Psalm 23: The Good Shepherd (7- God is With Us)

prefer the new time because you get more sunlight in the evening.

You see that?

Okay, woo, woo, woo, woo.

Yeah, how many of you prefer it the way it was?

Because you're actually an early bird and you like it in the morning?

Yeah, there's just.

There's opinions all over the place.

Well, guess what?

It don't matter because here it is.

Okay, I was actually asking someone this morning.

I hope in my lifetime we quit messing with the time and let it be what it is.

Okay, it seems like every two or three years we have some booers up in here.

You didn't get your sleep, we got it, we got it All right, but I'm hoping that at some point we'll just leave it alone.

But I think it's going to stay that way because we don't like change, right?

If you have your Bibles, you want to open up with me.

We're going to be in verse 4 today and I'm so excited about getting into today's message, I'm so excited about this and what the Lord is going to show all of us through His Word.

And if you are new to our series, and while you're getting everything out and ready to go, we have a free gift for you in honor of this series, and that is?

It's a book entitled A Shepherd's Look at Psalm 23.

And what it is is it was the seabed for the series we're in right now.

Because what it is, it was written by a farmer, or, excuse me, not a farmer but a shepherd, and he walks through understanding Psalm 23 from a shepherd's point of view.

And we've already heard so many of you say that you have read it and you're on your second read of it and your third read, because it's a short read, but it's powerful to see all the things that we miss a lot of times because we're not shepherds, right?

And so if you want one, all you got to do is stop by the Welcome Center and say I needs me my book Okay, that's how you get a free one.

And if you don't say that, we'll give you one anyway.

But it's not as much fun as saying I needs me my book, right?

Because the goal of this is we really want to look at Psalm 23 and realize how powerful it really is, because for many of us, we've been reading it for, you know, we've at least been exposed to it for a lot of our life.

But because we have heard it so much and we live in such a different time, we've lost some of the beauty behind it.

And so the goal of this series is that, by the time we are finished walking through Psalm 23, you will say that the Lord is our shepherd and we can follow him.

That's the whole goal, because what we have said this year is our rally cry, is we have said that we grow together, that we have a hope for everybody in our church, and that is that by the end of 2025, we want everybody to take a spiritual next step and getting closer to God.

But not just that, but we want everyone to turn to their left and their right and to help somebody else take a spiritual next step in their life.

And one of the ways that we do that is by knowing who we're following and that we're following our great shepherd.

And one of the ways that we do that is by knowing who we're following and that we're following our great shepherd.

And, as I've been telling you over the past several weeks, my hope is that, for some of us, you're going to learn things about God you never knew.

You didn't know that God did that.

You didn't know that he moved in that kind of way.

For others of you, you're going to notice.

I remember that God did that, but I've forgotten over time.

I forgot that God wants to be this or do that in my life, and so I'm hoping that you're experiencing that.

So let's dive into God's word and let's see what he has to say to us today.

God's word says this.

It says the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows and he leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you walk close beside me.

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

That's what we're going to be today, but let's keep going.

You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessing.

Surely, your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

Wow.

Every time we read that, I think it gets more and more powerful as we're beginning to understand more and more what that Psalm is talking about, and my hope for you today is.

By the time we're finished, you're going to have another reason why we love God's word, and that is because it is going to teach us that, because the Lord is our shepherd, we can have a comforting assurance that he is with us.

We can have a comforting assurance that he is with us when you write that down.

Look at your neighbor and say now something you need to understand.

Tell him, say something you need to understand.

That was horrible.

Okay, I know you didn't get an hour of sleep today, but it's fine.

Coffee is good in Jesus name.

Okay, look at somebody else and say something you need to understand Much better.

He is with us.

I know I didn't tell you to say that.

Okay, I was assuming.

Right, look at somebody and say he is with us.

There you go, he is with us.

You know what something's amazing about shepherds?

Shepherding during the time was considered a noble profession, but nobody wanted to do it.

And the reason why nobody really wanted to do it is because it was disgusting, because you were around sheep all the time.

You smelled like sheep.

You got sheep on you all over the place.

It was not a fun occupation to have.

Everybody loved it, but not everybody wanted to do it because you had to be with the sheep constantly, which is amazing.

Why, of all things, god would have David write about a shepherd with sheep?

Because the assumed thing was is that the shepherd is always around his sheep, and that's one of the things I love about this Psalm.

So, to kind of catch you up with where we have been over the past several weeks, we've been walking through Psalm 23.

And if you remember, it was written by David the king, and he was a shepherd earlier in his life and he's most likely writing this toward the end of his life and we call it Psalm 23,.

But it was actually the 23rd song that was probably sang in the temple talking about the goodness of God, and most of the time the song was named after the first line, and so it was the Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need.

But then what David does is he says the Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need.

