September 24, 2023 / A Deeper View of Leading

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. Well, let's take our Bibles this morning, if you have

them, and turn to the book of Psalms, right there in the middle of your whole book, just

open it up, the book of Psalms, the 23rd Psalm today. How many of you know this 23rd Psalm

by memory? You think you know it by memory, would you raise your hand? I thought I'd get

most of the hands in this room because that is one of the favorite Psalms of all time.

Today, we're going to look at Psalm 23 from the perspective of leading well, a deeper

view of leading. By the way, this is the last message in our Out of the Shell series that

really focused on relationships, and we begin next week in John 14, 15, and 16, where we'll

start a ministry called the Holy Spirit, talking about what Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit

to be in our lives and how the activity of the Holy Spirit is still relevant and powerful

today. So look ahead to next week in that. Please stand with me as we read Psalm 23 together

and as we look at what the Bible says about a deeper view of leading. Psalm 23, beginning

in verse 1, I'm using the New American Standard Version, which is also under some of your

seat box, your seat holders for the Bibles, and here's what it says in Psalms 23. The

Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads

me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness

for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear

no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a

table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup

overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and

I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's got that amazing, familiar feel, doesn't

it? It's got a comforting kind of tone to it as you read the 23rd Psalm. I can't tell

you the number of times I've heard this Psalm read. Sometimes it's in church services,

sometimes at funerals. I've heard it read in football locker rooms. I mean, just about

everywhere the 23rd Psalm is something that speaks to us and resonates with us, and I

want us to look at today from the perspective of leadership. Let's pray together. Father,

in Jesus' name, show us all we need to know today from the 23rd Psalm. Show us what we

need to know about you, our Father, our great Shepherd. Lord, I am so grateful that you

are who you say you are. I'm so grateful that the words of Psalm 23 bring great comfort,

great encouragement, even in the darkest times of life. You're our great Shepherd leading

us through. Father, thank you for affirming that to us. Thank you for being you. We ask

this in Jesus' name, and everybody said amen. Please be seated if you would.

Well, our series on relationships has been six weeks long. We've looked at different

things. Last week it was about serving one another, and I made the statement last week

that good leadership, being a servant, is practically synonymous. When we talk about

serving and leading, we ought to be talking about it in the same sentence, because every

good leader is a good servant, and everyone that serves well understands leadership really

well. It's important for us to have that picture in front of us. You know, over the

years I have been a fan of reading books on leadership. I remember going to seminary way

back when, almost 40 years ago now, and coming out with a pretty good understanding of what

the Bible said, but when it came to pastoring a church or leading people, I didn't feel

like I had all the instruction I needed. I thought there were some things I really needed

to learn, and so I bought book after book after book on leadership. I have whole sets

of leadership volumes from John Maxwell and other leaders of various eras. I've read

church leadership, I've read corporate leadership, business leadership, family leadership, just

about every kind of leadership book that you can imagine I have read at some point, or

summarized at some point, or tried to put in my life in some way. But at the end of

it all, there is no perfect model for leadership. There is no perfect plan for how to lead,

but there is a perfect person who exemplifies what leadership is all about, and that is

the Lord in Psalms 23, and later on Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

So I want us to look at Psalm 23 today, not just as a comforting Psalm for each of us

who count the Lord as our shepherd, and it will be comforting to you, but at the same

time I want us to look at that from the perspective of how can we be like the Lord in how we interact

with other people around us. Psalm 23 is a picture of perfect leadership in the sense

of the Lord Himself is perfect, He's divine. And in every way He meets our needs in ways

that we don't even know sometimes. Psalm 23 is a reminder, and one of the reasons we love

Psalm 23 is because it reminds us that we really need a shepherd. We really need someone

to help us with the things in life. And we need somebody that's not distant, we need

somebody that's not insensitive to what we're going through in life, we need someone that's

with us and is aware of everything we're going through. We need a shepherd, and we have the

Great Shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd is how this begins.

