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Listen to weekly sermons from Pastor Scott Lehr and other pastors from Southbridge Fellowship Church in Raleigh, NC.
You're listening to a sermon from Southbridge Fellowship in Raleigh, North Carolina. We pray that today's message helps you to connect to Jesus for life change.
Speaker 2:Today, it's great to be back with you. I I I want us to deal with this, maybe the most familiar chapter in the whole Bible. John three sixteen, we read it a moment ago, probably the most familiar verse, but Psalm 23 is probably the most familiar chapter in the whole Bible. And maybe you memorized it as a child, maybe you learned it as a song, but in all of its familiarity, we have to fight complacency because there is so much in it for us today. Let's jump in in verse one.
Speaker 2:If you got a Bible, I wanna encourage you to open it, and in fact, I encourage you to write in it because you may lose that notebook, but you're not gonna lose your Bible, and if you'll put some notes in the Bible, next time you come to this passage, I think the Lord will remind you of what he showed you before, and that's part of it as we walk in this journey with the Lord, but look at verse one. It says, the Lord is my shepherd. Would you say my? Circle that word, underline that word, star that word in your Bible. This is personal for King David, the king of Israel.
Speaker 2:All throughout the Bible, we see the Lord as the shepherd, right, or a shepherd. He's the shepherd over all of Israel, but then really for the first time in Psalm 23, you see this little word my, and it's the picture of intimacy and biblically, and at the time, this is very, very unique. Everywhere else, God is the shepherd over all of Israel, right, the flock, the whole flock, and nothing but the flock, right. The whole nation of Israel, almost 2,000,000 of them, but here in Psalm 23, David says the Lord is my shepherd. It's personal, and it's almost as if he's saying, at this moment, I really don't care about the other 1,900,999 sheep.
Speaker 2:This is about me and my shepherd. It's about a personal relationship with God. And look, perhaps shepherd is the most personal way of talking about God. Like king and deliverer, those are very strong words, right, but not everybody has an audience with a king and not everybody gets to see their deliverer, rock and shield. Those are also very, very strong words, but you don't have a relationship with a rock.
Speaker 2:You can stand on it, right? It's it's a firm foundation, but you don't relate to it. And all of us at times need a king, and all of us at times need a a deliverer, and all of us at times need a a rock, but at all times, at all times, all of us need a shepherd. I've been to The Middle East, I don't, a lot of times. Thirty, forty, 50 times, I don't know, a lot of times.
Speaker 2:Three or four times a year for a long time. And we, as I said, we have five campuses in Tulsa. We have five campuses in The Middle East, one in Jordan, four in Egypt. We're gonna start another one in Egypt this next year. We're praying about Iraq and Saudi Arabia and God is opening doors and Syria.
Speaker 2:We have men of peace there and I love The Middle East and I love taking groups and I take big groups with me every time I go almost into The Middle East and one of my favorite things is for us to, as a group, wander upon a shepherd with a group of sheep. And sometimes a little girl, eight or nine year olds, you know, been trusted with the family fortune. Sometimes it's a little boy, sometimes it's a man, and I love taking groups up to those shepherds and engaging with the shepherd and trying to communicate because I know all kinds of bible lessons are about to come alive in this little object lesson that God's about to show us with this shepherd and the sheep, and one of the things that you find out is these shepherds have these affectionate pet names for their sheep, all of them, like, and it doesn't always translate into English, but it's something like Phe Phe and Foo Foo and little names for them, and I'll let you in on a little secret. Pastors, we do that with you, the sheep, and sometimes we have pet names and nicknames that maybe we would never use in front of you, but, you know, associated with some part of your personality and it may be like Steady Sam or, you know, Contentious Carl or, you know, Gossip Gal or whatever, you know, but but but when the shepherd at night would bring these sheep into the pen, they're counting them, one, two, three, or nine, ten, 11, or 23, 24, 25, but but a great shepherd who's been with the sheep a long time doesn't have to count because they can sense the presence of each one of the sheep.
