Psalm 23: The Good Shepherd (1-Confident Trust)

It is so good to see you today.

Thank you so much for braving the blizzards and the things and the stuff, and if you're from Alabama, this is a blizzard outside.

If you're from anywhere north of here, you're like, ah, a mere dusting.

I got you, but I didn't grow up where you did, all right.

So for me we have all the bread and all the milk.

If you couldn't find it at Kroger, it's at my house, probably because we are just holding on for dear life, right, and I want us to get started today.

But before I do that, I do want to say real quick to everybody watching online thank you so much for still being with us.

We know that the roads are bad in certain places, so please, please, can I just lock eyes with me for a moment?

Being at church today is not a testament of faith.

Okay, if you didn't feel safe being here, we don't want you here.

Okay, we want you to be safe where you are.

So thank you for joining us and don't let the enemy give you any condemnation today.

Okay, we're glad you're here.

I want you to let us know in the comments that you were here today and we're going to have a good time.

Either way, we made our way here today.

We might as well have a good time right.

And so if you have your Bibles with me and you want to open up to a brand new series today entitled Good Shepherd, and it's going to be a walkthrough Psalm 23.

And other than Advent, this is the first time we have introduced a new series in like three years.

Okay, so it's almost like why are you clapping?

Okay, why are you clapping?

I miss the book of Matthew, okay?

No, I almost don't even remember how to do this, because we've been in Matthew for like 300 years.

But I am so glad that you are here and I am excited as well to get into the new series, and so if you have your message notes and everything, want to get all of those set, want to give you guys a chance online to get ready while you're doing that, I want to tell you about two things today that are super important, and that is.

Number one is this is our life group preview day.

Can we put our hands together for that one and celebrate that?

We love life groups around here and we're going to have a preview day today and next week and then they launch on the first Sunday in February, and we did find out that there were a couple of QR codes we were having some trouble with today, and so, if you would like to sign up for a group today and you're having trouble, you can stop by the Welcome Center or scan this one.

This is the most updated one.

If it doesn't work, definitely stop by the Welcome Center, but this one should work.

And here's what I need to tell you, and that is this as these fill up, you're going to see them disappear from there, because we have limited spots in most of these groups, and so if you are even remotely thinking about joining a group, you need to sign up for one as soon as possible, because there is limited space and many times, by the time we get to launch day, there's almost no room left, and so make sure that you do that today.

And, for those of you who are watching online, you can go on our website and you can look up where you can sign up for that as well.

Okay, the second thing is is because we have a brand new series today, I have got a free gift for everybody today.

All right, we have got a free.

I know some we have got a free and some of you are going yay, a book.

Yes, I got you Okay here.

There's pictures in the book, on the cover, that's where the pictures are.

But we are beginning a series through the gospel, the gospel gospel of Matthew.

We're going through Psalm 23.

And I'm gonna say the gospel of Psalms 23 probably a thousand times, but this book was the seed of the series we're gonna begin today.

I read, this book was the seed of the series we're going to begin today.

I read this book about every year and it's amazing because the gentleman who wrote this book was a shepherd, and so in reading Psalm 23, he has a very different outlook on what Psalm 23 looks like, and it very much brings it to life.

And it is one of those books that I always have a couple of copies in my office, and so when someone leaves, I give them this one as I can, and I would say, outside the Bible is probably one of the top 10 books that has formed my life when it comes to knowing God more, and so, in order to celebrate this, I have a free copy of these for you, and it's a very short read and they'll be out in the Welcome Center for you if you would like one of these, and we went through this with our team not long ago and they absolutely loved it.

So make sure you get yourself one of these before you leave today at the Welcome Center.

Okay, all right.

Well, as we are getting into this, I really am excited about Psalm 23, because the unfortunate reality of Psalm 23 is, even if you don't recognize it by the name, you've most likely heard it before and, unfortunately, most of us have heard Psalm 23 at like a funeral or some other kind of memorial service, because it is an amazing way to speak comfort and peace.

But that's unfortunate, because Psalm 23 isn't just for seasons of mourning, it's actually for all seasons of life and it is amazing how it speaks to us about what God is doing in our life, all around us.

And as we were preparing for this and I've been thinking about this series for over a year now one of the things that I love about Psalm 23 is because of what it does to everybody who reads it, and the best way I can describe this to you I was thinking through, like, what does that actually mean?

And that is something that's been going on in my family for about the past year, year and a half, that has really made this come alive, and that is my family has been on the long journey of teaching teenagers how to drive.

Pray for us in Jesus name, all right, and it actually turns out both of my girls are pretty pretty good drivers.

We taught our first daughter and we're in the process of teaching our second daughter, and it's been a journey, as we have been going through this and, as a matter of fact, we wanted to document the journey and I actually have a picture of what it looked like, of someone was watching us as we were going by.

It looked a little bit like that right there and they were going.

I didn't even know you could do that, right, yes, I didn't even know you could do that, right, yes.

