Marked By Life, Named By Love | Pastor Paul McGee

Amen. We're so grateful today, Amen,

for him, each of you, your smiling faces, Amen.

Glad to have one, each one of you.

So good to see Jeanette back with us.

Jeanette Lewis, I know there's been some loss in her family and

other things in our prayers even have been with you through all

of those different scenarios of life, Amen.

And so it happens. Don't.

It's just part and parcel of life.

There's nothing that we can do but depend upon one that is

stronger than us and capable and we that's when we put our trust

and our confidence in the Lord and it just shows itself firm a

man in our life. And then we're glad to be in the

House of Lord. We're glad that the mortgage is

paid off. Thank you for your giving a man

about 2/3 of that came just in about a week or so.

And then we're still thankful today for that.

We celebrate that. So you say some of you, some of

you ever since 2007, since we've been in this building has given

toward a building fund or a building pledge.

And so your question might be now what do I do with that?

Well, you can keep giving toward that aspect because they're

always be repairs and different things that have to take place

around the church. Or if you want to, you can

reallocate it just as a general offering to be used for anything

that's necessary around here. And so those are two options.

I think that would be good options.

If you want to say what should we do that those are some things

you can do. And I do tip my hat.

I'm thankful for everyone that gave in the last week toward

that. But I and then I just say this

with with a heart full of gratitude.

Those people that have given since 2007 of in this building,

some gave monthly, some gave weekly Amen toward that.

And so we tip our hat Amen to you Amen this morning because we

understand that you weren't necessarily given to a a

institution or a building or a church, but you were giving Bob

says as we do it, we do it as unto the Lord Amen.

And so I know that he has richly blessed your life as a result of

that, and we're grateful for that today.

Hey, man, we're in the House of the Lord this morning.

Yeah, the Lord just kind of took everything I was going with and

flipped it upside down about 12:00 last night.

You know, I started studying toward this means on Wednesday,

and it's been kind of crazy. My daughter Mariah goes to USI

in Evansville, and her car gave up the ghost about a week and a

half ago on her way to school. And so I picked her up and took

her to school. I was going to let her take

Trevor's car and Trevor's car needs some wheel bearings and

such and it just, I didn't feel comfortable about that.

My truck has a cold weather cough and it likes to die in the

cold weather. So I didn't feel like taking her

that. So the past week and a half, I

take her to college. I take it it's just where we're

at. And so I study at Starbucks and

I study at the university library, and I study at

McDonald's, and I study anywhere I can study.

I've studied in my truck on my dash, and so on and so forth.

And so it's just the way that it is.

Amen. And God is faithful.

God is faithful, Amen. And so we're hoping that the

vehicle contagion isn't taking place.

All right, By no means pray it off of you.

Lord, be offense, Amen. Whatever you need to do.

But I want to turn to the book of the Song of Solomon.

God was dealing with me and standing with me.

Song of Solomon chapter #1 I was thinking about this being the

love weekend, you know, all the amorous feelings that come with

that and significant others and sweethearts and husbands and

wives and, or maybe maybe hopefuls.

All right. And so, and so far.

And I was going to take just a real practical means, a real

practical means and, and approach something.

And, you know, there's a lot of times, whether it be a book,

whether it be a film, even the Bible, that a lot of times

there's a story within a story. There's a story within a story.

You know, there's for instance, you look at some of the some of

the grand classics, like all of the the Rocky series, you know,

man classics here is a underdog boxer that got his chance at a

heavyweight championship, you know, with Apollo Creed and say,

man, that's what the story's about.

That right there, that fight that that major cataclysmic

fight. But you know, he lost that first

fight. And the story's really not about

him as an underdog getting there, but it's about the battle

within himself believing that he could become more than what he

was. And so we find the same type of

thing that happens in books and even in Scripture.

There is a story. I was going to tell you the

surface story this morning, but I need to tell you the story

within the story this morning. Song of Solomon chapter #1 And

I'm going to begin with verse #1 the Bible says the Song of

Songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses

of his mouth. We almost got to put a age limit

on the Song of Solomon here. For thy love is better than

wine, because of the savour of thy good ointments.

Thy name is as ointment poured forth.

Therefore do the virgins love thee.

Draw me. We will run after thee.

The king hath brought me into his chambers.

We will be glad and rejoice in thee.

We will remember thy love more than wine.

The upright love thee. I am black but comely, O ye

daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kadar, as the curtains

of Solomon, look not upon me because I am black, because the

sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children and were

angry with me. They made me the keeper of the

vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

Tell me, Oh, thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest,

where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

For why should I be as one that turneth the side by the flocks

of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest

among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and

feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents.