Speaker 2:And here's the point, your shepherd loves you. Your heavenly father loves you, and no other god in all the pantheons of gods and all the world religions loves its followers like a shepherd but but our God, and our God is the shepherd, and and I hope you can declare he is my shepherd, and he wants a personal relationship with you, and it's from that relationship with God that he provides for us, and it's from that relationship with God that that he protects us. Now let's keep reading, and we gotta go faster than we are, okay. So the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing.
Speaker 2:Write this out beside that verse, declaration. This is a declaration. What do I mean by that? It's not a plea. It's not a prayer request.
Speaker 2:In fact, this is one of the only psalms and all the way through the whole psalm, there's not one request of God. David's not praying one prayer. He's not requesting one thing. He's not asking anything of God. He's just making this declaration and look at how David puts it.
Speaker 2:I lack nothing or I will not lack, some of your translations say. But in the original Hebrew, it's a little more Yodish in its form and it literally reads this way in Hebrew, I lack not. I lack not. And some of you are old enough to remember the nineties. Anybody remember the nineteen nineties last century?
Speaker 2:Anybody remember that? In fact, Dave and I were talking this morning, we've been friends thirty four years. And as a college student in Arkansas, he was a youth pastor at a church forty five minutes up the road and our paths crossed and we became friends. He's one of the early mentors in my life. In fact, my wife Meredith of thirty one years, thirty two, thirty one, thirty one years this year, I remember we were dating and I was like, I don't know if she's the one, and Dave was like, are you crazy?
Speaker 2:Put a ring on it. And I'm so grateful for that kind of mentorship, but in the nineties, I was a teenager in the nineties and we would do this thing back then where you would usher a statement in the affirmative and then put a comma and a dot dot dot and then go not. How many of you remember that? Right? Like, I love that shirt, not.
Speaker 2:Right? Or I think you're a smart guy, not. Right? Or I'd like to go to prom with you, not. Right?
Speaker 2:That one was really cruel. But that's what David is doing in this text. He's saying I lack not. And he's putting a not at the end of his sentence and some of you need to learn to do that, to put a not at the end of your sentence. The company stock is sorting to, starting to slip.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna lose my job. Not. That the diagnosis is going to be terrible, not. And we hear from a doctor sometimes, we get the report, we jump to the worst case immediately. Put a not on the end of that sentence.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be sick forever, not. Right? The treatments are far too expensive, I can't not, right? When we put a not at the end of what we say, we're acknowledging God as our shepherd. We're putting the world on notice.
Speaker 2:We're putting ourselves on notice. Sometimes, how many of you know, sometimes we gotta preach to ourselves, right? In fact, David says at one point in there, praise the Lord or worship the Lord, oh my soul. I think that's the spirit man in David telling his soul what to do. The soul sometimes says, I don't feel like worshiping the Lord, and the spirit has to rise up and say, I don't care what you feel like, we're going to worship the Lord with all that is within us.
Speaker 2:He will provide. He will protect, and when we put that knot at the end, what we're actually doing is putting God at the beginning and putting him in the driver's seating, letting him take control. And what does he do when he takes control? Well, at verse two. He makes me, underline that, he makes me lie down in green pastures.
Speaker 2:He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He makes me, which that's also a phrase from, you know, teenagers in the nineties, make me. How many remember that? Like somebody would say, you need to shut up and you're like, make me.
Speaker 2:How big a boy are you, right? Come over here. Anybody remember? Those were fighting words, make me and that's what the Bible says. He makes me.
Speaker 2:He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He makes us sometimes because we don't always want to. We don't always wanna do the things that are beneficial to us, that will help us, and that's about us giving control to a loving God who lovingly responds by, at times, making us.
