A Psalm for the Seasons, Shepherd, King Fugitive - Psalm 23

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for listening to the Calvary Monterey Podcast. To learn more about our church, please visit Calvary.com.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And for additional resources from our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge, please visit NateHoldridge.com.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Teaching today is our recovery pastor, Mike Casey.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. You are with me.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm going to pray for the Word. And while I'm doing that, I want you guys to pray for me.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't teach up here on Sundays a lot, so I'm super nervous.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I was hoping for like a flat tire, a dead battery. None of that happened. So here I am ready or not.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_02]: So Lord, we just thank you for Calvary Monterrey. We thank you for the opportunity to be able to support a missionary in Cuba.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Lord, we thank you for all that you're doing. Lord, we pray for Nate's time away for a time of refreshing.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_02]: And Lord, just thank you for all you are doing in all of our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So every year Nate goes to Lake Tahoe and we know as pastors that we may or may not be called upon to teach.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And I know we're going through the Psalms. And so I was playing the odds. There's 150 Psalms.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_02]: There was only one Psalm I did not want to teach. So if I was somebody that played the odds, I would say the odds were in my favor.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_02]: The only Psalm I did not want to teach was Psalm 23. So Nate is not real quick on sending out what he's doing.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_02]: So we were waiting and waiting. I kept checking my email and checking my email.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_02]: And one night I'm getting ready to go to bed. I like to jump into my hot tub before I go to bed.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Relax, read, listen to some music, whatever. And so I jumped in the hot tub about 10 o'clock one night and I opened my phone and boop, there's an email from Nate.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Teaching schedule for the summer. Pastor Mike, Psalm 23. It's like, no! No, no, no, no. I don't want Psalm 23.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_02]: It is on every calendar tattoo. It is like the most taught Psalm on the planet. Everybody knows Psalm 23.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, what could I bring to the Psalm that everybody knows? And ever since Nate announced it, I've been getting texts every day.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, I love Psalm 23. I know Psalm 23. I've been getting so much input on what to teach about on Psalm 23.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_02]: People have brought me books on Psalm 23. I was like, man, pressure!

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_02]: It is what people consider the funeral Psalm. You know, it is spoken at so many funerals.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_02]: When I look at that, I say no because for me in my life and the way that I lived my life, that's not something I needed said over my body.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_02]: That's something I needed to know in my life, in my sin. I needed to know there was that refreshment and that comfort.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Interesting story. After Nate told me that I looked up, I went on Amazon to look for something that meant something to me from way back in the day.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was surprised that I found it. You know, the summer of 1974, there was a great invention. It was called the black light.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_02]: You guys remember the black light? Black light posters?

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Summer of 1974, my dad and I were at the Long Beach Swap Meet and he bought a black light poster.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_02]: And he took it home and he hung it on the wall. And we put the black light under it.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And that particular poster said, yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil because I am the meanest SOB in the valley.

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the actual poster I found out on Amazon.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_02]: 74.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Amazon is great.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_02]: So what kind of comic was my dad said that was a quote from the Bible.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: But what didn't ring true to me was several years earlier during one of the most tumultuous times of my childhood, living with my dad, my stepmom and my five siblings.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_02]: There used to be this bus that would wind through the neighborhood. I can only describe it as the Pied Piper Bus.

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_02]: It looked like the Brady Bunch colorful loudspeaker, hey come to church free watermelon pencils, Kool-Aid, food.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_02]: You know and it just would wind through the neighborhood and kids would jump on the bus.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_02]: My parents were not believers but because they were up drinking all night, it was a free reliable source of childcare.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So us five kids we were on the bus every Sunday.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't know who God was but this particular Sunday that I'm talking about kind of changed a lot in my life.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_02]: They had this whole table full of prizes laid out for kids who, I don't even remember what I did.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_02]: You know I'm sure the answer was Jesus whatever it was you know when you're a kid in child's ministry.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_02]: But I remember sitting there waiting for my turn to do whatever it was I had to do to get a prize.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was looking at that table there was a box kite and they were kind of a new concept, the box kite.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And I had my eye and I'm like that's the prize I want.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And kids kept going before me and going before me and I was getting like more anxious, more anxious someone's going to get that kite.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I just know it.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_02]: So finally it was my turn and I did whatever I needed to do and I got to go over and pick a prize.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And the strangest thing happened.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I never even looked at the kite I reached over and I grabbed a pocket size New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: And being that young when my parents would fight I would be in my room with the door closed often on my bed

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_02]: just kind of in a fiddled position scared to go out and I would read the Bible.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't understand it.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't understand what it meant but that brought me back enough to know that that was not a quote from the Bible.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_02]: You know I'm like that's not from the Bible.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_02]: God is not mean.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I may feel like he's distant from me right now.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_02]: He may not be answering my cries for help but the way I look at things going forward is that everything that happened to me in my life,

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_02]: every bit of abuse, every bit of everything that happened brought me here to where God is using me today.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_02]: The scripture says what was meant for evil God uses for good.