And then we were going on another one and we took a picture of this poor guy as he's jumping out of the way as we were trying to drive by.

And that was my oldest daughter.

You can tell her.

I said that.

But as we were teaching our girls how to drive, there were some moments of fun, moments of terror, moments that I'm just happy to be here today to celebrate with you.

The goodness of God, ole Miss, and I'm just happy to be here today to celebrate with you.

The goodness of God.

No, they're actually pretty good drivers, but one of the things that was absolutely surprising to me is both of my daughters have been riding with my wife and I their whole life, like they haven't had to take the bus anywhere they've been.

We have been their free Uber.

You know their entire life, and as we have been driving, you just kind of naturally assume that they're looking at the road the way.

You are right.

But as we started to drive, they started to never notice until then that there are signs on the road and they mean things right.

And so we were looking at all these signs and we had to teach them what these signs were.

We had to teach them what the wrong way was and teach them what curvy roads were and, above all things, pay attention to the no cat sign wherever you go.

There are certain places you can't drive if you have a cat in your car, which is on the way to my house.

And so they have all these things.

But it was amazing because two things happened.

Number one is my daughters would be driving and they would almost just pass right by this red sign right here because they had been down that road, but it's just because you don't know to look for it, you don't notice it.

But then all of a sudden you know, as, as the teacher, I'm looking around and I realized how many signs I had just kind of missed along the way.

I just had taken for granted that's what they were and I'd gotten used to them, and so I would just say, okay, way, I just had taken for granted that's what they were and I'd gotten used to them, and so I would just say, okay, that's what that sign means and keep on going.

And one of the most amazing things about driving is when you drive with a or ride with a first-time driver.

It's amazing how important safety becomes all of a sudden and having your hands at the right place and heeding all of the signs well in advance, it's amazing how they become real to you all over again.

And as I was thinking about that, that's exactly what my hope is for this series, and that is this that for some of us, we're pretty new to this thing called Christianity and we have no idea what the signs are that God is moving in our life.

And now that we've heard about Christianity, but now that we are Christ followers, it's amazing how different the world kind of looks, and if we're not careful, we don't always see what it is that God is doing.

And so my hope for you is that you see God in a brand new way over the course of this series, but also for those of us who've been Christians for a while, if we're not careful, we start to take some of the signs of God for granted because we're used to it.

That's one of the most dangerous things about being a Christian for a while is, after a while, you get used to God being good.

You get used to him making a way where there is no way.

You get used to him walking with you through difficult things, and so we start to pray and ask God to help us, and while he's helping us, we wonder why he's not there, because we've gotten so used to his goodness.

And so my hope is is, as we look at Psalm 23 through some fresh eyes, that, for those of us who are new to Christianity, that you go wow, I had no idea how much God is actually active and moving in my life.

And then, for those of us who've been a Christian for a while, we're going to notice him fresh like we never have before, and this is my hope for you, and that is to realize that the Lord is our shepherd and we can follow him.

That's my hope for you, is that the Lord is our shepherd and that you will realize for some of us, fresh and new, and for some of us we're going to be reminded all over again that he truly is someone that I can follow.

And if you're, if you're watching online, I want you to type in the comments we can follow God.

We can follow God in every area of our life.

We can see him, for some of us, the very first time and for some of us, to see him afresh in our life.

So let's jump into Psalm 23.

And the goal of today is to kind of give you an overview of where we're going throughout this series, and I can't wait to jump into it together.

So here's God's word.

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 are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

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, that's beautiful and, if we're honest, very confusing.

I don't know what half of that stuff means, and so what we're going to do today is we're going to kind of put ourselves back where the one who wrote this his name was King David and we're going to try to begin to understand why this is so powerful and why, over the past 3,000 years, this Psalm is still one of the most quoted passages of scripture in the entire Bible.

The reason why there's something about that that when we read it we go, wow, that's amazing, but wow, I don't understand it it's because I have done a survey and I can't think of anybody in our church, and if you have this occupation, you let me know, but nobody in our church body is like a shepherd from 3,000 years ago, like none of us are that person.

And so there's automatically some stuff we don't understand.

It was 3,000 years ago, this guy was a shepherd, and there is this idea of it being poetry that's going on.

So what I want to do is give you an overview of Psalm 23, to kind of put us back in the shoes of the people who would have first heard this, and then we're going to talk about God's word and talk about the very first verse.

So, first of all, psalm 23, and, if you want, this is some extra notes time.

But if you didn't already know this, the word Psalm means songs, so you could look at the book of Psalms as the soundtrack of the Bible.

There's 150 Psalms separated out into five different books within it, and all of them are songs.

All of them are intended to be sung, and that's why some of those words you probably recognize, because many of them are, in modern day, songs today, and so every time you read one of those Psalms, imagine that it is being sung, and some of them will be sung inside the temple.

Some of them were personal, some of them will be sung on the way to Jerusalem.

