Rocks of Remembrance July 26, 2026 - Randall Pannell

Hello.

>> At this time, I would like for us to

return to our seats so I can begin the

announcements. I know we all want to

drink coffee and talk to each other with

coffee breath,

but we should Yeah, we should quiet down

and come to our seats, please.

Hello everybody.

>> So, my name is Bethany. I appreciate you

guys being here today and I would like

to say that if you're new or if you are

just in a giving mood, you should grab

one of our gifts that is at the table

for you, which is this mission vineyard

mana bag. This mana bag is kind of our

way of sharing God's practical love in

case you see someone in need because not

everyone carries cash and there's better

things to give out these days that are,

you know, more helpful to someone

whenever you see them on the street.

What's in here is the mana bag, which

has a bunch of little necessities,

snacks, and then there's also a connect

card in here, which I promise that if

you put your information on it, we won't

spam you. We're not going to send you a

bunch of random messages, but you will

also, if you're comfortable with putting

your address on there, receive a small

gift card as a thank you.

I think that should be it for the um

bag. But on the back side of that card,

actually, there's um a space for filling

out prayer requests. And we have a team

who meets up on every Tuesday. I believe

it's Tuesday, every Tuesday. I I knew

that to pray over all of these prayer

requests and anything that the church

needs. Um, in other news for quick

announcements, our kids ministry is

taking donations and we actually have

got some really cool stuff in here

already. This red basket is also going

to be on the table and um well,

we're accepting things maybe you have

extras of glue sticks, markers,

construction paper. There's uh this

basket on the welcome table is going to

be here every Sunday.

This is uh I know it feels Hold on, I'm

skipping. I'm sorry. Please save the

date for September 8th from 6 to 8:00

p.m. It seems far away, but it'll be

here before we know it. This is when

we're going to be kicking off Alpha.

This is an international ministry that

introduces people to the basics of

Christian faith over dinner and asking

questions. It's totally open. No

pressure. It's just having a

conversation about it.

We will share more as it gets closer.

But if you're curious about how to read

the Bible or why or how to pray or if

there is an evil in the world, many of

us have deep questions. Alpha is a great

place to explore and go deeper in your

faith with Jesus.

Lastly, this is the time in our service

for giving. Giving our tithes and

offerings is an act of worship. It's not

an obligation or guilt. It's an

opportunity to worship God with what

he's given us. In just a moment, I will

ask those that are passing the giving

baskets to come forward and do so. You

can give in person or online. I believe

there's a QR code. There it is. Pray as

you feel led. Or you can read this

prayer.

I'm going to read a prayer.

Lord Jesus, thank you for every penny

given to the mission vineyard. May you

use it in our kingdom purposes through

us and through this church. God, I pray

that you feel

I don't think Well, God, I hope that you

feel

maybe you touch Chris Chris's heart

today

so that we can have something else to

add today because you always have

something special to say through him.

Use your Holy Spirit to guide us in

how we go about sharing your word in

your name. Amen.

Am

I on?

>> Am I on?

>> All right. Good. Good. Now I forgot what

I was going to say.

>> Now, this is this has been a a nice this

is the second of a three-w weekek uh

span of folks. Uh Vanessa uh wowed us

last week.

>> Uh so I felt like very good. She did a

great job. Uh she took all of my notes

that I was going to do, but no, not

true. Not true. Uh great job. A great

opportunity. Uh and we're going to have

Where's she Marcela? Next week is next

week. That's right. So, you know, I was

wondering, they put me in the middle of

these two

>> intelligent women that can do any and

everything. So, I think I'm sort of the

balona inside the sandwich or something,

but I'm going to I'm going to do my

best, you know. Uh, no, thank you. That

that's that's self aggrandizing. Sorry.

Wanted to share with you uh something

really personal, I guess, in a sense.

It's been a while. Uh but uh this Psalm

23, I I have quite a history with this

psalm uh over the years. I remember I

grew up in a Baptist church and went to

vacation Bible school. And I remember

that Psalm 23 was the first complete

chapter, not that long, but a complete

chapter in the Old Testament when I was

six years old.