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Things may have been tough at that time but going forward God used everything that he allowed me to go through for that reason.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And much debate has been talked about when and Nate even hit on this last week when David wrote the 23rd Psalm.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Was it when he was a shepherd fighting the lion or the bear?

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_02]: You know that makes sense because he was a shepherd at the time so he understood what it was to be a shepherd.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Was it when he was king?

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_02]: You know that makes sense as well doesn't it?

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_02]: You know he's in his palace, he's got armies, he's got a lot of responsibility, he needs comfort and he needs reassurance from God.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_02]: That makes sense too as well.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, what about when David was a fugitive?

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_02]: To me that makes a lot of sense because we know that David was a great king.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_02]: We know that it says in scripture, David a man after God's own heart.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_02]: But we also know that there was a season in David's life like many of our lives when things weren't so good.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Things were maybe in fact horrible or bad.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_02]: We know that David stopped going out to battle with his warriors.

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_02]: We know he started just kind of hanging around at home, not doing the things that he was supposed to do,

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_02]: the things that he was called to do, his responsibilities.

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And we know that he fell into sin with Bathsheba.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_02]: We know that he also had her husband, Uriah killed.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_02]: So we know that that is definitely a time when David probably felt less than and wanted to cry out to God.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_02]: If we look at, and how can I maybe do this psalm a little bit differently since we all know it,

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_02]: is I think there are times in all of your lives when things were going great and the psalm was good.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_02]: There's also times when things were going not so good, then we cry out to God.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_02]: You see it's in those seasons of things going not so good that we lament that we cry out to God.

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, as seasons in my life there were season things were great.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_02]: It was great. There were things in my life that were great.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_02]: There were seasons that were horrible.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the season that I lived in the parking lot of this church in my car.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_02]: That was a season of shame.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_02]: That was a season of lamenting and crying out to God.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, like, you know, we always want to know God where are you?

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And honestly God is saying, Mike, where are you?

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, we always think that God has moved away from us but we have moved away from God.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_02]: God's always there. He's always been there. He's always going to be there.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's the beauty about who God is.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_02]: God wants what's good for us. God wants what's right for us.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_02]: God wants us to have a good life.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_02]: But there's evil in this world.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_02]: There's trials in this world.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_02]: There's hard times in this world. There's bad times in this world.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_02]: But what makes our character or who we are is how we handle that.

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Do we only cry out to God in times when things are bad?

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_02]: We should be calling out to God all the time.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_02]: When things are good, when things are not so good and we especially do it when things are horrible.

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Because we know that, man, we need God. I need God now.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I need God badly.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I can look at all of the seasons in my life and see where God has been there every one of them.

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Every single one of them.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think you guys could do the same.

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I think you could look at the seasons of your life and see where God has been there and God has been working.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Where these words in this Psalm have applied to your life.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_02]: And if I made sense to you and have comforted you.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Because when things are going bad in your life, you need that comfort.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_02]: You need to know that maybe I'm not where God needs me to be.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_02]: That God is where he is.

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, God is waiting for me to wake up and smell the roses.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, Mike, where have you been?

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'm not ashamed of the things that I've done in my life.

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_02]: There was shame associated with him.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_02]: But I know that God used my life.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_02]: And God comforted me during those times.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Knowing that eventually things would change.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And eventually I would come through that valley of the shadow of death.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think for many of us we may fear that.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_02]: We may fear what is coming for us in life.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_02]: And we may fear the unknown.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I no longer have that fear.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I have the comfort of God in my heart.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that Jesus Christ died for me.

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that he loves me.

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that he's a part of my life.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that he's always been a part of my life.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_02]: He knew me.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Scripture says, before I was even in my mother's womb.

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_02]: He knew what a knucklehead I would be.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_02]: He knew that David would go from shepherd to king to fugitive.

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_02]: He knew that.

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_02]: But yet he loved David.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_02]: But yet he made David king.

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Isn't that amazing?

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_02]: That the lineage of Christ came from that?

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_02]: We think of God as this person up there.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_02]: In this throne that is just...

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Everything's perfect, right?

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Well if you look at his lineage,

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_02]: that brought comfort to me as I begin to learn about God.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like, well God's family was pretty messed up too.

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_02]: It was pretty messed up.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_02]: It didn't come from this perfect background.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_02]: That's a comfort.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_02]: It really is because how many of us have families

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_02]: that we maybe don't even want to be around?

