18 Jan

JUNE 10, 2018    PSALM 23     “HE LOVES YOU, HE LOVES YOU, HE LOVES YOU”

I really don’t think that I have to tell anyone just how hard life can be.  We have all seen it.  Just lately we have seen accidents, we have seen disease, we have seen bad choices and we have seen death.  Looking at these things from a human perspective doesn’t really help at all.  People will ask me why this happened or why that happened and all I can answer is “I don’t know.”  I will never know until I get to heaven and all the answers will be revealed.  But I do know one thing.  If there is something bad happening or has happened in your life, God is not responsible.  God always gets the quick blame for everything when after all we live in a world controlled by Satan.  Satan is the author of all bad things and there are no exceptions.  God can only do good and that is all He has ever done.  But even when Satan thinks that he has us where he wants us; we still have an ace up our sleeves.  We have Jesus Christ who will be there to help us through any and all crises.  I have lived through some bad things in my life both with and without Jesus.  With Jesus is the only way to be.  Sometimes it takes a little bit before I realize He is there but the point is that He is there!  Today we are going to look at a very familiar passage.  It’s one that we all know and maybe some can even recite it.  Sometimes we just have to slow down a bit in order to digest these verses of love.  Let’s see if we can find comfort there.

Sometimes when we read a passage like this we feel that it’s not really for us because we are too bad or our situation isn’t important enough to merit the attention of God or just some other foolish reason as to why we don’t come to God.  I’ve used this example before but we need to remind ourselves just how worthy you are of His love.  Remember that Noah was a drunk, Abraham was too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Jacob was a liar, Leah was ugly, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was afraid, Sampson was a long haired freak and a womanizer, Rehab was a prostitute, Jerimiah and Timothy were too young, David had an affair and was a murderer, Elijah was suicidal, Isaiah preached naked, Jonah ran from God, Naomi was a widow, Job went bankrupt, John the Baptist ate bugs, Peter denied Christ among other things, the Disciples fell asleep while praying, Martha worried about everything, Mary Magdalene was demon possessed, the Samaritan woman was divorced more than once, Zaccheus was too small, Paul was too religious, Timothy had an ulcer and Lazarus was dead.  Did I leave anyone out? On the surface all these people looked like a bunch of clowns but God still loved them.  He loves all of you and in particular He loves you.

Let’s look at this closer at this reading.  The Lord is my shepherd.  He is not anyone else’s shepherd.  He is mine.  You can all claim this because we cannot understand how God can be everyone’s individual shepherd at the same time and be exclusive to you but He can.  He is your shepherd.  He belongs to no one else.  You have the strongest, most creative, kindest and most loving being at your personal disposal.  You will never be in want when you have Jesus.  So before we can even continue here we have to invite everyone to come to know Jesus on a personal basis.  If you have never invited Jesus into your life, then confess your sins, repent and invite Him to live forever in your heart.  This one decision will make all the difference in your life and it will be a good difference and that I guarantee.

This passage is here to help us cope with the crazy life of this world.  We cannot do it on our own.  Just look around at all your friends who are trying to go it alone.  They don’t make it.  They don’t have joy.  They don’t have peace.  They don’t have love because you cannot have any of these things without knowing Jesus.  Oh, you may think that you have them but the joy, peace and love of this world will pale, absolutely pale in comparison to that which Jesus offers.  That is why we start out with the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  This is just a huge statement and it is so true.

Then he goes on to say that He makes me lie in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.  What the psalmist is saying here is that Jesus has thought of everything.  He will take care of your physical, psychological and spiritual needs.  You shall not be in want of anything.

So you shall have everything you need if you follow Him.  Then Jesus will take you by the hand and lead you on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  When you first come to Jesus you come as a person who is wore out.  You have been traveling in the world without Jesus and that is just wearing on you.  Even when we know Jesus, the world can be tough because we have to live in it.  There is evil all around us and it is tiring.  Therefore Jesus wants you to come and follow Him.  He will lead you down the right paths.  He will take care of you and help you to find the road that He has planned for you but you have to take His hand.

I speak from experience here and many have heard my story.  I was as lost a soul as there could ever be.  But then Jesus came along and helped me get my feet back on His ground.  This took some time.  Then He put this crazy idea of my being a pastor in my path.  To me the idea seemed absurd but I had been following long enough to know that He knows what He is talking about.  This led me or us to 10 wonderful years of ministry out here ( in Kindred).  Then we were laid up for a while.  But as I said Jesus is never done so He put this idea of an internet worship service in my path and we have been growing ever since.  People Jesus knows what He is talking about so no matter how crazy His ideas may sound, follow them.  When you follow His paths, there will be only good things ahead of you.

So we are all set, right?  Not yet because we have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  This is the world that we live in; it’s the shadow of death.  This is Satan’s playground and we have to get through it.  Now because of the first part of this, we shall fear no evil.  Last week I reminded our congregations how to get rid of the devil and it’s quite easy if you know what to do.  First you have to have Jesus in your heart and then all you have to say is something like this; “In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, Satan get out of my body or house or apartment or friend.”  Then He has to leave.  We live in this world that is very scary to say the least.  I get scared.  Sometimes I forget to call on Jesus.  Sometimes I just do all the wrong things but Jesus is still there waiting for me to ask for help.  And He is there waiting for you also.