And by the way, if you aspire to lead, and we all ought to aspire to lead well, whether

it's leading as a mom or a dad, a brother or a sister, whether it's leading in the church

environment, the kingdom environment, the business place, whatever organization you're

a part of, we ought to aspire to lead after the pattern of the very best leader ever,

and that is the Lord Himself. So I'm going to give you some things out of Psalm 23 today

that I hope will be helpful for you. Three very clear, simple points, because Psalm 23

is simple, just a few verses, and yet profound in how it can impact us. First of all, I want

you to notice the perfect example. It begins in verse one, giving us the perfect example,

David is authoring the Psalm. David was a shepherd later to become a king, and he says

this, he says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Now David begins this by stating

the same thing two different ways. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. There's

two ways of saying the same thing. He is perfect in his leadership. He leads so well, there's

nothing I could possibly want. There's nothing missing from how he leads me. The Lord is

my shepherd. I shall not want. Now let me just say this statement because I think it's

important. Great leaders ought to hold great examples of leadership in front of them. They

ought to hold great examples of leadership in front of them. All of us aspire to be great

leaders. None of us should claim that we're great leaders. All of us should have the picture

of the perfect leader in front of us, and that would be the Lord. Now last week we were

in Mark chapter 10 where Jesus was talking to his disciples about leadership. Remember

Mark 10 · chapter mention

what James and John said to Jesus, Lord, let us be on the right hand and left hand of you

when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, well, you have the wrong pattern of

leadership in front of you, the wrong example of leadership in front of you. And he said

this in Mark 10, 42 and 43. He said, you know that those who are recognized as rulers of

the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them, but it is

not this way among you. In other words, don't have the wrong pattern or model of leader

in front of you or you'll move in a different direction than you should be. Instead of that,

keep the best leader in front of you, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why

Jesus later on in John chapter 10 said to these disciples, I am the good shepherd and

John 10 · chapter mention

the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Can you agree with me today that Jesus

is the perfect leader? Say amen if you agree with that. He's the perfect leader. There

is no way that there could be a person possibly improve on the leadership of Jesus Christ.

The book of Hebrews calls Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep. And also the Bible,

the picture, the very vivid imagery of a shepherd and sheep are brought to us to help us understand

something about this great shepherd and his leading of us. You know, when it comes to

shepherd and sheep, there's all kinds of analogies that help us, all kinds of stories and pictures

that will help us understand how it works, but the truth is that sometimes thinking about

leadership as being a shepherd of sheep seems out of touch with modern technology, out of

touch with current leadership principles or leadership examples, but the reason that this

great model of leadership modeled by the perfect example of Jesus Christ is so relevant is

because it touches on human nature that does not change. Ultimately, leadership is about

leading people. Leadership is about helping people and serving people. And of course,

Jesus was the master of that. The Lord is my shepherd talks about God himself. Jesus

says I am the good shepherd. So this is a powerful picture of what we need to be aware

of. By the way, Jesus frequently talked about people as being like sheep. Now, just for

those of you that are not too aware of what sheep are, that is not really a compliment

that he calls a sheep, right? We're aware that when he calls a sheep, he's talking

about animals that everyone knew were prone to really need a shepherd. For example, the

parable of the lost sheep, the one running away, hiding, being lost, and the shepherd

leaving the 99 to go after the one says that that one was missing it somehow and the good

shepherd had to go get him. It's pretty humbling to be called sheep by Jesus. It says we need

help. That's what it says. So how many of you were ever raised around sheep? Would you

raise your hand if you were raised around sheep? Nobody in the room was raised around sheep

or you were sheepish in letting me know that you were raised around sheep in some way.

Let me tell you about shepherds and sheep. Sheep are helpless and cannot survive without

a good shepherd. They don't have good eyesight and they don't hear well. They're heavy

creatures and they move at a painstakingly slow pace. No one ever says they're as fast

as sheep. They're easily frightened and confused. They're dumb. They follow one another into

dangerous spots and have been known to follow other sheep off of cliffs. No one ever says

they're as smart as sheep. They have no weapons. They have no sharp teeth. They have no camouflage.

