This Is Not Your Home

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Nine weeks ago today. Nine weeks ago today, my baby

girl entered heaven in a moment our.

Our world was shattered and our lives were turned upside down.

As we were trying to grapple with that new reality,

we started talking about ken Lee and wanting to I

think grass for things of her that reminded us of her.

Started looking for her, remembering her favorite things. Her favorite

colors are purple and blue, so Derek and I did

coordinate on purpose to honor her today. We own more

purple things in the last nine weeks and I think

we've ever owned before. We started talking to our kids

and remembering together what are her favorite songs and her

foods and all the things that make her who she is.

One of her favorite songs that really stuck out to me.

Kinley just loved music in general. She loved to be

the DJ. No matter what vehicle she was in, she

always had songs. She had a whole playlist of songs

she could pull from like that. In fact, my oldest daughter, Brooklyn,

and one of her Kinley's friends made a playlist together

and called it Kenley's Playlist so we would have it

easily at our fingertips and would be able to listen

to all of Kinley's favorite requests. One of those, though,

was a song called Still Waters by Leanna Crawford. But

when I heard that song, I've heard it before, but

it hit me differently when I heard it this time.

And this song talks a lot about Psalm twenty three.

And I've heard that scripture so many times throughout my life.

I remember hearing my great grandmother say that scripture and

teach it to me. But I drew more out of

it this time than I've ever drawn before. I was

desperate for truth. I was desperate for his word. I

was desperate for his presence, and nothing satisfied me like

going to his word. So you could go ahead and

turn to Psalm twenty three. We're gonna hang out there

this morning. The song is written by David David Was.

We know a shepherd and he's also became king, and

we're gonna just break the scripture down. I have notes

that I may need to guide me, but if I

might have, for your permission, I'd like to just speak

from my heart this morning and take you on a

journey that the Lord has had me on for the

last nine weeks. David was the youngest in his family,

and he had older brothers that were praised by men.

Often they were looked upon with favor. They had the stature,

they had the build they had the skills that everyone admired,

and they often were sent into the battle to fight enemies,

while David was sent into the field to shepherd the sheep.

And as you read the scripture that talks about this,

it's often looked down upon. David was often looked down upon.

Some people say it's because of his stature. Other people

think it might have been because he was potentially an

illegitimate child born out of wedlock, whatever the reason, and

maybe because even the baby of the family. Whatever the reason, though,

David constantly went into the field to shepherd these sheep

with dignity, with obedience, with a humble heart, even in

the midst of being put down and bullied and made

fun of. You can even see when he went to

go deliver meals and gifts to his brothers, they would

speak down to him and say, why aren't you taking

care of the sheep.

You don't belong here.

He was rejected. He experienced so many hard things, But

the Lord used that and while while men couldn't see it,

and then constantly praised the outward things that they could

see with their eyes. The Lord said, I'm going to

take you, David. I'm going to take you into the

fields while you're shepherding, and I'm going to show you

an aspect of who i am that nobody has caught

on to yet. I'm going to show you that I'm

your shepherd as you shepherd. I'm gonna take you into

the fields, David, I'm going to meet you there. And

David pursued the Lord in those fields. He pursued him

in intimacy. You constantly see that he is singing to

the Lord. In those fields, he pursued the intimate relationship

with his Savior. In verse one, the first thing that

we read is the Lord. And I'd likes to stop

and just acknowledge that the way that David acknowledges the

Lord here shows that he had submitted his life to God.

He could have acknowledged the Lord here by saying my Savior,

my redeemer, my protector, my shield. He could have referenced

him as anything, but he said the Lord. He had

given his life as service unto the Lord, and no

matter what journey he was on, no matter what season

of life he was in, he didn't take back lordship

in ownership of his life. He constantly came to the Father,

looking for direction, looking for answers. So the first step

in that and what we get out of intimacy.

And I'm not going to go too much further into

this lordship.

If you want a really amazing sermon, Bill Johnson has

a great sermon on lordship. Go look it up on YouTube.

