says, We've all been like sheep.

We've wandered and strayed into our own ways.

But the key to that verse is says, but the Lord has laid on him, his son, the good shepherd, the iniquity of us all, right?

All the mistakes of the sheep.

Well, thank you, Brother Will, for admitting you're a sheep too, I'm a sheep.

But in some ways, uh we can become shepherds too, right?

We can lead others, we can help to guide them in the good path.

So I would just encourage you today, make the Lord your shepherd today.

Make him my shepherd, and you will not want.

But don't delay.

Put your trust and your belief, your faith.

It's a lot of different ways to say that.

Like Sister Joy, she leaned on him, especially in those latter days when things were getting difficult.

So these truths that we're going to bring out here, the blessings that David describes, they can belong to you as well when the Lord is your shepherd.

Uh that's why when I recite this psalm almost every day, um, whether I'm laying in bed or I'm not quite awake yet, or I'm trying to get to sleep, talk to the shepherd, right?

Don't count sheep.

Uh, it works better when you just talk to him and make him yours.

David says uh he's the one who provides.

He provides everything we need for life and for godliness.

Verse 1, I shall not want.

Right?

That says a lot, doesn't it?

Uh that's why when we give to the Lord, we we know he's taking care of us.

We're just giving back something that he's already given to us, right?

Um Jesus is your shepherd, you don't have to worry uh or want for anything, either now or forever.

Uh and that includes throughout eternity, as we'll see at the very end of the song.

Jesus is our ultimate provider, right?

Takes care of everything we need.

I see so many people in need every day, you know, pass by some folks, or you hear them talking in the bank, or you hear the words of a song.

You know, recently I just heard a country song, and the guy said, Um, I just need a little, what was it?

Hope or something.

He's crying out.

I'm like, wow, just in the words of the song, I could see this person needs something, and he's aware of it.

He's becoming aware of it.

Some folks don't even know they're needy, and sometimes we have to explain to them how far uh we fall short of God's perfect grace and holiness in order to know uh really how far we have to go in him and what he has in store for us.

But when I pass, maybe we can trim this mic down just a hair, guys.

Thank you.

Uh when I pass by someone who's really demonstrating strong need, it it puts a little stinger in your heart, doesn't it?

Right?

You see that and you're like, ooh, that's hurting, that's hurting.

Or I'll say, um, that guy there, he uh reminds you that could be my son.

You know, I'll say that in my heart, and then I just I can't pass by without something, whether it's a word, a gift, a prayer, or just an acknowledgement that this is a human being, right?

And they need things, but if they could only know the good shepherd, right, who can supply all their needs according to his riches and glory, uh Jesus is also our place of rest.

David moves on in verse two, saying, He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

This time through, as I was studying this again and again, uh that word makes me jumped out uh that phrase that he sometimes has to force me to rest.

Um I I just said, Oh, green pastures, that's beautiful.

You know, sheep need grass, they like to eat, it's a comfortable place to lay down, right?

They need the rest.

But sometimes the shepherd has to force the sheep to lay down, and and he asks them to rest for the journey ahead.

See, we don't know much about what's coming in our lives around the next corner, even, but the good shepherd does.

Amen.

He knows what's coming tomorrow, he knows how far they're gonna walk, he knows where the next green pasture is, right?

And sometimes there's deserts in between, and we need to listen when he says, I want you to rest.

And today is a day of rest, right?

Sunday, as we set that aside in the Christian uh calendars, to rest, to contemplate, to uh lay into him, right?

To confide in him, to spend time with his people, his fold, his sheep, right?

It's good, it's a good thing.

But some of us need to be told, right?

He needs to demand it of us.

Today you're gonna rest, uh, and it's a good thing.

But we when we try to take care of every need ourselves, you know, I have some friends right now.

Oh, I'm pulling double shift this week because they they're down to three people and nobody wants to work.

And I reminded the young man, you know, you have to rest too, right?

