SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: At Crosschurch, we believe people need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: People need each other.
SPEAKER_00: People change the world.
SPEAKER_00: And people leave legacies.
SPEAKER_00: Our desire is for you to understand, accept, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to know more about Crosschurch, please visit CrossChurch.com.
SPEAKER_01: Church is a good place to make new friends, is it not?
SPEAKER_01: I make new friends here all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I get to know people and meet people the first time guest area that did that today after our first service.
SPEAKER_01: Find things in common, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I met a guy from Liberty University, which is where I went to school, and uh and so he he just moved here.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I love making new friends.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's awesome, right?
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's something special about old friends, is there not?
SPEAKER_01: Like those kind of people in your life that you may go six months and you don't talk to them, and then you pick up the phone or you meet in person, and it's like you never left.
SPEAKER_01: You have those people in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you three of those people in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, Ryan Blackwell.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Ryan uh just left here about a month ago.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Ryan was our executive pastor.
SPEAKER_01: He is my childhood best friend, uh, been with us for a long time, and uh he just got a new job in Nashville.
SPEAKER_01: He's the president of Lifeway, and uh, and so he's got a big role.
SPEAKER_01: And so we talk Friday.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we literally have known each other since we were three years old.
SPEAKER_01: And so this is hard for me to say.
SPEAKER_01: I've never said this out loud till the eight o'clock service.
SPEAKER_01: We've almost known each other 40 years because we're both 42.
SPEAKER_01: So that stinks to say that out loud, regardless.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but Ryan's a very close friend, and uh we we talk all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me another guy named Jarrett Stevens.
SPEAKER_01: Jarrett, I worked for him when I was in seminary, and then we were at the same church together for a couple years.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, if you ever meet Jarrett and tell him you go to church here, he will he will tell you that I worked for him.
SPEAKER_01: He will make sure to get that in there.
SPEAKER_01: Um but he uh he's an idiot, is really what he is.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he's one of my closest friends, all right?
SPEAKER_01: And uh we uh we talk all the time, and uh he's he's been a major impact in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Then uh the third guy is a lot of uh a lot of you may know Brian Mills.
SPEAKER_01: Brian was our C3 pastor uh several years ago now and uh did a great job.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Brian discipled me when I was in junior high because he is significantly older than I am.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh Brian and I, he's one of those that if Meredith and I go to dinner with him and Jennifer, his wife, it's like we picked up and never left off.
SPEAKER_01: Like it just picks up right where we were.
SPEAKER_01: And so I I love old friends.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody got old friends?
SPEAKER_01: And uh there's nothing like old friends.
SPEAKER_01: And today, what I'm gonna introduce you to, or maybe I should say reintroduce you to, is an old friend from the book of Psalms, Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: If you got your Bible, why don't you turn there with me?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is the last uh sermon in our series called Summer of Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: Uh next Sunday, uh, we will begin a brand new journey for the fall.
SPEAKER_01: And uh good news for you new sermon journal is gonna be in next week that you will get.
SPEAKER_01: So hopefully you'll uh hopefully you will enjoy those.
SPEAKER_01: And we have a great year planned ahead of you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking through one of the uh most famous, maybe the most famous um chapter in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Uh in fact, about five years ago, if you've been in the church for a little while, you may remember we did a full series several weeks on these six verses.
SPEAKER_01: And so if today scratches a niche and you're like, man, I need more of Psalm 23, go on our website, crosschurch.com, hit the sermon tab, scroll down for a while, you'll find Jesus Our Shepherd was the name of that series.
SPEAKER_01: And we went even more in depth than I'm able to because of time today.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read the entire chapter, much like we did last week.
SPEAKER_01: It's only six verses, and then the remainder of our time, all we're gonna do is walk through some of those key statements.
SPEAKER_01: I won't be able to walk through every single statement in the six verses, but we'll cover a lot of them.
SPEAKER_01: And uh that's how we do it here at our church.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse one.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says The Lord is my what?
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud, he is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: I shall not want.
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, uh, just an underline under these three words here.
SPEAKER_01: He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone need this today?
SPEAKER_01: He restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
SPEAKER_01: And even though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
SPEAKER_01: And why do we not fear?
SPEAKER_01: For you are with me.