And let me tell you all the things that I need that God does in my life, and we've been walking through the way God meets all of those needs and we've been talking about how he is our contentment and about how he is our peace, he is our restoration, he is our guide.

And wasn't it amazing last week when Brandon Gillum talked about he is our protector?

It was just absolutely phenomenal.

One of my favorite quotes was the enemy may scare you, but it can't touch you.

I love that so much.

And today we're going to talk about how.

Not only is he our protector, but he is also our assurance.

Now, I didn't say insurance, okay, but assurance.

That's a different message that still works, but not that one Assurance.

We don't really use that word anymore, so let's define that according to how we see God.

So, if you're taking notes, assurance could mean, from this context, a confident trust in God's promises based on his character.

Assurance, when we're talking about God, is a confident trust in God's promises based on his character.

If we say that the other way around, because I know God's character, I can confidently trust his promises.

So when I see him, I have a trust in God, and that gives me an assurance, that gives me a peace, that gives me a calm, and that's what that word in this context means.

It is.

It is a assurance that God is there.

And so here's the question why do we need it?

Why do we need assurance.

God said he was there.

Isn't that good enough?

Well, since we are using the metaphor of a shepherd and sheep, let's see if God was trying to tell us something.

So let's ask the question why does sheep need this?

Why does sheep constantly need the presence of the shepherd?

Well, there's something that's embarrassing that God calls us sheep.

That's true about sheep, and if he's referring to us, it's slightly offensive.

But that is this Sheep are easily terrified, something you need to know.

They get scared real easy.

Here it is.

They are nervous about everything.

Look at your neighbor and say everything.

And here's the thing that you got to love about sheep.

Okay, you got to love.

Here's the thing is that they go from zero to 10 immediately.

They're never concerned about anything.

They're terrified about everything.

They will hear a twig snap and go we're going to die.

That's immediately what they do.

They see a shadow.

Everyone's dead.

That's what they do.

They are never concerned.

They are always terrified.

And the reason why that is is because they're not naturally a predator animal.

They're naturally a prey animal and they're also what's called a flight animal, which means when in doubt run.

That's their base thing.

And here's the thing when sheep get scared.

This is what happens when they get scared they scatter.

Other words I love you, but you on your own, like I don't care if a mama sheep has got her baby right there.

Baby, better learn how to run, because she is gone.

She's gone from everybody, she's just going to run.

They will scatter everywhere.

The second thing that happens to sheep is they will trample anything in their way, including your feet, including you.

It don't matter, they are going to trample everything.

They will run over their children, they will run over the older sheep.

They're just running.

They are scared to death.

They go from zero to terrified.

How about this one?

They often get injured or injure others.

It is said that when a sheep gets scared, first of all, if one sheep gets scared, the rest of them get scared Someone's scared, me too and they all run.

But here's the thing they don't plan it, they just run, which means they will run into trees.

They will run off of cliffs.

Many times sheep have died because of a twig.

A twig snapped, and they go running right off a cliff because they're just terrified, and so they will hurt themselves or they will hurt you because of the twig right.

And then here's one Peace only comes when they are able to catch sight of their trusted shepherd.

So what will happen many times because sheep can run faster than their shepherd is that the shepherd will send out a sheep dog who will kind of run ahead of them and turn them.

And as soon as they start to turn, they'll see the shepherd doing this and then they'll start to come because the shepherd is there and they realize that because the shepherd is there, everything's going to be okay.

Why does that matter?

Okay, poor shepherd, I mean poor sheep scattering zero to 10.

Why does that matter?

Because everyone has a private battle you know nothing about.

Everybody is upset about something.

Everybody is scared about something.

Can I tell you something?

I hope it makes you feel better.

The greatest hero in your life is scared about something.

Can I tell you something I hope makes you feel better?

The greatest hero in your life is worried about something.

If they're not careful, they're struggling and trying to figure out something.

Everybody, you know, has a private battle that you know nothing about.

It may just be a twig to you, but it's level 10 to them and you know what happens when people get scared.

When people get scared, their first instinct is to isolate.

They scatter, they run, they get by themselves and it don't matter.

They love you.

But you better.

Better keep up, because they're out of there, because the private battle gets loud.

How about this one?

They will trample on the kindness of others.

They don't mean to, but they're scared, they're hurting and they're just trying to get away from the pain in their life.

And while you're trying to reach out to them, they will sometimes abuse your good intentions, not because they hate you, but because they've got a private battle that you don't know about.

How about this one?

Hurting people will hurt people.

They will run off of a cliff emotionally, they will run into a wall emotionally, not because they're trying to hurt anybody, but it's because they've got a private battle.

And to you it might be a twig, to them it's level 10.

But you know, the great thing is is that true peace comes when they can catch a look.

Catch a look puts me an A right there catch a look to their trusted shepherd.

When they catch look Brandon must've rubbed off on me from last week the true peace comes when they catch a look at their trusted shepherd.