For you to be any good at even at work, you have to take some time off.

You have to step out of it.

Uh, you know, the Bible says he created the earth in six days, physical days, but on the seventh day he rested.

And I do believe God did not rest because he had to rest.

I believe that was a distinct uh pointing to what we need as human beings made of flesh, made of dust, really.

Uh we need to have rest at times.

Uh so if you're trying to take care of everything yourself, remember uh Jesus uh is the good shepherd, and Psalm 23 reminds us that the Lord is our shepherd, but he takes care of us always, and nothing outside of him can do that for you.

You know, you can try to stockpile things or you know, save up a lot for a rainy day or whatever, but it could go in a moment, right?

Solomon says, uh, even money, it's fleeting, it flies away like the wind, he says.

And he had more money than most, right?

So for him to say that, you know it's true.

Green pastures represent food and nourishment for the sheep, uh, and a perfect place to lay down and to rest, to get some sleep.

And note, without fear, right?

Not fearing because the shepherd is there.

In one place, Jesus said, I am the door to the sheep.

And uh the custom in uh in the Far East is the shepherd would lay, make a little circle of a gate or a fence, and then he would lay in the gate, and he would become the gate.

So nothing would go in or out without stepping over him, whether it was a sheep trying to escape or a wolf trying to get in, right?

He was there at the gate.

Uh Jesus said, That's who I am.

Um I'm the great shepherd.

Uh David wrote once, and you remember, this is a guy who's running from the king of Israel, right?

Who had all the armies and chariots and forces against him, and he said, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.

Psalm 4 and verse 8.

For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Uh David was often on the run, as we know from King Saul, but he was able to sleep in peace, knowing that the Lord would keep him safe.

One of the primary functions of the Good Shepherd, uh, if you think about him in your life, is to guard you and protect you, right?

So all manner of evil cannot come against you because he is there, he is watching.

And the great thing about our shepherd is he never sleeps.

He doesn't close his eyes, the Bible says.

He doesn't need to rest in that sense.

So he's always keeping guard, he's always watching over your soul and over your body.

Are you resting safely in your Savior's capable hands?

Or are you taking that to yourself?

It's a tough question.

Because a lot of times our words will say we're trusting, but our actions show differently, right?

And we're piling stuff up or we're making defenses or we're putting in alarm systems and cameras, which, you know, I understand we do live in an evil day, and God asks us to be diligent and to be watchful and all those things.

But the Bible also says that unless the Lord watches the city, the watchman wakes in vain, right?

So pulling that third shift without God, it's a scary time, right?

But when he's there, you know you are safe.

There is a deep and an abiding peace for the sheep when our shepherd is leading them.

Uh David goes on in verse two to say, He leads me beside the still waters.

I love that phrase.

And when I'm that's usually about where I pass out and go to sleep when I get to verse two there.

Uh I get a very strong visual of like the lazy river, you know, or the glassy stream where you can actually get a drink.

Or my favorite is the the rippling brook, right?

It has that just that soft noise.

It's not like the crashing waves of the ocean.

I'm not a real fan of the ocean because of the salt and the noise and the consistent banging, but I love the sound of a rippling brook, you know.

I mean, I could probably go to sleep right now, so don't start that music on your phone, you know.

Uh people have that on their, you know, on their phones, right?

Give me some peaceful water.

But still waters, you know, are drinkable waters, right?

And sheep need water and they need food, so they need grass, grassy hills, they need still waters.

Um, but these, I think the the deeper understanding here is uh there are springs of refreshing that come from him and only from him.

These represent uh the rejuvenation, the replenishment uh for our bodies and and our souls.

Uh John 4 uh verse 13 says this.

Uh Jesus answered to a woman who was actually sitting at a well.

It was Jacob's well, and he said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again.

And she looked at him like he had two heads.

Well, of course.

That's why I come out to this well every day with my pots, and I fill them up, and I carry them back into the village.

But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, Jesus said, will never thirst.