Some were intended to be battle songs that you sing on the way to battle Very, very much a group full of songs, and I love how I heard someone say one time the book of Psalms teaches us how to relate to God and the book of Proverbs teaches us how to relate to people, and so the idea of the book of Psalms is teaching us how to relate to God in our everyday life.

And back then, what many times that the Psalmist and and just to let you know, david didn't write all 150 of them, but he did write a bunch of them.

And one of the things that they would do a lot of times is they would have as the first line pretty much the title.

That would be kind of when they were singing the song, they would say, okay, this is what I'm about to sing about.

So they would say the first line and then they would almost like prove what they were saying throughout the rest of the Psalm.

So if we were to have a title for Psalm, it would not be Psalm 23.

It would be the song that's about the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that I need, because what he does is he mentions this and then he spends the rest of this song proving what he just told to you and what he's going to talk about and that's why it's so important is he's going to talk to us about the fact that there's a relationship that's happening, there's a relationship between God and between us, and that's the whole point of this song is he's talking about this dynamic relationship that we have with God, which is why my hope is, as we go through this together, that God's going to open your eyes, and for some of you, you're going to see how God is active in your life, which you've never seen before, and for others, you're going to be reminded how he is active.

And so let's, let's break this up into the two things, because we're going to be talking about these two people throughout this series, and that is, first of all, what does he mean by Lord?

Now, if you're taking notes, the word Lord means Yahweh, and if you are brave enough, look at your neighbor and try not to spit on them and say Yahweh.

Yeah, I know you, you're probably taught to say Yahweh and that's fine, but if you want to say it and act like you know a little bit of Hebrew, you have to put a ha in there in the middle, right?

So, so Yahweh, right.

And that's when you start slobbering everywhere, right, absolutely, and the reason why that's important is Yahweh, and because that's hard to say, I'm just going to say Yahweh for the rest of the message.

Yahweh is the covenant name of God, and so it's a familiar phrase, and so he's not just saying God, like this general term for God, but he's saying my God, the covenant God.

It would be the difference between someone calling me Mr Cannon and someone calling me dad.

It's a personal name between the nation of Israel and between God, and so he's not just giving a random statement about God.

He's saying that my personal relationship with the God is who I'm talking about, and he calls him his shepherd.

And the shepherd is that he's calling him his good leader, a good leader.

During the time, it was very, very common that if you had a king that you revered, you called him my shepherd, because that's what they thought of and they thought of kings.

Kings were there to protect and to guard and to provide and all of that, and so it was a term of endearment to a leader to call them my shepherd.

And so there's two things happening, because, number one, he is talking about God and saying he is my leader, he is my protector, he is my guide and he's going to show us throughout the rest of the Psalm.

But also, david was a shepherd, and so it's almost like he's looking around for something to say and he's like, how can I best describe God?

And he remembers back when he was a kid and he grew up as a shepherd and he's like, and he reaches back into those moments in order to share with the people.

He's writing to what that is.

And isn't it amazing that in the same fields where David learned about God, a thousand years later, angels would come to proclaim the true shepherd that was going to be born?

That was in the very same fields where one person learned about who God was and then some other shepherds learned that Jesus had come into the world.

All of that happened in the same place, just separated by a few years.

And so he's saying that this is my God and he is my leader, and so we're going to be talking about God in that way.

But the problem is there's a second group of people and he calls us sheep, and I know what you're probably saying.

You're like well, I ain't no sheep, bro.

All right, listen, call me anything you want to, but I'm not.

I am not a sheep.

What can I tell you?

You are Okay, you are, you are a sheep.

And here's the thing, though we got to rehab.

We have to rehab the point of view of sheep real quick, because we think sheep are like this.

We think they're dumb, easily manipulated and simple.

As a matter of fact, we call people sheeple when we think they are blindly following somebody but say, hey, sheeple, wake up.

We say that we just be trashing on sheep all the time.

All right.

Now, here's the thing.

If you think about sheep like that, I don't blame you.

God, can you call me anything else, call me a goat, call me something, just don't call me a sheep.

At least I can have an attitude.

If I'm a goat, right, but don't call me a sheeple, right.

Here's the thing.

That is actually not what sheep are like.

There there's.

There's some things here that's not wrong, okay, but there's a lot more about sheep, and I want to, I want to know down on your notes, I want you to write down which one of these characteristics that I got off of, of, of people who are just shepherds, who say this about sheep, which one of these is you and tell me that God's wrong.

Okay, here's.

Here's what sheep are really like.

Sheep are intelligent.

That's me All right.

There you go.

Yes, pastor, I knew I was a sheep this whole time.

But how about this?

Sheep can remember 50 voices and faces.

I can't remember the faces of my kids half the time.

Right, I'm good with four.

All right, I have a wife, two kids and a dog.

That's my limitation, right?

They can remember up to 50 faces.

Listen to this.

They will settle for less if it is more convenient, in other words, if they're in a very sparse pasture with just a little bit of grass and there's a whole bunch of good grass over there.