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the beauty about holidays is you go be with your family.

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_02]: You can pick your friends but you can't pick your family.

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes we just go to those holidays or those events

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_02]: and we just bear it.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_02]: We're just there because maybe we just feel like

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_02]: we have to be there, we're required to be there.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_02]: That people expect us to be there.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_02]: But with God things are differently.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_02]: We get to choose our friends, we get to choose our family.

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I love coming to church here.

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I love it.

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I love that I get to see people every Sunday,

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_02]: that I get to know them,

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I get to be a part of their lives,

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_02]: I get to see what's going on with their lives,

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I get to watch them grow.

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_02]: And I even love what I do ministry wise even more

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_02]: because I get to see somebody come out of jail or prison

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_02]: and learn about this man that maybe they've never even heard about,

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_02]: named Jesus.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_02]: And I watch their lives transform.

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_02]: And I watch this psalm play out in their life

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_02]: because as we start breaking down the psalm

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_02]: in verse one it says,

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I shall not want.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So he cannot be your shepherd if he is not your Lord.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Make no mistake about that.

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_02]: They both have to be true.

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_02]: He has to be your Lord.

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_02]: You have to respect him as your Lord.

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_02]: You have to be committed to him,

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_02]: guiding and directing your life

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_02]: before you will truly follow him.

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_02]: My wife was a Christian, my kids were Christians.

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And so I thought that's cool, that works for me.

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_02]: They can be whatever they want

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_02]: and I can just do part of this.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Right?

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_02]: I could listen to him once in a while.

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I'll let him be my shepherd if it makes him feel better.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_02]: He can give me some suggestions,

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_02]: some advice, tell me maybe the things that maybe I shouldn't be doing.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I remember when I first became a believer

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_02]: and I stopped doing all of these things.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, I gave up this and I gave up this

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and I gave up this and I gave up this.

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_02]: But then he kept urging me to give up more

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_02]: and I told Michelle, I said, when is this going to stop?

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean it's like I've given up everything.

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I just keep giving up and giving up and giving up

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_02]: not stopping to think that the things that I'm giving up

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_02]: are the very things that were harming me.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Right?

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Because I don't know what's best for me.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_02]: God does.

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_02]: So once you make him the Lord of your life,

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_02]: you want him to be your shepherd.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_02]: You pray, Lord, what should I do today?

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Should I take this job?

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Should I not take this job?

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Should I date this girl?

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Should I not date this girl?

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Should I help support the mission for this kitchen?

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, should I get involved in one of these

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_02]: ministries that Calvary has to offer?

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Those things only happen, those answers only come

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_02]: when you allow him to be your Lord.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_02]: When you allow him to be the Lord of all in your life,

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_02]: he will start to shepherd you and say,

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah, that's a good idea.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Get involved in that.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Take that job.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Take that counsel.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Reach out to that person.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Help this person.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Get involved in your church.

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Begin to serve.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's a beautiful thing.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_02]: And that is an absolutely spectacular and awesome thing

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_02]: when that actually begins to happen.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I got a little bit of order,

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_02]: but I'm going to read something from Henry Ward Breacher

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_02]: about Psalm 23.

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_02]: It says, it has soothed more sorrows

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_02]: than all the world's philosophies combined.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_02]: It has banished more dark thoughts,

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_02]: doubts and sorrows than the sands of the sea.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_02]: It has provided more comfort than the countless poor.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_02]: It has inspired courage to those who have lost hope.

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_02]: And if that's you, this is speaking to you.

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_02]: It has brought healing and consolation to the sick,

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_02]: prisoners, grieving widows and lonely orphans.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Dying soldiers have found peace when it was read to them.

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Grim hospitals were brightened.

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_02]: It made dying Christian slaves feel freer than their masters.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_02]: And it will continue to inspire our children and their children

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_02]: for generations to come until the end of the time.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_02]: And it will return to God from which it has come

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_02]: in the eternal sounds and the joy of heaven.

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_02]: And that says it.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_02]: The comfort that that Psalm provides,

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_02]: the shepherd, the king, the fugitive is amazing

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_02]: because it's meant to provide comfort.

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_02]: We live in a crazy world.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_02]: If we look at the events just of yesterday,

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_02]: the chaos and the confusion of the things

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_02]: that are going on in our country,

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_02]: we need this comfort.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_02]: We need God to speak to us as a community,

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_02]: as a body of believers, as a church,

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_02]: as a nation, as a world.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_02]: We need this.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_02]: We need to know that he is our Lord.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_02]: He is our shepherd.