Just discern it in Jesus' name.

You know what I'm trying to say, all right, it's a good point, whether you get it or not.

Okay, it's good, it's real good.

And you know what the thing is.

It's sometimes we're running so hard that we don't see the shepherd because we're running away from him, and so sometimes God will send a sheep dog that's me who's going to try to kind of get you to turn a little bit so you can see the shepherd, so you can have the peace that God has for you.

Because here's the question of the day, and that is we all may as a sheep would say, we all may need the assurance that God is with us.

But how can we keep calm in the face of difficult private battle seasons?

I know it's a twig to you, but it's a level 10 to me.

How in the world am I supposed to keep calm when I feel like the world is caving in?

Well, the great news is, I have no idea what that private battle may be for you, but I know that God has three promises in his word today.

And if you'll, let me be a little bit of a sheepdog today and kind of just get you to turn and look at Jesus just a little bit, true peace will come when we fix our eyes on our shepherd, and I love that he is our assurance.

Let me give you three promises from God's word so that, no matter what you're going through today, god wants to bring peace in every difficult season.

Here's the first thing, and that is we are comforted because God is with us in our daily lives.

God is with us in our daily lives.

I want you to look at your neighbor and say something you need to know about me.

I know you're distracted because I'm walking this way.

Act like I wasn't walking.

Look at somebody else and say something you need to know about me.

He is with me.

Say that again.

Say he is with me.

The Lord is with you.

Just because you don't see him doesn't mean he's not with you.

You don't see the wind, but you feel the effects all around you.

It's the same thing with the goodness of God.

Look at what God's word says.

It says the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that I need.

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Now, once again, remember that David's always bringing our attention back, not to ourselves, but back to the shepherd, and he's saying that.

Don't forget we're talking about the Lord Yahweh, the Lord, the personal name of God and that the Lord is with us, that God doesn't outsource his daily care of you, that he takes care of you himself, and what's kind of missed on us nowadays.

That would have just been mind-blowing to the people of that time?

It's called the ancients, to the people of ancient times.

Is we read right over that your rod and your staff protect and comfort me?

Well, god bless you and just kind of move on.

I have no idea what that means, but for them they would have had to pause on that.

You mean to tell me that his rod and staff protect and comfort me?

Yes, well, what they know that we need to understand is that a rod and staff were the shepherd's daily tools for the care of the sheep.

So, in other words, what he was saying is I'm not just here to rescue you, I'm not just here to give you peace, but I'm not going anywhere, but I'm going to hang around with you and I'm going to be here every step of the way.

What God wants us to understand is that God doesn't save us and move on.

He walks with us daily.

He wants a daily relationship, not an occasional encounter.

God doesn't want to have a weekend relationship with you, but he wants to walk with you every single day.

And what they would have understand when he said that his rod and his staff are ready, then that was meaning that every single day, god has come dressed for action, he's come ready to do whatever needs doing in our life.

That's one of the reasons why I love the story of the nation of Israel and the book of first five books of Moses, because after he had walked with them for 40 years through the wilderness, the Bible said that there was a cloud that they would follow by day and a fire by night.

But now, as the end of the 40 years of wandering was over with they, were about to cross over a river and go into a time of conquest and they were wondering how are we supposed to do this?

God has been with us for 40 years.

Does he stay in the wilderness?

And now it's time for us to kind of be all growed up and kind of go in there and take care of it ourselves.

But actually what God said is he said do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you and he will be with you and he will neither fail you nor abandon you.

One of the reasons why this is such a big deal is because, like I told you, sheep are very easily scared and they go from zero to 10 almost immediately.

But you know, what happened once they got used to the shepherd being there every day is they would hear the snap of a twig and they start to get nervous and they look up and if they saw the shepherd they're like okay, he's here, it's all right, I'll go back to eating again.

And then all of a sudden they hear you know, the wind blow a little too hard.

Oh, is the shepherd here?

Okay, he's here, I'm going to go back to Eden and do what I'm doing.

As long as they could see the shepherd, they were okay.

That's why the shepherd couldn't leave.

It's because he was the source of their security and that when they saw him, that didn't mean that the twig wasn't going to snap and the wolf wasn't going to come.

It just meant he's got this.

Their job was just to keep him in sight and realize that he was ready for whatever needed to be done.

We can see that when we're reading through the book of Jeremiah.

If you're reading God's word with us, we are about to finish up the book of Jeremiah, and if you'd like to read it with us, you can text RLC Bible to 94,000 and we'll send you a text message every day.

And we've been reading about how God is telling the nation of Israel that if they don't turn around, they're going to experience judgment.

Please don't let this happen.

Don't let this happen.

And then you would think because they're not going to turn around, they're going to experience judgment that God's just going to wait, like he's not going to go with them into whatever comes next.

But I love how we're going to read this next week.