Ladies and gentlemen, don't you feel love, a little bit of love

in the air with these 8 verses today?

And you should. Amen.

I'm going to tell you what I was going to preach and then I'm

going to tell you what I need to preach.

Is that all right? I'm going to preach 2 sermons to

you this morning. I'm just, I'm joking, OK?

I want to talk to you today about marked by life, but named

by love, marked by life but named by love.

Help us right now, Lord Jesus, we're thankful today.

I pray, O Lord, let your spirit, God, your power, Lord, just

usher into this place alongside Lord, your forever settled word.

God, make it known to us, plain to us, understood to us.

God will not fail. Thank you and praise you for

what only you can do and for what only you can accomplish.

We lean God not their own understanding, but we lean upon

you this morning and the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ

that I pray and the church say Amen, Amen.

You may be seated this morning the Song of Solomon it is it is

full of those amorous reasonings and thoughts and feelings.

There's a lot of takes place in the Song of Solomon.

It's, it's not necessarily written in chronological order.

We, we have different scenarios that's related to us of a man

and a woman that's in the courtship aspects of their day,

when love is thick in the air and when love can be blind and

when they are having feelings and compassion's for one

another. And then there's other sections

of the song of Solomon's sister Sheila that describes to us the

wedding day, whenever those valves are going to be taken and

that knot is going to be tied. And then there's others that

speak of later portions in life that's post marriage and the

love and the affections and maybe how they have grown cold

or maybe even a little bit indifferent on some aspects.

But of everything that can be said, you got to understand

Solomon himself was a tremendous writer of scripture.

We have several books of the Bible that have his penmanship

and his leanings in their for instance, like Ecclesiastes and

Proverbs where Solomon has put pin to page and spoke some

things concerning the word of God.

And Song of Solomon is just a a portion of those things that he

had written about 8 chapters. A matter of fact, if you were to

number the verses, there are about 117 verses in this small

book. But when we read in Scripture

and other places about the writings of of Solomon, he, he

was quite a poetic and a proverbial type of writer.

The Bible describes to us in one place that he had written about

3000 Proverbs and in another that he had written about 1005

songs. And so you must understand how

near and dear this particular song is to his own heart because

out of 105 songs that Solomon has written, he calls this one

in the opening verse that this is the Song of Songs.

That among all of the 1005 songs that he had written, this is the

one that that sticks out and that is prominent in his mind

and his heart, the one that he turns to and reveres and lifts

up. It's the best of songs.

It's if we could say like this, it's the greatest of songs.

You know, we're always looking for the list of the greatest.

Well, this is the greatest of songs.

And it is the song about his true love, what many would would

picture and posture as his his. First love, we, we really don't

know who this, this woman that's called the Shulamite.

We really don't know who she is. She might be called the

Shulamite because she is from the the region of Shunam or

she's from that area, but nonetheless she is a Shulamite.

As a matter of fact, the word Shulamite in Hebrew, which the

Bible is translated from, it has what's called masculine and

feminine forms. Shulamite is actually the

feminine form of the name Solomon.

So in essence, we're just talking about.

Solomon and Missus Solomon, We're just talking about Solomon

and Missus Solomon. And the story that we have

written here in the Song of Solomon is interesting really

because we don't have this in many places in Scripture,

especially in the Old Testament. Because the Old Testament is a

is a very male centered type of society and that women usually

don't have much, much space to share their feelings or their

concerns. Not usually recorded in the

Scripture, but it is here in the Song of Solomon.

This is written greatly from the perspective of a woman.

And what is she? She is feeling and observing and

looking at. And it's right here in this book

that it's. Placed And so within the Song of

Solomon, we see this woman's anticipations as a young girl

being courted, as a young girl falling in love, We see this

this young lady's expectations about.

Her desires to be the wife of of this husband Solomon's.

Someday we we see sometimes her reflections as she looks back on

her shoulder later in life and thinks about that first love and

that first encounter that she had with him.

And so if I was going to preach to you this morning like I, I

thought I was going to, I was going to just be real.

Practical with you today. Because on the surface level,

it's about a man and a woman and their relationship.

And this is Valentine's Day week.

And I was going to be very practical with you today and I

was going to begin to talk to you about the script about how

this woman says here she is. This is chapter 1.

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

She is awaiting. This is wedding day for her.

You know, she's about ready to to form that relationship with

her, her groom that she's going to live throughout her life.

And so she's on pins and needles.

The butterflies are there. You know, Ray, this this is the

day that I have awaited for. And if I was going to preach on

the practical means this morning, I tell you about how

she says, you know, let him kiss me verse #2 with kisses of his

mouth, for love is better than wine.