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_02]: And he will indeed comfort us.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_02]: So Psalm 23, 1, it speaks of contentment and provision

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_02]: in our lives.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't know about you,

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_02]: but one of the greatest things is to feel content.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_02]: That contentment.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Like I don't have this or I don't have that,

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_02]: but I'm okay.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_02]: You know we look at what the world has to offer.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was told, every time I buy a new computer

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_02]: or a new phone, what happens like a week later?

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_02]: A new computer, a new phone.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh you have the old stuff, right?

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_02]: And we have to stay content.

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Like I'm okay with it.

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_02]: It works, it's good, I'm okay.

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And when we have a relationship with God,

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_02]: we begin to feel contentment

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and things that we've never maybe felt contented before.

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_02]: We can relax, we can have comfort

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_02]: in knowing that I may not have this or this or this or this,

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_02]: but I'm okay.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm good.

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm okay with where I'm at.

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_02]: You know?

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_02]: When I started working here as the janitor 15 years ago,

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_02]: I would come in every day and I would clean the church.

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_02]: And Pastor Roger called me into his office one day.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_02]: He was a pastor before Nate.

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And he said we're going to start paying you $500 a month

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_02]: because you're cleaning the church.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_02]: That was contentment.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_02]: And I had come from just months early being a firefighter

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_02]: or paramedic for almost 18 years.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I loved my job, I loved what I did,

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I loved helping people.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_02]: And now I'm working for $500 a month cleaning toilets.

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_02]: But I was content.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I was comfortable, I was happy with where I was.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I was happy to be alive.

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_02]: I was happy to have met Jesus.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_02]: He had become my Lord and my shepherd.

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Who else is going to lead you to a church to clean toilets

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_02]: for free?

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I did it for free for a long time.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like kind of shocked when they started paying me.

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I was even more shocked when they ordained me

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_02]: and started paying me as a pastor.

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I was laughing and Pastor Roger said what is so funny?

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I said you're going to pay me for something I would do for free?

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_02]: He said well maybe we should reconsider.

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I said no, that's okay.

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_02]: But I want you to hear that.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_02]: To go from being a career person,

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_02]: being respected in a career to being content cleaning toilets.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_02]: That can only happen through Jesus, period.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_02]: No other thing or power on earth could bring you

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_02]: that kind of contentment.

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_02]: There was no shame.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't feel degraded.

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't feel below or I didn't feel beneath.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I felt happy to do it.

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm alive.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I know Jesus.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_02]: My family is still with me.

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_02]: My children love me.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_02]: My life has been redeemed.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_02]: So clean toilets, clean toilets it is.

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_02]: And I was okay doing that.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And I would have still been doing that

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_02]: had that's what God wanted me to do.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_02]: But he obviously had different plans for my life.

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse two, he makes me lie down in green pastures.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And when I read this text right there

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_02]: it makes me think of Pastor Jeff.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Because Pastor Jeff watched me run around all the time

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_02]: and he would sit at me and say,

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Mike you need to learn how to rest.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_02]: You have to learn it.

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_02]: It takes practice.

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not something that just happens naturally.

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Especially for me.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what that is.

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I go full time all the time.

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_02]: But Pastor Jeff really hit home on that me for a long time.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_02]: You have to learn to slow down.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Learn to rest.

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Take a day off.

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody will be okay if you're gone.

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Things will work out.

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_02]: It's still hard,

[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_02]: but whenever I think about taking a time of rest

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_02]: I think about what Pastor Jeff said

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_02]: and think about you have to really plan to rest.

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_02]: But if you look at this scripture,

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_02]: what is the Lord doing?

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_02]: He is taking you to lie down

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_02]: in fields of green pastures.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_02]: To rest.

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_02]: To relax.

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_02]: That verse speaks of guidance and rest

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_02]: because he guides us.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_02]: He leads us into those pastures.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_02]: And he says, now rest.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Now I don't know if you're a person that is easy

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_02]: or finds time to rest easy or not.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_02]: But if you're not, as Pastor Jeff said,

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_02]: learn to rest.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Learn to take that time.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_02]: That's my, like I said in the hot tub at night

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I take some time.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I go outside and I just look at the stars

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_02]: and I just catch up on whatever I need to catch up on.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's just that time alone to just rest.

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Even if it's only, we're not talking two-week vacations.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_02]: We're not talking months away in Europe.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes we just simply need to get away,

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02]: get where it's quiet, rest and reflect on

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_02]: what is going on in our lives.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Reflect on our relationship with Jesus.

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Reflect on our family.

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Reflect on where God has us.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_02]: He leads me beside still waters.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_02]: This to me speaks of being refreshed.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Just being that refreshment from the water.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that all of us need

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_02]: are look forward to that time of refreshment.