He says don't be afraid, for I am with you and I will completely destroy the nations to which I have exiled you, but I will not completely destroy you.

In other words, bad days aren't over yet.

So, even though you're going to be exiled, there's still going to be a whole lot more story to be told.

But guess what?

I'm going there too.

I'm going with you when you're here.

I'm going to be with you when you're there, when it looks good, when it looks bad.

I have no intention of you doing this thing called life all by yourself.

And don't worry, not only am I coming, but everything I need to fulfill my plan in your life.

I'm bringing with me, and so, no matter what you're going through, god still got his eye on you and he's still able to do exceedingly and abundantly.

Above all, we can ask or think he came dressed and ready to do whatever needs doing in our lives.

That's why the people who read this would have been amazed.

They were like not only is here, but he's ready to do whatever needs doing in my life.

So look at your neighbor and say he is with me.

Now look at them and say but he's also with you.

He's with me, but he's also with you because not only is he with us in our daily lives, but also we are comforted because he's with us in our daily lives through his word.

He's with us in our daily lives through his word.

Now, how do we?

How do we get that?

Well, the Bible says remember that the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that I need.

And then it says your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

So there's two different things, and that is also very much what a shepherd would have.

It would have a rod and a staff, and a rod was a daily tool skillfully used to care for the sheep.

And then this rod actually was about this size.

And so many times when you see pictures of an actual sheep a shepherd rather if you don't see a crook on the end of it, you know the big question mark thing it's not a staff, it's a rod.

The rod is the thing they actually carried all the time one way or the other.

And they had a hundred uses for this rod.

They could do all kinds of things with it and it was amazing and it was a symbol of their skill.

It was a symbol of their power, what they were able to do, and it was also a symbol of their readiness to do whatever needed to get done.

And if you can think of something that is a symbol of what God is able to do, it has a hundred uses in his always ability to be able to move in our life.

It's his word.

As to be able to move in our life, it's his word.

As a matter of fact, god's word says this about itself.

It says all scripture is inspired by God and is useful.

Say useful, say useful.

It's useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what's going wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we are wrong and it teaches us to do what is right.

And there's so many things that God's word will do that is symbolized when he says your rod protects me.

I'm gonna give you three things real quickly that God's word actually does, how it is useful in our lives.

And number one is God uses his word to discipline us.

God uses his word to discipline us, to discipline us.

God uses his word to discipline us, and the way this would work out in the shepherd's world is because, remember, there were no fences back in the time, and so they would just wander, you know, from this pasture to this pasture and they have to go there, and so they weren't always able to make sure and tell the sheep, because they're not, you know, they can't understand anyway.

But be like hey, listen, don't walk too far over there, there's a ravine over there, or don't eat that bush, it's poisonous.

But sheep don't know that.

And so what a lot of the things that our research said will happen is, as a sheep is walking toward a bush, that they have been told a hundred times not to walk over there and eat because it is poisonous, what a shepherd will do is he will throw his rod ahead and it will hit the bush and scare the poor sheep half to death.

They'll go oh, not going to go eat over there, could die, could die, could die.

And if they are walking toward a cliff, you know what the shepherd will do he will throw his rod.

They'll hit the ground right beside the sheep.

They go oh, oh, there's a twig, I'm going to go back over here.

It would always.

It would push them back toward where they needed to go, because it wasn't, because the shepherd was trying to not let them have fun.

Hey, please, if you don't mind, if you don't mind not eating, but you know, if you want to eat the poisonous bush, okay, fine, I don't want to make you feel bad about it.

No, it'll kill them and so, in order to help them survive, he will hurt their feelings and he will terrify them by hitting the bush.

Can I tell you what God's word will do?

It's God's word will hit the bush for us.

It'll tell us that's poisonous, that'll hurt you, that will destroy you.

Stay away from that.

And we get so offended.

God, how could you not let me eat something poisonous, don't you know that I want it Exactly.

That's why I'm going to hit it with the rod a thousand times.

But look at what God's word says.

It says have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?

He said my child, don't make light of the Lord's discipline and don't give up.

Don't give up when you read something in God's word you don't like.

But the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes each one that he accepts as his child.

In other words, if he didn't love you, he would say eat away, eat all the bush you want.

It's going to kill me, I know, don't care.

No, instead of that, he will mess with that bush.

He will expose that thing because he wants to save you.

That's what God's word does, is he wants to save us, and so he will do what is necessary.

His word will discipline us, and it's because he loves us.

Let me tell you something else God's word will do.

It's God's word.

He his word to care for us.

He uses his word to care for us.

There was a phrase, and I think it's still used, and it's called being under the rod.

Being under the rod, and what would happen is at the end of the day, as it was beginning to be twilight.

