The Valley

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.

For you are with me, your rod and your staff may come for me.

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

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows.

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

And the reality of this verse, we're going to look at one verse today, is that life is full of ups and downs, but definitely there are valleys that we have.

I think back over the course of my life, some valleys can be can last maybe a few hours, some valleys can be weeks, some valleys can be months.

And I think of the whole decade of the 90s was a valley that was tough for our family.

In May of 1992, I got a phone call that that that from my older brother, that our middle brother had passed away.

And so just a few months later, my mom lost her older brother.

And so, in just a matter of months, she lost her middle son, and she lost her older brother.

And then you could fast forward to 95 when my grandmother passed away.

And then 97, my father passed away.

And so we all have different types of valleys in life.

Some of us have experienced uh loss like that.

Some of us have experienced valleys that are maybe hard to describe.

They're not tangible as much.

Maybe they deal with depression or anxiety, and but life is full of valleys.

We all have valleys, and valleys come in all types of ways.

This year, 2020, has been, it seems like one long valley, so to speak.

I mean, we we've had COVID, we've had racial tension, we've had an election, we've had um anxiety and fear that has been related to some of those things, or maybe all of those things in our lives.

I think of relational uh relationships that have ended, or relationships that have been strained.

I think as a pastor, and this is just me being a little bit vulnerable this morning, there's been decisions along the way with the life of this church.

Uh uh there was a point where we were trying to decide whether or not we should buy uh this piece of land where this building sits and and and maybe build a building on this site.

And I I had two of my close friends that were key parts of the beginning of this church, and they sat down with me and they said, Russ, we don't agree with this direction that you and and some of the leaders are leading in this church, and because of that, we're gonna stop and we're not gonna journey with you down this path.

Now, now let me say this.

They were extremely kind and and and gentle and and being truthful, but but it affected relationships.

They're still my friends, but but I will tell you that that was a depressing point in the journey.

There's been other difficult decisions and difficult times where it's it's been tough.

I think of the valley of parenting.

There's been some valleys that I've been through as a parent.

And if it hadn't been for some of you that are sitting in this room, some of you that that walked along, me and my wife and and my kids, um, through some difficult times.

God has been faithful, but those were depressing, full of anxiety and full of just um difficulty.

So valleys can come in all different forms, but that's just the way that life happens.

We go through difficult journeys and difficult times, and and some of those are brought on by decisions we make, and some of those, like this year, it happens with with situations that are out of our control.

COVID, quarantine, election.

I mean, we could go on and on.

Jobs, I I remember um, I think it was March 16th, I think was the first Sunday.

I know the last Sunday we met as a church was March 8th.

And that next Sunday, that week, as that week progressed, the reality set in.

And I'm gonna tell you that that first week that we didn't meet, I got out a big notepad.

And was with tears streaming down my face, I begin to I began to think about what we would have to do if we had to cut staff members or furlough staff or change our budget.

What a what a depressing week or two that was.

That went into months that we could not meet together.

And I look back, and God was so faithful and so good.

But but there's one sure thing in life is that valleys are inevitable.

Tough times are inevitable.

Trials and tribulations are a sure thing that are gonna happen in our life.

We can't avoid them.

That's the that's a result of the broken world we live in.

There's no amount of money that can stop a cancer diagnosis.

There's no amount of fame that can stop you from having a breakdown in relationships or maybe in your marriage.

There's no amount of success that can ever fully protect you from economic disaster.

All of those things are possible, all of those things.

So if this is the case, if we can't avoid trials and tribulations, then how do we walk through them?

And I and I don't want to, this sounds trite.

That almost sounds overly simplistic, but how do we get through trials and tribulations?

I'm gonna give you a one-word answer.

And it is a person, and that person's name is Jesus.

That just sounds almost overly simplistic, but it's the reality.

It is the reality, it's Jesus that will get us through the difficult situations.

As a matter of fact, the big idea for today is Jesus is with us in the darkest valleys.

The literal Hebrew, where it talks about, where it speaks of how, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the literal Hebrew is the darkest of dark, is the literal word, the literal meaning in the Hebrew.

The darkest of the dark.

And Jesus is with us in the darkest of the dark valleys that we go through.

And so, as we did last week, I'm gonna ask you to stand with me and let's read the 23rd Psalm together.

You can read it from the screen.

I'm reading out of the English Standard Version.

This is one of those passages that I love in the old King James, but I've got it here in the English Standard.