SPEAKER_01: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
SPEAKER_01: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how it wraps up.
SPEAKER_01: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a note taker today, uh, I'm gonna encourage you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: I've got six questions for your own life from Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not a note taker, would encourage you to take notes anyway.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Uh six questions today based on this passage that really only you will know the answer to these questions.
SPEAKER_01: There may be close people around you that may have some semblance of how you're doing or where you're at, um, but uh but these six questions primarily will be answered by you and by you alone.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Question number one is this who's really leading your life right now?
SPEAKER_01: If you were to answer that, like in all honesty, who is really leading your life right now?
SPEAKER_01: That may sound like a bit of an odd question to you, and it'll remain odd until you understand what the Bible says about you and what the Bible says about God.
SPEAKER_01: We are the sheep, God is the shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: You get that?
SPEAKER_01: We are the sheep, God is the shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: Let's say that together.
SPEAKER_01: We are the sheep, God is the shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this passage begins with, The Lord is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: Now, uh, the idea of a shepherd, a little bit odd to us.
SPEAKER_01: We don't live in those uh in that realm much anymore.
SPEAKER_01: But in the ancient Near Eastern culture of the Bible, this was very common.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, kings would even call themselves shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jesus was called the good shepherd in John chapter 10, uh, the great shepherd in Hebrews 13, the chief shepherd in 1 Peter chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: And so, in order to really get a grasp about what is uh is David trying to get across to us today, you've got to understand this simple thing about uh about sheep and how they're defined.
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, about shepherds and how they are defined.
SPEAKER_01: This is really deep.
SPEAKER_01: So if you came to church for the deep things of God, this is it.
SPEAKER_01: A shepherd is one who tends to the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: It's really deep, right?
SPEAKER_01: A shepherd is one who tends to the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the shepherds do everything for the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: They protect the sheep, they feed the sheep, they guide the sheep, they do everything for the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Sheep, on their own hand, they do not protect themselves.
SPEAKER_01: They're not the smartest animals on the planet.
SPEAKER_01: Uh sheep often go their own way.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, for instance, I don't know if you've ever seen this video.
SPEAKER_01: Let's turn our attention to the screens and watch what sheep do.
SPEAKER_01: Say this.
SPEAKER_01: Dumb sheep, right?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, if if God pulls you out of the ditch today, don't be like the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Don't jump right back in it, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um, the Bible describes all of us like sheep in a spiritual sense.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 53, 6 says this all we like sheep have gone astray.
SPEAKER_01: We have turned everyone to his own way.
SPEAKER_01: So the Bible uses this physical picture of like a shepherd and a sheep to give us a spiritual picture of what our spiritual condition is like.
SPEAKER_01: Just like sheep, we wander.
SPEAKER_01: And if it seems good, we just wander that way.
SPEAKER_01: If it feels right, we just wander that way, and we find ourselves in a bad position, both in real life and spiritually, because we are we are simply sheep who wander, and we are in need of a shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the point we we need a shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: You and I as sheep, we need a shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: And when we come to faith in Christ, when we put our faith in Jesus, he becomes our shepherd, and he does all that a physical shepherd would do and much more.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this idea of God being a shepherd, it's common in the Old Testament, it's common in the New Testament, and so surely, obviously, this is something that God wants you to get a hold of in your Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's a question for you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't answer it out loud, but uh, but here's what it is Is God the shepherd really leading your life?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you as the sheep leading your path?
SPEAKER_01: Said in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: Um do I view myself as the one leading the show or following the leader?
SPEAKER_01: Think back to elementary school.
SPEAKER_01: Remember when your teacher would like divvy out the rolls for the week?
SPEAKER_01: And uh some people got to be like the the water fountain pusher and they would push the button, and everybody would drink a common water fountain, and everybody I got COVID all in the same class as that, or you were the door holder for the day, so you got to stand there and hold the door for all the class to walk through.
SPEAKER_01: Um, my favorite, my favorite week was line leader week.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody with me?
SPEAKER_01: I love being a line leader.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be in charge.
SPEAKER_01: I want to direct this line of my classmates to the lunchroom.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're walking fast because it's lunchtime.
SPEAKER_01: Lunchtime and PE, we walk fast.