You know, the sheep have been out and they've been doing all manner of just kind of things out in the pasture, and so, as it was starting to get dark outside, what would happen is is the shepherd would start to head to where they're going to spend the night and he would lift up his rod like this, and when he lifted up his rod like this, the sheep had been trained to know that means come here, come, get close, and usually he would have a leader sheep that was trained to come first and the rest would follow and as they got close they would pass under the rod and he would stop them right there and he would take his rod and he would push through all of the wool so he can get down to look at his skin, get underneath what everybody else can see, and get down where nobody else can see and make sure there's no parasites, make sure there's no wounds there, make sure there's nothing that's going to hurt him.

It would check check the hooves, make sure they're okay, check his teeth, check his eyes, make sure he's okay, and so he would make sure that his sheep is all right and then he would push them along to go sleep at night.

Can I tell you that's what God's word does for all of us.

It's that God puts us under his care, and it's in his word that he checks on us.

He talks about our broken heart.

He talks about the things that nobody else can see.

He talks about that private battle that nobody else knows about.

And why would he do this?

Well, leviticus, when it was talking about this, it actually said every tithe of the herd and flock, every 10th animal that passes under the shepherd's rod, will be holy to the Lord.

The reason why he does that is because you're his, because he loves you, because he cares about you, and so he will cause you to pass under his rod, and he will go deeper than just the surface level.

The Bible says that it separates the joint and the marrow.

It goes right in between all of the carefully laid plans that we have and it hits right at that spot, and the Holy Spirit will reveal things that he intends to heal, and he does it through his word.

And so he's with us in our daily life so that he can discipline us, so that he can care for us.

And another thing that God's word does is it protects us.

God's word will protect us, one of the things I love about God's word is it gives us the promises that says greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

That I've been born of God the enemy cannot touch me.

That God has given us not a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind.

That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down evil imaginations and everything that would try to exalt itself against the knowledge of God.

God's word is a weapon of warfare that he uses against the enemy.

But one of the things I love about his weapons of warfare as well is not only will he use this, but he can use it so very skillfully.

You know the shepherd.

They actually would have contests to use and see who could hit the bullseye the most, and from a distance, and it was amazing how far they could throw their rod and they could hit things, because they were very skilled on being able to hit whatever they needed to do, and what they'd have to do is maybe there'd be a wolf that would come out of nowhere and they had to protect their sheep.

Maybe it was a rabid cat that would come out of nowhere and they had to beat the mess out of that thing.

All right, it happens all the time.

Okay, watch the news, people are always victims of cats.

Okay, it happens all the time.

That he was ready to beat up every cat that came by, all right, he always could.

But you know what I love about God the most is he doesn't just beat up the cats in our life and then just leave us there helpless.

But look at what he said.

He said get out of here, satan, when he was faced with the enemy, for the scriptures say you must worship the Lord, your God, and serve only him.

And then the devil went away.

And so you know what he does.

He doesn't just use his word himself, but he makes us into sheep, ninjas.

He gives us his rod and he says go to town on them, evil cats, in Jesus' name.

And we can actually speak God's word against the enemy and just say I bind the devil in Jesus name, because God's word says where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and we can declare God's word over our life.

And so what I love about God is he doesn't just protect us, but he hands us his rod and he says go to town, buddy, go, take back everything the enemy took from you and then take some more, because his word is powerful and it doesn't matter what you're going through in your life, it does.

And I'm not saying that it's not important, I'm saying it's not as powerful as Jesus and that everybody you know has a private battle that only they know about.

But God has promised you that whatever every battle that is, whatever you're going through, that number one, he's going to, he's going to be with you in daily life.

And then, number two, he's going to go with you and he is going to discipline, he's going to comfort and he is going to protect you by his word.

And then one more, and that is this that we are comforted because he's with us in our daily life through his word and now through his spirit.

Through his spirit, look at your neighbor and say he is with me.

Now look back at somebody else and say he is with you.

Now say it like this Say he is with all of us.

Of course he is.

He has the ability to be with all of us at the same time.

God's word says the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that.

I need your with all of us at the same time.

God's word says the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that.

I need your rod and your staff.

Protect and comfort me.

What is a staff?

It's probably the most recognizable thing when it has to do with the shepherd, and a staff is a daily tool that symbolized a shepherd's care, the care that a shepherd would have for his flock.

He would use the rod all the time for the daily in and out work that had to be done, but he would bring out his staff when he needed to care for his flock.

And one of the number one things that we need to know about that word comfort, is that that was one of the words used to describe the Holy Spirit that in the book of John.

He said I am so glad that I'm able to go back to my father.

Jesus said because if I were not to leave then the comforter couldn't come.

But he is going to tell you everything else you need to know about me.

Well, who is this comforter?

It is the third part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit that on the book of Acts, chapter two, descended and came and dwelt among us, and he never went anywhere.

He's still here, and that's why God's word says let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.

Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.

But since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.

In other words, let him lead and let God get involved.