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I get up some mornings and since I work at a church

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_02]: and I also lead a recovery meeting on Monday nights

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't get up every Monday or every Sunday

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_02]: and say, yeah, I get to go to church.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Some days I get up and like, I'm tired

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_02]: or I don't feel good or I am super worn out

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_02]: or I have a lot on my mind.

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_02]: But you know what?

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I show up and every single week God refreshes me.

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_02]: When it's over, I say, I feel great.

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel refreshed.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel encouraged.

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's what God wants to do.

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_02]: He wants us to know that when we are hearing His word

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_02]: and His presence, that He is going to refresh our souls.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't think that's something that we can do ourselves.

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I think that only God can refresh our souls

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_02]: to our very core and our very being, amen?

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I love this.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_02]: He leads me in the path of righteousness.

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_02]: This speaks of comfort and courage to go from being

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe as a non-believer,

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe you were living an unrighteous life.

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I was.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I never thought I would end up homeless.

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I never thought I would end up in jail.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_02]: I never thought I would almost die from an infection

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_02]: from using heroin.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I never thought those things.

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: But what I did feel was that I had kind of ran

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_02]: my family name into the ground.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I kind of took away all of my integrity.

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I kind of felt like if I was to die,

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_02]: that it would be Michelle and my ex-wife

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_02]: and my kids at my funeral because nobody respected me.

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Nobody really cared.

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_02]: But to be able to go from that for all of us

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_02]: to being a righteous person,

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_02]: that's God working.

[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_02]: A righteous man or a righteous woman.

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_02]: God will guide your steps,

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_02]: but you need to just seek Him and ask Him to say,

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_02]: God where do you want me?

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_02]: What do you want me to do?

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_02]: You are indeed my shepherd.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_02]: So please speak to me.

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Have you ever had those seasons where God speaks to you a lot?

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And there are seasons that's like, where are you?

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_02]: It's been like 62 days I haven't heard a word.

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_02]: So then I start saying, well maybe there's something in my heart

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_02]: and forgiveness or maybe anger or maybe bitterness.

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And I try to examine and look at myself

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_02]: and get all of those things out.

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's after that time of reflection and thought

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_02]: that I'm able to maybe think and move things out

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_02]: that are not good.

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_02]: And then God again begins, there you are.

[00:28:50] [SPEAKER_02]: There you are.

[00:28:50] [SPEAKER_02]: And you know when you hear that voice,

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_02]: when you haven't heard it, it's so comforting.

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like there you are.

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And again God is like, you've been just bitter.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_02]: You've been just a little whiner.

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER_02]: You've been bitter.

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I've been quiet so you would stop and reflect

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_02]: on where you're at in your life.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And what a beautiful thing that is.

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_02]: He restores my soul.

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_02]: If you look at David, shepherd king fugitive,

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_02]: when David was on the run and he was a fugitive,

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_02]: he was lamenting in so many psalms crying out to God.

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And we know from reading the Psalms that God did indeed restore

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_02]: his soul, did indeed restore his relationship with him.

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_02]: And if you've been away from God or separated from God,

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_02]: his desire is to restore his relationship with you.

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_02]: It is indeed to do that for you.

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's the beauty about who Jesus is.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_02]: It goes on to say, for his namesake,

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_02]: because as I said before, only he is the one that can do that.

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Only God can provide that complete restoration where you're like,

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm okay.

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm okay.

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel good about this.

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I don't have to convince myself this is okay.

[00:30:21] [SPEAKER_02]: I never had to convince myself when I was cleaning the toilets

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_02]: at five o'clock in the morning that, hey, this is okay.

[00:30:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I was just glad to be here.

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I used to be able to come in and turn on the music in the church

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_02]: and listen to worship.

[00:30:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And thank God nobody heard me singing.

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_02]: But I would literally be downstairs,

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_02]: or upstairs on my hands and knees scrubbing toilets

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_02]: singing out to God because my soul had been restored.

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_02]: My relationship with my family had been restored.

[00:30:54] [SPEAKER_02]: I was okay.

[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And nothing felt better than that.

[00:31:01] [SPEAKER_02]: He leads me in the path of righteousness for his namesake,

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_02]: even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_02]: If I look at what that means to me now,

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't so much understand it in 1974.

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I knew it wasn't what the poster said.

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I know he wasn't a mean guy.

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe I didn't feel like he was listening to me at the time.

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_02]: But I knew that that didn't jive.

[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I knew that that wasn't true.

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_02]: I knew that that poster, it was on our walls for years,

[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_02]: years and years.

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_02]: The first thing I thought of when Nate said Psalm 23,

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I went to Amazon and like, there's that poster.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_02]: There it is.

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_02]: That stinking ugly black light poster.

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know whatever happened to it.

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_02]: But it really provoked thought in my life as a youngster

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and it continued to provoke thought in my life throughout

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_02]: as I was going through the seasons of my life.

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_02]: When I was going through the young time in my life,

[00:32:07] [SPEAKER_02]: going through the middle season of my life

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_02]: and then going to the...

[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And I can say fugitive, right?

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I can, right?

[00:32:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Could you have said to me when I was sitting in a jail cell

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_02]: that God will completely restore my life

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_02]: and I'm not the one who would refresh me?

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I would have never believed it.

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Never believed it.

[00:32:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't know that anybody was capable of doing

[00:32:33] [SPEAKER_02]: that much damage control to anybody, or for anybody.

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_02]: But amen, there he is.

[00:32:39] [SPEAKER_02]: As we look at this as the Oaks of the Valley of Shadow Death

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I Will Fear No Evil.

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_02]: 1 Corinthians 15, 55 says,

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_02]: O death where is your victory?

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_02]: O death where is your sting?

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Because all those bad things are just but a shadow.

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_02]: They have no power.

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_02]: They have no victory.

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I've been near death twice.

[00:33:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Once my family came to say goodbye to me,

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_02]: he's going to be dead in an hour or two.

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_02]: That didn't happen, obviously.

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_02]: But the last time that I got very sick

[00:33:16] [SPEAKER_02]: and was... I thought it was my time...

[00:33:19] [SPEAKER_02]: I really did. I thought, you know,

[00:33:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know that I'm going to leave

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_02]: and I think this might be it.

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_02]: I was able to call all of my kids

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_02]: and say, if this is indeed it,

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm okay.

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_02]: There was no fear.

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_02]: There was no anxiety.

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_02]: There was no anguish.

[00:33:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I think I kind of freaked Michelle out

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_02]: because I said in my drawer

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_02]: there's... because we had saved a bunch of money

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and I stuck it in one of my...

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_02]: I shouldn't say this because you break into my house

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and you're going to know my hiding spot.

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_02]: But I had these blue striped shorts

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_02]: and I had like $800 in the pocket.

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_02]: So I said, hey, if anything happens

[00:33:57] [SPEAKER_02]: there's this shorts, there's some cash.

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_02]: She was like, don't say that.

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_02]: You're coming home.

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_02]: You can hand it to me.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_02]: And there better be $800 there.

[00:34:16] [SPEAKER_02]: But...

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_02]: But the funny thing was I had no fear.

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_02]: I had no fear.

[00:34:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Did I think about the poster?

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I did.

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Did I think about my pocket-sized Bible?

[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_02]: I did.

[00:34:30] [SPEAKER_02]: But I had no fear

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_02]: because death had no sting

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_02]: because I knew that in that moment

[00:34:43] [SPEAKER_02]: if I was to die

[00:34:45] [SPEAKER_02]: that I would be in glory with Jesus.

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So all that fear,

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_02]: all that anxiety, all that...

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_02]: it wasn't there.

[00:34:53] [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't there.

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_02]: I know it freaked everybody out,

[00:34:55] [SPEAKER_02]: but I wanted them to know

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_02]: that I was okay.

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER_02]: That my life had gotten to the point

[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_02]: because of Jesus Christ

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_02]: that if that was the time he had chosen to take me home,

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_02]: don't worry.

[00:35:09] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I always tell everybody, everybody knows I'm a foodie.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I want a barbecue.

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Ribs, tritip, potatoes, corn.

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_02]: You guys need to remember that.

[00:35:19] Um...

[00:35:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I would never want anybody to lament over me.

[00:35:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that as believers we miss people when they die,

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_02]: but the way I look at my life

[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_02]: from what it was to what it is now,

[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_02]: it should be a celebration.

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that God is a God who redeems.

[00:35:38] [SPEAKER_02]: That's what he does.

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_02]: That's what he's in the business of doing.

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Um...

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_02]: So death has no victory.

[00:35:47] [SPEAKER_02]: All of those things are just but a shadow.

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_02]: There's no sustenance to them.

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_02]: There's no sustenance to that fear if you depend on Christ.

[00:35:57] [SPEAKER_02]: There might be a little bit of worry.

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_02]: You might have to think about things,

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_02]: but when you sit down and you reason things out

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_02]: and you pray, the fear goes away.

[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Because there's nothing to it.

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Satan doesn't have more power than Jesus, amen?

[00:36:12] [SPEAKER_02]: He does not.

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_02]: It says, I will fear no evil.

[00:36:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I think a lot of us spend our lives

[00:36:19] [SPEAKER_02]: fearing the devil,

[00:36:22] [SPEAKER_02]: the bad guy.

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the devil made me do it, right?

[00:36:27] [SPEAKER_02]: But we shouldn't.

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_02]: We...

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't fear evil.

[00:36:32] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't fear what I used to do

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_02]: because that's the lifestyle that I came from.

[00:36:38] [SPEAKER_02]: That's who I used to be.

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I used to live in that world.

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I grew up in that world.

[00:36:45] [SPEAKER_02]: So since the Lord is my shepherd,

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and you guys, I mean, I don't fear evil.

[00:36:50] [SPEAKER_02]: It says, for you are with me, your rod and your staff.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_02]: They comfort me.

[00:36:56] [SPEAKER_02]: If we think about the rod and the staff,

[00:37:00] [SPEAKER_02]: those were maybe instruments that the sheep weren't so fond of.

[00:37:04] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it was a boom.

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, every once in a while,

[00:37:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I think a good thump is good, right?

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Amen, right?

[00:37:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Pastor Jeff, and I know he's not here today.

[00:37:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm picking on him, but a couple of times,

[00:37:20] [SPEAKER_02]: he would take me into his office and he thumped me.

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Give me a good thump, right?

[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Did you really just say that?

[00:37:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Did I hear you say that?

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I was just kidding. I know, but you shouldn't have said that.

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, he would give me that thump.

[00:37:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And that comforted me, though,

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_02]: because I knew that he cared enough about me

[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_02]: that he didn't want me to do something

[00:37:43] [SPEAKER_02]: that maybe wasn't...

[00:37:46] [SPEAKER_02]: that I shouldn't be doing.

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe just remind me, hey, think about what you're doing.

[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about where you're at.

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, keep that respect.

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Keep that integrity intact.

[00:37:57] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, we know that he used that rod.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I call it the Holy Smackdown.

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Have anybody ever gotten that before?

[00:38:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Where God just needs to go, bam!

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Wake up!

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Listen! Focus!

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm over here.

[00:38:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Look at me.

[00:38:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about me.

[00:38:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about what you're doing.

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, so there are times that we need the rod.

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_02]: There are times that we need to be pulled back.

[00:38:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Get over here.

[00:38:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Knock that off.

[00:38:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about what you're doing.

[00:38:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Those are blessings, amen.

[00:38:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And if you have friends in your life

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_02]: that are willing to do that, you should be happy.

[00:38:37] [SPEAKER_02]: If someone is willing to risk a friendship to say,

[00:38:41] [SPEAKER_02]: hey, knock that off.

[00:38:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Or hey, maybe you shouldn't be doing that.

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about what you're doing.

[00:38:47] [SPEAKER_02]: If you have that kind of friend, you should be praising God.

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Because so many people will just ignore it.

[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's that friend that tells you

[00:38:55] [SPEAKER_02]: to have lettuce in your teeth at Chili's

[00:38:58] [SPEAKER_02]: that's a friend.

[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Because they don't want you walking out

[00:39:01] [SPEAKER_02]: with that big old piece of lettuce in your teeth

[00:39:03] [SPEAKER_02]: looking like a fool, right?

[00:39:05] [SPEAKER_02]: So it's that person.

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Those are the kind of people you want to know.

[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_02]: People that tell you the truth.

[00:39:10] [SPEAKER_02]: People that speak truth into your life.

[00:39:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Those are the people that we should surround ourselves with.

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that's what's the beauty about coming into churches.

[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_02]: You're around people that are like-minded.

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Amen.

[00:39:27] [SPEAKER_02]: They comfort me.

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I love this. It says,

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER_02]: you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_02]: and you anoint my head with oil.

[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_02]: It speaks of nourishment, abundance, blessing, and security.

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Any time the Bible talks about eating, I like that.

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, you're going to prepare this table.

[00:39:47] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'm thinking- I'm visioning food on the table.

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, some barbecue,

[00:39:57] [SPEAKER_02]: the fellowship that comes with it.

[00:40:02] [SPEAKER_02]: And it says my cup overflows.

[00:40:06] [SPEAKER_02]: When you are truly walking with Christ

[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_02]: and you're in that sweet spot

[00:40:13] [SPEAKER_02]: and you are content,

[00:40:16] [SPEAKER_02]: you can say, not only do you have all you need,

[00:40:19] [SPEAKER_02]: you have more than you need.

[00:40:20] [SPEAKER_02]: You may not- I didn't say what you want.

[00:40:24] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't say that. I don't say that.

[00:40:26] [SPEAKER_02]: But what you need.

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Because we as people, we always want more.

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_02]: But when God says, you have what you need

[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_02]: and you are content, amen.

