SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, y'all. Good evening. I'm pumped to be here with you guys. Like Mike said, my name is AJ Green. Just a little bit about me, quick. I want to get right into it, but just a little bit about me. I've been married for almost three years now, it'll be three years in August, to my wife Kaylee, who's in the back. And we actually just had our first baby boy like two and a half weeks ago. So yeah, give her some love, give her a round of applause. She had a natural birth and did amazing. So super proud of her. We met through Fellowship of Christian athletes. We went to the University of Northern Iowa. She played volleyball there. I played basketball. So sports are important to us. Obviously, I still get to play now with the Bucks. And I'm sure Micah touched on it, but I've had a lot shaken down the past day or so with Giannis being traded, the draft right now. Anything could happen. If something does happen and you guys get a notification, please let me know. But yeah, I feel like Micah was when he asked me to do this, he said he wasn't aware of it, but I feel like he was almost testing me, you know, to see what I would choose. Am I going to come up here or sit home and watch the draft? But there's nowhere else I would rather be. I love getting in the word. I'm excited to do that with you guys tonight. So I know Micah uh went through Psalms 1 a couple weeks ago. Tonight we're going to jump into Psalm 23. And I know the word of God is alive, it is active, it is powerful, and the Holy Spirit is going to use it to transform us, to sanctify us, to save us. So I want to get right into it. If you've been following Jesus for a while, a while now, a follower of Christ, you may recognize Psalm 23, right? It's a pretty popular Psalm. I'm sure you guys, some of you guys have heard it. But there's a reason for that that I really hope to unpack tonight. And my hope for all of us with this text, it's so personal and powerful that it would become alive to us in our hearts, right? That it would not just be words on a page, but that we would encounter God through the Bible. So I want to show you guys, I want you to leave here believing that God sent Jesus, right, the Good Shepherd, to lead and guide you into his presence for all of eternity. And I'm going to go through the text with you guys and leave you guys with a few application points out of that. But before we get into it, I want to pray again over this time. Father, thank you for this opportunity, Lord. Thank you for each person that you have brought here, Lord. It is not by accident. You have brought them into this place. We thank you for giving us this space, Lord, to gather together, to open up the word, and to just take a step back, Lord, to surrender ourselves, our hearts to you, to your Lordship. And we ask your Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart, to begin a work, to stir in us a response to Jesus and to the gospel and everything that's been done for us in Him. Just ask that you would please bless this time and speak to us. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So a little context before we get into Psalm 23 here. We know King David, he's the author of this Psalm, right? Growing up, he was a shepherd in his youth. He was a result of a bastard's son, and he was the youngest of all his siblings, and because of that, he was kind of put in charge of a flock. So he was a shepherd in his youth. But God raised him up and chose him to be next in line, King of Israel. Okay, but before he became king, there was a guy, King Saul, who was in charge of all of Israel, right? And at this time, when King Saul was in charge, is when David killed Goliath, right? He took down Goliath. And because of that, in the eyes of the people, he started to become popular. People liked him. But King Saul was not a fan of that. King Saul did not want King David to become next in line. So as a result, Saul started to have him killed. He wanted him killed. Sent people down, track him down, try to kill him, persecute him. So David was on the run for many years, fleeing from King Saul. Along with this, after he became king, we know David committed adultery, right, with Bathsheba. And according to the law, at the time he should have been put to death because of that. But through his repentance, right, God showed him mercy, but still his firstborn son ended up dying. And as a result, the rest of David's life, he had many family struggles and things that resulted out of that. So we see in David's life, right, lots of ups and downs. He's experienced God's protection, his comfort, his peace, but also God's faithfulness, God's mercy as well. So as he writes this psalm, he's kind of looking back, reflecting on all these things in his life, right? His heart, his experiences towards it. And he's writing from the perspective of not a shepherd, but God as a shepherd and himself just as a sheep in this time. So transitioning to our text here, I really want to put you guys in the shoes of David. Like I want you guys to be David as we go through this text to really feel and walk through this psalm as he is, sort of. Okay. So we're gonna open up Psalm 23 is in the middle of your Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, you can use the ones in the back of the pew and open up to page 308. And if you need a Bible, there's some in the back at the connect table that Micah will give you a Bible, so don't leave here without one. But let's read it. Psalm 23. And I also have the NIV version here. I know some of you guys, the pew Bibles are CSV, so some of the wording throughout the text just might be a little different, but this the message and everything is the same. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul, he guides me along the right paths, for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. A few things I want to point out to you guys before we start walking through verse by verse. Right, we see in verse one the Lord as shepherd, and as a result, why we lack nothing. We see how personal it is, right? Take note of all the the he's, the eyes, the you's that is used in this psalm. We see many verbs, right, describing what God does as shepherd. He makes, he leads, he refreshes, he guides, he restores, he anoints. All these characteristics describing God. We also see different places, right? We have the pastures, we have the valley, we have the house of the Lord, dwelling place of God. So David's kind of describing God or a shepherd, like I mentioned, kind of taking us somewhere, walking us through somewhere in this text. And we'll go through verse 1 through 3, 4 and 5, and then finish with verse 6. Verse 1 through 3 here. Let's look at who is God as shepherd, right? What's he do for us and why? So we see this idea of a shepherd all throughout the Bible, right? From Genesis to Revelation. Jacob was a shepherd, referred to God as a shepherd, and Revelation, right, the Lamb of God, and Jesus being our shepherd. Well, let's define shepherd a little bit more, right? What is a shepherd's role of it? What's a shepherd do? Shepherd, as we've seen here, some characteristics. We see he tends to lead. If you look at Isaiah 40, 11, it says he will gather the lambs in his arms and he will carry them. So we have gather and carry. In Ezekiel 34, 11, it says, I myself will search for my flock and seek them out. Right? So we have all these verbs describing what a shepherd does. And I want us to remember that. Now, if we look in the New Testament, in John 10, Jesus himself says, I am the good shepherd. So let's, and he then goes on comparing as well, roles of the shepherd, and then expectations and roles of a sheep, of his people, of his flock. We see in John 10, he says, The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. We see the shepherd calls his sheep by name. The shepherd goes before them, and the shepherd gives them eternal life. These are all things that Jesus describes of himself as the good shepherd. But then let's look at roles of the sheep of his people. The sheep are expected to listen to his voice, the sheep are expected to follow the shepherd, and the sheep are expected to know his voice as well. But to better appreciate God as shepherd, I want to take a little bit deeper dive into sheep, right? To know who we are as sheep, and just kind of describe a little bit what sheep are. Why was sheep that animal chosen in the Bible to be used? Okay, a few things about sheep. Sheep wander, right? Without a shepherd, they will just wander about. Don't know where to go, they'll just wander. Sheep are stupid. They're stupid animals. They really are. Like if there's a few sheep that start walking and just walk off a cliff, the rest of the sheep will just follow them off. They're dumb. Sheep have no way of protecting themselves, right? They have no claws, no teeth, nothing to protect themselves. They need the shepherd. The sheep can't help themselves either. If a sheep's hair grows too long, they'll fall over and get stuck on their back and die. They can't get back up without the shepherd. All right, these they're helpless animals. They're fully dependent on the shepherd, and they'll follow the flock. And that's us. Whether we want to, whether we like it or not, want to believe it or not, we are a sheep. We need a shepherd. And so David here says, The Lord is my shepherd. And this is true of David. Right? This is true of David, but this is not true of all people. Not everybody can say that God is their shepherd. But anyone can be, or anyone can say that God is their shepherd. But only through Jesus, right? Only through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ can you say that God is your shepherd. And with God as our shepherd, the rest of verse 1, it says, I lack nothing. Let's take a look at that. Why do we lack nothing if God is our shepherd? Give me one second here. Apologize. Oh, here we go. The shepherd, we lack nothing, we have all we need with God as shepherd. This is hard to believe sometimes, right? Our culture, we're getting so caught up in consuming