Don't try to partition your life and go this is my, this is my God life and this is the rest of my life but instead take out all of the walls that we have built and let God get involved in all of it, because he wants to walk with us in our daily lives, in the things that everybody knows, but in the private battles that nobody else knows about, and it's through his spirit that he walks with us every single day.

But what does that look like?

We hear that, but what does it look like?

Well, to give you an example of this, I want to tell you about a guy from the Old Testament named Gideon.

Isn't he handsome?

Yes, gideon, ready for war.

He was ready for some war.

Okay, he was around during the time of Judges.

You ever read Judges?

It is a dumpster fire.

The Bible says that it was a time when there was no king, no central point of contact pushing everybody toward God.

So everybody did what was right in their own eyes, which meant everybody's in trouble most of the time.

And during the time of Gideon, the Midianites had come and taken over, just beat up the Israelites everywhere, and somebody needed to do something, and even though this was way back, when God was still moving among his people.

And so what happened in the life of Gideon is one day Gideon is hiding out and while he's hiding out, god comes to him and the Bible says the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said mighty hero, the Lord is with you.

Say what, not me?

He was hiding, okay, he wasn't on the battlefield declaring God's goodness.

He was hiding Before.

He believed in himself.

God believed in him, and one of the number one things that God will do through his spirit is his Holy Spirit will direct us, he'll give us direction when we don't know what direction we need to go in.

Gideon knew something needed to be done.

He just didn't know what needed to be done.

He didn't know what was going to happen.

God did, and he came to him and he said I'm going to guide you, I'm going to direct you.

You know how a shepherd does that A shepherd because he's got sheep all around him.

He needs to keep them going in the right direction.

And so if he sees a sheep over there starting to go in the wrong direction, he doesn't take the rod and knock him in the head.

You know.

What he does Is he reaches out and he'll tap him on the side.

And it doesn't take a lot, just enough of a tap to get him to veer back this way.

And if he sees a sheep going over here, he'll get over here and he'll tap him to veer him that way.

You know how God moves.

My prayer for you is that you hear the voice of God every day in your life.

But many times we hear God's voice through his word and what he will do is he will tap us in this way and he'll tap us in that way and he'll lead us in that way, as he slowly leads and directs us in our life.

That's why it's so important you've got to read God's word every day, so you can get your daily tap to kind of move you in the right direction, as he guides you in the right way.

And that's what happened to Gideon.

God started to tap him in that direction and said I want to deliver my people and I want to use you to do it.

Well, the problem is, god believed in Gideon.

Gideon didn't believe in Gideon, and so he actually went to God and he said but, lord, how many times is that your prayer?

No matter what it is, my prayer is always but, but, lord, how can I rescue Israel?

How can I do this thing you're directing me to do?

But you know what the Lord said man, I'm going to be with you and you will destroy the Midianites, as if you are fighting against one man.

Come on, that's, that is a promise right there.

That's awesome.

He said I'll be with you.

You know what God's word will do through his spirit is he'll direct us, but he'll also comfort us when we need it.

He'll bring his comfort to us.

When Gideon didn't believe in himself, god did and he said man, I got you, it's going to be okay, it's going to be all right.

Just keep your eyes on me, and everything's going to happen the way it needs to happen.

Because, you know, what a shepherd would do Is especially if he had a larger flock or if they're going through a terrain where there's hills and there's rocks and there's different things.

Many times, as soon as a sheep would lose sight of the shepherd, they'd panic.

Remember?

They'd hear a twig, oh no, and they'd look up.

And if they don't see the shepherd there they go.

I mean, they're gone on, you're going to have to go find them.

And so you know a lot of times what a shepherd would do.

I love this.

A shepherd would just lift his staff up in the air so that if you couldn't see his body, you could still see him.

And even if you couldn't see him, you could still see him.

How many times have you been walking through seasons and you felt like you just couldn't see God?

But yet there's just a little bit of a light in this direction.

That's him comforting you and leading you and saying I know it's dark, I know there's enemies all around you, I know you can't see in front of you.

Just follow me, and I've got you, I'm going to lead you.

Some of us, we need to hear that word today.

God's not always going to speak through a storm, but he'll often speak in a still small voice, and many times that still small voice is not saying quit, he's saying keep going.

I got you, I'm here for you, I'm never going to leave you.

And that's what happened with Gideon.

So he, finally, he believed what God had to say.

You've got to read it.

And in Judges 6 and 7, it was an amazing adventure that God took Gideon on to get ready for this battle where he is going to fight against the Midianites.

But how many of you know that once you've heard a word from God, you feel like God's called you to do something.

And then a little bit of time passes.

It's amazing how what felt so strong in a moment starts to fade over time and you start to wonder God, are you still going to do that thing?

And so they weren't so sure.

And so Gideon and a couple of his officers, right before the night of the big battle, of his officers, right before the night of the big battle, snuck down to the enemy's camp to kind of hear what was going on.