Let's read it together.

Ready?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.

Read it with me.

He restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

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

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall fall of me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You guys can have a seat.

Father, would you speak to us and make it personal?

Lord, would you speak a word that will change us, encourage us, and help us walk out of here different and transformed.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So verse 4 is what we're looking at this morning.

I'm gonna read it again.

And this is where I would I would like the old King James because it would be it would be, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

And so so this one verse that sticks out, it starts off with this idea of even though, even though, even though, so even though have something that follows it, even though I have difficulty, even though there is a death in the family, even though there's financial struggles, even though there's anxiety, even though there's fear, even though there's depression, you can fill in the blank.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

And so we've got to know that difficult seasons, listen, they're not, it's not a matter of if, but it's a matter of when.

It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

And so we've got to be reminded about who wrote this psalm.

King David wrote this psalm.

And if anybody knew trials and tribulations, it was King David.

He he had lost friends that were close to him.

He had a father, an earthly father, that obviously didn't value him, right?

If you know the story where we first really see David, he's not even a central figure in the story.

He is an afterthought.

What is David doing when Samuel the prophet comes to Jesse's house and he says, Hey, I'm looking for the king, the next king, uh, to replace King Saul, and he lines up Jesse's sons, the tallest, the oldest, the best looking, the ones with most potential.

And Samuel walks down the line.

He said, No, no, the Holy Spirit's leading in.

No, no.

He said, Is this it?

Do you have another son?

Oh, yeah, there's the runt.

He doesn't say runt, but we know we get the idea, it's implied.

The youngest, he's just a little shepherd boy.

And so he's not even valued by his own earthly father at that point.

But he ends up getting anointed as the future king of Israel.

And David writes this psalm, not from the perspective that you would think of being a shepherd.

He writes it from the perspective of being a sheep.

But what does the first verse say?

It says, the Lord is, let's say it together, my shepherd.

I shall not want or I lack nothing, is what it means.

And so he writes it from the perspective of being a sheep who knows who his shepherd is.

And here's always the question I want to ask people: can you say with David, the Lord is my shepherd?

Is it personal?

Or is God, or would you say the Lord is a shepherd, where it's not personal?

No, I hope you can say it with David.

The Lord is my shepherd.

And he writes it from this perspective that he is a sheep, and his heavenly father is his shepherd.

And so we're all likened to sheep.

Hundreds and hundreds of times in the Bible, we, the people of God, are referred to as sheep.

There's three things I said last week about sheep, and they're not really all pleasant.

Sheep, number one, they're stupid.

I mean, they're just not smart animals.

I mean, you I've never seen a trained sheep do a trick at a circus or some type of show.

There's tight lions are trained, horses are trained, dogs are trained, other seals, whales, you know, dolphins are trained, sheep are not trained.

I've never seen anybody with the tattoo of a sheep on their body yet.

I see wolves, I see lions and tigers.

Never seen a sheep as a tattoo on somebody's body.

And if you have one, I don't want to see it because it's probably not somewhere where it's public, okay?

That would be strange.

And so sheep are stupid.

Sheep are also dirty, they're just dirty animals.

I mean, they think of the Middle East with all of the dust and all of the dirt and and how they live.

They are, they can't clean themselves.

And that's why a shepherd keeps a flask of oil and he can he can help rub away um uh insects and and infection and and wounds that sheep have.

And the third part of sheep, the the third thing you need to know about sheep that we talked about last week is sheep are defenseless.

They are utterly defenseless.

They cannot care for themselves, they can't defend themselves.

They've got to have something outside of themselves that will defend them from predators and from harm and danger.

And so David writes from the perspective, I am a sheep.

And he is my shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd.

And so, David, if anybody knew trials and tribulations, it was David.

He writes many of the psalms that he writes, what we call Psalms of Lament.

He writes them while he's in a cave and while he's being pursued by his enemies.

King Saul, other enemies that would pursue him.

He had been rejected, he had been neglected, he had had people turn against him.

And see, there's this there's this idea and theology that has come about in the world that is a false theology.

And the false theology says that you, if you love God enough, you'll never go through a trial, you'll never go through a difficulty, and everything will be hunky-dory in your life.

Now, we call that the theology of health and wealth or the prosperity gospel that says if you love God and you love Jesus, he will bless you with good health, he will bless you with money, and and you'll drive uh whatever car is of your choice.