They have no claws. No sharp hooves. They can't make a tempering sound. Never scared

a wolf off. Not once. No sounds that would scare anything off. Now the reason we have

this simple picture of sheep and shepherds is that sheep need shepherds. They need someone

watching them. Jesus is making this point about us as human being. He's making the

point about people. People need shepherds. Now remember David is the psalmist that wrote

this and David was an incredible shepherd of sheep. That's how he was working and

serving when God selected him to be king of Israel. So he learned the lessons about shepherding

and then took them on to become king of all Israel. The New Testament holds out for us

a pattern of leadership based on sheep and shepherds. It says this in 1 Peter chapter

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

5. It says shepherd the flock of God among you and one day the chief shepherd will appear

with your reward. So let's just get this in our mind. The perfect model for leadership

is the model of Jesus the good shepherd. Keep that in front of you if you will. Everything

that we do today needs to be based on how Jesus led. And it's helpful to know that

even though we all aspire, we ought to want to be great leaders, we'll never take the

place of Jesus Christ. He is irreplaceable. Earthly leaders are simply people who follow

his example and if we do it well we point people to Jesus and we take care of them in

many many ways. However imperfectly we lead, he's got to be our example. So let me just

say this. Everybody in the room has the opportunity to follow this great leader, this great example,

Jesus Christ. And the way you father your children, the way you are a mother to your

kids, the way you interact with brothers and sisters, not only in your immediate biological

family but in the body of Christ. And the way you interact with people if you're a

church leader, if you lead a small group, if you lead a class of some kind. Or whether

you're in the corporate world and you pay attention to the needs of those that are in

your employ. Whatever it is, however it is, when you have this example of Jesus Christ

in front of you, you are in touch with human nature and are able to meet those needs in

an amazing way after the example of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So we have a perfect

example in front of us. No matter how many books you read, make sure you read the Bible

enough to know, alright, in all these other examples of leadership, here is one that rises

above them all. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Secondly, I want you to notice

the caring heart. The caring heart. Psalm 23 immediately goes to how caring and how

loving and how sensitive this particular shepherd is who is the Lord. You know, most leaders

have certain principles of leadership that they kind of prioritize. I mean, I'm sure

many in this room will have what I have, vows, maybe summaries of books you've read or points

that you've taken that says, you know, here's what I need to do to be a good leader or here's

what I need to do to be a good parent. Here's how I can lead my little league sports team

or whatever it is we might be doing. We have these certain principles. But when you look

at the way of Jesus' life and model that he gives us, then care and kindness are always

present. Always present. No matter what he was dealing with, no matter how difficult

the circumstance was, care and kindness were a big part of what Jesus did. It was what

he felt, what he said, what he expressed and how he interacted with him. And that picture

is what I want to hold before you today. Psalm 23 highlights the big rocks of leadership.

Let me name the four of them. Feeding, leading, restoring, protecting. Feeding, leading, restoring,

protecting. Now already there are probably people in the congregation today that say,

well these are kind of out of touch with modern corporate world. And the reality is modern

corporate world is out of touch with real principles of leading. Jesus knew the human

heart. He knew what helped people and what inspired people, what helped them get to the

next level of their life. And these things were part of that feeding, leading, restoring,

and protecting. This is really a big picture look at that perfect leader, Jesus Christ.

Now let's look at these lines one at a time because these lines really need to mean something

to us when it comes to this caring model that we have, this caring heart. First of all he

says, he makes me lie down in green pastures. Now I love this picture and I think most of

us have seen the picture of sheep on a hillside and they're lying down. And you see the beautiful

green pastoral setting and these sheep are at peace. Normally in such a picture there

should be a shepherd standing nearby because his presence is what these sheep need in order

to be comfortable, to be full, and to be safe. So that's an important thing. Sheep don't

lay down until they're full. So when they're not standing and leaning over and eating the

grass they've already eaten, they're already full and the picture is that this great shepherd

has fed his flock and now they're lying down, they're full, and they're satisfied. The

shepherd feeds the flock. It's a picture of contentment, a picture of safety. You can

lie down now because I'm in the field with you and you are full, the shepherd says. Now

in that analogy the sheep have been physically fed. In human leadership people are taken

care of. In family, in church they've been brought to feed on spiritual food. They have

all the spiritual nourishment they need. They have all the instruction they need from the

Word of God. They have all the security they need to be able to be at peace, to be able

to lie down in the so-called field of our lives. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

It's about feeding and nourishing those that you lead. Next it says, he leads me beside

still water. Now I didn't know this but in my study of sheep and shepherding I learned

that sheep will not drink out of water that's rushing. They won't step into a stream that's

moving at any speed at all. They'll panic, they'll be afraid, they'll worry about what

they're trying to do and so it's really important to lead them beside the still water. So get

this picture. These sheep have been physically fed and now this leader is leading them to

the place where they are beside still water and he's leading them to that place. He's

not driving them that way. The emphasis here is on him leading them to the place where

the waters are quiet, where they can drink and be fully nourished in that water as well.