But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

Jesus is the water of life.

And I believe it's in Revelation where it says, Let him come and drink of the water of life freely.

So there's no charge at the well.

I used to think we'd never have to pay for water.

Boy, was I wrong.

Right?

So I just saw a guy carrying some in here today.

So if you drink water, thank little Sam.

There he lugged it in from the car and he goes, The ladies couldn't carry it.

It was too heavy.

Um, but the water of life is something that will sustain you beyond today, right?

Into eternity.

Jesus is the water of life.

He was talking about himself.

The woman's like, I don't see you with a vessel.

Where are you going to get this water from?

Right?

She was confounded by it.

Later, she ran to the village and said, Come and see a man.

I've met a man.

I think he's a prophet.

I don't know, but he told me everything about my life that I never told him, and I don't know how he knows, because he's from Jerusalem and I'm from uh Samaria, right?

Um but when we drink of his water, the water of life, we will never thirst again.

He said, he is expressing here that he, the good shepherd, is the one who can satisfy the deepest thirst, the deepest longings of our soul, and he will sustain that and sustain us throughout eternity.

He is Jehovah Jirah, our provider, um, provider of earthly stuff, right?

The things you need.

David said, I will not want, and also what you don't know you need, which is life eternal with him.

So Jesus uh brings us spiritual and emotional relief, and then he moves on to the soul.

David starts talking about the restoration of my soul.

That means I once had a soul, but now it's in trouble, right?

Um we saw it in the Garden of Eden, right?

They were walking with God with the voice of the Lord in the cool of the evenings, and then they sinned, and they needed atonement, they needed restoration, they needed someone to restore what they once had, which was an intimate fellowship with the Creator.

And David now is longing for that.

He says, He restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, right?

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

That has always staggered me, that thought, right?

Why would you eat lunch in front of your enemy?

You could set your table anywhere else, you don't put it there.

But when you have Jesus as your good shepherd, you can do that, right?

He will prepare it and he will protect you the whole time.

So deep and inner restoration, the restoring of your soul is found in one only, and it's Jesus Christ.

He restores my soul, David said.

So apparently he has known what it's been like to be away from the good shepherd as well, right?

Or running on the lamb, right?

Just fleeing from King Saul.

But also he knew what it was like to disobey the Lord, right?

He uh committed adultery and murder, and he came back to the Lord.

He said, Don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

That was his prayer, right?

He wanted that soul restored, that intimate fellowship that he once had as the little shepherd boy on the side of a hill outside of Jerusalem.

Jesus is indeed the good and the great shepherd of the sheep.

And the Bible calls him the great shepherd because he was willing to lay down his life for the sheep.

So, right behind my head there, you see a little golden cross there.

That's to remind us of how he did it, what he did.

And if you ever doubt his true love and his ability to restore, look at that cross.

Remember what he did for you there.

Remember that he's the only one that can pay the price for our sins, because he was the perfect Lamb of God as well as the good shepherd, right?

Because he laid down his life for his people.

The Bible says that's the greatest form of love that can be shown and demonstrated, and he did it.

The Creator did that for us.

That should stagger us a little bit, a lot, actually, um, because he laid down his life for us.

So living in this sinful world in a fleshly body, it causes damage and there's damnation around us and even in our own souls at times, a separation from the close fellowship that we can have with the Savior, the fellowship that he wants to have with us, but we break that through our disobedience, through our wanderings all the time, right?

But the sacrifice of Jesus on that cross, that can restore your soul, bring you to the place where God wants you to be, which is close to him, following him, living with him, uh, abiding in his fold, uh, coming when he calls your name, right?

When he gives you a call.

Are you listening?

Sometimes he'll whisper it and he'll say, Here we go, let's move.

We're moving forward.

Uh, are you lagging behind like I do many times?

Like, Lord, I don't want to go there.

That's pretty dangerous.

That's a scary place.

I don't want to talk to those people.