You can live in the house with with three car garages, and and and and if you love Jesus enough, you'll never go through a valley.

And that is a false, dangerous, unbiblical theology.

There's no truth to it.

As a matter of fact, it can't even apply to much of the world.

The third world can't even it can't even apply to them because they have no means.

They have no no no, they're not, they have no money, they have no material wealth, they have nothing.

And many of them live day to day, and they live with illness, and they live with sickness, and they live with disease.

And many of them love Jesus with all of their heart.

And some of you have been through trials, and you've been through tribulations, and you love Jesus.

We live in a broken world, and things can happen to us that are difficult.

That are trials, tribulations.

Jesus writes in John 16, 33.

He says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

Here's what he said that you would have peace.

In this world, you will have trouble.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

I have overcome the world.

Following Jesus doesn't make life easy, it can make life better.

Following Jesus does not make life easy, it does make life better.

Because we have something to hold on to when we're attacked and we're on going through difficulty.

If you're a follower of Jesus or you're on the fringes of faith, or maybe you're you're kind of kicking the tires of Christianity, you you need to know that if you put your faith in Jesus, it doesn't mean that all of your problems go away.

What it does mean is that you have hope and you have joy in the midst of difficulty.

As a matter of fact, when we talk about the valley of the shadow of death, it's it is a bit depressing.

It's a downer.

He says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the valleys were dangerous places for shepherds to lead their sheep.

Next week, we're going to talk about the verse, the next verse, where it talks about how God will allow us to eat with our enemies.

And he speaks of these of us sitting at the table with our enemies.

And really what he's talking about are these mesas.

And mesa is the Spanish word for table.

And it's these beautiful, lush fields that a shepherd wants to lead his sheep to in certain parts of the year.

But to get to a fresh mesa or a fresh table or a fresh field, the shepherd has to lead the sheep through the valley.

And there's some good things that are found in the valley.

There's water in the valley, there's rest in the valley.

But it's also a dangerous place where predators can hide and attack without any notice, with complete surprise.

It's also a place where in the Middle East that they can have flash floods, and they call them wadis, where where it can rain, and within just a matter of minutes, water will gush through the valley and kill anything that's alive.

And so valleys can be dangerous places, but are necessary for the shepherds to lead their sheep.

To go from one field or one mesa, one table to the next, and to make sure that they have fresh food and that they're protected and that they're safe.

He says, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

And here's the truth: there is nothing to fear in the presence of Jesus.

I'm gonna just can't there for a second.

Because 2020 is the year of fear.

You know how some people pick, they pick words or themes for their year.

I don't know, I don't I didn't know that was a real thing until social media happened.

People people throw out there in December, you know, my my word for the year, my theme for the year.

You know, mine is always money, it never works out, but that's what I that's always that's kind of a joke.

But I I you know, people have themes, I don't know where that came from, but but nobody knew this would be a year of of fear, this would be a year of anxiety, this would be a year of trouble and trials and tribulations.

But here's what you need to know is no fear.

There is no fear when you are walking in the presence of Jesus.

There is no fear.

It doesn't mean that you're not going to be tempted.

It doesn't mean that you're not going to have a trial or have moments where fear knocks at your door.

But when you really sit down and you rest in the presence of Jesus, there is no fear when you're in the presence of Jesus.

We forget it.

You know why you need to have the scripture, a part of your daily life?

It's because we forget it.

We forget it.

Fear creeps in.

And I've got to go back to Scripture.

I've got to go back to feed myself.

I've got to go back to the Word.

I've got to preach the gospel to myself every day.

God is good.

He is provided for me.

Jesus came.

He lived.

He died.

He rose again.

And that gives me strength.

Romans 8.

Let's read a little portion out of Romans 8.

And it says Romans 8, 34.

Who then is the one who condemns?

No one.

No one.

So let's stop there.

Because before you understand Romans 8, you've got to understand Romans 7.

Romans 7, Paul writes Romans 7.

If you read Romans 7, you are read you read something, you read Romans 7, and you think this guy has a mental issue.

He has a mental illness.

Because he talks about how he wars against himself.

My heart delights in the Lord, but there is sin that wages against me.

And he goes back and forth about the flesh and the part of us that loves God and the part that attacks our heart and how our physical flesh is always warring against our delight in the Lord.

And then he gets to Romans 8, verse 1.

Romans 8:1

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So you see, you don't have Romans 8, it doesn't mean as much unless you read Romans 7.