Sometimes that meant that the shepherd had to dam up a stream on both sides. On one side

to keep it from rushing in, the other side to keep it in and that still water he created

through his hard labor meant that they could actually get that still water right there

where it was at one point a rushing stream. Other time the shepherd had just to go as

far as he needed to go to find the quiet water and then lead them to that quiet water. And

again the emphasis is the shepherd leads. He must go ahead. Jesus in John chapter 10

John 10 · chapter mention

talked about himself being the great shepherd. In that John 10 passage he talks about how

he led them. In verses 3, 4, and 5 the Bible says, And the sheep hear his voice, and he

calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all of his own, he

goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they

simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of

strangers. Recently someone sent me a great video of a shepherd over in the hills of Great

Britain somewhere. I think it might have been Ireland or Scotland, one of those places.

He was actually the shepherd giving a tour of several people who were wanting to see

the sheep that he owned on the hillside that they were grazing on. Apparently he allowed

each of them to cry out in order to call those sheep, try to get their attention, try to

get them to come. Two or three of them gave it an effort. They would get up at the fence

side and they would call out to the sheep. They would do various kinds of calls or whistles

or sing-song kind of approach to get those sheep to look. But not one of those sheep

raised its head and looked at them. Much less did any of them move their way. They were

probably a hundred yards away or more. Finally after this demonstration, the shepherd himself

got up to the fence and he called to them in this little sing-song kind of voice, and

they recognized him. One at a time raised their head and before long one of them began

to slowly walk his way. Then another, then another, before long all of them were kind

of trotting the way of the shepherd. A perfect illustration of what Jesus says here. Then

John chapter 10, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. It's a picture of knowing

John 10 · chapter mention

the shepherd well enough and the shepherd knowing the sheep well enough. That they're

confident that they will listen to him and respond to him. In further reading I learned

that sheep and shepherds have this unique relationship. For example, the sheep can all

be asleep at night lying on a field and the shepherd can actually walk through the sheep

and not frighten them because they know his gate. He does it enough where they are confident.

But let one strange person walk among them and they become panicky. They become alert

and frightened because they don't recognize that gate. I also read that when sheep come

together at a common watering hole, as many as four or five flocks of sheep can gather

together, hundreds of sheep there, and never become confused because when one shepherd

is ready to lead them in the direction they need to go, he just goes that way and turns

back and calls them. And the only sheep that will follow him are his sheep and none of

them will stay for the voice of another shepherd. Look at all that pictures that human nature

give us about this great leadership that Jesus Christ gives us that the Lord God being our

shepherd gives us. It says, He knows his sheep and his sheep know them. Enough to be trusted.

As fast as I looked at several resources for what it means to be good leaders like Jesus

led, one book summarized Jesus' leadership in the four different principles and I love

these four principles because they are all connected with this idea of being present

with the sheep as the shepherd is. There's four things that Jesus did in interacting

with everyone that followed him. First of all, he saw potential in them. He saw potential

in them. He didn't see that they were perfect. He didn't care that they were perfect. He

saw potential in them because he knew them well. Secondly, he forgave them. Jesus forgave

those that did not follow him well, even those that met him to the cross. He forgave them.

Forgiveness is a big issue. He served them well. And by serving them, they began to be

confident in him. And the last part is he gave grace in every situation. He gave grace.

He saw potential. He forgave. He served. He gave grace. And I think about what environment

can you do all those things? It's in the environment where you are actually with the

sheep and the sheep are with you, where they know you, where they are aware of you and

you are aware of them. So leadership is about being present, being fully in tune as much

as possible with those that you lead. It's not from a distance. It's not while you're

multitasking a number of other things, but it's really being focused on the flock itself.