Nah, I'm good, right here.

Okay, you know why?

Because I'm already here.

All right, that's what sheep would do.

That's why they have to be led elsewhere.

How about this one?

They have no sense of direction, like.

That's why they have to have shepherds.

They're very emotional.

Do you know?

Sheep can get depressed, like, literally, they will just lay down and just bellow Because they're depressed.

Sheep get depressed.

They are very stubborn.

Anyone want to write that one down?

Okay, yes, they have trust issues.

If they don't know the shepherd, they ain't gonna follow.

That's not what they're gonna do.

That.

They get easily spooked and scared because they have no natural defense mechanisms other than to bite you.

Okay, that's all they can do.

And they're and they're not carnivores, and so their teeth are flat, so all they're gonna do is hurt your feelings.

They're not going to do anything else.

They can carry loads.

It's like you can't put a burden on a sheep, or it just collapse.

All four of them, that's all they can do.

All they can do.

And how about this one?

They are happiest when they're near their shepherd.

You can actually see the demeanor of a sheep change when the shepherd walks into the middle of them.

They all start to stand up taller.

They all get closer to their shepherd.

They want to be close to their leader.

Which one of these is you?

I think that, unfortunately, the reality is I am a.

I don't want to be.

There's a couple of these that might be me, and so I think that God, the one who made us, is like I know exactly who you are and I don't care what you want to be.

Use a sheep, all right.

Which leads to the question and that is okay?

I may not the only sheep joke you're going to hear in this series.

Okay, yes, I know, some of y'all are horrified.

Don't worry, more is on the way, all right, so I may have some sheep characteristics.

So what?

How does Psalm 23 help me?

I'm so glad you asked, because here's the thing, this is my hope for us that by the end of this series you're going to know you're not going to have to tell anybody but you're going to realize that the Lord is our shepherd and because he is we can live with confident trust in him.

That we can realize I don't have to put my hope in anything else.

I had to put my hope in our government, in our other things our nation's doing.

I had to put my ultimate hope in my family.

I had to put my ultimate hope in my job.

My ultimate hope can be in my king and in my shepherd.

And when I know that God is leading me and we're going to talk about all the different ways that he leads us, it gives us a confident trust in him.

And my dearest hope for all of us is that when we walk away from Psalm 23 and we get into our next series, that for some of us we're going to realize we'd never saw God before.

We saw him and we see him in a new way and go.

I had no idea I he was there, but I didn't notice him before.

And for others of us, we're gonna be reacquainted with the goodness of God and we're gonna see him fresh like we never have before.

Because this year, our rally cry is that we wanna grow together, and one of the ways that we grow together is to see God fresh and new.

And so I wanna share with you three things among many that, as we go over the course of this series and we talk about these things, this is my hope that God reveals to you fresh and new, and then we're going to see it throughout this whole series.

Here's the first one, and that is that, because he is our shepherd, we can trust that, no matter what God can find us, that no matter what we do, no matter where we go, we're going to learn throughout this series that God can always find us.

Why don't you look at your neighbor and say he's my shepherd.

He is my shepherd, which means he can always find us, and I have this mental picture.

We don't know for sure, but we think that David most likely wrote this toward the end of his life, and so he's looking over the course of his life and he's going to write a song.

He's sitting there and he's trying to write a song.

He's like I want to talk about the goodness of God.

I want to talk about the goodness of God.

How exactly?

How exactly do I do this?

And you can see him kind of go oh, I'm going to talk about him like he's my shepherd, because that's what I know.

And he starts off.

The title of his Psalm is the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that I need.

You know, the reason why David would have understood the importance of having that personal shepherd connection is because, back during the time, almost all shepherds did not use fences.

They had no fences in order to keep the flock together, because they had to move to wherever the grass, wherever the safe place in the different seasons.

So they were constantly on the move and so they couldn't use the fences, safe place and the different seasons.

So they were constantly on the move and so they couldn't use the fences to keep all the sheep in.

And so the reality is that a shepherd, because there were no fences, a shepherd, kept his sheep close by by being around them all the time.

He knew each of them by name.

What the shepherd would do is he would live out among the sheep and he would give birth.

Or he would live out among the sheep and he would give birth, or he would help the mama.

She would give birth to the baby and the first thing it would smell and touch and see was the shepherd.

And then, as it would grow, he would stay close to that sheep and then when the sheep would pass away, he was the one that would go and would bury that sheep.

He had a very close relationship.

They could hear his voice.

That's also why he would speak to his flock and they would all just come and gather around him because he knew who they were.

David understood the importance of the fact that he wasn't just any shepherd but he was mine, like I'm close to him and I see him.

And he knew the shepherd would know which ones like to stay close and which ones had no sense of direction.

And so he's walking this way and they walk that way and before you know it they can't see him anymore.

That's why God spends so much time in his word talking about that relationship between shepherd and sheep and the book of Ezekiel it says, for this is what the sovereign Lord says, I myself will search and find my sheep.