He says, so who then is the one who condemns verse 34 of Romans 8?

No one, Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Listen, you're in the valley?

You're in 2020.

Do you know this whole year Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us?

In the midst of racial tension, Jesus is interceding for us.

In the midst of economic trials, Jesus is interceding for us.

In the midst of an election year, Jesus is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

I mean, that sentence right there is 2020.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Somebody says, need to say amen.

You can say it out loud at Church at the Grove.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

See, fear is crippling.

Fear.

Fear is paralyzing.

Worry, anxiety.

This has been a year, and I'm not trying to diminish it.

I'm not trying to say, hey, just you know, just put on your happy-go-lucky pants and move forward.

We have had difficulty, and it's real.

I understand it.

Nathan.

Nathan Boyd, who's our campus pastor in Social Circle.

Here's something Nathan shared shared with me.

He said a quote that he came across.

He said the news.

And when he said when he's talking about the news, he's talking about the media.

So, so CNN, Fox, BBC, whatever news, because we all have our favorite little news outlets.

And the reason it's your favorite is because you keep looking for something that says what you want to hear.

There is no such thing as objective news anymore.

And it says the news is the Bible of the fearful.

The news is the Bible of the fearful.

And so fear, worry, anxiety have just become natural parts of our lives that we don't think that we can really have victory over.

And so we we need to understand and make this assumption.

If you are living in fear, you aren't walking in the presence of Jesus.

Now, it's not, I'm not saying that you are in sin if you struggle with fear, anxiety, or depression at times, and and there are levels, and I understand there's there are different diagnoses, and I'm not a doctor.

But what I'm saying in the in the in the large sense of things, we're going to deal with it in momentary issues.

But in the large sense, if you are living in constant fear, anxiety, and worry, it's quite possible that you aren't walking with Jesus as he intends for you to walk with him.

Because he promises us that we have victory over the enemy.

The enemy wants you to believe that you can't get victory, that you can't overcome, that you can't make it through the valley.

You're afraid of what the future holds?

Read this.

Matthew 6, 19 through 34.

Just giving you the reference.

Not going to read the whole passage, but you you you're afraid of, or if you're afraid about the future, write this down.

Matthew 6, 19, 34 through 34.

Read it later.

You're afraid of death.

Matthew 10, verses 28 through 31.

Matthew 10:28–31

If you're afraid of evil, read Hebrews 2, 14.

Write those down.

If you don't remember them or have something to write on, text me or email me or send me a message and I'll give you those verses.

It's one reason that the Bible tells us 365 times, which is interesting, because it's one mention for each day of the year.

Do not fear or do not be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

We don't have to be paralyzed by fear.

He says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

A rod would have been a piece of wood that had a little bit of thickness to it.

That a shepherd would have carried with him.

And it would have been used for discipline with sheep.

A sheep wanders off consistently.

I mean, it's normal for maybe a sheep to wander a little bit, but the same same lamb or same sheep wanders off over and over and over.

That shepherd will take that lamb and take it and hold it, and he'll gently hit that leg of that lamb or that sheep in just the right spot where he'll crack the bone.

Not so much that the sheep can't walk or that the sheep won't heal.

And I know it may sound cruel, but he does it out of love because he knows that the sheep, until it heals, will not be able to wander off.

And he uses that hook to pull the sheep, maybe out of harm's way, to pull the sheet back into the fold.

Maybe to tap the sheep on the rear end to steer them in the right direction.

And it's the heart of God sometimes to allow us to go through trials and difficulties because He knows that trial or difficulty will discipline us toward more righteous living.

Listen, you can't grow in strength without going to the gym and experiencing some pain.

You can't exercise your spiritual muscles without walking through the valley, and the shepherd sometimes gently disciplining you.

We are comforted spiritually, not by a rod or a staff.

We are comforted spiritually and disciplined spiritually by the word and the Holy Spirit.

It's the word and the spirit.

I've probably told it maybe once or twice at Church at the Grove.

But it's probably been a while.

I've shared it many, many times at funerals.

But the story is about it's told by Darnold Donald Barnhouse.

I heard it from another pastor by the name JD Greer a number of years ago.

And it's about a father who's driving down the interstate with his 12-year-old daughter after they have just buried his wife and her mother.

And as they're driving down the interstate, the little girl, about 12 years old, looks up at her daddy and she is referencing this verse.