Look at the next line. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness

for his name sake. The word restore has to do with turning back and getting back on the

right path. The shepherd will always be concerned about that. And the parable of a lost sheep

is so memorable because one of these sheep got so far away from the flock that the shepherd

had to leave in 99 in order to get to all the others. And it's also memorable because

it's so easy for us to wander. There's no song we used to sing a lot, prone to wander,

Lord. I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. And we might as well say, prone to leave

the shepherd I love. But aren't you glad the shepherd comes after you when you wander?

Anybody ever had the shepherd come after you when you wandered? Aren't you glad that he

cares enough to convict you, somehow reach out to you, somehow bring you back? He restores

my soul. Good leadership means we do everything we can to restore the relationships, to restore

the souls of people around us. And sometimes that's a gentle restoration. And sometimes

we have to do it over and over again. Now again, I'm not a guy that was raised around

sheep but there's a lot of great videos out there. YouTube is one of my favorite channels,

folks. And I saw one channel on YouTube where a shepherd was going after one particular

sheep that fell into a large crevice in the ground. In fact, he had fallen so far into

that crevice about the only thing you could see is that sheep's ears, so to speak, and

his head. And so this shepherd walked over to that crevice, got everything he could to

get that sheep out, put him over on the side so he was safe again, turned for just a moment

and when he turned the sheep jumped back into the crevice. That's all that and I thought,

man, that's just like me sometimes. God pulls me out of danger and I jump right back in.

Man, that's why I need a shepherd so bad. I don't know why you need one but I need a

shepherd really badly. I also over the years saw a picture, an artist's rendition of a

shepherd who might be portrayed as Jesus or Jesus the shepherd is what the artist is depicting.

And he had a lamb around his shoulders and he was holding the back legs with his hand,

the front legs with his hand and there was some sort of a little wrapping around the

back leg of the sheep and showed a picture of the shepherd that loved the sheep so much

that if the sheep was so rebellious he would break the leg of the sheep actually and then

carry him until it was healed just to teach the sheep to stick close to the shepherd.

And I at times have felt like that sheep as well where the Lord had to kind of break my

leg and slow me down and then walk with me more carefully. Now what does that say to

you if it doesn't say that he loves you so much that he restores your soul? He restores

your soul, restores back to fellowship with him, back to fellowship with other people.

Now obviously when it comes to human leadership it's not quite as simple as sheep and shepherds

but the action of a shepherd is what we always keep in mind. No matter how complicated life

is, how complicated family is, how complicated organizations are, it's so important for

us to have the heart of a shepherd, the heart of care. We will never replace the great shepherd

but we can emulate the great shepherd in all that we do. Jesus cared for the flock so much.

I continue to care for the flock that he equips us to be good shepherds of one another in

the body of Christ and we are all called to mimic Jesus in this idea of being a good shepherd.

Can you rise to that call? Can you look around and care and love people around you enough

to say I want to mimic the good shepherd Jesus Christ? Now here's the third thing that Psalm

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23 brings me and that is the enduring dedication. I love this part of Psalm 23.

You know when you read verses 1 through 3 everything's pastoral, it's green, it's

watery, it's wonderful, the sheep are lying down, it's just really really calming but

when you read verses 4, 5, and 6 the rest of it is pretty gritty. You've got words

like death, evil, enemies. I mean it moves from being a really easy Saturday afternoon

to a really really rough Saturday night. It moves from being a time of tranquility to

a time of difficulty. And when you read the last three verses, verses 4, 5, and 6 of Psalm

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23 you have to come to the conclusion that not only is He there for us during good

times, He's there to help protect us during difficult times because life is difficult,

right? Is your life ever difficult? Do you ever need the good shepherd not just to be

one that comforts you but one that actually rescues you and helps you in ways you can't

even imagine until that kind of thing happens to you? The Lord is there for us, David says.

Look at the lines. Verse 4 says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of

death and that emphasis there is so big, the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.

Why? For you are with me. I hate to break this to you but I think most of you know by

now it's not a secret. You're not going to have an easy life all the time. Does that

surprise anybody in the room? I didn't think it did. You're not going to have an easy life

365. It's just not like that. Life's not like that. And you live in a world, that world won't

let it be like that, right? There are all kinds of people that look to prey on you just like

a wolf seeks to prey on a sheep. That's just the way it is. By the cause of that reality,

we desperately need a shepherd who has an enduring dedication to us in good times and

bad times. The valley of the shadow of death is an alarming picture of danger. David was

a warrior king. First he was a shepherd, then anointed to be king, but then a warrior king.