And in a real practical sense, I tell you how about how that

bride is looking forward to consummating their marriage.

And she wants to receive kisses from him.

And not just kisses, but she wants to be overwhelmed with

some kisses. She, she wants to receive love

from this gentleman because of the savour of his good

ointments. And she speaks about these

ointments and makes a comparison that these ointments are are

like his name and they are poured out brother Reese.

She she wants to get close enough to pick on up on the

aroma. A man of this mate.

But she switches and begins to talk about how his name is like

that ointment that is poured out ointment that's poured out.

It's aroma is able to pervade the space in the room.

She says your name is like that. And and please understand today

it's not that. It's just like when we were,

like, teenagers and someone mentioned your boyfriend or

girlfriend's name, You know, it's not like someone said

Solomon. She's like, you know, and she's

all giddy over, you know, just the name of the Solomon, you

know, being mentioned. You know how it was when you

were just a kid. Amen.

And those things were spoken, little girls.

I was around something this weekend, went to a conference to

Muncie on Friday and came back Saturday.

And there were some little girls up there.

And some of them had some crush on boys and had them on their

wallpaper paper. And they were showing my, my

daughter Mariah. And I was looking at him and you

can say, well, what is their name?

And you you'd say it back. And they're like, they cover

their face and turn in red. Well, whenever Shulamite is

speaking that his name is like poured out of Oinksmith, she's

not just talking about his just literal name.

She's talking about the characterization of Old

Testament, that whenever you spoke a person's name, you're

speaking about their character. You're speaking about the

totality of who they were and what they represented.

And she says if your good name is like a poured out ointment,

you, you, you have a good reputation among the community

and among the people. And whenever we speak your name,

all of those thoughts about who you are and how you live and how

you conduct yourself, all those things come to me.

And it's, it's just like precious ointment that is, that

is poured out. And she's speaking man.

She's just a woman in love. And I mean on a practical means,

we would start thinking about our own experiences with our

significant to others, you know, are you still, you know,

exhilarated by by hearing their name and what type of images and

things are conjured in your mind when you hear the name of your

spouse, you know, in a real practical means that that's

that's what I wanted to talk about you today.

But she goes on. Then she says that she's crying

out now she's crying out to that that man Solomon, this is

wedding day. She's saying, draw me, draw me.

I I've been close enough to to smell the ointment.

I've been close enough to you, but I'm asking you to draw me.

And there's a third party in in all of this Solomon writing

that's called the daughters of Jerusalem or the daughters of

Zion. And you'll see them interject

every once in a while. And and she says draw me and the

daughters of Zion seem to say we will run after thee because we

got a wedding party that's here there.

There's other maidens that's sitting around and there's other

maidens that know how good of a catch that that Solomon is.

And they're like, man, we'll run after thee because man, we're,

we're just ready to see this thing unfold and what this is

all about because we are even familiar with his name and his

character. We, we know, we know what type

of man that he is within the community and what his

reputation is. And we're going to be glad and

we're going to be rejoicing with you because of this day and

because of this union, because of what's happening.

And, and the Shulamite is saying back to her, honey, she's

saying, honey, all the upright love thee.

I, I mean, these people, they, they know who you are.

They know what you are. They know what you represent.

And everybody loves thee. And just as a woman, though, on

her wedding day, she knows she is love.

She knows she has affection by this man or anybody involved in

a relationship. Then she begins to have some

doubts in verse #5 and she's thinking about all this.

She, she's remembering his name. She's talking about how his love

is better to her than wine. You.

You're the love that he has for me.

It's intoxicating and it's exhilarating.

And it's more long lasting than the intoxication of wine.

But she says in verse #5 she says, I am black but comely.

Everybody doing OK she's how I'm black but comely she says I'm

comely I I I'm beautiful I'm I'm well ordered I'm put together

but there's there's some type of dark cloud that's overshadowing

this she says I'm comely but I'm black and when she says I'm

black she absolutely is not talking about her race you read

a little further she's talking about the fact that she has

worked in in in the outside area.

She has been a keeper of the vineyard.

That has been her role, her lot in life and as a result of that,

the. Sun.

Has beat down upon her and her skin has been exposed to the sun

and as a result of being in the sun her her skin has become

tanned. It's it's swarthy, if you will,

it's been tanned and. And she's thinking to herself, I

don't know, I don't know, in light of all of the beauty that

I might have, there's this cloud that I've been touched by the

sun and my skin is tanned and, and it's not even tan.

The word swarthy almost indicates it's kind of a

splotchy, kind of uneven type of tan.