I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock.

I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day.

I will search for my lost ones who strayed away and I will bring them safely home again.

I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak.

Isn't that amazing that he talks about himself saying I am going to go, and you notice what he says.

When I go and I find them, I'm not going to go and shame them.

I'm not going to go and get mad at them.

I'm going to go and heal them.

I'm going to go and help them.

I'm interested in bringing them back, not getting onto them for the fact that they strayed away.

And one of the things we're going to learn is that no matter where you go, no matter what you do over the course of life, god can always find us.

And for some of us we've experienced that and we're fine and we're good, we get it.

Others of us, man, we have a horrible sense of direction.

Spiritually, we just be going off all over the place and sometimes we don't even realize it until we find ourselves way off in left field and then we deal with would it?

Until we find ourselves way off in left field and then we deal with would God ever take me back?

I've heard people say I don't know how to find my way back to God, because they're lost and they're alone and they're afraid that if God actually does find them on that cloudy and dark day when they walked away, that maybe God won't offer bandages but he'll offer a sword.

And the reality is, is that's not who God is?

And over the course of this series that's my hope is that you realize how truly loved you are and that God is always moving in our lives.

And I wonder if, as David is writing this, as he's thinking back about how God is his shepherd, I wonder if he thought back to that moment when God had to come and find him.

The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart.

From the time of a teenager on, he followed God, he did all the right things and then, when the king at the time turned on him, he continued to follow after God and he wouldn't deny God.

And then what happened was as he ends up becoming king, and as he became king and he became comfortable.

He ended up wandering off and he began to forget about the ways of God and he turned from God and turned toward sin.

And the Bible says that the man after God's own heart.

Because he got lost out there somewhere, he ended up having an affair and then, to cover up the affair, he killed the lady's husband.

That's not the way to do that.

All right, but he did.

And then, after that, can you imagine a man who knows who knows the right way to go, and now he's made all of these bad decisions and he's off alone in the island.

He doesn't even know what to do anymore.

He doesn't know even how to hide it, and it is most likely it was a widely whispered secret that everybody knew what was happening.

Can you imagine how do I even find my way back to God?

But God loved him enough.

He went and found him through a prophet named Nathan.

And I want to tell you if you've got a friend named Nathan, be found him through a prophet named Nathan.

And I want to tell you something if you've got a friend named Nathan, be careful, okay, because apparently they shoot straight with you all the time.

And Nathan walks right into the king's throne room and says he tells him a story that basically says David, you's a sinner, you've done all the things wrong.

David had no idea how to find his way back to God.

So God went and found him and he said you're a sinner, you've done this wrong thing.

And look what the Bible says.

He confessed to Nathan yes, I have sinned against the Lord.

And Nathan replied yes, but the Lord has forgiven you and you won't die for this sin.

In other words, god went and found him and he said yes, I'm not denying that you sinned, but I'm telling you about my grace that can forgive you, that I can find you and I can forgive you and I can bring you back.

And what I love about God is that God isn't interested in shaming us.

He's interested in healing us.

And what we're going to find out over the course of this series is no matter where you go, no matter what you do, if you are one of those people who have a tendency, one of those sheep who has a tendency to wander off, God can always find us.

But here's the catch.

The catch is this, and that is that God will never stop rescuing us if we are willing to return to him on his terms If.

If you're taking analog notes, circle that word if.

And that was one of the things that I remember.

When my girls first started driving, we didn't drive downtown for a little while because there's a whole lot of one-way streets.

I've been living in Bowling Green for 13 years and I still go down the wrong street every once in a while.

I mean, it is something else.

How I can get turned around on a street.

I'm one of those sheep.

Okay that I need GPS and a whole lot of prayer just to make it through those one-way streets.

And we were getting ready to go down one of those.

And it's amazing how, when you're not driving, you see that wrong way sign, really big, like stop.

And one of my daughters was like, well, why don't I just go?

What's the big deal?

Well, cause I don't want to die today.

That's the, that's the big deal.

And it was amazing how kind those road workers were to put up the wrong way sign, when I realized they were not out to destroy me, they were out to save me.

And can I tell you, sometimes we think that about God's word, because God's word, can I tell you, god's word tells you sometimes to not go to some places, not to do some things, not to go here, not to go there.

There's a whole lot of yeses, but it's amazing how quickly we can focus in on those few no's.

And it's almost like unintentionally.

We're almost like looking at those road workers going why would you put wrong way?

This is my life, I'm gonna go down this road.

And it's almost like they're saying I mean, you can in all, but you're going to die.

All right, I'm trying to, I'm trying to keep you alive.

And you know how many times God's word will say hey, I need you to stay away from here, I need you to stop doing that.

All of it is him trying to stop us from hurting ourselves and from hurting others.

And then, even when we wander that way, he will always come and rescue us.