And they overheard a meeting between two soldiers and one of them had had a dream, and the dream was such and such.

And the other guy interpreted it and he said your dream can only be one thing God has given Gideon victory over Midian and all its allies.

He said, you know, it can only be one thing Gideon is not going to beat us, but his God will.

Gideon has got God on his side and because God is on his side, everything's going to be all right.

And that was what they needed to hear.

And they went back and they wrecked shop, they took over, and Midian did not bother them again for quite a long time.

They won their victory and you know what the Holy Spirit will do in our lives Is that he will direct us, he will comfort us.

But you know what he also does, so good is he rescues us.

He will rescue us.

That's one of the things I love about this staff is it's got the very recognizable crook on the end, and what that is is sometimes because, remember, sheep are not paying attention and so they'll fall into a ravine.

And when they fall into that ravine, what a shepherd will do is he uses this and he hits them in the head with it.

No, he doesn't do that.

Okay, he doesn't do that.

But what he actually does is he will take that crook and get around the neck of the sheep, because it's the only part he can reach, and he will go and he will pull the sheep out of there.

He doesn't come when we need rescue and say how could you do that?

Why are you in that ravine?

No, instead, every time and if we fall right back into the ravine again, you know what he does he gets right back down in there again and he pulls us up every single time.

And one of the great things about God that we forget about is he's not just with us in the good times, but he rescues us when we get ourselves into trouble, and he walks with us.

And so isn't it something that the most recognizable piece of a shepherd's tools is the very thing that reminds us that he rescues us out of every single thing that we go through?

And so God has a promise for you, and that is that he wants to walk with us through our daily life, that he wants to walk with us through his word and give us the tools that we need to walk in freedom every day, but also through his spirit, he wants to direct us and he wants to care for us and he wants to rescue us, no matter what's going on, so we can have an assurance that God is with me.

And why is that important?

Why do we need to know that today?

We need to know that, because everyone has a private battle that you know nothing about.

But the amazing thing is, jesus knows and he is with you even now.

I want that settled for just a second.

He's with you.

You are important to him and I did something.

I don't do this very often, but I felt something so strongly that I did this and I typed this up by as big as I could make it, because I want to give you an opportunity, if you are so inclined, to take a picture of this or to write it down, because I don't know who, but somebody is going to need to hear this this week.

I don't know if you need it right now.

I almost took it out of the message today, but I couldn't, because either you need it right now or you're gonna need it sometime this weekend.

That is this.

This season is not your life.

This season is only part of your life.

If you have Jesus as your shepherd, you might be passing through one of the most difficult seasons.

As your shepherd, you might be passing through one of the most difficult seasons in your life, but don't forget, you're just passing through.

God has no intention of setting up camp, but he has every intention on leading you through every valley, every difficult thing that you're going through, and I know that for a fact, and I know that because God's word says it will never return void.

It always accomplishes everything that it sets out to do.

God's word is faithful in all things.

But the other thing that you need to know about God's word is that he also moves in our life in amazing ways to prove himself to you.

One of the ways that he does that is sometimes they're doing something we don't expect.

I'm going to ask you a question real quick before we pray, and that is this what were you doing 18 months ago?

You remember what you had for breakfast yesterday morning.

What were you doing 18 months ago?

Most of us don't remember, right.

I don't remember what I was doing 18 months ago, but doing 18 months ago Most of us don't remember, right, I don't remember what I was doing 18 months ago, but about 18 months ago there was a lady in our church who, for Pastor Appreciation Month, wanted to give her pastor a gift, and she said, as she was praying about what God would have her give her pastor and me, she had this picture in her head of a rod and a staff that she wanted to give her pastor as an under shepherd underneath the great shepherd, and for a year and a half she couldn't find all the pieces that she wanted.

She said she found the staff, she couldn't find the rod.

I think it was just this past week she finally found the rod that she was looking for.

She told my wife.

She said I felt so strongly I had to give it to Pastor Brandon this week.

You know how amazing that is.

And number one, she had no idea that I was gonna preach about the rod and the staff that God has for us.

The second thing that she didn't know is that I never use props in my messages.

But I just so happened to have said I use props in my messages.

But I just so happened to have said I want to use props in my messages but I don't have a rod and a staff.

So I ordered the jankiest, most ridiculous stuff off of Amazon and I was just content to just.

We were going to laugh together at how ridiculous it looked.

But Friday she said the Lord put in my heart that before Sunday I had to give pastor the rod and the staff.

I have no idea why.

You know what that means Is that means 18 months ago.

God started planning for you to be here today so that you could see an example of his rod and his staff and you could be reminded that God is with you, that God is for you in your daily life, and he has a rod, which is his word, that he will use to discipline, to care and to protect you with.

But he also has a staff that he will use to guide, to comfort and also to rescue you.

And I had a different way I was going to end this message.