Always at battle. It's not hard for a guy that's at war all the time to use the phrase

the valley of the shadow of death. It doesn't mean he's died but what it does mean is he

sees death all around him. And day after day David saw death all around him. And yet he

said in the midst of all that, I won't be afraid though I walk through the valley of

the shadow of death I'll fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me. My shepherd is there

with me every step of the way. And I love this part of Psalm because basically the good

shepherd promises that he won't leave us during the difficult times. And all through the New

Testament Jesus is saying this, he's reminding us of this all the time, I'm with you even

to the end of the age. He says in Matthew chapter 28 as he sends his disciples out.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

He says in Romans chapter 15, I'm not leaving you as orphans. He said that in John 14 as

Romans 15 · chapter mention

well, I'm leaving the Holy Spirit with you. I'm going to be your father, I'm going to

be there. He says I'm going to be with you and even that, beyond that I'm going to be

in you in the form of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 13, 5 is one of those great verses where it

says five times, I will never, never, never, never, never forsake you ever. All through

the Bible he promises us that even though you walk through the valley of the shadow

of death you don't have anything to be afraid of because your great shepherd is there with

you at every step of the way. I love the encouragement of this. I love it. I'm glad I don't have

to go through that alone. The leader that follows that example is there and not absent

during tough times in the lives of those around him. There's another line here, you prepare

a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And I also love that because it gives me the

reminder that even when surrounded by enemies the good shepherd feeds us and nourishes us

even in the hardest of times. Even when we can't even think about taking care of ourselves,

he's taking care of us because he's bringing us through those tough times and not leaving

us in those tough times. Remember when the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness

and God prepared a table for them every day by letting manna fall down from heaven. He

fed them in the middle of the wilderness surrounded by enemies. He gave them water to drink out

of a rock in the middle of their wilderness wanderings. It's just amazing how God has

provided for us in every way no matter how difficult the moments. And this is the equivalent

of saying my God shall apply every need that you have according to his riches and glory

in Christ Jesus. No matter what's going on your shepherd sees and knows and will take

care of you. When I read the psalm I was reminded of some of the times when I felt closest to

the Lord. Where I felt his presence with me maybe more than at easy times or normal times.

And then there in those times when I felt like I was in the presence of my enemies.

When I felt like I was at the tip of the spear and felt like things were going badly. And

when I look back at those times I realize man God was at work. He was calming me. He

was reassuring me. He was leading me. And then as I look back on all those times I realize

he was acting on my behalf in ways I did not see at that moment. Let me just impress upon

you. The work of the Good Shepherd means that he doesn't always tell you what he's doing

to protect you but he's always protecting you. He doesn't always hold the wolf up so

you can see the wolf because that might frighten you even more but when he holds the wolf up

it means he's taking care of the wolf and you don't have to deal with it. Now that's

why David was able to say, back in his life, even though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death I won't be afraid because he is with me and even in the presence of

my enemies he has prepared a table before me. He's going to take care of me in good

times and bad times. He won't leave me. He won't run from me. I'll never be alone with

this Shepherd. He will take care of me. I think we ought to pause long enough at least

just to think. A thought of gratitude for the God that really lifts us out of near life.

These are not just poetic words. These are accurate descriptions of the God who loves

us. The God who is there. The God who will never ever leave us and will never forsake

us. Look at what else it says in verse 6. It says,

But surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. David is saying

this, ride him up to the place of eternity, his goodness of character, his mercy that

he's shown me, he'll continue to show me because it's who he is. I love those lines

because those lines remind me that God's character is always good. His mercy is always turned

on. He's always going to show mercy, always going to show me his goodness of character.