You will always be safe in the arms of Jesus because His rod and staff comfort you.  I’m here to tell you today that Jesus Christ has beaten all things.  There is nothing that will stand up to Him and win.  So the next time you lose your job or the crops fail or you flunk a class in school remember that Jesus is there to take your hand and help.  He wants to hold your hand in love.  This is where a prayer life becomes so important.

For some people the only time they might pray is on Sunday morning.  That is a good start but you really need more than that.  One of the easiest habits to get into is to pray every night before going to sleep.  On nights when I can’t sleep I will often pray as I lie awake.  God then lets me sleep after our chat and it feels good.  So try to pray every day at the minimum.  Also take time to listen.  This is a little harder but it’s also important.  See if you can blank your mind by concentrating on a spot or word or I just say the wonderful name of Jesus over and over.  When you clear your mind then wait for the thoughts to come because they will.  You cannot keep your mind blank for long.  The thoughts will come and you will have to try to blank the mind again and again as the thoughts keep barging in.  But pay attention to the thoughts that crowd into your mind.  You will know the ones that come from God.  They will be like a revelation to you especially if you are trying to solve something specific.  This is part of His rod and staff.  His thoughts will comfort you and will help you solve problems.

I could continue on here and name many more problems that we have, sometimes on an everyday basis if they involve addictions, etc.  But the same thing is true for all of these things.  Go to Jesus!  He will help you with anything as long as you ask and listen.  Many times He just helps anyway.  Have you ever taken a path in life that you didn’t think would amount to a hill of beans only to find it’s the best thing that you have ever done?  It happens all the time.  You should be able to go back in your life and see where God helped you here and there.  Many times we don’t even realize this until far after the fact.  I think that we should all be shouting our ‘Amen!’ or ‘Praise the Lord!’ His love for you is greater than anything I can tell you.  All I can do is remind you of all He has done so far.

Now we come to the last 2 verses.  Some people take this Psalm and divide into 6 sermons, one for each verse but we are going through this rather quickly.  There are many studies and places to look at more information about this Psalm and I invite you to do so in your spare time.  One thing I would like to point out before we conclude is the last line.  I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Some versions have tried to make this a little more palatable and worldly for the non-believers by substituting forever with all the days of my life.  I think that can put a whole different spin on this.  When we say all the days of my life it sounds more like a saying of this world.  Forever means just that: forever!

Anyway, we will get back to that in a moment.  God prepares a table for me.  He doesn’t do this for you or anyone else.  It is for me.  When you read this make sure you put your name in there because He is talking once again specifically to you.  You can do this many times as you read your Bibles.  When God is talking to me, it is to me only.  So put your name in there where it belongs.  Jesus loves you specifically so much that He has written this stuff just for you.

He has prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies.  Once again these are my enemies.  These could be people.  These could be bad habits or these could be just some of my sinful nature.  But whatever they are, they are not good.  Why do you think that Jesus would do this?  One interpretation is that He is trying to show me that my enemies aren’t that important when Jesus is the head of my life.  There is no way any of my old enemies will ever get control of me again.  Another thing is that He is showing my enemies His wonderful grace.  They are even invited to His table.  It’s the same way with Holy Communion.  The invitation is for all to come and feast at His table.  I will never be the one to turn someone away from Communion because that just might be the day that Jesus saves that person.  So we are all eating at the same table and it’s in peace.

He anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows.  This is important because when you are anointed with oil from Jesus, you are now set apart.  You are special.  You are holy.  There is so much good that goes with this that I just want you to imagine the best possible scenario that you can and then multiply it by a million.  When Jesus starts to bless you, there is just no end to it.  Your cup overflows and overflows and overflows.  I look around at true followers of Jesus and I see lives that are blessed and blessed and blessed.  Just look at the life of Billy Graham or Luis Paulau or Ravi Zacharias.  These guys had nothing to begin with but they followed Jesus.  Look where they are today.  Goodness and mercy followed them everywhere they went.  Two of these men are still living and loving others today.  Did they have troubles along the way?  Of course they did but they allowed Jesus to control their lives 100%.  They knew where to turn for help and help came.  This is all the Good News and we should be rejoicing but I’m not quite done yet.

Not too long ago the Christian world had a huge loss.  Billy Graham died and went home to heaven.  According to the interpretation I just mentioned, Billy Graham would be in the house of the Lord all his life.  Therefore, where is he now?  That is why I think that this is the wrong way to state this.  Billy Graham is in the house of the Lord forever not just a lifetime.  We have to be so careful because Satan will try to slip these things past us.

So Billy isn’t there just for a lifetime but forever and here is what that means.  He is and you and I will be in a place that is perfect.  Our minds can’t even imagine what that will be like.  There will be no more pain or tears.  There will be no more death.  You will be eternal.  There will never be anything you don’t like again.  Your enemies will be your friends and you will sit and dine together.  There will be no more aging for all of us who struggle with that.  You will be able to have all your favorite foods and never gain a pound.  You will have the freshest air to breathe as there will be no pollution.  I could go on and on with this and I still wouldn’t even come close to the wonderment of the place where you and I will spend eternity.

People, this is our future.  This is what we are to hold on to with all our might.  Jesus went ahead to prepare a place for you and that place is perfect.  I know it’s hard to do but when the times get tough, grab onto this thought, this hope, this reality and love Jesus in return.  He loves you so much that He has done all this just for you and I have only mentioned a couple of things.  And I don’t mean you as in all you here today but rather you as an individual.  So hang onto to this thought.  He loves you.  He loves you.  He loves you.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.