Speaker 2:And what does he make us do? Lie down in green pastures and drink from still waters. What does that mean? The things that help us and the things that are for our benefit and when you make him your shepherd, he will help you. And there are times that he will do things for you but there are times that he will make you do some things and that should be good, good comfort to you today because I don't always want to do what I need to do, what I should do and it's a picture and an image of absolute surrender to God that God I can't do this on my own.
Speaker 2:Make me who you want me to be. Who you desire me to be. It's an acknowledgement of our absolute helplessness and absolute need for God. And church, sometimes we're tempted to measure the goodness of God by the greenness of our pasture. And when it's all going good, he's a good, good God, right?
Speaker 2:A good, good father. And when it's all comfortable, he's a great God. But when the grass starts to brown up a bit, where are you God? Where are you now God? What is going on God?
Speaker 2:And if you're raised in North Carolina or South Carolina or Oklahoma, this is the picture you have of a green pasture, right? Raise your hand if that's the picture you had in your mind of him taking you to a green pasture. Can I show you the picture of a green pasture in The Middle East? This is what David would have known as a green pasture. You say, what's the point of showing me that picture?
Speaker 2:Here's the point. Where the grass is today is not where the grass is tomorrow. And where the grass is tomorrow is not where the grass will be the next day. In other words, the sheep has no idea how to find the grass. He needs a shepherd to show him where the grass is.
Speaker 2:And when that dew condensates on a rock and falls into the ground, a little shoot will spring up and it will either dry up in the day or a sheep will get it during that day, but it will not be there tomorrow and it will happen somewhere else. In other words, we are sheep and we need a shepherd, but God's goodness should never be measured on the greenness of our pasture. It should be measured on his ability to find the grass. Amen. And his willingness to lead us to it and his power to make us lie down in it.
Speaker 2:And not only does he make us lie down in it, he leads us beside quiet waters. I've taken groups many, many times down that road to the Dead Sea. When you pass Jericho on your left and and then the Dead Sea on your left and you end up at Masada or you end up at a resort down at the Dead Sea and on a couple of occasions, we've encountered flash floods on that road as we're making our way down that hill to the lowest part part on earth actually. And on one occasion, the the flash flooding had moved the mud to such a degree into the road that the motor coaches could not pass and we had to change the whole itinerary for the whole day. And and why do I tell you that?
Speaker 2:Because do you know in Israel today, the most deadly thing in all of Israel is not some snake, is not some scorpion, and it's not even a bomb. The most deadly thing in Israel today is flash floods, which is weird in a place that gets one inch of rain a year. But in the North, 35 inches of rain and it comes rushing down that mountain, comes rushing down that hill to the lowest spot on earth, the ground is so hard and so dry, the water just moves with fury. In fact, one year we were there and two American campers and hikers were killed in a flash flood. And when you think of still waters, that water comes through there and it leaves puddles in different places, but it may be coming again in an hour.
Speaker 2:And what a sheep doesn't know and cannot discern is is this puddle in the path of where the flood will come again or is it quiet water and still water in the midst of chaos? How many of you know you can find quiet water and the chaos be right there? But the shepherd knows and he leads the sheep to the calmness and this whole psalm, by the way, it's a callback. It's a callback to the Exodus. It's a callback to the journey through Israel.
Speaker 2:Every Hebrew reader who would read this would know David is calling us back to another time where God led us through the wilderness and in the midst of forty years in the wilderness, he found moments of peace and rest for his children and the presence of God went before them, and if he's your shepherd, it's going before you as well. And whenever you go through a season or a time or a a and confusion, mark it down, God is not confused. He he is not lost. He is leading you. He's taking care of you.
Speaker 2:He's going before you. He's finding the place of rest for you. And when the cares of this world spin up into chaos, he knows how to find the calm and he'll take you there if you follow him. Look at verse three. He refreshes your soul.
Speaker 2:That that word in the Hebrew means to restore. It's a little bit different than refresh. Restore means he gives back what we gave away. He gives back what was taken from us. He gives back what what what we surrendered and he returns us to a place of peace.
Speaker 2:And what we've lost may never be the same again. In other words, you may not have a relationship with that spouse that died and went to heaven again, this side of heaven. You you may not have a relationship with that spouse who abandoned you on this planet ever again, but you can have restoration of peace in your soul. Amen? Let let's keep reading.
Speaker 2:Look at what he says. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. Next to right paths, write righteous paths. That's what that means. Right paths or or righteous paths that lead to righteous places.
Speaker 2:The the right paths mean we're going in the right direction. Do you know what that means? It means that wherever we are today, if we have been led by God, we're perfectly positioned. Perfectly positioned. And and the right path combined with that little conjunction, for his name's sake, speaks not just of right path, it speaks of faithful paths, that God is leading us faithfully.
Speaker 2:In other words, we don't stake our lives on our faithfulness to God. That's a lousy place to stake your life, right? We stake our lives on his faithfulness to us, that he is doing this, and at that, he is doing this for his name's sake means he has bound himself to act. He's taking the lead, he's taking the responsibility, and he put his own name on it. Look at verse four.
Speaker 2:Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. The the slang for that Hebrew that says even though in English, the slang really is no matter what. How many of you have a no matter what in your life today? And if you don't today, you might have yesterday. And if you didn't yesterday and you don't today, you will tomorrow.
Speaker 2:A no matter what. Come what may. I I I'm I'm not going to fear evil and even though I got laid off, God has something great for me. Even though she just served the divorce papers, I'm trusting God to walk through my life. Even though I haven't found the organ donor or the x-ray showed bad results or the report from the oncologist is disappointing.
Speaker 2:Even though even though the funeral is next week, even though it's all crashing down all around me, even though I walk through the darkest valley. And by the way, on that road that I just described from Jerusalem down to Jericho, there is a valley that has forever been known as the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death. In fact, it was in that valley that that Jesus was walking when he taught that lesson in Luke chapter 10 about the robbers coming out of the shadows and robbing and beating and leaving the man half dead and nobody would help except for the Samaritan. It was in that valley that Jesus taught that lesson. In fact, most scholars believe it was in that valley that David wrote Psalm 23.
Speaker 2:He was from Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem and you had to go to get to Jericho from Jerusalem. You had to go down this valley and through the valley of the shadow of death. So we know David walked it. In fact, let me show you a picture of it. That's it.
Speaker 2:As far as the eye can see. You can climb as high as you wanna climb and you can see and some of the most meaningful moments I've had with groups in The Middle East is in that valley. And we we take the group up on the hill and we look and we teach these passages and we teach these truths that that through the valley and what you see clearly is that if the sun is shining, there are shadows cast everywhere. Perfect places for thieves and robbers to hide and to surprise you and to steal from you. And David in the valley of the shadow of death is writing this story.
Speaker 2:That Hebrew word, the darkest valley or the valley of the shadow of death can be translated total darkness. And I don't know if you remember a season or have been in a season or in a season, but there are seasons in our lives and there are moments that we find ourselves where we can't even see our hand in front of our face. And and in those dark moments, we we we fear and we have to trust. And I think it's interesting that up until this point in the Psalm, God is leading, the shepherd is leading, the shepherd is making and out front. And when you get into the darkest valley, he's no longer leading which indicates he may not have led you there.
Speaker 2:Sometimes we get ourselves in those spots. Right? But what he knows when we are in those spots that he no longer needs to be out in front leading, he needs to be with. And in the valley, he is with us and we trust our shepherd even when we can't see. Why?
Speaker 2:Because he can see and he knows what's out ahead of us. Look at verse four again. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. You have an evil enemy who has come to kill, to steal, and to destroy. Only, in fact, that's what the Bible says, only comes to kill, steal, and destroy.
Speaker 2:And what the enemy will do, one of his only weapons in the life of believers is fear. And so he creates fear in our hearts. He yells at us in those moments and and we're scared and when we're scared, we wanna go back. We wanna go back to where we last felt safe and especially when we can't see because we're in the darkest valley and the enemy's MO at that moment is to yell until we run off of the trail. He's an anxiety creator and a fear monger.
Speaker 2:And by the way, sheep are easily startled and they have no offensive or defensive weapon. They don't have talons. They don't have sharp teeth. They don't have claws. If a sheep gets in a fight with a predator, it loses.
Speaker 2:And apart from the armor of God that he gives us to put on, we're the very same way defenseless. And and we need a shepherd. And over time, and by the way, John 10 speaks of the good shepherd and you know what it says? It says the sheep know his what? Voice.
Speaker 2:Voice. One of my favorite encounters with shepherds is when we walk up on a shepherd with a whole herd or flock of sheep. A couple of times we've seen this happen with groups and and I'll tell the shepherd, hey, illustrate that for my group, that that the sheep know the shepherd's voice. And so he'll teach the whole group his little phrase that he yells and he screams in order for the sheep to come to to the shepherd. And it's always something weird in Hebrew that like it's just like a chaff.
Speaker 2:And you're like, what does that mean? It's just what I do. That's what I say when I'm gonna feed the sheep and the sheep will come running. So he teaches the group and he'll teach young girls or middle aged women or old men or young boys all of them with all kinds of voices will try and they'll say the word and he'll say, it's like this and say it this way and they'll say it exactly the way he's saying it. And the sheep in in the field don't even look.
Speaker 2:They just keep grazing. They just keep eating. And then after a few minutes of nobody being successful, he'll say that, takash, and every single one of them, hundreds of them, will look up immediately and come running to the shepherd, and it's amazing how the scripture comes alive in those moments that the sheep know the voice of the shepherd. Meaning, we don't have defense weapons. We don't have offensive weapons, but but we know a shepherd who will fight for us and will protect us.
Speaker 2:And over time, in that intimate my shepherd relationship, he will lead you through trials that lead you to a deeper trust. And in verse four, David gives us a couple of reasons for no fear. Look at look at what he says, for you are with me. How much theology could be packed into that little phrase? For you are with me.
Speaker 2:Look at what he says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Look, shepherds, even today, they're nomadic. This people group, the Druze that that that Israel is protecting in Syria right now, they're nomadic. Many of them are shepherds. Right?
Speaker 2:They're like gypsies. They don't even have a place to lay their head and they're with the sheep twenty four seven all day and all night. And so, they they travel and they move along finding the grass from one field or one mountain to the next mountain. And so, they don't have tool sheds or store houses. What they have, they carry on them.
Speaker 2:But but there's a couple of things that every shepherd would have. The first one is a rod. And the rod he would carry in his belt when an animal, a predator would jump out, he would take it and bam, what would deal with that predator. It was short and it was compact, but it carried a big, big, big wallet. It was convenient, not often seen, but very, very effective.
Speaker 2:So so every shepherd had the rod and every shepherd had the staff. And the staff was different than than the rod. Right? And it it is used. And by the way, I said it a moment ago, sheep are helpless in a fight.
Speaker 2:They they can't fight back, but but God does that for us. He has a rod to take care of our enemies and he has a staff. And the staff is for you. Where the rod is not for you, the staff is for you. And when you get out of line, right, a sheep, a shepherd may have twenty, thirty, 40, more sheep.
Speaker 2:And when one gets out of line, he he takes it and just brings it back into line and back onto the righteous path. And so this is for you and me, and both of these things are important. In fact, they're crucial the life of a shepherd, but I want you to notice the little detail that is incredibly important. And if you understand God comforts you with the rod and and with the staff, that's all about how we view God, how we perceive God, how we think about God. The rod was and is always about protection.