[00:40:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Hallelujah. What a great feeling.

[00:40:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I don't have everything.

[00:40:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe I don't have all the money that I used to have

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_02]: or maybe I don't have this or maybe I don't have that.

[00:40:47] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, if I look at my life going from making a super good salary

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_02]: supporting my family to cleaning toilets for $500 a month,

[00:40:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I certainly didn't have all that I wanted.

[00:40:59] [SPEAKER_02]: But you know what? I had all that I needed.

[00:41:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Because people knew of our circumstances

[00:41:04] [SPEAKER_02]: and people knew of our situation.

[00:41:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And there were times that we would come home from somewhere

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_02]: and there would be so many groceries on our-

[00:41:16] [SPEAKER_02]: on our porch that we had to go in the back door

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_02]: so that we could get- because we couldn't even get to the front door.

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_02]: That was God providing.

[00:41:26] [SPEAKER_02]: That was that contentment.

[00:41:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe I don't have stakes and maybe I don't have this

[00:41:31] [SPEAKER_02]: and maybe I don't have- but I'm going to eat tonight, amen.

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_02]: God is going to take care of me.

[00:41:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And says,

[00:41:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And then I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

[00:41:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Isn't that what this is all about?

[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_02]: That's what Christianity is about.

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not about the- it is about the here and now to an extent,

[00:41:48] [SPEAKER_02]: but it's all about the destination.

[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_02]: It's all about where we're going to spend attorney.

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Because this is temporal.

[00:41:56] [SPEAKER_02]: This is but a vapor.

[00:41:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Just a- a click in time.

[00:42:05] [SPEAKER_02]: But our destination is to dwell in the house of the Lord

[00:42:10] [SPEAKER_02]: with Christ.

[00:42:13] [SPEAKER_02]: To be with Him for all eternity.

[00:42:15] [SPEAKER_02]: That's our destination.

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_02]: You know?

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like when you're planning a vacation,

[00:42:20] [SPEAKER_02]: you're going to stop here, you're going to stop there,

[00:42:22] [SPEAKER_02]: you're going to stop- those are just stops.

[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_02]: What you're worried about or what you're thinking about is

[00:42:26] [SPEAKER_02]: when I get to- you know, when I get there,

[00:42:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to relax.

[00:42:30] [SPEAKER_02]: When I get there, I'm just going to chill out.

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to- I'm going to feel good.

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to put my- take my shoes off, put my feet up.

[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm- and I'm aware I wanted to get-

[00:42:41] [SPEAKER_02]: that's heaven.

[00:42:43] [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to be in the presence of God for eternity.

[00:42:47] [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to be able to fellowship with Him.

[00:42:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know all the details, none of us do.

[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean people surmise what's going to be here or there.

[00:42:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, my wife can always argue about

[00:42:59] [SPEAKER_02]: is there pets there or is there not pets there?

[00:43:02] [SPEAKER_02]: My little three little dogs bark so much,

[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I just- I can't see it.

[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Like, come on.

[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Where's the contentment, God?

[00:43:10] [SPEAKER_02]: You know?

[00:43:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I said, no, honey, that's the lion on the lamb.

[00:43:14] [SPEAKER_02]: So we constantly go back and forth about that.

[00:43:16] [SPEAKER_02]: She said no, it's not- no, it's the lion- lion lamb.

[00:43:19] [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't say anything about little- little yappy dogs.

[00:43:25] [SPEAKER_02]: But I don't know what it's going to be like completely,

[00:43:28] [SPEAKER_02]: but I trust God.

[00:43:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm content with where I'm at.

[00:43:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm happy with where God has me in my life.

[00:43:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like it's a privilege to be doing the things

[00:43:41] [SPEAKER_02]: He has me doing.

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like it was a job that was made for me

[00:43:45] [SPEAKER_02]: by the way my life was laid out.

[00:43:48] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm happy for that.

[00:43:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm content.

[00:43:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there was a lot of things that happened

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_02]: that were really bad, but they put me-

[00:43:55] [SPEAKER_02]: they trained me for this,

[00:44:00] [SPEAKER_02]: for such a time as this.

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_02]: So, think about the destination you guys.

[00:44:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about the contentment.

[00:44:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about where you're at in your life right now.

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And maybe compare it to a time when you weren't so blessed.

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe compare it to a time where you wanted,

[00:44:22] [SPEAKER_02]: and God didn't provide what you wanted,

[00:44:24] [SPEAKER_02]: but now you're- He's given you something

[00:44:27] [SPEAKER_02]: and now you're content.

[00:44:30] [SPEAKER_02]: That's a beautiful thing, amen.

[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks again for tuning in.

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see you next week.