SPEAKER_01: Math and science, we walk slow.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: Um, most of my life I have struggled with wanting to be the line leader in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody besides the preacher today?
SPEAKER_01: I have wrestled between control and surrender before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I am not the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, I am not the shepherd, I am the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: I I am not the leader, I have followed the leader.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's best for my life.
SPEAKER_01: God knows what's best for my life.
SPEAKER_01: Do you really trust that Jesus the shepherd knows what's best for you?
SPEAKER_01: And uh do you view the detours or delays in your life as sifted through the hand of God?
SPEAKER_01: Or do you try to run the show in your own life?
SPEAKER_01: That's question number one.
SPEAKER_01: Question number two is this is your heart at rest or is it anxious?
SPEAKER_01: Is your heart at rest or is it anxious?
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody in the room have anxiety that is wreaking havoc in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody come to church for like really desperate for a word from God?
SPEAKER_01: Like, God, I need you to speak to me today.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what the word of God says.
SPEAKER_01: Look back at the passage.
SPEAKER_01: He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.
SPEAKER_01: I had you underline when we went through the passage, he makes me, had you underline that?
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew here indicates that God causes this, he is the one responsible for us lying down.
SPEAKER_01: So when you so when you read the passage, he makes me, it is the will of the shepherd overcoming the will of the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: He forces us at times to lay down.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, how does God do that?
SPEAKER_01: All kinds of ways.
SPEAKER_01: Suffering is one way he gets us to lay down pretty quick, right?
SPEAKER_01: I could give you a separate message on just how God works on the activity of God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do these very quickly.
SPEAKER_01: So write quickly, or just take out your picture, uh, take out your phone and snap a picture real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, here's the activity of God.
SPEAKER_01: We see some of this in Psalm 23 and other parts of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, number one, God causes unrest to give us rest.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: He causes unrest to force us to lie down.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, he permits pain.
SPEAKER_01: He allows pain to give healing.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, remember that little prophetic book in the middle of your Old Testament called Hosea?
SPEAKER_01: He wounds us so that he can heal us.
SPEAKER_01: Third, uh God allows dissatisfaction so that he can lead us to real satisfaction.
SPEAKER_01: This is where some of you are at today.
SPEAKER_01: You're making more money than you've ever made in your life, and you're still not happy.
SPEAKER_01: You finally got into the major that you've always wanted to do, and you're still not happy.
SPEAKER_01: You're finally here at the University of Arkansas and you're still not happy.
SPEAKER_01: You're on a high school football team and you're finally starting and you're still not happy.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a way that God strips back all the things of this world where everything that you thought would make you happy doesn't make you happy.
SPEAKER_01: Everything you thought would satisfy doesn't satisfy.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what you gotta understand: you you will never be able to place good things in the place of God things.
SPEAKER_01: Like only God can fill that place in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: So he allows dissatisfaction so that he can ultimately cause satisfaction in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the visual picture here given.
SPEAKER_01: He leads us to green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you've been around the church for a period of time, you've heard me talk about this.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're new, this is new for you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, my wife Meredith, who's here, she was raised on a little over 200 acres in central Florida.
SPEAKER_01: So don't think beach, think like pasture land.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she was raised on a cattle ranch, did 4-H, did the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: You can ask her about it, all right?
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and so we we would always go down there and visit for Thanksgiving or Christmas or in the summer.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and it's just beautiful, like large oak trees, Spanish moss coming down, like the movies.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then right behind their house was this creek that was not a like a rapidly flowing creek.
SPEAKER_01: It honestly was like still waters that would just kind of flow.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and here's what we found.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what was happening in Arkansas, like the chaos of our life here, we could always go there, and it would be like a physical representation of Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: It was green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: We could walk those pastures, walk along that creek, and we would get a sense of what God was doing.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not going to include the alligators in the creek because that doesn't really flow with the illustration, but I've got I've got videos that I can ever show publicly, but if you want to see them, come find me.
SPEAKER_01: All right, uh there.
SPEAKER_01: We've had some fun with alligators over the years.
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is what God does for his children.
SPEAKER_01: He takes you from where you're at, right smack dab in the middle of where you're at, and he can bring you to a place of green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: We often think our circumstances got to change for us to feel better.