It's very powerful. But when we come into seasons of

our life, we know that we've submitted our life into

the Lord, and he is our lord when we don't

allow our circumstances to define his word, but we allow

his word to define our circumstances. And that's what David

is doing here right now. He's running from Saul, a

person who's trying to kill him, and he's sitting here

penning the scripture The Lord is my shepherd, the very

thing he was made fun of for. He is declaring

that the god of the universe is the Lord is

my shepherd. I shall not want he makes me lie

down in green pastures. I've always thought that was a

really peculiar verse. Why would you have to make a

sheep lie down in green pastures? Green pasture. When I

think of green pastures, I think.

Of lush green grass.

It would be like to me, it seems like it

would be the place that an animal would long to

go lie down in. You wouldn't have to make them

lie down. As I was studying the scripture, I was

looking into sheep and I was reading some commentary that

sheep don't naturally lie down. They don't naturally lie down

because they don't have a defense. They are prey and

they don't have their own defense mechanism. The only way

they will lie down is when they trust their shepherd.

They trust their shepherd has gone before and removed any

threat to them. The only way they can trust their

shepherd is when they've spent time with him and they've

gotten to know him, they know his voice, they've watched

him protect them. And so they go in these green

pastures and they're where the shepherd has led them because

he knows that they need nutrition, and so they're getting

nutrition from these green grasses, these lush green grasses.

And then they can lie down.

Because they trust their savior. They trust their shepherd and

it's in that lying down that they gain rest.

They're not on high alert anymore.

Because when we don't have our own defense mechanism and

we're constantly on the search for trouble and threats, we

can't rest in that moment. But when we are in

a position and posture of life down, we don't feel threatened.

And even if we are concerned that a threat might

be around, we have somebody that we know is going

to have our back, that's going to fight that battle

for us. It's gonna protect us no matter what comes

our way. And it's as the sheep are lying down

that they can continue to chew on that cud. It's

often just like when we might gather a scripture a

verse and we just continue to meditate on it and

get more nutrition out of it than simply if we

just read through it. You can chew and swallow that

food and you're going to get something out of it.

But when you chew on it, and you chew on it,

and you chew on it some more, you can read

a scripture or hear a scripture. Read the Lord is

my shepherd. I shall not want That's great, I feel refreshed.

I'm going to go about my week, or we can

sit in that word. What does that mean? The Lord

is my show, but the Lord is my shepherd. What

is a shepherd? And we start pulling out more of

the nutrients out of it at a deeper level. The

richness of his word. Oftentimes, how many of you have

ever felt guilty like, Oh, I didn't spend enough time

in the word this week. It spend a minute.

I didn't spend.

Enough time praying. We can get on to ourselves for

not doing enough things and checking enough boxes. But this

is a beautiful picture of rest because you know you

can spend time with him and lying down in your bed.

You wake up in the morning and your eyes open

and all you're thinking about.

Is the Lord is my shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd. I'm meditating on your word. Lord,

show me what it means to be my shepherd. I'd

like to propose to you that we can become intimate

with the Lord from a position and posture of rest.

It doesn't have to be about checking off boxes and busyness.

Rest can actually be a weapon because when we're exhausted,

we're easy prey, but when we're rested, we're aware we're

tuned in. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still and quiet waters. What

do we know about still and quiet waters? Have you

heard the saying that still waters run deep? There's depth there.

It's where we find refreshing. Is Sheep are never driven

with somebody behind them. A good shepherd will lead his

sheep and they follow because they've spent time with him.

They know, they've developed trust, they have intimacy, they have relationship.

Wherever he goes, they're on the lookout and they're constantly watching,

and they will follow him, and he leads them exactly

where they need to go, whatever it is that they need.

He knows that they need refreshing.

What does it bring you?

Says that he restores my soul. He leads me beside

the quiet waters, and he restores my soul. Everybody, take

a deep breath. It's here, in the stillness and the

quiet that your soul can be restored. He cares about

your emotional health. He could have said he restores my spirit.

He said, he restores my soul. He cares about our

mental health. He made you a three part being, and

he cares about all of it. He guides me in

the paths of righteousness for his names sake, in order

that my life might bring him glory, in order that

your life might bring him glory and point more people

to him. He leads us in the path of righteousness.