I was going to talk about a guy named Micah in the Old Testament, who was so worried about the battle that the Israelites were going through and he was so worried about what was happening in the nation of Israel, and he got so upset about it that he finally just prayed this prayer and he said this.

He said oh Lord, protect your people with your shepherd staff, lead your flock, your special possession.

Though they live alone in a thicket on the heights of Mount Carmel, let them craze in the fertile pastures of Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.

In other words, what he was saying is we need help.

We're not making this happen.

We're getting worse and worse and worse.

God, we can't do this without your help.

You know, what I love about that Was that wasn't the end of the verse, the next half of the verse, when he asked God for help.

The answer was yes, of course I will.

I will do mighty miracles for you, like those I did when I rescued you from slavery in Egypt.

Some of us what if we're one sincere prayer away from hearing God speaking to our lives more than we ever have before, we've been asking everybody else.

We've been trying everything else.

Why don't we try Jesus?

Why don't we try to move some of the different barriers we have in our life?

And we've said, god, you go this far and no further.

I'm going to take care of this private battle all by myself.

How's that going?

What would it look like if we removed every barrier in our life and let God take over all of our life and we say, god, I want to get you involved and I want you to walk with me in everything and I'm going to trust that you've come ready for action.

18 months ago, god prepared this message so that you could hear him say I'm with you.

I didn't go anywhere, I'm still with you even right now, and I've got more than enough for everything you need.

What I need you to do is to come to me, to trust me, to lift your eyes off of your problems and see me, because only in me, god would say, is peace truly found.

And if you take your eyes off of your troubles and put your eyes on Jesus, you're gonna see that he's leading you more than you realize, that he's actually wanting to comfort you more than you realize, and he is more willing to rescue you than you realize.

But you gotta turn to him.

And so just a moment, we're gonna, we're gonna join him with the band.

They're going to lead us through a final song of worship, and I want to ask you this question what barrier do you need to take down this morning?

What private battle do you need to invite God into this morning?

You're already carrying it.

Why not give it to Jesus?

Maybe you're in here and your private battle is that you, secretly, you don't know the Lord.

Maybe you're in here.

In your private battle is that you, secretly, you don't know the Lord.

You know everything about him.

You know what it is to come to church.

You know when it's time to stand and when it's time to sit, but you have no relationship with Jesus.

Can I tell you that he loves you more than you can imagine.

You've never been more loved than you are right now.

Why not come home to Jesus?

Inside your worship guide, on the back of your connect card, is the plan of salvation, and we would love for you to accept Jesus as your Lord and your Savior, but we don't want you to do it alone, and so in just a moment, there's going to be a prayer team back in the back, and if you want to take that next step and give your life to Jesus, we would love for you to join us back there and let us walk with you as you take those amazing steps.

It's so amazing that the best way the King of Kings could describe it is be born again.

We would love to walk with you in that step, in making Jesus your Lord and your Savior.

Maybe that's not you.

Maybe you just got that private battle, and lately it's not so private anymore, it's getting to be public.

It's taking over everything you got.

Can I tell you, what would it look like if we put our eyes on our shepherd today?

What do you need to bring him.

Maybe you want to have someone pray with you back at our prayer table.

Maybe you want to find a quiet place up here.

It's just a symbol of laying it down at his feet, but whatever it is, there's freedom for somebody here today if you just take it in Jesus' name.

Let's pray right now.

God, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, god, that you're with us and that you're for us in every way.

God, I'm so thankful, god, that you are our shepherd, that, lord, that you have a rod and you have a staff that protects and comforts us, and there is nowhere that we can go and nothing that we can do where you are not greater still, god, I pray for maybe somebody in here that they're realizing that they need a relationship with you.

I pray that in this place and in this're realizing that they need a relationship with you.

I pray that in this place and in this moment, right now, they'll receive you, lord, that they will no longer allow the enemy to lie to them and tell them that they're not worthy or that one day they'll make it right.

But let today be the day where they give everything they have over to you.

God, I pray for maybe those who have that private battle and they've been wandering through darkness alone when the whole time, god, your hand has been outstretched.

I pray, lord, that you'll guide us, you'll comfort us and, lord, you'll rescue us.

For many of us, you just rescue us from our stubbornness, that we'll no longer try to go our own way, but we'll allow you to lead the way.

God, I pray that, with the amount of surrender that we give, that, the amount of freedom be that we experience in this place today and we celebrate you in Jesus' name.

We pray Amen.

You know, would you stand with me all over the house this morning?

The band is gonna lead us in through one final song of worship and I wanna ask you today take a next step with the Lord.

Maybe for you that's just lifting your hands, where you are just doing business with Jesus.

Maybe it's going back to our prayer team and taking a next step there.

Maybe it's finding a quiet place up here.

But whatever it is, don't waste this opportunity.

Let the Lord move in your life today.