SPEAKER_01: Of like, well, when this is over, then I'll get to green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm past this, I'll get to green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: And what you find is this that's not at all what the Bible is saying.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible is saying, right where you're at, in the middle of your pain, God can bring you to green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: Charles Spurgeon once described how does God do this?
SPEAKER_01: He said, the green pastures are the scriptures, and the still waters are the graces of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So here's how the means if you'll have an open Bible and an open heart to receive from the Lord, God can take you to green pastures and still waters even here today.
SPEAKER_01: Here's question number three Do you need to be restored?
SPEAKER_01: Do you need to be restored?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you hear that question and your heart leaps towards it because you know you're broken.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, you didn't have to come to church for me to tell you that your life is broken, that things are out of whack, that things are a little disheveled in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, some of you feel empty, you feel in need of restoration.
SPEAKER_01: And uh here's uh an encouraging word for your heart.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not here today, you will be at some point in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: What does the Bible say that God does for us?
SPEAKER_01: He restores my soul.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are drawn to that verse and you say, I don't even really know what that means yet, but it sure sounds like something that I need from God.
SPEAKER_01: Said simply that this word for restoration is the idea that God brings us back to where we need to be with Him.
SPEAKER_01: How does God do that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, in part, He brings us to green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: He refreshes us in that way, He restores us in that way.
SPEAKER_01: But beyond that, He is the one who brings us back.
SPEAKER_01: It's very interesting that, like in the Bible, in the Christian calendar, we are to gather wherever you live with your local church once a week.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of reasons for that, but I think one of the reasons is that God has a restoration process for you.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are not where you need to be with the Lord, like a sheep you've wandered this week, and here's the word from the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: You need to be restored to the Lord today.
SPEAKER_01: Like you're a Christian, you just need to come back to where you need to be with God.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've ever been in a church service, and uh man, from like the minute the first drumbeat hits, it's like every song is for you.
SPEAKER_01: It's like whoever's preaching, it's like every word is for you.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, bro, you have like access to my text messages or something.
SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you know what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: And here's the reality: I don't know what's going on in the majority of your lives.
SPEAKER_01: There's too many of you for me to know, but I've got better news for you.
SPEAKER_01: The chief shepherd of this church knows what's going on with your life, and he can restore your soul in a way that only he can.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said a moment ago, we often feel I've got to get done with this, and then I'll experience Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta get through this trial, and then I'll experience green pasture still waters.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the passage.
SPEAKER_01: David is saying, right where you're at, the promise of God for you is that God can give you rest right now.
SPEAKER_01: God can give you peace right now.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you freshmen who, man, this is a lot of change in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Your parents have just dropped you off yesterday, or maybe they're in church and they're about to leave after after service, and you're like, you're already shaking, thinking, man, I don't know if I can do this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I can handle all this.
SPEAKER_01: You may not be able to, but there's a shepherd who can restore your soul today, and he can help you in the process of all that you're walking through.
SPEAKER_01: Here's question number four.
SPEAKER_01: As you can tell, I'm rolling through these.
SPEAKER_01: Are you walking through a valley?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you who are on a mountaintop today, uh, there are others of you who are you are in a deep, dark valley.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when I say, are you walking through a valley?
SPEAKER_01: Think about those moments of despair in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Nick, I see no way forward.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how this is gonna turn out.
SPEAKER_01: I see no way out.
SPEAKER_01: Massive uncertainty.
SPEAKER_01: I I've probably had like two real senses of this in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh had a lot of, had a lot of valleys, but like I'm talking about, like the valley of the shadow of death, probably two times in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what the psalmist says, David, he says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
SPEAKER_01: You ever read Psalm 23 and wonder like, what is the valley of the shadow of death?
SPEAKER_01: Is it literal?
SPEAKER_01: Is it figurative?
SPEAKER_01: There's actually two views on this.
SPEAKER_01: One is that this is a literal valley in Israel in what is called the Wadi Kelt.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it is known as the place that David might have been referencing here.
SPEAKER_01: It was a dangerous stretch of the valley that you do not go to this place.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had a friend who visited this place.
SPEAKER_01: He sent me a picture and he said, Nick, this is the Psalm 23, the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_01: You do not want to go to this place.