He makes himself known to us. He makes his ways

and his word known to us. That we can walk

those things out, that we can stay on that straight

and narrow, that his word becomes something that we live out,

that we don't just talk about. Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death, David did

not say. Just in case one day I ever come

across the valley of a shadow of death and I

find myself in it, he said, even though right now

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

you are with me. I know that you've never leave

me or forsake me. David's saying things that he didn't

get to hear Jesus say before he said it. He

didn't say, Lord, remember Jesus that one time when you

said in your word, I will never leave you or

forsake you. Jesus hadn't even walked on this earth yet

or spoken those things. But David knew it because he

had spent time with his savior. He knew it because

he had had intimacy with him. He knew that in

every season so far until that moment, that God had

never left his side, and he believed that he would

never leave his side no matter what came. Even though

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil. How do you get into a

valley and look all around you and fear no evil?

You can only do it if you've had a relationship

with the one who's your shepherd. Your rod and your

staff they comfort me. Some scholars disagree on what the

rod and the staff represent ultimately, which one represents which

I should say ultimately, They most believe that the rod

represents a scepter, which David would have understand stood in

his day and age, that a king, someone in royalty

actually can hold as up and when they extend the scepter,

it's a representation of mercy and favor. So David is

saying here, even though I walk through the valley of

the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for

you are with me. Your rod, your scepter of favor

in mercy is extended to me, and your staff. Shepherds

had a stick that they would walk with. It would

usually be about a foot taller than they are, and

it would have that crook on the end, and they

would use it to bring back a sheep who might

might have been wandering astray, not really paying attention in

the moment. It's easy for a sheep to wander astray.

They're not the smartest of the animals, which is so

wonderful that we're compared to them. It's like, he's like,

what's the dumbest animal I could compare my children to

when they started walking astray? He's right there, new, I

got you. We're gonna keep going on this path. I'm

not letting you out of my sight when he starts

going this way. Now, I'm gonna allow you to bring

glory to my name. We're gonna do this together. You

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

And this is what I'd really like to sit in

for just a moment.

Could I have this chair? Any chair?

Yes?

Up here?

Please?

Just straight there is great, Thank you. This is a

vision I have really vulnerable moment.

As I've been meditating on this scripture. This is where

I've been right here. You prepare a table be for

me in the presence of my enemies. This is the

vision that I get. You know those war movies, you

see there's like there's a war scene and there's just

all this like red and orange color in the back

and like fire, you know, guns being fired, cannon balls.

You know what.

Hollywood has painted a war scene for us to imagine.

I see that, I see that going on in the background,

and I see a bunch of demonic beings in the background,

and I see David. I picture this valley right here,

and there's mountains on either side, and the enemies are

hanging out in the mountaintops waiting to take him out.

And the Lord's like, oh hey, right there, in the

midst of all of that, I'm gonna prepare a table

for you, and I'm.

Gonna invite you to come and sit.

This is the most unnatural thing to do in a

word scene, to sit in the middle of it. But

in the middle of that, the Lord's prepared a table,

and he said, I know exactly what you need. Don't

look around you lock eyes with me, focus on me,

because I have the exact nutrition that you need. I

have the exact equipment that you need right here, right now.

Don't get distracted with what's going on around you. Sone

in on me. I've got you. And while we're sitting

in this presence, and we lock eyes with our Savior,

and see, Lord, I don't understand going on around me,

but I choose to not fear. And instead I'm gonna

lock eyes with you, and I'm gonna receive from you

whatever word it is that you have that you know

I need in this season, I receive from you. And

as I'm sitting here and I just picture a table

and he's got his hands stretched across and my hands

are in his. Not only am I saved from having

to see the worst zone around me, but I'm giving

the invitation to focus on.

The one who loves me the deepest, the one who's.

Walking with me hand in hand. And when I'm doing that,

I hear the lion and cheot A roaring over me.

Can all of my enemies start scattering? I don't have

to fight those fight anymore that my Savior is gone

before me. When I'm focused on intimacy with him, and

he has scattered my enemies for me, our warfare in

the spirit doesn't look like it doesn't unnatural, it doesn't

always make sense in our mind. The only thing I

could do, but I couldn't make sense of why my

daughter was in heaven at twelve years old because I

could only thing I could do was go to him.

For you are worthy and your word is always true,

and I may not understand it, but I trust you.

I have thought more about heaven in the last nine

weeks than I have in my entire life.

And my new motto.

Is that Heaven is home and Earth is assignment. We

don't get to quit when we're still on assignment. I

use this illustration very tenderly, so please give me grace.