and wanting more that we really don't tend to believe that we have all we need. But God here, with God as our shepherd, he will give us all we need. There might be something that we feel like we do need that we want, but if we don't have it, it's because we really don't need it. The shepherd will provide all we need. He promises to right here. And the Bible, Paul even says this in the New Testament in Philippians 3.19, Paul says, And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. We have all we need with God as our shepherd. And then also the shepherd provides both physical and spiritual needs. If you look at verses 2 and 3 here, verse 2, he provides our physical needs. He does what? He makes us lie down in green pastures and he leads us to still waters. So we see the pasture, right? A place of rest, a place of food, shelter, provision, okay? And we see the still waters, right? We need water. All necessities, physical necessities, the shepherd provides for us. And then if we bump down to verse 3, he refreshes our soul and he guides us along the right paths. Spiritual needs as well. The word in Hebrew, instead of refresh, it is restore. And that word kind of means to turn back, right, or to repent. And isn't that true of us? We're separated from God. We're screwed, we're on our own. But God, in his love, restores us to himself through Jesus Christ. He turns us back by his grace and power. He restores us to himself. And then if you look at paths of righteousness, right, what does righteousness mean? Righteousness can be two things, right, right living or right standing before God. And I think in this text here we have a little bit of both, because first we see he restores my soul, right? God makes us right through Jesus Christ in his eyes, right? If we've repented and put our faith in Christ, God sees us as Jesus, as flawless. But then as well, the paths of righteousness. So we're made right, we're restored, but then he sets us on paths of righteousness. Micah talked about right a couple weeks ago, the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous. God makes the believers righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, and Jesus has shown us how to live this righteous life. And he's given us his word and his holy spirit to do so as well, to stay on these paths of righteousness. Now, why? Why does God, as shepherd, do all this for his sheep? This is one of my favorite parts. It says at the end of three, right? Why does he do this? For his name's sake. God does this because it is his nature, his character, right, to protect his glory. He does it for his honor to do these things, right? He can't not act this way towards us. He can't not lead us and guide us and restore us. It's who he is. So how much more reason to praise him and give him glory for who he is, for his name's sake. So we've seen what God does as shepherd to bring us into green pastures, and also how why he does it. Now he takes us to the valley, okay, where we'll look at what it means to truly trust God as we walk with him. Verses four and five here. We see God as protector in verse four, and in verse five, we see God as provider in the valley and in the presence of enemies. I want to take note of the language that David uses here, how it changes, and then what that says about the proximity of God and the response of David as well in verse four and five. So in verse one through three, right, David is talking about God, right? He guides me, he leads me, he restores me, his characteristics of God, but he changes here in four to talking and praying to God in the valley when things start to get tough. It's not enough to just know things about God and not pray and talk and commune with him. But also it shows the nearness of the shepherd. If I'm talking to Mike or Kaylee in the back, I would describe himself, he's a handsome fella, right? Mike, he's he's cool. Right? But if he was up here next to me, right, my language would change. I would say, you, you are not quite as handsome as me. But you see how it changes, right? And how that shows the shepherd. Where is the shepherd in the pasture versus in the valley? He draws nearer to us, he's right there with us. And then David goes on to say, I will fear no evil. Alright, why does he say, I will fear no evil? David killed Goliath, he killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands. He could probably get through the valley on his own and protect himself. Maybe he's done some great things. But no, he says, his first word after that is, You, the shepherd, you are with me. It's amazing, right? We can't protect ourselves. We need the shepherd. What does it say then about God's form of protection in the valley? Right? We have two things here. It says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Let's take a look at the rod. What is the role of the rod? Think of like a club, kind of, right? It could be for defense, protection against the enemies, against evil. Could also be, because sometimes a form of discipline, right, towards people. The Bible says God disciplines those that he loves. It could be discipline if we start to wander. And we have the staff as well. The role of the staff could be guidance, right, to keep us on the paths, and also to rescue us if we start to get off those paths. And I think it's also important to ask here how did David or why did David end up in the valley? How did he get there? If he was in the pastures, why'd he go to the valley? He could have wandered there, right? When no sheep wander, he could have wandered there on his own. But I think here that's not quite the case. If we look at one through three, we have the shepherd taking us to these places. The shepherd is doing it. So the shepherd will lead us into the valley. But why would the shepherd lead us into the valley? There could be evil, there could be lions waiting to attack, right? The shepherd takes us there to test our faith, to deepen our trust and dependence on Him, to encounter Him in the valley, or to bring us into another pasture, right? Sometimes we've got to go through a valley, it's the fastest way to get to another pasture, another place of rest, right? Of shelter, of provision. Let's take a look at verse 5 here. What does God do as provider in the presence of evil and enemies? I want you guys to imagine, right? I know it's summertime now. If you guys went home, right, after the semester, after the school year, I'm sure your mom is just waiting for you to get home. Right? She's got everything prepared. She's gonna have food ready. She's gonna wait for you at the door, give you a big hug, maybe have some sort of gift for you, right? So imagine this place, right? You're coming back home, and as you open the door, someone's there waiting for you. Okay, and look at this here. Verse 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Let's take a look at that. What does table mean for us here? Table could also signify a feast or a gathering, a fellowship in the presence of enemies. It says, You anoint my head with oil. What is the anointing? It's kind of like a greeting, right? A welcoming, honoring the guests as they come through the door into this place. And then lastly, my cup overflows. As a result of who God is and what he does, he doesn't just fill us. We overflow. We have more than enough. He provides an abundance. And this is not just in the pasture, right? This is in the presence of the enemies. And this should be a reality for us if we truly trust God as our shepherd. Sometimes our first response is to try and figure things out on our own, to provide and protect for ourselves. Sometimes we just need to sit down at the table and let God be who He is for us and provide for us. And whether we want to believe it or not, as soon as we step out of here and leave this place, we're in the presence of our enemies. We know this world belongs to Satan, belongs to the devil. We can't be ignorant of that fact. John 15, 19 says, You are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore the world hates you. Okay, but we know these promises. God is a provider, so we can leave here, go into any environment, any place with confidence. God will provide in the presence of our enemies. I want to share a little personal story and reason why I love the shepherd and sheep analogy so much. Because I I know I'm a sheep and I wander a lot. I'm prone to trying to do things on my own. I'm prone to getting complacent and comfortable in the pastures when God provides. Even after experiencing God's mercy, his goodness, that has changed my life. That has changed my life that I remember vividly. I'm still prone to wandering and trying to do things on my own. I want to share a little story of the past week or so. So, right, we gave birth, my wife gave birth like two and a half weeks ago. Um but this past Monday, a little over a week ago, she woke up and was feeling horrible, like high fever, super achy, chilly, in a lot of pain. And basically, she developed mastitis, which is this like bacterial infection uh that you can just get as you're trying to supply milk, basically, and feed the baby. And it's painful. And this was on Monday, and so she's got a fever, she's not feeling great. We're trying to get her better, right? Doing all the things, natural remedies to try to help her out. Tuesday, she feels a little bit better. Wednesday comes around, fever comes back, all right. Wake up Thursday, fever's still there, feeling bad. At this point, we're like, okay, we gotta try something else. And so she starts taking some antibiotics. She takes them Thursday through Sunday. She starts getting a little bit better on Saturday, she's good, right? Feeling a lot better. Sunday comes around again, the fever comes back, feeling horrible. Like I'm talking down and out, down for the count. And keep in mind here, we have a two and a half week-old baby, and she's can't hardly do anything. And so I feel for her, and I'm trying to take care of her and take care of our child. So there's just a lot of emotional stress, physical stress. Uh, we're not sleeping a whole lot. Like, there's a lot going on. We're kind of in the valley here, right? And so Sunday, her fever comes back, and we're like, we gotta do something, right? The antibiotics are supposed to work after like two days, and it's not getting any better. And so we end up going to the hospital Sunday, thinking it'll just be a couple hours, and they tell us we gotta stay there for 24 hours, the whole day, so she can do IV antibiotics, two rounds of them. And so it gets to be Sunday night, and Levi, our baby, is crying and balling. He does not like the hospital. We don't like hospitals at all. Like, we just don't like going there. Just we get weird vibes being there. Kaylee's crying, and I'm sitting there just thinking, like, God, what what are you trying to show us? Like, this is happening for a reason, but like What? What is it? Why? And so I'm thinking and praying to him, and I he kind of hit me, and I realized that throughout the whole week, I can still pray, right, and go to God, like David does here, while also still trying to be my own shepherd, right? Trying to do everything to protect, to provide, to care for Kaylee and our son. Not truly trusting that God is provider and protector, and he will give her health and restore her. I was praying to him, yet still trying to be my own shepherd. And that's just so true of me, and I think us as well. And that night I was sitting there and I feel like the Spirit just gave me this verse, 2 Corinthians 1 9. It says, Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Obviously, we hadn't quite received the sentence of death. We weren't quite as bad as Paul here. But like we were in the valley, but to show us that we're trying to rely on myself, and I need to rely on God who raises the dead. Why would I not trust and rely on him? And so that's just a little personal testimony of why I just love this shepherd and sheep analogy so much. So jump into verse six now. David has walked through the pasture and the valley, knowing God and encountering God. But let's look at what that does for him in verse six. Verse six here, we have the promises and the presence of God. And this leaves him convinced of verse six. We must not only know things, right? Our faith becomes real in verse four, and then it leads us to this unshakable faith in God's promises in verse six here. He became convinced where it says, Surely, right? Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Paul was convinced of this. He's like, it can't not be. This is who the shepherd is. Surely his goodness and mercy will follow me. But if we look at that word follow, right, in the Hebrew, it's uh some other translations might say pursue. What image is that, right? God's just not following us, you know, with some distance, walking along, making sure we're good. He's actively pursuing and chasing us with his promises, his character, his goodness as we go through these times. And that's just unbelievable to me. But what promises of God are you convinced of? Like the Bible has thousands of God's promises. For me, it's Romans 8.28, right? And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. And I love this so much because it became true. My junior year of college, playing basketball, I had to miss the whole year. I got hurt. And at that time I came across this verse. And I had to choose, okay, am I going to believe it? This is God's promise. He says this. Am I going to believe this to be true? And I can 100% say I would not be where I am in the NBA if I didn't miss that whole year and had to sit out. He sanctified me and changed me so much. But David's desire here became dwelling with God. Right? The second half of verse 6. Not just in the house of God and what God offers to us, but the presence of the Lord Himself. If you jump just a few chapters ahead to Psalm 27, verse 4, it's David says again, One thing I ask of the Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Right? To do what? To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. David wasn't after the blessings of the pastor or the provision or protection in the enemy's presence. He was only after God. And God reveals himself to us in each place, right, to build our faith, to take us to the next. Each one bringing us closer to himself for his glory, right, and for our good. Now, after hearing all this and walking through it, you may be feeling that you need a shepherd. You may be thinking that you're in the valley, you may need guidance, you may need protection, provision, or presence. I still got a little bit, maybe like five minutes. If you you can stickle come up or wait, maybe. Sorry. You may need all those things, right? But you don't just need those things. You need Jesus Christ. You need Jesus. He is all these things. Everything that we read today can become a living reality for you, right? God wasn't only David's shepherd, he wants to be your shepherd as well. So where will you dwell? How will you get there? Right? Do you have a good shepherd? We see in Luke 15 the parable of the lost sheep, right? Where