SPEAKER_01: So, one view is this it was like a literal mountain and valley that you find right here on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: The other view is that this was more symbolic in nature, figurative in nature, of it speaks to the dark valleys of life, like difficulties, trials in your life, uncertainty, death, or the threat of death.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you've ever gone through a period of your life where you're you just weren't sure you were gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mean like a health thing, though like it really was like your life's on the line.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just talking about like such a deep, dark trial.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, bro, I don't know how we're getting through this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how I'm coming out on the other side.
SPEAKER_01: That's the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that you're dying, but you feel like you're dying.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody else been there besides me?
SPEAKER_01: It is a deep, dark, dark place.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, this phrase is mentioned in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: The shadow of death, mentioned about 20 different times in the Old Testament, referring to intense darkness.
SPEAKER_01: So the valley is a place of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody relate?
SPEAKER_01: I can relate to that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I believe that that both could actually be true, that it could be referring actually to a real place in Israel and also a figurative place in each one of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, here's the incredible thing that we need to understand Jesus, our shepherd, doesn't just lead us to the valley, he leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_01: Um I I've had, like I said, I've had two real dark moments of despair in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that were really seasons in my life.
SPEAKER_01: They weren't like a night of darkness, it was like months and months and months of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And um uh the guy who I consider my pastor is a guy in Houston by the name of Greg Mott.
SPEAKER_01: Um Greg's pastor at first Abbott Houston.
SPEAKER_01: Greg walked with me through one of these two valleys, and uh, I'll never forget one day I'm on the phone with him.
SPEAKER_01: This was probably Five years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, the series I told you about, Jesus Our Shepherd, came out of one of my two trials.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you that.
SPEAKER_01: And so Greg was walking me through that valley, and uh and over the phone one day he said this.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Nick, the clouds are always moving.
SPEAKER_01: The clouds are always moving.
SPEAKER_01: It's not even a biblical reference, it's not even a biblical thought.
SPEAKER_01: But here's where I think in connection to Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: Suffering doesn't last forever.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_01: We know that even, you know, if you take the Bible as a whole, we know that one day there will be no more weeping, no more crying, no more death.
SPEAKER_01: But God will make everything that is wrong in this world right in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so maybe some of you need to hear that today.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, the clouds are always moving.
SPEAKER_01: Look at how God's already moving, look at how God's already shifting things.
SPEAKER_01: The point of what Psalm 23 is telling us in the last few verses is this yes, God uses uh refreshing times of green pastures and still waters.
SPEAKER_01: And he also uses walking through deep valleys of darkness to form you into the likeness of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So we don't just take the good times from God, we we take the good and the bad, and we are formed into his likeness.
SPEAKER_01: Here's question number five.
SPEAKER_01: Do you need a sense of God's presence today?
SPEAKER_01: Anyone need that?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody feel alone today at church?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're lonely in life, like don't have friends, or you know, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01: Um I think there's a deeper loneliness.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody feel like God has left you?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody feel abandoned by the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the word of God for your life today, for you are with me.
SPEAKER_01: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
SPEAKER_01: The presence of God is what gives us peace in the midst of dark valleys.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, it's not about the absence of valleys, it's not about the absence of trouble in our lives, but man, it is about the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about that I never walk through anything bad, it's that in all the good and the bad and the ungly, God is walking with me as a shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: This word rod in the Hebrew is the word shavet.
SPEAKER_01: It uh it refers to the idea of what the sheep would use, no doubt, for protection of the sheep, some kind of rod and also most likely discipline of the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: So you take those two words together and you see a little bit what God does for us.
SPEAKER_01: God is with us as a shepherd, and he protects us from things.
SPEAKER_01: Like Lord only knows what God has protected you from in your life.
SPEAKER_01: He protects us, he guides us from things, he disciplines us at times.
SPEAKER_01: No, you go back to this, you you be restored to me today.
SPEAKER_01: All that kind of stuff that a shepherd does.
SPEAKER_01: So here's a here's a good word for our life today.
SPEAKER_01: Think about what David the Shepherd is telling us today about God the shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: God the shepherd will be with you.
SPEAKER_01: So let's do a little exercise together.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody take a deep breath.
SPEAKER_01: That's what that verse should do to every one of our lives as a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what I'm facing this week at the office, God will be with me.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what's coming up in uh in my school year as a middle school, junior high, high school, college student, God will be with me.