And uh I just I don't know why that is

started it for me. But uh there were

there's a time in my life that I went

through a real dark dark area. I've been

a missionary in Argentina for uh going

on five years and my marriage failed and

uh had to come back with my uh well I

don't have a tail but my tail between my

legs and uh it was a very drastic change

for me. I lost my job. Uh Baptists don't

like people that get um divorced, I

guess, especially missionaries, you

know. And uh so it was a it was a real

real tough time for me. I would say that

it was really the most difficult time uh

that I ever had up to that moment in my

life. And I I was completely overwhelmed

with the sense of fear of what next. I'd

gone to college. I gone to a master of

divinity work in a seminary and I did a

PhD in Semitic languages. Uh Hebrew is

one of those languages and that's a

language that I taught quite a a bit in

uh Argentina and in the United States as

well. But all of a sudden I couldn't do

that either. And uh so the fear of what

was next, I lost my family to some

degree. Uh, I had access to my two kids.

Uh, but I didn't have a real job. I was

supposed to work for a a a school in

Houston on furlow.

And when I got there, since I was

divorced, they didn't need to use me.

So, thank God for brothers because my

brother was a paint contractor. And so,

I painted houses for him. And I still

have some of that paint somewhere. I,

you know, every time you just think,

gosh. But anyway, thank God for my

brother Mike. And uh so we we did that,

became better friends. I'm the oldest in

our family. He's the youngest. And it

really became a a time of of of uh real

a new time for he and I together. But in

the midst of that, uh, one of the things

that I loved about what I went to school

for, uh, was so much of the scripture,

but especially in the Old Testament and

particularly the Psalms. Uh, the Psalms

are the communication of that we have

with God. Uh there are some uh great

scholars Dietra Bonhoffer for example he

he kind of like to think that uh when

David is writing all of these psalms

that somehow Jesus who's still in heaven

is inspiring him to write all of these

psalms so that when Jesus got here he'd

know not what to say but he'd already

been talking to us and so many things

that Jesus

did come out of the Psalms or at least

their paraphrase and it it was a a great

sense of that that drew me to this. I

had a sense praying uh to God what I he

wanted me to do coming to this uh part

of the scripture and he said I want you

to read this but I want you to learn how

to talk to me. I want you to hear what

has been said to me in the Psalms. So, I

want you to read them. And so, I started

at one and I would read five a day. And

then a little later on, I added a

proverb to hear what God would say back

to me based on. And I literally when I

would read a psalm, I would read it

until I found the thing that it seemed

to me he wanted me to stop there and to

say to him and to begin to talk to him

that way. I I wasn't as some call it

spiritfilled yet at that time. Uh so I

learned a language about that at a

different time. But this language was

pretty good and it really took me

through my fear, took me through just

the sense of what what am I going to do

next to just relax into him. And

needless to say, God took a lot of

things. Many of you know my wife Kay. uh

we met at uh a little later time than

that, a few years later and uh next

month we will be married 42 years. We

have a blended family.

So So I want you to I want you to know

that whatever I'm going to I really feel

led once I talk just a little bit about

this psalm. Uh we it's going to be in

front of you and I I don't want to take

anything from Marcela next week either.

So uh but these are personal for us. Um

Vanessa talked about her uh struggle and

how this psalm has helped her in a way.

Well, for me it it was this sense of

fear and there's so much in this

particular psalm. Uh I' I've given you

handouts there uh just because I was too

lazy to do the slides. Uh

but the part that's there at the top

that's in the purple uh is really the

part that I want to focus on because

this is what uh really helped me in this

sense of uh what God wanted to do in my

life in the midst of fear.

And he says uh let me just start there

in verse four. what whenever now this is

my translation you see that Hebrew

English version that's a version of the

Psalms that I have done so uh you can

read it in your Bible as well but

whenever I walk through valleys as dark

as death

may I never fear danger for you and this

is the Lord as a shepherd still for you

would be with me even your rod and your

staff half comfort me. You now, Lord of

Hosts, prepare a table before me, even

especially in the presence of my

enemies, anointing my head with oil, and

my cup overflowing.

So, my valley is this time of going

through losing a job, losing my family,

losing everything that I had invested in

for gosh, how many years did I go to

school? uh four years of college, three

years of of divinity school, and then

four years of my PhD. And I was teaching

all those four years in uh in the

seminary. So, I had all of that behind

me, and then it was all gone. But I was

walking through something as dark as

death. Death, interesting, just as an

aside, I have to do something about

Hebrew. Uh in Hebrew, death is all is

also used. It's about dying, death, but

it's also used in Hebrew is a

superlative word, you know, like the

most of something. Sometimes like here

even in this the better translation I

think that the valley is as dark as

death. That's the darkest valley you can

imagine and then some. And so it's not

necessarily literally death, but it's a

darkness that it might as well be death.

