{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"High Desert Church Young Adults Sermons","title":"The Lord Is My Shepherd","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2966,"description":"What would it look like to walk through life with the unshakeable conviction that the world is a perfectly good and safe place to be? That question sits at the heart of this exploration of Psalm 23, one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture. The sermon opens with a striking reflection from theologian Dallas Willard, who arrived at that very conclusion after meditating deeply on this psalm. Rather than dismissing it as naive or irresponsible, we are invited to consider that the problem may not be with the statement itself, but with how little we have truly grasped what it means to have God as our shepherd. The foundational verse, 'The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing,' is unpacked with surprising depth. We examine the personal name of God, Yahweh, revealed to Moses at the burning bush and later proclaimed in full in Exodus 34, where God declares himself to be compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness. The significance here is profound: because God never changes, every one of those qualities is always fully true of him, toward us, in every moment. This unchanging nature of God is presented as the only rational foundation for genuine contentment, because everything else we tend to place our hope in, wealth, reputation, success, the approval of others, is subject to change and loss. The message challenges us to move beyond collecting facts about God and into a personal, experiential knowledge of him as the one who leads, provides, and protects.","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/p_wgQ7rs_XCuBJ0W9OTr7nHfIPE48tn7_KS6174xsmA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81ZDA5/MjU1ZWNkODIxM2Nk/N2RjYjBjOWY2NzNk/ZThhMS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}