SPEAKER_01: No matter the diagnosis that my family has just been given about one of our family members, God will be with me.
SPEAKER_01: He is a shepherd who lovingly protects and he lovingly guides.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: You see this statement, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I could say more about that, don't really have time.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a book reference.
SPEAKER_01: Um, uh, for you, if you're a reader, this was a fantastic book for me about this very psalm, Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table by Louis Giglio.
SPEAKER_01: Um awesome.
SPEAKER_01: So if you are in this position right now, like walking through darkness, go buy the book right now.
SPEAKER_01: All right, here's question number six, and with this, we will close today.
SPEAKER_01: Do you need mercy today?
SPEAKER_01: Do you need mercy?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what the word of God says.
SPEAKER_01: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_01: This is speaking about the loyal love of God.
SPEAKER_01: Literally, wherever you go in life, whatever you walk through in life, whatever you do in life, the loyal, the word in Hebrew is hesed, the loyal love of God will follow you.
SPEAKER_01: This word uh follow is commonly used.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this, for those who would attack someone else.
SPEAKER_01: So we often think of like I'm being followed, like it's a creeper, right?
SPEAKER_01: Or I've got a weird car that's following me, or I was speeding, and the police pulled right behind me and they're following me right now.
SPEAKER_01: What we think about in that context, here's what the word of God is saying about what God does.
SPEAKER_01: The context is that God is pursuing you, He is following you, He is chasing you with His goodness and with His mercy.
SPEAKER_01: So think about the word picture here.
SPEAKER_01: Let's say you've wandered as a sheep, like let's say you're the speaker over there and you're the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: God is saying this goodness, goodness, goodness, goodness, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And you wander away from every goodness, goodness, goodness, goodness, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy.
SPEAKER_01: God attack we don't think about this way.
SPEAKER_01: God attacks you with goodness.
SPEAKER_01: He pursues you with mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that God is good?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like I know the trite church answers, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about do you believe it in your heart today that God is good?
SPEAKER_01: I've had times in those two valleys where I believed it, but I didn't believe it.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody, everybody look at me.
SPEAKER_01: I believed it, I knew it was right, but I didn't believe it.
SPEAKER_01: And I had to come to moment after moment after moment of surrendering to the goodness of God, that God, even in the middle of this thing, you are good.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, we were at our uh staff retreat that we do every summer with our team, and man, I was smack dab in the middle of one of these valleys.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that I had preached Psalm 23 as we were wrapping up the retreat, and we were about to go into this series as a church, and man, I stood in front of our team.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't even my notes, I don't even know what God's had me say right now.
SPEAKER_01: I stood in front of our team, and like it was a moment of like a declaration of faith, and I balled my eyes out in front of our team, declaring that God is good.
SPEAKER_01: It was so bad, it was so awkward that one of our pastors got up out of the front row and just came and hugged me.
SPEAKER_01: It was like that bad of a cry, like an ugly cry.
SPEAKER_01: Because it was it was such a battle.
SPEAKER_01: Is God really good in my life?
SPEAKER_01: Zero doubt is where many of you are at today.
SPEAKER_01: Write this statement down.
SPEAKER_01: When you have a settled confidence that God is good, it changes everything about your life.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you today, how do you obey the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: You get to a place of settled confidence.
SPEAKER_01: Even when you know it and are struggling to believe it, you declare it.
SPEAKER_01: Get that?
SPEAKER_01: I know it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm struggling to believe it, and I'm I'm gonna declare it with my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: God is good.
SPEAKER_01: He is good.
SPEAKER_01: He is, in fact, he is pursuing me with his goodness and with his what?
SPEAKER_01: His mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody sin this week?
SPEAKER_01: Just the preacher.
SPEAKER_01: It's every one of us, right?
SPEAKER_01: Satan has a way of like bubbling up self-righteousness in us when we when we sin, thinking that we're the ones who make it right.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, God doesn't even want to talk to you right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even sure he wants you to be at church.
SPEAKER_01: So you better sing, but don't sing too loud.
SPEAKER_01: No raising of the hands today.
SPEAKER_01: Hypocritical.
SPEAKER_01: Or, man, you gotta have six good quiet times in a row before God's gonna look at you again.