But because he's the king and we can trust him, we do it his way and we don't negotiate the terms of our surrender, but we say God, I trust you and if you tell me to go this way, this is the way I'm going to go, because he is trustworthy.

And my hope is that over the course of this series, you're gonna realize and I'm gonna realize fresh, just like all of us, that the Lord is our shepherd and we can follow him.

And as we follow him, he gives us that confident trust.

No matter what we go through in life, he can always find us.

Look at your neighbor and say he's my shepherd, and we're going to learn what that means fresh and new, because he can find us.

And the second thing is he can equip us as well.

We're going to see throughout this series that God can equip us for everything we need.

And I love this idea of seeing David, and I don't know what his writing process was like.

I have no idea, but I just kind of have this picture in my head that he's kind of walking around.

It's toward the end of his life.

He's seen so many things and done so many things and been on battlefields and in boardrooms and all these things and he's like but you know, god has always been there, he's always done so many things.

I want to write a story about that.

He said this is what I'm going to write about, that he is my shepherd.

And he says I have all that I need.

And I wonder if he's thinking back and he's going.

You know, I remember how many times God equipped me for the season I was in, even when I didn't always realize that he was equipping me.

And one of the amazing things about shepherds is that's their job.

Their job is to make sure that their sheep are in the best place for success.

So they are going to look ahead at the seasons and in certain seasons they're not going to lead their sheep over here because they know that the rainy season's coming.

So they're going to put them over here and they're going to equip them for the very best thing possible.

As a matter of fact, there are some sheep that if they keep wandering off, they put a bell around them.

So if they start to wander off, it's like hey, brandon, get back over here.

Oh, my bad, jesus, I'm back over here again.

He knows, and so he's going to equip us for all the right things, and that's what I love about God's word.

It says in the book of Hebrews.

He says now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep Jesus is the great shepherd and may and that he ratified our eternal covenant with his blood May he equip you with all that you need for doing his will, and may he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him.

And what my prayer is for us to realize that God uses all kinds of things as we walk through this life, for God to equip us for everything he's called us to do.

Matter of fact, god's word teaches us over and over again that God equips us with gifts, talents and abilities.

Then we experience opportunities to learn how to use them, that, over and over and over again, god will equip us and reveal to us gifts, talents and abilities.

But then we will be put in situations where we will learn how equipped we really are and that God has given us everything we need to do, everything he's called us to do.

And I wonder if David learned this when he was thinking through.

Once again in my mind, he's thinking through the things in his life and he's going okay, how can I say this?

Oh man, he equips me Like I have everything I need.

And it makes me wonder if, when David was a teenager, after he was anointed to be the next king, he went back out to be a shepherd and then one day he wanted to go see his brothers who were in the military at the time and they were on the front lines getting ready to fight the Philistines.

And he leaves the sheep with one of his other shepherds and he goes to see his brothers.

And as he gets out there to see his brothers, he sees this tall ugly giant named Goliath, just cursing God.

And he just sees him and I wonder, if he's looking at him and he's going, man, who does this guy think he is?

And he started looking at him and going.

You know he's really big, but you know he's not really that much bigger than a big old bear.

He's not really that much stronger.

Doesn't look like a big old lion.

I think I could take it.

Well, then he goes to the king and he tells the king I'm your man.

If it was in the movie Tombstone, he would say I'm your huckleberry.

If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about.

If you haven't, don't worry about it.

All right.

He says I got you.

And the king?

He says the Lord, who rescued me from the claw of the lion and the bear, will rescue me from this Philistine.

And I wonder if, while he's there and he's looking at the giant, he realizes wait a minute.

Is it possible that what I thought was going to destroy me is actually what was the training ground for this moment in my life?

And is it possible that God is doing more in our lives than we always see?

And is it possible that hard times don't come to destroy us, but they prepare us for our greatest moments?

He's out there by himself with his sheep, and a bear comes out of nowhere.

How easy would it have been to say God, why, when all of a sudden the lion comes out anywhere, can I just tell you, if I see a lion I'm dead straight away.

I feel bad for my sheep, I'm going to have a heart attack if I'm not careful, because I never seen a lion in the wild.

But he said bring it on, big guy, because now he's realizing God, if you're with me, I'm going to take him on.

And so now, in the greatest moment of his life, to that moment comes he goes wait a minute, god's been with me when nobody else was, and if he was with me in those moments, man, he'll be with me right now, and what my hope is is that, as we go through this series together, for some of us we're going to see God in a fresh way, and he's going to help us see some of the things that we've gone through in our life, not as the things that disqualify us, but he wants to use those things to equip us for some of the greatest ministries we can imagine.

Can I tell you, some of the greatest ministries I've ever seen were born out of tragedy.

That when people realize that Jesus is all they've got, they realize Jesus is really all they need, and they find out that he is a sure foundation.

They stand on him, and so then, when they see other people struggling with the same thing, they are able to go alongside them and help them.