Jesus leaves the 99 to get the one, to run the one down and bring him back. You may be that one that Jesus is after. He may be calling you by name, right? John 10, he calls him by name. He's after you so much, right? That he came down from heaven to take on flesh, to be made in human likeness, to live a life free from sin, fulfilling the requirements of the law, right? To be the perfect sacrifice, to go to the cross, to die instead of you. It should have been us. He died instead of you on the cross and was killed and buried, but raised after three days to conquer sin and death and power of sin, to give us life, right? That all that repent and put their faith in him to be Lord and Savior of their lives, he will give them life, and he promises too. God sent Jesus, the good shepherd, to guide you into his presence for all of eternity. I want to leave you with a few application points here. Number one, let Jesus be your good shepherd, right? Trust him as Lord and Savior. Die to yourself, count the cost, right? Pick up your cross daily, follow him. You may be in the valley and need what David had, want what David had. And you can have this now. This can be available to you now if you surrender to Jesus. John 1.12 says, But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. God can only be your shepherd through Jesus Christ. Let him be your good shepherd. Point two, dwell with God now. There's three ways we can do this, right? Through community. 1 Corinthians 3.16 says, Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and God's Spirit dwells in your midst? Right? In this time now, God's Spirit is dwelling here with us. When we gather, lives are changed, and God is praised. The times for me personally that God has sanctified me and revealed things to me most come either during extended times of fellowship or right after. Point number two, through his word. Dwell with God through his word. God has chosen to reveal himself through the Bible. Guys, read the Bible to know God and love his word. All that we need can be found in Jesus and is revealed to us in the scriptures. There is nothing better than the word of God. If you need joy, Psalm 16, 11 says, In the presence of the Lord there's fullness of joy. If you need peace, Isaiah 26, 3 says, You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. If you need mercy or grace, right, Hebrews 4.16 says, Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. The last way we can dwell with God, through the Holy Spirit. The only way that we can live godly lives is through the Spirit. And I feel like sometimes we don't give the Spirit enough credit, right? The Bible says the same Spirit that raised God from the dead is living inside of us. We can dwell with that same power and presence. We need to do it. John 15, 13 says, but when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you of what is to come. The Spirit wants to do this for us, wants to speak to us, sanctify us, and dwell with us. Talk to God right through prayer. Don't just pray to him, but give him room to respond back. Allow the Spirit to move within you. One of my favorite ways is to just play worship music and just sit and kind of wait on God and just think about Jesus and the gospel, all the things that God has done in my life, and just give him room, dwell with him. To summarize it here, as much as this psalm, right, can be for us, we see a lot of things that the shepherd does for us, right? But we must not forget the end of verse 3, what it says, for his name's sake. It is God, the shepherd, that gets us on the path, right, that takes us to himself for his glory and for our good. We must not lose sight of this. As Romans 11 says, right, for from him and through him and to him are all things. What would it look like for God to be your good shepherd? Right? Maybe you're in need of a shepherd, or maybe you've been a sheep, right, that's been wandering for far too long. Okay, return to the shepherd. Y'all return to the shepherd. Jesus Christ wants nothing more than to be your shepherd and to dwell with you. All right, let's pray. Close it out. Jesus, man, thank you. You are the good shepherd. Jesus, you are the good shepherd. And we are sheep, Lord. We wander. We cannot do anything on our own. We need you, Jesus. Pray that we may surrender our hearts, our lives to you every day, Lord. That we would know who you are through this text, Lord, that you will guide us, that you are provider, protector, that we can cling to your promises and seek after your presence, Lord. Surely your goodness and mercy will follow us, Lord, all the days of our lives, God. Please guide us into your presence, Lord. I pray that you would speak to these people here, Lord, how they can dwell with you more, God, whether it's through your word, with other people, through your spirit, God. May your spirit go out tonight over everybody that's here, God, to bring us to ourselves, to yourself, to sanctify you, to sanctify us, Lord, and give you glory. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.