And she says, Daddy, what did the pastor mean when he said, When we walked through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with us.

You are with me.

Daddy, what did he mean when it said shadow of death?

I understand what death means, but what does he mean by saying shadow of death?

And so the father, you know, like any good father, he's thinking, how am I going to answer this question?

That's a very difficult question to answer.

And just at that time, a big 18-wheeler is passing their car on the interstate and perfectly timed blocks out the sun, casting a shadow on the vehicle that they're riding in.

And the dad thinks, he said, Sweetie, let me ask you a question.

He said, Would you rather get hit by that truck or the shadow of that truck?

And she said, Daddy, that's an easy one.

I'd rather get hit by the shadow.

And he said, Sweetie, Jesus took the hit from the truck of death head on.

So we and your mother would only have to experience the shadow of death.

You see it?

It's the gospel.

The gospel right there.

Jesus took the hit of death when He died, the cruel death that He died on the Roman cross.

He took upon Himself all of our sin, all the true death that we could experience from our brokenness and our sinfulness.

He took the direct hit of death.

So all we would ever have to fear or worry about or be concerned with would be the shadow of death, which has no power over us.

My wife Jill is in Texas right now.

And she went to, she graduated from Baylor University.

And while she was in Texas, she spent two years living with a family.

Bill and Linda Pitts were the mom and dad, and Bill and Linda had had two daughters.

And one of the daughters was named Melinda, and they called her Mimi.

Mimi.

Over two years ago, Mimi was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

They told her she only had six months to live.

And she's lived over two years.

And so Wednesday morning, early Wednesday morning, I had I was down in my basement office at my house, and I came up the steps to get a cup of coffee, and there was Jill with tears streaming down her face.

And she said, Mimi's gone.

She's gone.

She's with Jesus.

And so they invited Jill to come.

She had been planning.

She knew this day was coming.

And so she I drove her to the airport Friday morning.

And then yesterday she called me right after the funeral was over.

Jill had sang at the funeral.

And she said, Russ, you wouldn't believe it.

I said, How was it?

She said, she said it was just so celebratory.

It was just so peaceful.

It was so full of joy because they know where Mimi is.

See, Mimi only had to experience the shadow of death.

When she took her last breath, it wasn't death because death was defeated.

When Jesus died on the cross and he stepped out of that tomb, he stepped out of that grave, he stepped out of that empty tomb, and he defeated death once and for all.

And so when our loved ones or you yourself are faced with your last breath on this earth, and you've put your faith in Jesus, it's just the shadow of death.

Because death has already been defeated in Christ.

Amen.

And so we can live with joy and with hope and with peace, and we can face the valleys that life throws at us because we've put our faith in Jesus.

Would you pray with me?

Let's pray together.

We'll celebrate.

Father, we love you, we thank you for the hope that we have.

Even in difficulty, even in trials and tribulations, Father, we praise you and give you glory because you have defeated death and the grave.

So I want to pray for some of you that I mentioned earlier that might be on the fringe of faith.

You might be kicking the tires of Christianity and wondering if it's really for you or not.

And I want to encourage you to take the step of faith this morning and to put your faith in Jesus Christ, maybe for the first time.

And that might be for those of you that are sitting in this room, and it might be for those of you that are watching online.

There's no magical prayer.

The Bible says if you call upon the name of Jesus, you will be saved.

It's simply just admitting that you need a Savior, humbling your heart to ask Jesus to save you.

And believing in what he did in his life and his death and his resurrection, that it is sufficient and it is powerful enough to provide for your eternal life and salvation.

And you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

And listen, if that's you this morning and you want to take that step, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to text, start to follow.

Just text, start to follow to 9700.

Text, start to follow.

Whether you're in the room or whether you're online, text, start to follow to 9700.

So we can help you take your next steps in your spiritual life.

And for the rest of you, maybe your next step is to say, hey, I want to be baptized.

Or maybe your next step is to say, hey, I need to start a daily journey in God's word.

And I need somebody to help me understand how to begin to read the Bible on a daily basis and understand it.

Number one, the Holy Spirit will give you that ability.

Number two, we'll be glad to assist and help in any way we can.

Father, we love you.

We worship you.

We come to celebrate the fact that you have given us life and we have something to celebrate.

Even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we know that there is no power that death has over us, and we celebrate that right now.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

And everybody said, Amen.

Would you stand as we close this time and let's celebrate together?