SPEAKER_01: We do these stupid things in our minds like that.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the anti-Psalm 23 thought right there.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the thought of Psalm 23 is?
SPEAKER_01: We sin, and God's like, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Only God, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's not us.
SPEAKER_01: We wander this week.
SPEAKER_01: Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy.
SPEAKER_01: You look at the last phrase in this passage, and I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: He says, And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_01: Did you realize that the only way to experience the reality of verse 6 is by coming to a point in your life when you have experienced the mercy of God through Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: By having a moment where, for the first time, you realize that God has loved you in such a way that he sent his only son Jesus cross to die on the cross in your place.
SPEAKER_01: So that if you would ever, as a sheep, stop wandering, wandering into sin, living your life in sin, but you would hear the voice of the shepherd saying, Repent, come out of that, and believe in me.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll turn to the good shepherd today, if you'll turn in faith to Jesus Christ, he will save you.
SPEAKER_01: And you will experience his goodness and mercy in ways that you could have never imagined.
SPEAKER_01: He will cover you, he will blanket his blood over your sins, and you will be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody need that today?
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna give you a chance to do that here in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you who are Christians, um, no doubt Psalm 23 is for you as well.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, um, if you're honest enough, you would say, Nick, I've been leading my life lately.
SPEAKER_01: I've been the leader of my life, and it's been in this area, this area, this area.
SPEAKER_01: And I, man, I just I need to just get right with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna invite you to come to the altar today, get on your knees before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Just get right with God.
SPEAKER_01: We do this every single Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: It's not abnormal.
SPEAKER_01: Just come and respond to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are at a different place.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Nick, I'm walking with God, but man, I need a sense of God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just walking through a dark valley, and I'm just gonna encourage you to just come and get on your face, get on your knees.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I need to sense your presence.
SPEAKER_01: I need to sense your nearness again.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe your heart is restless.
SPEAKER_01: You know you need the restoring work of God, you've been in sin, and here's what God the shepherd is saying.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, goodness and mercy, come on back.
SPEAKER_01: Come on back.
SPEAKER_01: Get back to where you need to be with the Lord today.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are frightened like a sheep today.
SPEAKER_01: Run to the shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are stubborn.
SPEAKER_01: You're like the sheep that got out of the pit and jumped right back in.
SPEAKER_01: And you know it.
SPEAKER_01: No one is half the battle.
SPEAKER_01: Of Lord, I have a stubborn heart when you tell me to do something.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I'm just I'm just submitting myself to you afresh today.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, I'm just gonna invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: Can we bow our head and close our eyes across this room today?
SPEAKER_01: If you're here today and uh and you need Christ, our staff is making their way to the front of each child right now, and here's what I'm gonna tell you to do.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as we stand and sing, I'm gonna invite you to come to one of these men or women.
SPEAKER_01: All you gotta do is this.
SPEAKER_01: You grab them by the hand and say, I need to give my life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They won't embarrass you, they're not bringing you up on stage.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to talk in a microphone.
SPEAKER_01: In a very private moment and private setting, they will lead you to faith in Christ even here today.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: There are others of you who say, Nick, that's settled.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a Christian, but man, I am exactly where you were talking about, man.
SPEAKER_01: I need a sense of God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: I need to feel the nearness of God.
SPEAKER_01: I uh I need to get right with God.
SPEAKER_01: I need to be restored to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is across Psalm 23 that God has moved in your heart, would you just come and get on your knees today?
SPEAKER_01: If you need one of our staff to pray for you, we'd be honored to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: But whatever it is, don't leave this room today without being obedient to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever that looks like.
SPEAKER_01: Father, you are a good shepherd to us.
SPEAKER_01: You've given us a word that guides us, that protects us.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we pray that you would do that very thing in the hearts of people today.
SPEAKER_01: The people that need to be saved, would you bring them?
SPEAKER_01: There's people that are already Christians that need to just sense your presence, that need a touch of God in their life, that need to return to you.
SPEAKER_01: Would you bring them as well?
SPEAKER_01: It's in Christ's name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: If you have questions about what you have heard or would like more information about your relationship with Jesus, please email us at info at crosschurch.com or visit our website at crosschurch.com.
SPEAKER_00: At Crosschurch, our mission is to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ.