Psalm 23…No, Really

Catch 22 seems like it has declared open season on many of us. If just that much speaks to you, then relax.  Not only do we have a Savior who understands, we have the Lord who is victorious. But wait there’s more! He is also the soon coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords that every knee shall bow to…

The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace, Exodus 14:14.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening, friends. You are listening to a later than usual edition of Unfiltered with Jesse B. I had an entirely different podcast recorded, but the more I listened to it, the more the Lord kept telling me, I think you need to change this. I think you need to change that. And so as I said before, he is the one who is in charge, not me. And I have learned through the school of hard knocks that obedience works out so much better. So the scripture that I'm going to be working with tonight is Exodus 14, 14, which says, The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Now this scripture is from the account when Israel was trapped between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea, where Moses urged the Israelites to stop their manic panic and start trusting God for deliverance. While we may not have an Egyptian army after us where it would seem that our only option is to get killed by combat or drown and sea, there may be other things that could just as easily be labeled as a catch twenty-two or in plain speak a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Mark fourteen, eighteen through nineteen says, Now these are the ones sown among thorns. They are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Now what Jesus was talking about are seeds, and in order for seeds to grow, and we all know this, they need to be sown on good soil that is rich enough to provide the needed nutrients. It needs to be deep enough to establish roots and have plenty of room to receive adequate moisture and sunlight without the extra weeds or plants there to suffocate the plant's growth. There are also several scriptures in the New Testament which says you will know them by their fruit. In other words, a person's true character and spiritual condition are revealed through their actions and the outcomes of their life. Now, don't walk away from this misunderstanding me. Fruit does not equal perfection, or rather, our finite definition of perfection. And I've heard it explained this way. You can take a newborn baby, and I've been around babies enough in the family and in my church family to know that it's not long before you hear somebody say, Oh, look at the precious little baby. Some may look at it, some like me, and say, Yeah, it's cute and all, but it can't feed itself. It just cries when it wants something because it can't talk, and you have to figure it out, messes its diapers, spits up, and so forth. What's so perfect about that? Well, it's doing what babies do. That's what makes it perfect. Babies are expected to do those things. And eventually the baby will grow out of that. They'll learn to talk and crawl and walk, etc. Eventually they'll grow out of that smart aleck teenage stage, and they'll grow out of that awkward acne stage, and hopefully the irresponsibility and so on and so forth. But that's how Jesus looks at all of us. And with the work of the Holy Spirit, we too grow out of different stages along our spiritual journey, and we learn and better yet desire to become more like Christ, and our lives will reflect that the farther along we get in our journey. So I know that there's plenty in life right now that distract us, you know, the weeds that I was talking about. Um just a personal example, I walked out with four of those plastic Walmart bags, you know. None of them were packed full, and that bill was just under $100. I think it came to like $96 and some change. But, you know, when it gets that high, who's counting? But anyway, I never thought that I'd see the day when I would give close to $8 for one four-pack of great value butter. I'm not kidding. And thankfully, I didn't need to fill up the gas tank at the time, but I did notice that regular gas was $4.24 a gallon. And I'm single, so financially I have to deal with just me, but I'm feeling the financial pinch. I can tell you that. But yeah, I don't have to tell you that because many of you have families and we're living in the eastern western areas of the United States and even in other countries, and you're really feeling the pinch much more so than we are here in the Midwest. But I heard of gas over $20 a gallon in some places overseas. So I know that, you know, everybody, you know, worldwide seems to be uh under a lot of stress right now financially, just stress being able to live. But clearly the economy, financial responsibilities, employment situations, family obligations, those are thorns in life that are understandably distracting enough to keep anybody awake at night with anxiety and worry. And while the Lord understands, he has also instructed us not to worry. In fact, I would encourage everyone to read that passage in Matthew 6, 25 through 34. Don't just read it, but stand on it. And as C.S. Lewis said in not so many words, but Jesus was either Lord, liar, or lunatic. And while I find no evidence of liar and lunatic, we do have plenty of evidence that he was Lord. Put it another way, Jesus posed the question in Luke 18, eight, when the Son of Man comes, will he find genuine faith on the earth? I want to close leaving you guys with this Psalms twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Understand that his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, and my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Get some good rest in the Lord. Love you guys. Talk to you tomorrow.