Speaker 2:He doesn't use the rod to prune us or or or to punish us, but to protect us. Not to keep us in line, not to smack us when we do something bad. That's what a warden does. Not not a shepherd does. But but we all have this tendency because of the enemy yelling in our ear.
Speaker 2:When we read about the rod of God, we think it has our name on it. And we think that God is is gonna pull this from his belt and he's going to use it for us. I need you to hear me today. The rod of God is not for you because your shepherd is for you. He doesn't have that rod up in heaven lined up on your skull waiting for you to mess up so so that he can get you.
Speaker 2:It's not for you, but but the staff, again, it is for you, and and to get you back in line from time to time, to nudge you back to where you belong. Notice the the crook on the end and somebody somebody told me a joke in the lobby about the the crook on the staff at every church. Right? But but the the crook at the top of this, it it is not there by accident. Sometimes they put their weight on it, but there are times when the sheep gets in a ditch.
Speaker 2:I don't if you've ever wandered in a ditch. I've wandered in a ditch a few times. And and he will take that and snag the sheep and pull them back into safety. And so the staff is for you and he will correct you. Him him him allowing us to declare it's my shepherd means he's willing to be the shepherd of imperfect people.
Speaker 2:The Lord is my shepherd. He corrects me when I go astray. The the Lord is my shepherd. He he loves me enough to put me back in line. The Lord is my shepherd.
Speaker 2:He he loves me enough to correct me. And I need you to write this on your soul today. That God does not correct you to make you feel bad or to make you feel shameful or to make you feel depressed. He corrects you to make you feel safe. And that's a real sign of true spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2:If you wanna know if you're spiritually mature, take note of how you respond to the correction of God. The the the rod of protection and the staff of correction, they both comfort me and usually we want one without the other, don't we? How many of you say, I would love to have the protection and not the correction? But but you gotta have both the rod of protection and the staff of correction if you wanna be led through the valley of the shadow of death. And now verse five, this whole scene shifts.
Speaker 2:Actually, it's like a a set change. In the drama that's being written here, it goes from a sheep out in the field to to a king feasting at his table. It goes from the outside or outdoors to indoors. It goes from the Lord is my shepherd to the Lord is my host. And when you see this shift in the wording and the imagery, it means we must shift our focus and shift our attention.
Speaker 2:Look at what he says in verse five. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Preparing. Imagine God in the kitchen preparing all the effort. And maybe the angels are saying, yes, chef.
Speaker 2:Yes, chef. As he's preparing because he knows what you need. He knows what you want. He knows what you desire. And he's preparing the entrees and the sides and the breads and all the drinks and the desserts and and the place settings and the fine china.
Speaker 2:He is preparing this for you. And notice what it says. It's not in the absence of my enemies. Did you catch that? Don't don't miss this.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying your enemies are invited guests. They aren't. But they sneak in from time to time. And here's the deal, God did not promise to get rid of your enemies. He promised to fight for you.
Speaker 2:He promised to overcome them for you. And here's the truth that we all need deep in our souls, the presence of enemies in our life does not equate to the absence of God in our life. Peace is not the absence of problems. Peace is the presence of God in the middle of our problems. And here's what our loving shepherd does.
Speaker 2:He he provides while he protects, and he protects while he provides. And and verse five continues to speak of the provision. Look at what it says, you anoint my head with oil, and my cup, it it overflows. And it's not a dab of oil, it's a lot of oil. Right?
Speaker 2:And it it's used to anoint kings and priests and but you would anoint a sheep's head to keep the bugs off of it and out of its ears, and and there's this picture of him being lavish with us, and the cup overflowing. It's not partially filled. He's attending to it, making sure it is always filled. Look look at verse six. Surely, your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
Speaker 2:Incredible part of this psalm. It says it will follow me. Say that. Follow me. Do do you know that that means the goodness of God and the mercy of God and the love of God is following you?
Speaker 2:And that word in the Hebrew is not a casual follow. It it's a military term. In the dictionary, it means to pursue, to hunt down, and to overtake. His goodness and his mercy is chasing you down. And there are many days where we do everything we can to run from it and to hide from it, but but it will catch you.
Speaker 2:It's hunting us down. And look at where it takes us, and I will dwell. Say dwell. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That word is a picture of rest, to take a seat at the table, to to return to that place over and over again, to sit for while.
Speaker 2:And one day, those of us who are in Christ, we we would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. But but the only way to get there is to be led by the shepherd. And I wanna end today with the very same question I began with in verse one. Is he your shepherd? Is he your shepherd?
Speaker 2:And if he's not, can I tell you how glad we are that you're here today? This church has been praying for you, inviting you, thrilled that you would come today. But I I wanna give you a chance to receive the Lord Jesus as your personal shepherd. It's not enough to know about him. You you you need to know him personally.
Speaker 2:Would you bow your heads and close your eyes and open your hearts all across the room today or even if you're watching online today. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus as your Lord and savior, I I wanna lead you in a prayer helping you do that. And maybe you would say, I don't know how to pray. That's okay. I'll pray it one phrase at a time so that you can repeat it after me.
Speaker 2:And I'm gonna ask you to repeat it out loud today. The the bible says, if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth. I wanna help you confess with your mouth today. And so I'll pray it one phrase at a time and and if you wanna trust Christ, you pray it after me. But please don't don't just repeat it in a rote fashion.
Speaker 2:Pray it to God in heaven. And as an encouragement to you today, I'm gonna ask those who already know Christ to pray it out loud with you so that no one would pray alone today in this room. But if you wanna give your life to Jesus, would you just pray with me and say, dear God, I know I'm a sinner, But today I ask you to forgive me. All of my sin. For all of sin.
Speaker 2:Jesus, come into my life. Be my Lord. My shepherd. My shepherd. Savior.
Speaker 2:My my forgiver, savior. In the best way that I know how. Turn my back on my sin. I trust you alone, Jesus, to save me. Thank you for saving me.
Speaker 2:Thank I receive you and I receive salvation. And before we say amen and before we look up, can I just say to you if you just prayed that prayer and you meant it with all of your heart, congratulations? Welcome to the greatest family on planet earth, the bride of Christ, the body of God. And if that's you, before you leave, would you take that connect card out of the seat pocket in front of you or scan that QR code. Just check that box that says I I want information about following Jesus and this church will respond and will help you in your next steps.
Speaker 2:There'll be people standing around at the front of the room when when we're done. You can approach one of them and just say, hey, I prayed that prayer. They they can take it from there with you. But maybe you're here today and you know he's your shepherd. You know that.
Speaker 2:But what you don't feel and what you don't perceive today is that he is with you. You're in a valley, a dark valley. And what you need to do like David is make a declaration today, he's with me. I find it very helpful as I come out of seasons where it feels very dark to talk to my shepherd and to ask him, where were you, Jesus, when that happened? And to let him tell me.
Speaker 2:I find it very therapeutic to hear him speak to my heart and to say I I was there. I find it even more therapeutic to hear him say, when that broke your heart, it broke my heart. I am your shepherd. And maybe today you just need to declare he he is with me. Even when you don't see it and even when you don't feel it, you stand on the theology, you stand on the rock, but your shepherd is with you.
Speaker 2:Whatever you're walking through today, tears in the room, I see them. Would you know he's with you today? And would you just stand all across this room today and let's just sing one more song and declare the theology in this song. Let's preach it to our own self today that he is with me and he's never forsaken me. Let's stand together all across this room and let's declare this, and may we, as we sing these songs, let the word of Christ richly dwell in us, and let it come alive in our soul, this morning.
Speaker 2:Let let's sing it together.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to today's message from Southbridge Fellowship. If you have a question about what you just heard, email us at info@sfchurch.com. For additional resources or service information, visit us at s f church dot com.