And so in that sense, that's exactly

what I felt. But then at the same time,

I realized that it's as dark as it can

be, but God is preparing me to go

through this battle. So there was a

sense of

counterintuitive.

It's like as I pondered that and read

through that that I got your fear. You

know, it doesn't matter how dark it is.

Doesn't matter how bad it is. I am with

you and he is

my Lord shepherd. He is the Lord. We use

that word Yahweh and translate that as

Lord which is appropriate. But here he

is really that shepherd of shephering us

through that lost my job. I found

strength and solace in this f uh in this

psalm as I said but I began to hear. Let

me fear, never fear danger because

you're with me. And as I as I prepare,

as I went through this with God and I

kept reading these psalms, then he began

I not only began to figure out how to

listen to what he was saying to me.

You'd think after all those years of

education, I would have listened a

little bit to him, wouldn't you? But in

the sense of need and in the sense of

loss and the darkness, the fear of

darkness is what grabbed hold of me. But

in going through these psalms, but this

particular one was the catalyst for me.

And so we're talking about this psalm

because of the bedrock that it's created

in each of our lives. and why we wanted

to focus on this one short psalm for

these three Sundays that we're the each

of us are preaching or sharing with. So

in this sense of this language of it and

hearing him talk to me and giving me

words that I should say back to him that

I could talk to him and ask for the very

things that I was feeling so empty of be

able to talk and to have some optimism

that he really was listening to me

because he told me that. But it became

uh can I use the word an infatuation

with his voice because it makes a total

difference in our lives when we really

hear him. It's one thing to pray and to

talk to God. Absolutely do that. But

find space to let him talk to you. And

especially today, I I really want to

talk to you those that are here. Those

of you that have some sense of fear

about the future, fear about what's

going on, fear about finances, fear

about what what's going on, what's next,

because God responds to fear in a way

that none other, no one else does

because he's got us. He is a shepherd.

Uh

Vanessa talked a little bit about these,

the rod and the staff. These are

beautiful. The rod is one thing. David

used a you know what a slingshot kill

Goliath. But typical shepherds would use

a rod and they either knock the sheep in

the rear if they wouldn't go or they'd

fight against the, you know, the wolves

and stuff like that. So it was a weapon

of protection. And then the staff is

sort of the crook. So, uh, like me,

sheep have to go astray sometime and you

have put that hook around them and then

pull them out. And it's actually a

blessing to have that thing around your

neck to pull you out of what you're

doing. So there was some imagery here

that I think helped because it it really

uh electrified me if I can use that word

that we uh have this opportunity

and he uh

rescues us from this fear but he leads

us to something away from the fear. this

this next verse here. Forgive me for

just going down by it because I didn't

know a better way to just share uh my

own experience with you, but he says,

"You prepare." Now, this is the Lord

becoming a host all of a sudden. You

prepare a table before me, even

especially in the presence of my

enemies. Now, can you imagine if you're

fearful and you're having trouble with

dealing with your fear, then he's going

to have you sit down at a table and that

means you're going to have to take off

all your swords or whatever you use.

Set, you know, if you're the shepherd,

you set down the, you know, the rod and

the staff and then you actually sit

down. And in Jewish, when you have

dinner, you actually lay down. You don't

sit down. you're in a total position of

not being able to protect yourself. And

so he says again, he he prepares a table

before me, even especially in the

presence of my enemies. So he is causing

us to trust him to be able to sit down

at a dinner he would make for us. And to

do that is a risky thing if you don't

really have this sense of what the Lord

is going to do. Now, I want to tell you

before we stop today, any of you that

are wrestling with fear or have people

that you know, family, etc., we're going

to I'm going to have you stand up and

we're going to pray for the people that

are dealing with fear. You don't have to

you don't have to explain. You don't

have to do anything. I'll ask you to

stand up and then the folks around you

will just that we have people that can

pray for you and we're going to do that

and we're going to have prayer at the

end uh for some other things but I think

that's the way I want to conclude what

we're doing today when we get there if I

quit talking right and so here we go but

he does the Lord's host uh his rod that

he has he does not give a table at our

or does not give our enemy a seat at our

table. He prepares it for us. It's our

table. It's his nurture of us. It's his

way of talking and helping us through

where we're going. But we're in the

presence still of those of that threaten

us, our fear, those who cause us to be

fearful or just Satan himself trying to

wreck your life. And then it says he

goes on

he he his staff anoints our head with

oil and makes our cup overflowing.

Now anointing is an unusual thing. It's

usually uh anointed to be a king or to

be something of rank but in this sense

it's an anointing of God's making you

his child that I have you. I've got you.

And in those moments of fear, in those

times when you don't know what to do,

when you think you failed everything,

you're going to hear this voice of

as dark as death. A voice as dark as

death.

But God is there for you and will pray

for you because of what he has done.

I want to say before I get to that,

scripture talks many times about fear

not. You read that all through the New

Testament. Fear not. Fear not. Well, I'm

trying not to, but what do I do?

But scriptures words, fear not, are not

an impossible demand to just stop being

afraid. When it says fear not, it's not

saying quit being afraid. It's it's

deciding to fear to not fear. Fear not

uh just it's not just stop but it's a

promise spoken

to anxious and overwhelmed people. These

verses expose the lies that keep fear

alive and reveals the Lord our host

whose perfect love drives fear out by

the roots in you. So it's when God Jesus

says fear not for I am with you.

That's a promise. That's a opportunity

for you to embra let him embrace you and

to not quit fearing yourself but get

under his care to sit with him.

I know this is supposed to be Psalm 23,

but there is a couple of verses that I I

really wanted to share with you here

before we're going to have a little

prayer team here, prayer time. But Psalm

Psalms 73:25–26

73:25-26,

for some reason, when I was going

through this, I leapfrogged into this in

the midst of going through this Psalm

23. And it and it reads this way, just

the first two verses. It's there on your

sheet. Whom else do I have in heaven but

you? Besides you, I desire no one else

on earth. My flesh and my heart may

fail, but God, this is Elohim in that

context, is the strength of my heart and

my portion forever.

Now, that's a promise to each one of us.

And if you are going through fear or you

have just anxieties about you,

he can be the strength of your heart. He

can be the portion that you need

forever. So you may not I don't want to

embarrass anybody, but if you would like

some prayer because we have people

around that can just come. We're not

going to last a long time. We're not

going to milk anything, but I just when

I was preparing today, I just had a

sense that there would be some people

here today that we really could pray for

about this specifically. We're going to

have a prayer team a little bit later

here in just a a little bit. But I'd

like to focus on this and I want this to

be really the just the conclusion of of

the message today because without prayer

and without encountering the Lord

himself, then everything I'm saying is

rather fruitless. So if if you have you

don't have to. I'm not you're not going

to hurt my feelings if nobody stands up.

But if you have a need for something

prayer that's related to fear, would you

stand up?

Okay. We have folks that are trained in

our prayer thing and if you just get

close to them and uh either if they want

to share with you, they can. And if not,

just pray the best you can for them uh

about the fear in their life.

So, let's make sure we got somebody by

everybody.

Yeah.

All right, you guys just do your thing.

If you're still praying, go ahead and

keep doing that. But we do have people

that come and pray before the service

about what God wants to do in addition

to this today. So, I'm going to ask

our great

prayer genie or something Santa is here

today.

>> That's right. Always gifts.

Um so the first one as we were praying

just asking God what he had had for us

today and praying for the service

praying for everyone here uh was from

Psalm 68:28

Psalms 68:28

that your God has commanded your

strength uh says in several versions and

uh and also that verse talks about God's

power and different versions

say say that he's commanded his power.

But either one of those, if you need God

to build your strength or you want you

need to see power in your life,

uh please come and pray or receive

prayer. If you have kidney issues, God

wants to bring healing.

And in the middle of confusion,

hold to the goodness of God.

That's part of what uh Psalm 23 is

about. And let the sick cry out to him.

So, if one of these items uh speaks to

you, uh there's a team some teams going

to be gathering over here in the corner.

Would love to pray for you. or if you

have another type of a need of uh

physical, financial, emotional,

relational, any type of a need that you

want to bring to God or if you feel like

there's something that he's just been

speaking to you and you'd like to to

have that reinforced like uh like

commanding strength.

Uh again, come and receive some some

prayer for that.

Thank you.