I've been in the atmosphere and I've been impacted like this.

And I know this is our wedding day.

Just someone stay with me here for a moment.

But, but we're about ready to enter into a space where, where,

where he, I am totally going to be revealed to him and exposed

to him. And I, I, I just hope that what

he fell in love with that he'll actually like whenever it's all

said and done, because I, I've been, I've been outside and

ladies and gentlemen, that don't mean much to you because in our

day, and it changes with every generation of what is societally

acceptable. Amen are beautiful as a woman.

Everybody just hang with me a little bit this morning, because

in that day, in that culture here it was the description of

beauty. She was to be a fair skinned,

pale woman. And I'd say this respectfully,

but she wasn't to be skinny. She had some weight with her

because doing so meant that she was a part of a household that

had some means that didn't require her to work or labor in

fields outside. So the, the sun didn't touch her

skin unless she wanted it to. And she was fair skinned.

They had enough food on the table to supply her once that

she didn't have to go out there and work for her own food.

And so she's wondering, Bishop in in my society in which I

live, that this is what beauty is or this is the idea of the

concept of beauty. But but I'm black.

I I've been touched by the sun. And not only that, I'm not of

the same household as some of these other people in Jerusalem

and the surrounding areas are part of a household, She says.

I've not, I've not had the same family upbringing.

Come. On right, I've had the same

family upbringing as him and my my skin's been touched by the

sun. And I'm just wondering, I'm

wondering if he's going to have the love Amen toward me.

Like I'm hoping that he has love.

She begins to describe ladies and gentlemen, she uses

analogies. She says I'm black as the tents

of Kadar. The tents of Kadar.

The Kadar was a nomadic Bedouin people who would go from place

to place. They didn't have a permanent

dwelling, but they had their tent that they would tear down

and they would erect. And the tents of Kadar, the

outside of them were made-up of black goat's hair.

And that black goat's hair on that tent, It's rugged.

It's weather beaten and if you will, it's a little bit rough

around the edges, she says. That's how I'm feeling.

I, I, I'm feeling like I got this rough exterior.

I mean, who would look up on that and think that is lovely?

It's weather beaten. It's kind of rough around the

edges. I, I, I have this intuition

inside of me, but no doubt I, I can't hide this part of my life.

This, this is what I appear and how I sing, no doubt to the one

that my soul is. I know we're right at wedding

day, but I still got some insecurities.

I still got some insecurities about all these things.

And then she goes a step further.

She says I'm black as the curtains of Solomon.

The curtains of Solomon in the palace were of a dark color, a

dark purple type color. But with that, she seems to be

putting two things side by side. On one side I'm black, but on

the other side I'm comely. I'm beautiful because the

curtain of Solomon, although it's dark, it's been made with

exquisite thread. It's been fashioned and

interwoven just so. It's been arranged and put

together just nicely. And so she's a woman that's torn

and two ideas of herself and two ideas of the world in which she

has lived and been brought up. I'm beautiful on one hand, like

the curtains of Solomon, but on the other hand I feel weather

beaten and rough around the edges.

And I'm just wondering which picture everybody doing all

right, which picture is going to take preeminence in the eyes.

Amen of my groom. And so she stakes quite

emphatically in verse number six.

She says, don't look upon me because I'm black because the

sun has touched me. And no, it goes just a little

step further. She says my mother's children,

my mother's children were angry with me and they made me the

keeper of the vineyards. But my own vineyard I have.

Not Ted, she's saying. I was brought up in a.

Home where my mother's children we don't know for sure.

We don't read in the whole story of the.

Song of Solomon. Where her dad's ever in the

picture, we don't know if that means that she was fatherless in

essence of he's absent, died early.

If there's someone else that came the picture because of her

mother's children she speaks of, but nonetheless, due to some

type of dysfunction in her home or in her space, they made her

the keeper of the vineyard. You're going to go outside.

It's your skin that will be touched by the sun.

It's your fingers that's going to get the dirt in between it.

It's your hands that's going to become calloused.

You're the one that's going to be out there and you're going to

get the stigma of the surroundings in the world and

the upbringing of what you were born into.

You're you're, this is going to be your situation.

This is going to be your household.

Nobody else is going to have to go out there, but you're going

to have to do that. And then she makes a comparison,

Amen with the vineyard, Speaking of her own body and her own

self. She says, I've been out there

tending and doing all of that. Amen to the vineyard.

And the vineyard has done some things to me and the sun has

done some things to me and the environment has done some things

to me that I've left my own vineyard off.

I feel like I haven't been able to keep it Amen where the way

that it needed to be kept. I feel like I've let it go.

I feel like I've let myself down.

I feel like me being there has been a choice to neglect me and

I. Haven't let my own tenure and so

I'm coming on my wedding day and I'm wondering is he going to

look at all of the baggage of my past, of how I was brought up,

or is he going to see me? No, no, no, no.

She's in a quandary here. There's a little fear that is in

her voice. Hey, man, she even states at one

time. She says, now I've gone to the

King's chambers. It's quite interesting how the

Shulamite does this, because in essence, Ray, she is a country

girl. Yeah, that's her life.

She's a country girl. But she speaks this one whom she

loves is both a king, and she describes him in the role of a

shepherd. He is a king, yet he is a

shepherd. What's the story within the

story, Pastor McGee? It's a similar thing that we see

in Ephesians 5 when the apostle Paul, he's talking about

husbands and he's talking about wives and he's talking about how

husbands ought to love their wives as Christ.

Loved the church. He talks to them about they

should submit to one another. He talks about how a husband

should love his wife as himself and that that wife should also

have reverence for her husband. He speaks in all types, these

ways and frames throughout Ephesians 5 and our mind starts

fasting upon the idea of this relationship of husband and wife

and of this relationship of love and this relationship of

respect. And then he's sums it really up

in verse #32 when he says this is a great mystery, he says, but

I speak concerning Christ and the church.

In other words, he a whole time I've been talking to you about

the husband wife relationship, I have really elevated that to

another level. It's not just been husband wife

relationship. I've been talking to you about

you being the bride of Christ and him being the groom.

Because when you are baptized into Christ, when you receive

the Spirit, the Bible says we are baptized by 1 spirit into

one body, and that body is the bride of Christ.

Now here's the interesting thing.

In the bride of Christ, there's neither male nor female.

There's neither bond nor free. There's neither Jew nor Gentile.

Because at that moment, no matter where you came from, no

matter what your past. Has been no.

Whatever, whatever your Rd. has been, when you become a part of

the body, you become a part of the.

Bride and honey, I wanted to talk to you on a very practical

level about all the things of a lady and a man in the Song of

Solomon. But I come to tell you today, we

got to step it up just a. Degree because we're not just

talking about Solomon and the Solemite, a man and a woman in

the relationship. We're talking about a love and

the church's insecurity about whether or not their God,

whether or not their Savior, can love them.

Someone say man, Someone say man, back up just here for a

moment please. Because when we start reading

with that type of perspective, we understand some things.

Whenever that woman was saying your love is better than me,

than to me than wine. There's scriptures in God's Word

that starts cropping up in my mind concerning Christ and

concerning His church. Christ told His church in

Ephesians chapter #5 He said don't be drunk with wine,

wherein is excess He says, but be filled with the Spirit.

He says if you want to be intoxicated, be intoxicated by

my spirit, be exhilarated by my spirit.

I see her, I see us as the bride.

I see us as. The woman, Amen.

All of us, yes, male and female, born into this family and

becoming the bride of Christ. I'm telling you, His love for me

is better than wine. His love for me, it is

exhilarating. It is intoxicating.

I've been filled by him, his power.

I've been filled by his spirit, love, divide.

Not only that, I go a step further.

Sister Sheila and I remember on in Acts 1 and 2 on the day of

Pentecost when they began to speak in other tongues and that

was noised abroad that the Bible says some begin to theorize,

Amen. Perhaps they are drunk and Peter

stood up and said they they're not drunk as ye supposed.

Yes, they're intoxicated. Yes, it's exhilarating, but it's

because of this relationship. So it's hey man, hear.

Me whenever I read about her talking about his name poured

forth and the fragrance and the aroma that's associated with

being close to the atmosphere of the character of his name.

I remember how the Bible says in the Philippians 29 that

wherefore God has given him a name, He's highly exalted him

and given him a name which is above it's above every name.

No, no, no, no. It's above the name of Bell.

It's above the name of Astra. It's above the name of

Confucius. It's the bundle of the name of

Luther. It's above, it's above the name

of Milekta. It's above of those names.

But it's even above all of the titles and the compound names

that God was known of in the Old Testament.

They would say Jehovah Jireh, the Lord is my provider, but his

name is higher than that name. Why?

Because when you read all the compound names of the Old

Testament like Jehovah Nisi. The Lord our banner and Jehovah

Shalom, the Lord our peace and Jehovah Shabbat the Lord our

host, and Jehovah Mackadesh the Lord our sanctifier, and Jehovah

Rohai the Lord our shepherd, and Jehovah Tiskanoo the Lord our

righteousness, and Jehovah Shamma the Lord is there.

And Jehovah Rapha the Lord heals you.

I'm not crying out to one single of those names.

I just cry out upon Jesus because he's my provider, He's

my healer, He's my righteousness, He's my star,

He's my deliverer. He is there.

His name is like precious ointment.

Yes, that's when I speak Jesus. Along with that comes all the

characterization of who and what He is.

That's right. I'm not going through my, I'm

not going through my phone book of names.

When I need provision. So what was that?

Was that Jehovah hug? What was an easy Was it?

No, I cry out Jesus because all the fragrance of the ointment is

poured forth in that solitaire. She's contemplating these

things. The church contemplates these

things close enough to smell him and mine goes to James.

James four and eight, how Scripture mandates, urges draw a

nigh to God and he'll draw a nigh.

She's been close enough to get the fragrance and then just a

little later, what she crying out to her Solomon lover.

Draw me. I've come close now.

Draw. Me everybody.

OK, I'm going to preach it before I get I'm named to my

sermon you MY12O clock sermon. I'm named to my 12O clock sermon

you. She got to the place.

After all this scenario, she's like, tell me whom my soul

loveth? Where do you feed the flocks?

See, she's went from the king imagery now to the shepherd

imagery. Where do you feed your flocks at

noon? And she basically saying this, I

don't want to be going around trying to look for you and to

seem to appear as a woman that is veiled.

This is important. This is important Jessica,

because in that day a veiled woman holds one of two things

she's either considered as a harlot.

All right, Jacob's own daughter-in-law tomorrow said by

the way, heavily veiled. The Bible says to take advantage

of her father-in-law, Jacob. What was the indication of

mourning? I don't want everybody that

knows us to think I'm searching for someone else because I know

your love toward me and I just want to know where you're at.

But sadly, but the reason the way it sometimes the ways of the

Lord to us sometimes are elusive.

The Bible says sometimes his ways are past finding out.

Job, even in his dilemma, said I go forward, but he is not there.

Backward, but I cannot. Perceive him on the left hand.

Where he does work, but I cannot behold him.

He hideth on the right hand, and I cannot see him.

Verse 11 though, he says that Job says My foot have held his

steps. That's what Solomon told her.

If you want to find me, he said follow the footsteps of the

flock that I've been leading. He says because why?

Let's put John in there, because my sheep know my voice, and a

stranger they will not. Follow.

And if you'll follow wherever the footsteps of the flock are

going, they're going to lead to me.

And you'll find out where I am and you'll find out that why I

don't want where I where are you at at noon?

Because at noon, in the height of the heat of the day, that's

when the shepherd is going to find a shady place for the sheep

and a time of repose for himself.

And the shooter might saying, I know you're a very busy man, but

I also know there are times there are times when you don't

have your attention diverted by anybody else.

And I'm wondering if I could just have your attention then?

He says, so if you if you come in that moment, if you come at

that time, then very easily Amen, you could be found of me.

Someone say Amen, don't stare at me.

She says I got some scars from my past.

Every person that comes into a relationship literally and with

the Lord has some scars of the past.

Hers happens to be rooted in how she was raised feeling neglected

looking after the vineyard. I really don't know except the

few descriptors in the song of Psalm.

I really don't know what the shula my actually 100%.

I don't have a photographic description of the Sheila mine

again various. Things are described about.

Her, but I don't have some type of photographic description of

her. But I'll tell you what I do

know. Solomon thought she was drop

dead gorgeous, the scripture says.

And verse 8, this is the first time we hear Solomon speak,

first time that he utters a word in this passage to this woman's

that's been vacillating back and forth between her insecurities

about she's going to be accepted by the love of this man she's

supposed to marry. And his words, look at it with

me in verse #8 are this verse #8 he says, If thou know not, she's

asking the question, where? Where did I go?

Where, where do you rest your flock to?

Where are you at at? Noon, he says, Lady, if thou

know not. Notice the next.

Few words. Oh, thou fairest among women.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

I am black. Wait a minute, the sun has

touched me because of my upbringing.

Wait a minute, I got dirt under my fingernails.

Wait a minute, I'm rugged. Wait a minute, I'm spotted.

Wait a minute. I'm like weather beating goats

hair. Wait, a come on.

Life has marked me. Life has put a mark on me.

Life has not been kind to me and I've allowed it to come in and

I've neglected myself and what I should be doing, where I should

be going, how I should be living.

I've been marked by life. But he's crying out to a woman

that didn't think she was fair and he's crying over her.

Oh, thou fairest among. Somebody hear me Right now

you're living, you're living in a spot of insecurity as being

the bride of Christ, and the only thing your mind can

remember is how you were a tender of the vineyard.

The only thing your mind can remember is how it treated you

wrongly and you got some Nicks, if you will, in your skin as a

result of your upbringing and where you've been.

Life just told you, you have an uneven tan, you're splotchy,

you're black, you're accepted He's placed his love on you, but

you're questioning if he's still going to love you until the end.

But I hear the voice of saying of heaven crying out over the

congregation today with every individual of the insecurity

about their placement in the body, about their placement in

God. I hear heaven saying, Oh, thou

fairest, you've been marked by your life, but you've been

named. By his love.

I. Got to realize something Sister

Missy, Melissa, you read all 8 chapters.

Good homework. Go home, get caught right in the

love triangle of God. The Shula might and Solomon get

caught right in it and you're go see over 14 / 8 chapters that

Solomon approximately 14 times either calls her the fairest of

all women or fair within those 8 chapters.

Why is he's doing that? He's combating the mentality of

a woman that couldn't get over how she was brought up.

So every now and then, he's just got to drop the fare card again

because he knows the means of humanity.

We'll entertain it, we'll have victory over it.

We'll go on live celebratory, victorious life until a new

thought is. Impregnated in our.

Mind and we'll begin to circle it.

And so Solomon, knowing the framework, Amen of his love.

He says, I'm going to tell you in chapter 1, and you read of it

again in chapter 2, him saying the same thing.

You see it then in chapter #5 You see it in chapter #6 him

saying, O thou fairest among women.

You see it again in chapter #1 He says Behold, telling his his

should behold thou. Art fair, my love, Behold thou

art fair, he says in chapter #2 my beloved, speak and said unto

me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

I like that. You know what he's saying.

It's time to come to make this marriage.

It's time to get this. Arise, get up and come over here

with me. You know what I really like?

It's chapter #7 and verse number six or four and verse #7 really.

The Bible says he says, thou art everybody say all.

He says Thou art all fair, my love.

There is no wait. There is no spot.

I'm black. The sun has touched me.

There is no spot. My history says I'm black.

But the moment I met you, the moment I met you, all I've been

hearing is thou art the fairest, and there is no spot you'll.

Get a bow. His name has such a fragrance as

all pulled out, poured out that when he and I hang, the aroma of

his name is enough to cover both of us.

Yeah. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. Have you ever stood by someone

and they said, what is that? You got on and it wasn't you,

but the one standing next to you.

They had mistaken. Your aroma for what that person

was emitting from themselves. Honey, when you're black,

whenever you've been touched by the sun, you know if you will

have a portfolio of your own. You just stand by somebody,

stand by the king of glory, the shepherd of our soul that does.

And here's aroma can become your aroma.

Someone said thank you, Jesus. Oh yeah, she calls him King.

The king has taken me into his, his chambers.

Verse #4 In a real practical sense, Brother Fred.

They also had terms of endearment, just like some of

y'all call she's my Princess or my queen.

He's my king, my Prince. But Solomon was actually a king,

but again, to this country girl she also refers to him as a

shepherd, because who would ever thought that a king like him

would fall in love with a country girl like her?

Well, let me tell you what your king does.

He gets on levels you can relate to.

Yes he does. And brother Tag the apostle said

even as we to adopt. But as he already showed us, he

becomes all things to all men so that he might save some.

And so pictured in the Song of Solomon is the king shepherd.

That's great. Kings typically weren't

shepherds. We have the rare, We have the

rare example of David, who was a shepherd and become a king.

But this is the story of a king that became a shepherd.

Hallelujah, oh God of the lineage of David.

Even the prophets prophesied. And so there'll be 1 that will

be in the lineage of David. Who's going to be your king?

Revelation says that that king would be both the root and the

offspring of David. Now how can Jesus Christ, born

in Bethlehem's Manger, be the root of a king that lived before

him? Because as the writer said in

2nd Corinthians 5, to win that God, what's in Christ, we get

the King who can be both the root, the causation of David,

and also the offspring, the vet. Someone say, man, I don't want

to leave you there because he likewise is our king Shepherd.

You read in John 10 and he is called.

The Good Shepherd we read in the book of Peter chapter 5 and

verse 4. He is called the Chief Shepherd.

We read in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 20 Jesus Christ the

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

Great Shepherd. The Shulamite is talking in the

Song of Solomon about this king shepherd, when in reality the

bigger story within the story is pointing to Jesus Christ who is

also our King so. What's am I doing?

OK and 45. Oh God help me.

Very glad I don't really have notes.

Because I want to take you back to the imagery, Jeanette, the

imagery that this woman speaks about her blackness and her

loveliness. Look at it again, Tents of

Kadar, tents of Kadar outside the environment that she knew,

but she also says the curtains of Solomon.

It's wedding day, folks. There's been courtship, there's

been mingling talks, notes, conversation, picnics by the

River of Galilee, maybe the Jordan River.

Listen, the only way that she could give these two imageries

with any application about herself is if she was familiar

with both. What are you saying?

It's wedding day and I've been familiar with the tense of the

nomads, but I must remind myself I've also seen the curtains.

I've also seen the curtains of Solomon daughters have desired.

You can say a lot about what you know about my love, but you

can't say you've seen his curtains.

You go by God, you can't say it's eating his curtains.

Because I've been in a position I've, I've been afforded the

opportunity. I'm not just the life I've been

brought up in, but the life that I can have.

Staying with me, you good people.

Staying here today in this amorous love weekend and I see

every individual in front of me that could testify like she and

says I've been marked by life. There may be some of you

already, you know, until Rapture day.

And we see him as he is and become as he is.

We are in a holding pattern of being the bride.

The wedding day hasn't occurred, but we stand some time, sister

million with the butterflies and the goat feet, thinking I wonder

once all limitations are set aside, if he's really going to

love me. Because I know where I've been.

And he's saying, oh, thou fairest.

He's saying, I'm going to combat that.

Oh thou fairest. Behold, my love, there is no

spot through these eyes. I'm not asking you about your

other daughters of Zion. Say what they will, but through

these eyes there's no spot in you.

Let's raise our hands right now, please, Jesus.

Lord, we cut this woman in an infraction of the law, and Moses

in the law says she should be stoned.

But what do you say? They just asked love.

They just asked grace. They just asked mercy.

What do you say? And if I could put it in Old

Testament vernacular, O thou fairest among women, where are

your condemners? Does any man condemn me?

Because all those who had sinned, who had the stones

clutched in their fists, ready to throw him, he said you'd be

without sin. He that is, let him cast the

first stone. You hear the repetitive patterns

of stones hitting the ground. Why?

Because all of their. Lives have been marked in some

way. I don't see anybody.

Around Lord, I don't know 1 He says.

Neither do I condemn thee. What you saying?

Oh, thou fairest among women. I see no spot.

I see no spot in you. Sermon today.

Go on and pull your carcass into the sanctuary this morning.

Go on and pull your rugged life, your worn and torn and weather

battered life. Go on and pull your wrong

decision, your indecision, your rejection in here and allow what

life has helped mark you with. In a relationship with the

Savior that's going to peer at you through love and say when

you thought you weren't enough, I'm going to call you fair.

Whenever you thought you didn't meet the measure of what was

considered beautiful, he says. I'm going to see beauty.

Why? Because you are my love, and I

am your beloved. You know, there's another place

there in the song of song. You need to read it, folks.

You need to read it through this lens.

There's a place that the Shulamite cries out and she says

these words, and it's such a powerful thing.

She says his desire is toward. Me.

She's caught it. She's caught it.

His desire, I'm sitting there and I'm not, I'm not wringing my

hands and I'm not worrying and I'm not being suspect about life

and I'm not looking over my shoulder and I'm no, no, no, no.

She catches attack. She catches attack.

She says he, he's telling me arise.

He's having me coming to the chamber.

His desire, folks, God's desire is toward you today.

There is a current of God's Spirit in here right now.

There is a presence of God. The ointments of His name are

flowing in this place. I am honest you.

I invite you to step into the aroma of the characterization of

who He is this morning and allow His aroma to cover you.

Allow His aroma to penetrate, encompass, and circle you.

He's here today. Go on, bring that weather

beaten. Bring that weather.

Beaten South. Bring that down and out

criticize. Self.

Go on today, you go on and bring your past.

You bring your dysfunctional life.

You bring the dysfunctional family that you were brought up

in. You bring your scars.

You bring your torment. You bring your sorrow.

You bring your. Pain.

Come on, Sir. Ma'am.

Church family. Come on.

You've been marked. By life, but you've been named.

By love. Come on, Sir.

Come on, man. Come on, church family, Let's

create a atmosphere. Let's maintain the atmosphere

right now for God to do something in someone's life.

Make a step forward tonight or this morning.

Amen. To make it easier for somebody

else, maybe that's never made a step to make a step.

Come on, Sir. Come on, ma'am, you're

bewildered. How could he love me?

How could he be kind to me? How could he want eternity with

me? How could he lavish love?

Don't he see me? Don't he see where I've been?

Don't he see what I've intermittent with?

Oh, thou fairest. Oh thou fairest, Oh thou.