They they're gonna look at me like I have two heads or whatever.

You know, uh, but you know, this week I'll be at a funeral with a family that doesn't really know the Good Shepherd, but they know their grandma knew the Good Shepherd, right?

So I guarantee I'll be using that connection and say, look, did she love you?

Oh yeah, grandma loved us.

How do you know that?

Well, she told us all the time.

She told us that her love came from the love that God gave to her.

And it was unmistakable, right?

If if little Joycey ever hugged you, you know that was some love juice right there.

She wanted to let you know.

But our our Lord, our Savior, our shepherd, um, here's a beautiful thing about his leading is that he always leads us on the righteous path.

Right?

There's many leaders today who will lead you astray in different directions.

But you know for sure when you're following him, you're walking on the straight and the narrow way.

The way that leads to life eternal with him.

That's where he's guiding you toward.

And he will always walk that path perfectly.

You might stray, but he does not.

It says, I know this because David wrote, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

And what is his name?

I had to look that one up.

1 John 2, 1.

My little children, take this to heart.

We're his little children too, in some way, right?

Even us old ones.

I'm still a little sheep, right?

Although I might do some shepherding on occasion.

But Pastor Andrew, God bless you, you got back from Minnesota just now.

Thank you.

Glad he's here.

But we being shepherds, we're we call ourselves under shepherds.

Why?

Because we're under the good shepherd always, right?

So if you lead a group of people, be aware of where you're leading them, right?

Don't lead them astray.

Follow Jesus, and you will lead in a good path, right?

Paul says, Follow me as I follow Christ.

And that's what we long to do.

But John said, My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.

Right?

On that good path, on that righteous path, we don't stumble.

There's plenty of light, right?

We're not walking in the darkness.

We see clearly, this is good, this is not good.

Most of us know what it is anyway, right?

Have you ever stepped off the path not even knowing that you were going off the path?

It's probably possible, but I don't think most of the time we do.

I think we know before it even happens.

We're like, oh, that's not a good term, but let's see what's down that road.

And the people who go down that road a long time, they'll tell you, don't come down here.

This is like nothing good down here.

I'm coming the other way.

Uh but it says, and if anyone sins, John says, we have an advocate with the Father.

That's the lawyer, the paraclete, the one who stands up for you in court and says, Yeah, he did the deed, but I took the Punishment.

Right?

He sinned the sin, but I'm sinless.

And I gave my life for that sin.

And it will not be accounted again against that person.

So he's the advocate with the Father.

And then John closes this thought with this phrase Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Meaning he is always righteous.

He's the righteous one.

There's no one like him.

This is one of his unique qualities, right?

The holiness of God.

He is pure through and through.

There's no unrighteousness in him, the Bible says.

And if we walk with him, we're walking in the light.

And the Bible says we will have fellowship one with the other, because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

So he's even taken care of the bad stuff, right?

All by himself.

That's why we must follow him.

Jesus always leads us on the straight and the narrow way.

And that's the way that leads to life eternal with him, right?

He said the broad way goes downward to destruction.

Nothing good on that path.

If you're on that path, get off, right?

I guarantee if you're on it, he's putting speed bumps in your way already.

He's trying to slow you down.

You're going to have hurtings, you're going to have failures.

I mean, some of these things that'll come on you will be because he's waking you up in a sense.

But uh, you know, even tragedy and death are going to come to all of us eventually, but there is nothing to fear because Jesus is near.

He is with us.

His perfect love is on us and it's within us.

The Bible says, perfect love casts out fear.

Psalm 23, 4 says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And I think he's speaking of actual death here, not just a representation of it.

But he says, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

It doesn't say, for you carry me out of it or you help me to escape it.

It says, you're there with me in it, right?

Wherever it is, if he doesn't pull you out, he doesn't abandon you.

That's what we humans do, right?

Where friends go down our real thing, we're like, I'm out of here, bro.

See you later.

And we abandon them.