I imagine if you've ever served in the military, no

someone has served, or you currently are serving. I asked

for your grace as they give this illustration. I have

not personally served in our military, and I want to

honor you if you have, or you have a family

member who has. But I imagine with that said that,

can you imagine our troops being sent into enemy territory

and nobody expecting anything bad to happen, any hardships to

arise or take place now at all. That's why when

you have a son or daughter or a loved one

that's in the military. You're praying for their safety because

you know that there are risks involved. They are not

on homeland territory. They are in enemy territory trying to

bring peace, wage war, bring justice. We are in enemy

territory here on this earth. That this is not our home.

So why would we imagine that he would put us

here and there would be no trials or no hardships.

You have an enemy.

And he hates you, and he hates me, and I

hate him, But I'm not afraid of him.

Because my God is bigger.

I'm not afraid of his power because God has authority.

And do you know that it may not look like

we won this battle, but if we don't quit, and

we don't hold up and go home because we didn't

we didn't get the results we wanted, and we stick

with it. I will not let the enemy shut me

up and the pain and the sorrow and the shattered heart.

I will keep declaring the Lord is good because people

need to hear him. People need to be snatched out

of the power of the enemy's hand and out of

the grasp of hell so they can spend eternity with

the one who gave it all, died on the cross

and shed his blood for them. I owe him that.

And if we don't quit, we win. We may not

get all the answers here on this earth, but one day,

even if we have to wait until Heaven, we'll have

answers if we will trust him, when we've made him

the lord of our life. We don't believe he owes

us any answers, and I can't say that that was

my attitude when all of this happened. I had questions

and I.

Want the answers, but he doesn't owe me any answer.

I can honestly say that.

Lord, you don't owe me any answers. I don't understand,

but I know you when I don't understand, but I

know you. Rain. I don't understand, but you are the

only one who is victorious. And I'm going to keep

walking my eyes with you. You are my source, you

are my strength. If we go back to the beginning

of this chapter, we see that the Lord starts us

out in the green.

Pastures, did not start us out in the valley.

He didn't say, Hey, I know it's real intense right now,

but just trust me that it's all going to be okay.

He started us in relationship with him. He allowed us

to build trust and get to know him of who

he is, so that we could trust his character and

his word. And then he took us for the refreshing

so we could continue to taste of his goodness. And

then he took us on the path of righteousness so

we could know his word. And then when we went

into the valley and we were surrounded by the enemy,

we already had that relationship established that we could draw from.

So when he prepared a table before us in the

presence of our enemies, we were able to accept it.

Sometimes the greatest move you can do in battle is

accept a seat at the table, to feast on his

goodness and allow him to fight the enemy for you.

He is a god of justice.

I imagine David in the field as a shepherd before

he was anointed as king, and he defeated.

The lion and the bear.

That is who our God is. He's your shepherd. David

was shepherding those sheep. He was not about. He was

not about to allow the lion or the bear to

take one out. He defeated him with his bare hands.

That is who our shepherd is. He is not about

to allow the enemy to take you out. He will

rise up and fight your enemy for you. He is

a good shepherd, He is a good father. He has

anointed my.

Head with oil, and my cup overflows.

Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days

of my life, and I will dwell in the house

of the Lord forever. David is speaking of eternity here.

It may not look beautiful on those starts in the

middle of running from someone who's trying to kill him.

Here's what he's declaring of the Lord. He's taking time

to declare the goodness of the Lord and who he is,

and who he's had experience with him. He's using his

weapon of rest and taking a seat at the table.

He has confidence in his God because he's seen him

work before. While David's brothers were out there flinging their

swords and their javelins and training in the natural, David

was being trained in the supernatural. They weren't afraid. David's

brothers weren't afraid to take on a giant, a man

their size, but when they saw a giant, they fled.

So when David saw the giant because he had been

spending time with the Lord and intimacy. He knew who

his God was, and he knew his God had authority.

He said, I'm not afraid of you. You come at

me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come

at you with the name of the Lord of Host.

Today you will be dead. What a bold declaration.

But he knew his God, so he was not afraid.

