Psalm 23:1 "Our Great Shepherd" - Steadfast Hope with Steven J. Lawson 3/23/20

well I'm sorry for the delayed we've been having some technical difficulties here with our broadcast but we're up and going now and I hope that you're still there this is Steve Lawson I'm joined by my good friend Kent Stainback and we're coming to you from Dallas Texas herbs house this is where we do the men's Bible study on Thursday mornings and this is where I preached yesterday for Trinity Bible Church so it's a very familiar place here Kent and I'm thrilled for us to start this new daily devotion we're calling it steadfast hope because that's what we need right now is is hope when the Bible uses the word hope it doesn't use it like we normally do like well I hope it doesn't rain today when the Bible uses the word hope it speaks of a confident assurance about what God is doing and what God will do it has a future expectation too it can't and I think right now as we find ourself in the midst of this coronavirus crisis that has really shut down the country in many ways and shut down the world we need to have a hope in the Lord and when God pulls the plug and removes the carpet out from underneath us it is a time to look up to the Lord and you and I are both believers in Jesus Christ and we have already put our trust in the Lord but a time like this is a reminder to us of where our real hope is and where our faith must be it must be in the Lord so we just have a short time and I can't cannot think of a better place to strengthen our hope than to turn to the Word of God and I can't think of a better place in the Word of God than the Book of Psalms and I can't think of a better song than Psalm 23 so we're gonna look at Psalm 23 just for a moment and we're just gonna look at the first verse can't and you were talking the other day how much like sheep we really are do you remember telling me that and we're easily fearful and we're easily prone to wander away and to get caught up in the herd as it's running in the wrong direction and so I think that this would be a great place for us to have our morning devotion Psalm 23 and I'm just gonna read the first verse it begins the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want this was the first verse that I ever memorized as a young boy and it's been very precious to me I know it is to you Kent as well and everyone who's who's watching it's a psalm of David David in his early years was a young shepherd boy and watched his father's flock and so he's using this image he's very familiar with this image and just a couple of things to bring to our attention and then for anyone who wants to phone in text us with a question Kent will feel that question for us but the first thing I think we need to note is who it is that is our Shepherd that this isn't just a a pastor or a a parent or a friend God can work through people like that but this is the Lord Himself as our Shepherd and the word for Lord here is a word in the Hebrew Yahweh and the this name for God is the very personal name for God and it really means that God is self-existent and self-sufficient within himself self-sustaining that God has no needs outside of himself to be met that God is all-sufficient within himself and that we find our needs in him that's what the word Yahweh means and it also means that he's never changing we live in changing times don't we I mean the stock market is changing by the hour the press conferences from Washington DC or changing directions constantly our world is being just turned upside down the mayor is telling us that we have to be quarantined and yet there is one constant that is never changing in our life and that is the Lord Himself he is our anchor he is our cornerstone he is our rock and our refuge and what a strength it is to know that the Lord is my shepherd you'll note it says is the Lord is my shepherd not might be could be would be but that the Lord every moment of every day constantly around the clock even when we go to sleep the Lord watches over us and he is every moment of every day our Shepherd now he is a shepherd to us can't meaning and David understood what this meant that the shepherd assumes the total responsibility for the well-being of his sheep sheep cannot take care of themselves sheep do not know where green pastures are they don't have a clue where still waters are the Sheep are susceptible to wolves to Lions to thieves to robbers they go over edge of cliffs they get caught in a hole and sheep need a shepherd and you and I need a shepherd we need the Lord to take care of us and this is saying that he does take care of us and as we find ourselves in this situation as we are thinking about perhaps what does this mean for my salary what does this mean for my business what does this mean for my family what does this mean for my emotional state what does this mean as I'm disconnected from from other people with this social distancing how am I going to survive how am I going to function and what this says is the Lord is my shepherd that is to say the Lord is leading us the Lord is guiding us the Lord is providing for our every need the Lord is protecting us and guarding us the Lord is strengthening us and the Lord Himself is encouraging us and so he says I shall not want if the Lord is your Shepherd all of your needs are met in the Lord now for those of you watching who don't know the Lord that may seem like an extreme statement to make but for us who know Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd we understand that the Lord is totally in control of the circumstances in our life he's totally in control of everything that's coming in and