That's what they did to Christ in the garden, right?

He is not like that.

When we are cowering in fear, and we will, right, because maybe we've made wrong choices, or Satan is just like that.

He's a fearful character and he tries to instill fear.

If you see someone who's ruling and um judging by fear, like trying to force you into control and fear, you know that's not of God, right?

That person is not following the righteous one because he rules by love, not by fear.

And he goes first, not last.

Right?

Anyone who will go through the fire first, that's the person I want to follow.

Uh Jesus is that one.

He said, I am with you.

When we're uh not sensing that, we're not following him.

Uh, even death, whether it be like a shadow, I think for a Christian it is, right?

We go from this life to the next, but there's this little shadow that passes over uh for a time.

God has promised eternal life to all those who follow him.

So there's always something brighter on the other side of that shadow.

At the end of uh Jesus' great commission in Matthew 28, he says this to his disciples, his sheep, his followers.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Amen.

So be it.

Right?

His will be done.

He will not depart from us.

Uh, wherever he sends you to go, if he commissions you, right, to go and preach the good news to a friend or to a restaurant or to someone that you just walk by on the street, he is with you.

You're not doing this alone, right?

He's not gonna abandon you.

And when you need the words, you just ask him and he will fill you with his words.

How many times I can probably not count to you when I've been heading to an appointment and I'm like, Lord, you got to give me some words.

You know, these people are hurting and they need to hear something from you, but I don't know what you want to say.

But you know what?

By the time I get there, he's there.

He's already been there, he's already holding these people, right?

And if you can open your eyes to that and see the good shepherd, you too.

It says his Holy Spirit will give you the words when you need them, right?

Even if you're brought before councils or you're being accused of something.

You don't have to sweat it the night before thinking, what will I say or how will I construct my words, right?

Uh it's his continual, consistent presence with us in and through every situation.

That's his promise, right?

And there will be times where he opens a door and gives you an escape route or a way to uh bear up under the pain or the str the uh struggle that you're in, but he will never abandon you, and that's the promise of the shepherd.

So we can rest assured that Jesus will bring uh even uh gentle correction, right, when we need it.

Uh that's the rod of the shepherd.

I call that the straight end of the stick.

So uh I told you I'm just a little shepherd, so I have a little staff, but but there's a rod, right?

Beats off the enemy, protects the sheep, even points to them.

This is where we're going.

But there's also the staff, right?

Which is has a little crook in it, usually, right?

And you know what that's for, right?

That's when the pastor's preaching too long and get that guy out of here.

But gentle correction.

David says it this way your rod and your staff, they're a comfort to me.

They comfort me.

Uh there's something about that, right?

When you get correction from a loving father or mom, right?

There's this gentle velvet hand of correction, right?

You know, and they're saying, you know, I'm doing this because I love you.

And I was always like, Yeah, I don't think so right now.

I don't really don't think so.

Um, but in the end, you know, once you become a dad, then you know, you know, that's the last thing you want to do is correct your kid.

But telling you, when they're going off a cliff, you know, you're not gonna let them go.

That's why I said if you correct someone in this world and you correct them in righteousness and a humble way, you're doing that because you love them.

Eventually they may sense that.

They might fight back.

But I'm telling you, if someone's going off a cliff and you don't slow them down, you're not loving them very well, right?

That's how I look at gentle correction.

It's not, it's not because I hate you, it's actually the exact opposite.

It's because I care about what happens to you.

And some of you grandparents, you gotta speak up.

Like, hey, grandson, what are you doing?

What are you doing with your life?

You know?

Come, let's sit down, let's read a couple verses, let's let's get back on the right track here.

And uh Hebrews 12, 6 says, For whom the Lord loves, he chastens.

That's like a little spanking, right?

He chastens them and scourges every son whom he receives.

If he's not correcting you, you're not a son, right?

But I do believe he loves you enough to slow you down.

That's what I call the speed bumps of life, right?