He's always going to live out his character in my life. He's not unpredictable. He's

not one that we can't trust, I can't know. He shows us who he is and says, follow me,

I'm with you the whole way. How's God going to respond to me 10 years from now? With his

goodness and mercy. How's he going to respond to me after I fall in some way, sin in some

way? With his goodness and mercy. How's he going to respond when enemies come against

me when I'm stabbed with a spear of some kind? With his goodness and mercy because that's

who God is. His goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell

on the house of the Lord forever. That's how this ends. I love the fact that this comes

all the way to eternity. So David, who should have known a lot less about eternity than

we know today because we have had Christ tell us about eternity, we have the New Testament

with all the revelations of fall and eternity and the book of Revelation and all the things

in the end. We know so much, but here's David way back in that day saying, and I will dwell

in the house of the Lord forever. David as a human being was saying, I will live forever

with this God because this God is going to take care of me in eternity. Now David can

have that kind of confidence. And if that confidence helped him through the tough times

of his life, why does the promise of eternity not help us during the tough times of our

lives? I mean, if you're a believer in Jesus, you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

as well, won't you? So here's this amazing promise about eternity that this great shepherd

not only takes care of us in good times and bad times, meal times and other times, but

we'll see his goodness all the days of our lives and will dwell with him in the house

of the Lord forever. If you go back to John 10 towards the end of John 10 where Jesus

has said, I'm the good shepherd, he talks about eternity and in verse 27 to 29 he says

this about eternity, some of the best verses in the scripture about eternal life and some

of the most reassuring doctrinal verses about eternal life as well. Here's what it says,

my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to

them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hands. My Father

who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father's hands. Man I absolutely love that text because that text tells me that my shepherd

once I answer his call holds me and helps me all the way to the end and through the

end to the other side and no one can take me away from this good shepherd. No wolf,

no false teacher, no failure on the part of myself as a sheep will never remove me from

the hands of this good shepherd. Man if that doesn't reassure you I don't know what will.

If that doesn't help you know that God is for you and has plans for you then I don't

know what I can say to help you know your life is secured by the hands and the heart

of this good shepherd exemplified in the Lord Jesus Christ mimicked and mirrored by human

beings who want to lead like him and we should mimic and follow his example but all we're

doing is pointing to the great great leader who loves you with a whole heart as your great

shepherd. I don't know how many of you today have answered the call of that good shepherd

but I want to end this message today by encouraging you to answer the call of this great shepherd.

Before I give that invitation I just want to make a kind of a statement, a remark. You

know I can get all the way to the bottom of this message and say you know you didn't

really talk much pastor about all the different things a person can do to be a leader and

no you're not going to walk away with ten leadership principles today and I hope you

don't but I hope you walk away with one outstanding example of what a leader really looks like

and that is your leader the Lord is my shepherd. Have you answered the call that the shepherd

gives you? The call to eternal life? The call that says come to me and I'll give you forgiveness

of sin and I'll give you the gift of eternal life and I will be your good shepherd? If

you've never made that decision I need you to know today you don't become a sheep in

the flock of the great shepherd until you answer his call. My sheep hear my voice and

they follow me. Have you heard his voice? Do you want to follow him? Are you listening

to what he says? I want to give you three invitations today. The first one is at the

end of our service, just a moment after prayer, there are two decision stations that are at

the back. They're very conveniently located. Those standing behind the tables there would

love to answer any questions about what it means to hear the voice of the shepherd and

follow him. They want to help you make that decision to put your trust, your life, your

faith in Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to make that decision today. The second

decision is I want to invite you to come to our guest reception room or out to see the

center exit doors and right across the hallway there's a glass room there. I would love to

meet with you and talk to you about what it means to be a part of Cross City Church to

give you some details about that. Third invitation is come back next week as we kick off the

series called The Holy Spirit. And if you want to do a little homework before then,

read John 14, 15, and 16 where Jesus is preparing his disciples with the most important teaching

about understanding the work of the Holy Spirit. Hope to see you next week. Let's stand together

as we pray. Father, my prayer today is that we will walk out of here knowing that we are

well shepherded by you, the chief shepherd. Father, I want to thank you so much for that

picture, that image. Because Lord, when I am inadequate, insufficient, I know that you

are able and that's true of all of us. Father, I pray today that there will be those that

hear the call of the shepherd on their lives and respond to you. Father, I pray today that

you will use this imagery in our minds all week long, this psalm resonating in our spirit.

Lord, restore our soul. Help us know you're there. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

God bless. Have a wonderful Lord's Day.