That wasn't born out of success, it was born out of darkness, but it's in those moments that God shows us how truly strong he is, and what I hope we learn out of this series is that God will supply all we need to do, everything he's called us to do, that he will supply us to do everything he's called us to do, and so the reality becomes that we stop looking at our troubles as God why would you do this?

But instead we're able to look at them and go God, how are you teaching me through this?

What are you preparing in me for something that's going to come ahead, and my hope for all of us is that we learn out of the course of over the course of this series is that the Lord is our shepherd and we can follow him into anything.

And because he is our shepherd we can have this confident trust that he is with us.

And I wonder if some of that's going through David's mind as he's looking at this and he's like how can I tell these people I'm writing this song to about the goodness of God that he can always find us, that he can always equip us?

And then one more, and that is this that God can give us hope for today, that God can give us hope for today and every day after that.

Look at your neighbor and say he's my shepherd, he is my shepherd, he, he gives us hope for today and for every day after that.

I love this phrase right here, when he says the Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need.

It's a big difference between want and need.

Right.

Want is something I don't have to have, but I sure would really like Jesus.

Need is a present tense essential.

As a matter of fact, that word the Hebrew word for that, is a present tense verb.

In other words, god is continually.

It's not just he gave me what I needed one time, but he is continually giving me what I need, over and over.

Every time I have an essential need, god is coming through over and over and over again.

And that gives me hope, because if I don't have what I need yet, that means God's not finished yet and he's constantly moving and he's constantly working and he's saying the Lord is my shepherd and I have continually everything that I need, over and over and over again.

That's why I love what we're getting ready to get into in God's word.

And if you're reading God's word with us, we're almost finished with the book of Isaiah Praise the Lord in Jesus name, but it ends so very well.

But if you're not, you can text RLC Bible to 94000.

And we're reading God's word one chapter at a time and as soon as we finish with Isaiah we're getting into.

First Peter, which is kind of the overall title, is our living hope.

And you kind of have to get this mindset of Peter.

We think of Peter as this young teenager who's walking with Jesus.

You know on the water, and he's cutting off the ears of priests, you know servants, and then he's helping start the new church.

Well, this was written about 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus.

Peter is no longer a young man.

Peter has seen all of these different battles.

He's gone to Rome and he's debated some of the greatest philosophers of the time, and he's come back to Jerusalem over and over again and he's got into a little bit of a tussle with Paul a couple of times.

And he's done all of these things.

And then, when he's getting toward the end of his life, he writes this and he says when the great shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never ending glory and honor.

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

He said I've got so much hope that, because of what God has already done and because of what God is going to do that in my today, I can humble myself and be patient and I can wait because at the right time, god always provides what I need.

If anybody's known what it's like to have good days and have bad days, it would be the apostle Paul.

And he says at the right time, god always provides.

And I wonder if that's what's kind of going through David's mind, because if anybody had an opportunity to wonder what's going on sometimes in life, it would be David.

But David actually says this.

He says just a couple of songs before this.

He says no wonder my heart is glad and I rejoice.

My body rests in safety, for you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave, but you will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

In other words, what he's saying is man, I'm excited about what still lies ahead, and if you think about that, david has seen so many negative things.

David knows what it feels to be rejected.

They called all of his brothers in to see who was going to be the next king.

They didn't even call him out from the fields when David went and he became an apprentice under King Saul.

King Saul tried to kill him.

He had to run and hide from Saul for years in caves and then, when he became king, most of the nation didn't want him, and so he was only king over two of the tribes for seven years and then later he became king over the rest of it.

He knows what it is, and then his son tried to overthrow his kingdom.

He knows what it is to have bad days.

But even looking at those days, he says, man, I get so excited because you're going to show me the way of life.

And I've never been more excited about what still lies ahead.

And what my hope for all of us is is that, as we go through this series together, we're going to see for some of us, brand new, for the first time that God truly is faithful.

We can follow him.

For others, we're going to be reminded that God is faithful, and my hope is is that this promise will be true for all of us, cause Jesus said in John 10, he says I am the good shepherd.

For all of us, because Jesus said in John 10, he says I am the good shepherd, I am the good leader, I know my own sheep and they know me.

They know me.

That's my hope is that by the time we're finished with this series, you will know God more than you do right now and you'll begin to see the signs of God all the way around.

You'll begin to see them as opportunities for God to do amazing things and you'll begin to see signs like this one that he's going to warn you ahead of time.

Man, it's going to get curvy sometimes, so pay attention and know that I'm with you all along the way.

And if we get to the end of this series and you see God in a fresh way, then I'll be satisfied, because I want us to grow together this year and to grow together.

We need to get a fresh vision of who God is, and that's my hope for all of us.

It reminds me of a story that I heard about Helen Keller, and if you don't know who that is, it's an amazing American story of this young lady who was born deaf and blind.

You imagine how much of a prison your own body would feel like, and you imagine how much of a prison your own body would feel like If you can't hear, you can't see, you have no idea what's going on.