If you're getting all wrecked up and your life is a mess, there's a reason God is allowing that, right?

It's not because he doesn't love you.

He just knows you're on a track that's headed for destruction, and he doesn't want you to go there.

He will give you multiple corrections.

Even if your name is Pharaoh of Egypt, you'll get at least ten times, right?

At least ten opportunities.

I don't think anyone's gonna have an answer against God on judgment day.

He says, every mouth will be stopped.

Meaning, I can't complain to him when I get what I deserve because he's told me so many times through so many people, he's corrected me.

And if I don't listen, that's up, that's on me now, right?

Let's listen to him.

David said, Yeah, I need to listen right away.

It's a it should be a comfort to my soul when the Lord corrects me.

I'm working on that.

My wife will tell you.

Yeah, we're prideful characters.

We don't like to be corrected that much.

And uh, if we do something wrong, let's humbly admit it and just move on, right?

That's the only way to learn and to grow and to develop.

Uh so he only corrects his children, the ones he loves, and the staff of the shepherd.

I believe it's there to catch us, to guide us, even to pull us back onto the right way.

Uh he's protecting us from enemy attacks.

You know, when that wolf, as he's called in the scriptures, uh, gets a little too close, right?

He will beat him off with a stick.

He knows who your friends are and he can protect you.

Verse 5, you even prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

I was saying a moment ago, like who sits down for a picnic lunch with the in the company of enemies?

It's really not something you would desire to do, right?

And the answer to that question is only those who know they were extremely well protected, and they are actually confident in the power and the in the strength and the wisdom and the insights of their good shepherd, right?

So David knew even though he's being hunted down, he had God watching over him because that's what he did for his sheep, right, when he was a young shepherd boy.

He would look out for the enemy.

The Bible says he uh he was attacked by a lion and even a bear one time, but he was able to fend them off because he was defending those little sheep.

And this is what our God can do for us.

Way more uh efficient than David was, I'm sure.

But um sometimes we are injured in life or we're wounded, right, by circumstances, by family, maybe by your closest friend.

But our good shepherd knows how to heal our infirmities.

He can bind up the brokenhearted, the Bible says.

His oil of gladness fills the heart, but it it also repairs the wounds, right?

It's a healing ointment.

And he loves to bless his sheep and to encourage us to go higher with him, right?

To keep climbing.

Uh Psalm 23, verse 5, the last part says, You anoint my head with oil.

Psalms 23:5

Uh what an unsearchable blessing it is when God appoints you and anoints you with his oil.

Uh, it's his call on your life, it's his uh touch of blessing from above.

Uh I tend to resist that call many times and the appointments because they seem overwhelming to me, and sometimes they are, meaning they're way bigger than I am, and they're they require more than I believe I possess.

But God does that intentionally, I think, at times, just to show you who's doing the work, right?

Who's making the call, who will provide for you when he does call.

Uh David uh described this in another Psalm 133.

He said, It's like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, right?

The high priest, running down on the edge of his garments.

I've always remembered that.

When God puts oil on you, he doesn't just put a little dot here or there, but he poured it over Aaron's head.

He wanted the people to see, this is God's appointed one.

Listen to him, he's going to guide you in the scriptures, right?

Aaron was going to be the first high priest called by God.

This is a privilege, right, when God appoints you.

Uh, but it is a very high calling and it's uh daunting at times.

At times you'll be in trepidation the night before, right?

God brings you to a big event and you know you're there for him.

Uh it's you're gonna be a little nervous, right?

And you probably should be.

But you need to lean on him because we know immediately that we can do what he calls us to do, not by ourselves or by our own strength, because it's just way too much for us.

God's call is always bigger than you, right?

That's just the nature of his calling.

But his anointing and his appointment is that uh assurance that he will be there.

Uh Philippians 1 6 says it this way being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

David caps uh verse 5 with, My cup runs over.

Uh, this is a sign of God's ultimate blessings.

And I like to say it this way, he doesn't just bless you for you, right?