around my life and I shall not want that ultimately all of my needs spiritually emotionally physically in every way the Lord is the one who supplies my needs and so as we find ourselves in this situation what this verse is telling us is that we need to look to the Lord we need to look away from ourselves we need to look even away from the government we need to look up ultimately to the Lord now the Lord has put government in in places of responsibility I don't want to be naive about that Romans 13:1 says the Lord has done this but they're merely an under servant of the one who's sovereign in heaven and that is God himself so I want to encourage all of us at this time to look to the Lord to meet all of our needs and he'll work through people and he'll work through the authorities that he has put in place over us but let us not forget who is the ultimate source for every blessing in our lives and for every provision in our lives it is the Lord Himself so the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want if you're a believer in Jesus Christ that is your testimony that that is your confession of faith the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want perhaps the most important word in this verse is the word my the Lord is my shepherd can you say that this morning that the Lord is my shepherd that I have a personal relationship with in my heart and soul with Jesus Christ who says in John 10 verse 11 I am The Good Shepherd he repeats it in John 10 verse 14 I am The Good Shepherd can you say that the Lord is the shepherd over my soul that means that you have committed your life to Him and that you have entrusted your soul to the Lord Jesus Christ if you've done that then the Lord is your Shepherd and he now assumes the responsibility to take care of your life but I want to say if the Lord is not your shepherd you're on your own in this storm you're without a shepherd you're gonna have to make it on your own and you won't be able to make it if there's ever been a time in your life when you have needed the Lord to be your shepherd it's in this very hour so that's our devotion this morning and it comes straight from Psalm 2 three verse one and Ken I'm sure you've got some some questions that have come in that we want to take just a few moments to to see if we can answer so okay Steve thank you great passage to start with this morning it's fantastic we have we have some questions here one one person writes mm-hmm dr. Lawson what is the Lord doing during this time of trouble and trial well what is the Lord doing during this time the Lord's doing a thousand things right now we may only be aware of two of those things but the Lord is doing a million things right now among those things the Lord is humbling us and that's good to be humbled because the Bible says the Lord is opposed to the proud and he gives grace to the humble and so it is a mercy of God to Humble us so that we are more dependent upon him certainly the Lord is weaning us off this world and causing us to think about the next world the world to come and putting our thoughts setting our mind on things above and not on things of the earth Colossians 3 verse 2 and I think the Lord is bringing unbelievers to himself as the Lord is just removing all sense of false security and the things of this world so that those are just three things that that the Lord is doing but there are untold thousands of other things that the Lord is is doing and he is at work in the lives of all of his sheep right now so that's a great question is there another question you've got all right dr. Lawson Wow many of us are more isolated than usual for an undetermined amount of time how can we best declare still declare the gospel to others well that's a great question how can you share the gospel with others while you're isolated number one you can pray for other people and bring their name before the Lord number two you can text people and and send emails of encouragement I have received yesterday text from people all around the country wanting to encourage me and I need to be doing the same with it with other people and that's why we're doing this broadcast right now you can also write letters that there's nothing more personal than a handwritten note just to let someone know that you're thinking about them and to put a Bible verse there and encourage them to think about the Lord so those are some ways you can also go to a neighbor next door and leave something at the front door and and put a Bible verse on something that you would leave for them as an expression of love so I know we want to keep this short can is there any other question that you feel is worth passing on yeah yeah and I we do apologize for the technical difficulties you can tell we're doing this live and we will be here tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock and would love for you to join us and hopefully we'll have all of the the kinks worked out of of our broadcast but I just want to remind you the Lord is the shepherd who watches over all of his sheep and the Lord is committed to meeting your needs at this time and he will strengthen you and provide for you so I'm just going to close in a word of Prayer and I'll see you tomorrow morning Lord thank you for what you're doing all around the world you are working in mysterious ways ways beyond which we can even comprehend for your own glory and for the good of your people and we rest in this this day in Jesus name Amen for to seeing you tomorrow morning [Music] you [Music]

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Length: 18min 2sec (1082 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 23 2020