And her parents had no idea what to do and they brought so many different tutors into her life trying to help and they just how do you reach someone like that?

And there was this amazing Christian woman named Ann Sullivan who decided she was made in the image of God.

I'm going to try and I'm going to reach her, and it's this amazing story about how she finally began to reach her by being able to spell things out on her hand and she could understand that.

She learned how to communicate.

The first one she was able to communicate is understanding what water was, and she went from water to different things.

It was amazing because somebody saw the kingdom of God in her, saw her as someone made in the image of Christ.

Like I'm not going to give up.

It's amazing what started to happen.

The story that I heard was that at some point, because Ann was a Christian, she wanted to tell Helen about God, and so she was trying to figure out how to do this and wondering how Helen would respond, because she'd been born or she'd had this.

This thing happened to her when she was really young and she was now deaf and blind and she wondered would she be mad at God?

Would she want to reject the God who put her in this situation?

Is that how she was going to look at it?

But she wanted to tell her who God was.

So she brought this guy in and they started telling her about who God was, and they couldn't.

I couldn't imagine.

They were amazed at her response.

They started telling her about who God was, her response was oh, that's who that is.

Her quote was I always knew he was there, but I didn't know his name.

And when she relayed to them was from her earliest years.

And when she relayed to them was from her earliest years.

She knew that someone was with her, comforting her when she wanted to give up, telling her it was gonna be okay being a friend to her when no one else knew how to reach out to her.

She said but I never knew his name.

Now I know who he is, can I tell you.

I think some of us get into that place sometimes.

God's moving in our life more than we realize.

We just don't know it's him.

We don't realize that the only reason why you're still here today is because God hasn't given up on you.

You think you haven't given up on God, but God's never going to give up on you.

How many times you could have taken a left when God steered you right, and because of that you may not have everything you want.

But thank goodness, god is moving in your life and you may not be where you want to be, but, man, you're not where you used to be and God's doing so much more than you can imagine, and that's my hope over the course of this series is that we learn his name over again and for some of us we're going to see God like we've never seen him before.

We're going to go oh, I didn't know that was what Jesus did.

I didn't know.

That's how God moves and it's going to increase your relationship with God like nothing else.

But for some of us who've been a Christian for a little while, we unintentionally have gotten good and used to the goodness of God and my hope is is that God reintroduces himself to the goodness of God.

And my hope is is that God reintroduces himself to you all over again and say I was there all the time when everybody else left.

Remember that, remember that inside of you that wouldn't let you, let go.

When everybody else wondered how you were making it, you didn't know how to make it, but you just said I don't know, I just feel like I can't give up.

That was me when you had nobody else to turn to, but you had something down in your soul that said it's going to be all right.

That was me and you're going to see him more than ever.

That's my prayer.

For us is to realize that the Lord is our shepherd, and because of that, I gladly follow him.

And as I follow him every day of my life, he gives me that confident trust to know he's always with me.

We pray together with me right now, god, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, god, that you see me and that you know me and you know all of us in this place.

And, lord, that there's nobody in this place right now that is invisible to you.

God, that you want to lead every one of us through every success, every failure, every good thing, every bad thing.

God, that you want to lead every one of us through every success, every failure, every good thing, every bad thing.

God, you see it all and you want us.

You want us completely.

You want to move in our lives.

God, I'm so thankful, lord, that you are with us.

You give us all that we need.

You walk with us through dark valleys, lord.

You want to show yourself strong in our lives.

But, god, there's so many things that get in the way, that cloud our vision, cloud our focus.

God, my prayer is, over the course of this series, lord, that you will wash away and clear away all of those distractions.

Clear away all those things that the enemy has put in our lives to try to stop us from being able to see you for who you are, and we'll see you fresh and new.

Lord, let us fall in love with you all over again and to know, god, that you are with us in this place today.

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen.

Would you stand with me all over the house this morning?

The band's going to lead us in one more song and I I want to ask you a question today.

What is it you need to trust the Lord with?

We talk about how, as we understand that he leads us, we have confident trust in him.

Is there an area of your life that you're just saying God, I want to trust you, but this is hard, this is difficult.

I don't really know what to do.

What can I tell you is the band leads us in a song of worship.

It would be a wonderful opportunity for you just to raise your hands to God and just say God, I have no idea how you're going to work this out, but I'm going to put my trust in you in this area.

Just give it to him.

Give him the worry and the fear.

Maybe you want to find a quiet place down here and just just symbolically lay it down before him.

Maybe you want to find one of our prayer team in the back and just have them pray with you about whatever it is, but you made your way out here today.

You might as well give Jesus those fears, those worries, and let him speak that peace that passes understanding.

And if you're here and you don't know him today, can I tell you he is the greatest leader you can imagine and you can follow him.

Inside your worship guide, on the back of your connect card, is the plan of salvation, and the very best next step for you for him to reveal himself to you is you need to give your life over to him and if you'll give him everything, he wants to be your leader.

Let's worship the Lord together this morning.