If he did that, he would just fill your cup up.

But he doesn't do that.

He keeps pouring.

After you're full, he pours more into the cup.

He continues to bless you.

Why?

He doesn't want you to just have blessing, he wants you to be a blessing to those that you go next to, right?

So when God's sheep come into a situation, there is blessing everywhere.

All right, it just pours out, it overflows, it touches people around them.

Whoever God's sheep are, they are blessing, they are impacting the people and the places around them, even though we may not be aware of it at times, right?

People come back and say, Wow, that was a real blessing.

You're like, wow, I wasn't even aware that anything happened there.

But when God's spirit is there, you know, the oil is a picture of his spirit too.

It flows.

It's a picture of gladness, it's a picture of actually fruitfulness, right?

The fruit of the vine, uh the olive branch.

And then lastly, I'll just wrap this up.

We have a special little time, so love you to hang around.

We're gonna have a little blessing over two little guys, one of the first uh newborn members of our church here a few years ago.

So we're gonna have a little time of blessing in a moment.

We're gonna use that anointing oil as well.

But here as David closes this beautiful picturesque psalm, he says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

So he's not just talking about yesterday or a week ago, but he's talking about every day that he's been alive.

And he says, Shall be, right?

Uh they shall follow me.

That means in the future as well.

So David knows this blessing of God, this goodness, this mercy that he experiences is not just a one-time deal.

This is God doing what he does all the time.

When you are a Jesus follower, uh, what I affectionately call the hound dogs of heaven, goodness and mercy, they will chase after you.

They'll hunt you down, they will follow you wherever you go.

Sometimes you have to get old like me to look back and realize where those hound dogs were in your life and when they were there and when you didn't expect it and they came to your rescue.

They're there.

It's God's service, right?

It's his servants, it's his ministering spirits, his angels, right?

They keep watch over you.

Maybe one of them is called mercy or goodness, I don't know.

But I know, I know one of them is called Shirley.

Okay, finally, uh I always get it for that one.

I don't know why, but David, I believe, latches on to the greatest promise of all this entire chapter by faith, as he prophesies about where he's gonna live forever.

He says at the end of uh verse six, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

That is the place where the good shepherd dwells.

That's where he wants to be.

By faith, David, the little shepherd boy, he knows that he's going to spend eternity in the courts of the Lord, and he is excited about it.

He even says in one place, I think I'd just rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord.

That's where he wants to, he wants to let other people in.

He just wants to be the greeter, like Sister Joyce, you know.

Come on in, big fella.

Get a hug.

Let's go.

And we're gonna meet the Savior today.

My dad used to say, where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there.

And I I love that.

It's like it wouldn't be heaven if he wasn't there.

Amen.

So in just a moment, I want you guys to pray with us.

But I wanted to ask the uh family of the Pizarric family if they would come up and bring those two little guys up here to us right now.

Uh my challenge for each of us today is accept the Lord Jesus Christ.

Accept him as your shepherd, and then follow him all the way home.

All the way home.

Maybe Pastor Andrew, if he could come up and help me with some oil here.

That would be great.

Yeah, if you can grab that piece of paper for me too, Brother Andrew.

Thank you.

Welcome, family.

You're pretty uh happy about these two little guys here, right?

I can say they all want their chance to hold on to these little guys.

My uh granddaughter and son were here today too, so it was grandpa loves it.

Just a note of explanation today.

We haven't done this in quite a while, but as I said, this is one of the first guys that ever popped into our church as a newborn, and so we just want to let uh them start this off.

But today we've decided to have a special uh prayer with them and uh with Justin and Christy and their family.

This is uh little Ezra Rowan and Bennett Tyler.

Uh, can we bring her a chair too, right there, if you could see even uncles have to pitch in now and then.

There you go.

This past Father's Day, uh you know, Justin joined us up here.

We talked some things about dads, right?

Godly fathers.