That anointed my head with oil. There's this word that

they say. It means in the Hebrew fat head, which

is very strange, but it's like it's made to talk

about being courageous. David was full of courage. Do you

know the Lord of Host? Have you been with him

in the lush, green grasses? Have you fallen his lead

to the still quiet waters? Have you been on the

path of righteousness? Devouring this word? When Jesus said, man

shall not live by bread alone, but by every word

that comes out of the mouth of the Father. That

is how we can sustain when we take a seat

at the table. This was written before the cross. We're

on the other side of the cross, and I would

like to show you that Jesus is our sustenance. Jesus

is what we meditate on. He is the green, lush grass.

Jesus is the water that we drink from and we

are restored at. He talked to the woman at the

well and said, if you drink from me, you had

never thrust again. Jesus is the one who leads us

in the path of righteousness. He is the living word,

making himself known to us, making this come alive to us.

Jesus is the one who surrounds us when we are surrounded.

He is our sustenance, He is our strength, He is

our source. I said this in the first service. I'm

so appreciative of people who have said to our family,

you guys have made such an impact watching you walk

this road. You've done such a great job. Or whatever

it is. Didn't do it. I couldn't do it without Jesus.

He's the one who strengthens me.

He is my hope, and he disturbs all the glory

all the time.

He is worthy. Still, he is always worthy. Because of

the price that Jesus paid at the cross, we can

live in the house of the Lord forever. He made away.

He made a way for you and me, and that

is the hope we cling to.

We're on a side. You're on assignment.

This is not your home.

Would you mind playing that song Still Waters for me?

As they play this song, I just want to invite

you to just soaking it. Just see Jesus as your source,

as your strength, the one leading you through the green pastures,

allowing you the rest to lie down in the middle

of it, to get to know him, to develop an

intimate relationship with him. Picture Jesus leading you to those

still quiet waters, restoring your soul. There's a line in

this song that says, I can't remember exactly what it says.

You'll hear in a minute. It's really good though.

It talks about your river.

Can find any valley that I'm in. It doesn't matter

what valley you're and he'll find you. His goodness is present,

his peace will find you wherever you're at.

You can go ahead and play it.

Great Aunt Marie saida one hundred and three write scripture

on your heart when you need it, because anxiety hates

Psalm twenty three.

So just say to yourself, do you believe it?

I don't feeling like I'm needing it right now.

Food is my shirt. I shall not want.

He leads me by snort Zu mufis, love.

Food, the valley, love the shot dead.

I know you are with me, my father, my friends,

your goodness and Percy, no son on men.

I know by your still waters and saved.

Lord, I believe you can send meities and this broken

piece and me to peace and guy.

I know this in your so I said, I know

it to mysode mind lor myself.

I shall not belead me by still still my bes, gods.

Valid out.

Know you are with me, my bather and my friend yours.

I'd still water time say.

Still waters, run through any volley I could find.

I'm laying feet.

Don't give it Heaven's rib side. Your word is spent

in every season my life. I believe, Yes, I believe that.

S your word.

Everything. Oh the Lord is my shirl. I shall not

want he leads me by words still.

By gode House, look the shot one with me, by

my friend, your go lost.

I know by your still waters.

I say, in just a second, I'm going to ask

them to play it again. I'm gonna invite you to

stand and worship with me again. Because he's worthy, He's

so worthy in the midst of the valley. He's worthy

of our worship and the green pastures and on the mountaintop.

He's worthy of our worship. Could I invite the prayer

team to come forward first, so please, as they're up here,

I don't want to close today without giving you an

invitation to know Jesus as your.

Lord and savior.

If you don't know where you would spend eternity, Please

do not leave here today knowing Maybe you've dedicated your

life to the Lord before and you've walked away and

you want to come back and give him lordship over

your life again. Please don't leave here today without doing that.

Take advantage of the invitation and the opportunity. Maybe you're

in a valley right now and you need the Lord

to come in and strengthen you. The altar is open.

Maybe you're crying out to have a deeper, more intimate

relationship with the Lord. The altar is open. Maybe you're

needing to be restored. The altar is open. Jesus is

the answer.

For all of these things.

So would you stand with me and worship And if

this song ministers to you, if you need to lay

anything down at the altar, if you need to whatever

you need to do, you're welcome to come to the

altar if you want prayer for salvation, rededication.

Anything else. We have some amazing prayer warriors who would

love to pray with you. You would you please go

ahead and play that song.

Thank you for listening. For more messages and other resources,

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