And one of the verses that came out was from Ephesians 6, 4, and up after that little cute photo, which you can pop back to that later.

Um, but the Bible says, You fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture, which means training and the admonition of the Lord.

So, as uh Christian parents, we need to be intentional.

I think that was one word that really came out of that discussion, that the three dads, the three of us that were up here, we've always tried to be as intentional as possible with training our children in the ways of the Lord.

And we also need to realize as early on as possible that our children really are a gift from God, and because of that, we need his help in order to accomplish this important task as parents and as grandparents, aunties, and uncles.

So today uh we've been discussing how involved our good shepherd has been in our journey from here on earth to the direction of glory, right, where we're headed.

And I believe that the role of a parent is very similar to that of a shepherd, uh, especially in these formative years when they're very small.

And they just need to learn everything, right?

Need to learn how to say please and thank you and move out of the way when someone's coming in with a piano or whatever.

You know, we teach them little things, but also uh for their safety, right?

But we uh we learned early on that we cannot be there for them 24-7 the way God can.

And the the sooner and the more quickly we can hand them to him, into his capable hands, the more our heart can rest and know, okay, God has them where he wants them.

He'll call us when we need to be there, he'll give us the words to say to them, he will give us uh the actions that we need to use, whether we're disciplining or encouraging them.

And I believe they need a ton of both, but probably more encouragement than anything else, because uh who's it, the owner of Hobby Lobby said if you're human, you need to be encouraged.

So it's sort of a it's a need of all of us.

So today we've uh talked a little bit about those good shepherds uh and the anointing prayer that we're about to pray uh is not just a for here and now, but it's an ongoing prayer uh for this family as they represent and present to their children uh to the Lord God, and um, this has to be on a daily basis, and you're with them all the time, I know, especially Mama there.

She's got these guys on her knee wherever she is, um, but they belong to the Lord.

Uh, we're gonna hand them over to him in a public way.

But we're also gonna call you folks into that picture, too, because we're a part of their uh CBC family right here in Cranston.

Uh in Luke chapter 18, verse 15, it says, uh Then they also brought infants to him, to the Lord Jesus, that he might touch them.

Luke 18:15

But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them, but Jesus called them to him and said, Let the little children come to me.

Do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God.

And he even went beyond that.

He said, And assuredly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

And I believe he's talking about uh each of us, right?

All of his sheep, our childlike faith in the one whom we know can protect us at all times, can save us, can anoint us.

And this calling that's going to be on their lives, I don't know what it is, but I can guarantee you it's gonna be something significant in his kingdom someday.

And we can all be a part of that, okay?

So today.

So as I pray, your brother Andrew could come around and just anoint these two little babies in the name of the Lord.

And let us all pray together.

Heavenly Father, we anoint Ezra Rowan today, the big boy, and little Bennett Tyler Pizarek.

Uh, we anoint them with the anointing oil of gladness this morning and with the ongoing prayer, Lord, that you will guard and keep these little ones in your care.

Good shepherd, we watch, will you watch over them in your loving omniscience?

Holy Spirit, will you guide them into all truth so they can grow up in you and with you?

We pray that these children will see and know your love in such a clear way as their parents and their grandparents and their aunts and uncles follow hard after you, Lord, and that they will make each one will make a strong and a lasting personal commitment to you one day when they reach the age of understanding.

Lord, we ask these things of you.

We ask you also to bless the entire church family here at CBC so that, yes, no, yes, we want them to do that.

Uh as we're saying no, no.

But Lord, we want to uh be an encouragement to them and to support this couple and their family and especially their uh precious children.

Lord, we thank you so much for the blessing that they are to us, the blessing they are to you, and we ask you to place your blessing not just a little bit in their cup, but running over today, filled with goodness and mercy.

Give them your call, the high calling today.

We pray uh in Jesus' precious name.

And the congregation said with a resounding Amen, Amen.

That's our ascent to this.

God bless you.

Yes, Amen.

He