Psalms23

very minute give my words wings Lord may they fly high enough to reach the mighty low enough to breathe the breath of sweet encouragement upon the downcast soul give my words wings Lord may they fly Swift and far winning the race to the wood their hearts the worldly wise and the hearts of men give my words wings Lord see them nesting down at your feet silenced into ecstasy home at last I'm in now men well we're going to look into a very familiar passage of Scripture the 23rd psalm and was a wonderful rendition the Gettys music there i knew Kristin Getty when she was 5 years of age the gal that wrote that thing she's Irish beautifully Irish and hasn't had an easy life and I was thinking of her all the time I was singing that song actually and yeah she knows the shepherd and it shows let me read you the scriptures the Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters he restores my soul he guides me in paths of rightness for his name's sake and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies and anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows surely not maybe surely surely surely surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the law Lord forever I wonder if any of you looking at the bulletin and not being aware that we were looking into such familiar pastures green pastures in this Psalm we're a little disappointed do you ever get disappointed when the preacher is taking something that is so familiar to you you could preach three or four sermons yourself and you've looked into it and it's perhaps only been heard for you at funerals which is very sad for this isn't for funerals this isn't for death yes there's one line we shall dwell in the house the Lord for ever but this is for life and the whole key to this Psalm is between the first and last verses the Lord is my shepherd for all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and maybe even if you've only heard it at funerals on that one line though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I want you to think of this for life I want you to think of this as a journey because that's what David was writing about I remember coming in from meeting I've been taken having to go to bed very late and get up go out the next morning and really needing replenishing restoring and I was tempted not to follow my pattern of reading I hope you all have a pattern of reading it gets one from the bookstore get one from anywhere but have somebody give you the passage of scripture you should be reading and stick to it and that way you'll get right the way through the Bible and you won't be just feeding in one little corner of the pasture for the rest of your life well I have that pattern and when I came to the pattern and I was really hungry and leading repeating and I was exhausted it was the 23rd psalm and I said to the shepherd oh I hope you don't mind but I think I've grazed this I know this I I'm looking for something new and fresh and fresh grass Lord and and I was just about to turn over to Malachi or somewhere and look for something new and I know that the Shepherd said read it and so I was obedient and I began to read such a familiar thing and there in the corner of a verse God had grown me a little patch of nourishment that haven't been there till then because I didn't need it to lend God's grass grows overnight yes it does so when you come to familiar scriptures don't pass them by I was so glad I didn't because what I needed that night was there waiting for me the Shepherd always knows what the exhausted depleted restore restoring is to happen and he leads us and even if the passage doesn't look as though it's anything to do with what you are needing from God he will grow you grass overnight you'll see so let's look at a very familiar Psalm David of course is the writer he was a shepherd he knew all about shepherd and sheep in fact he'd never had a real childhood had he well he had in that culture but he being the youngest of many brothers had been sent out to look after the sheep and the goats and so he was there all his childhood he never played with other children he never had a teenage life he was a shepherd and that's where he learned God he learned solitude he learned silence some of the things that we don't know anything about in this generation all there was was God and him and the sheep and the Lions and the Bears and something like that and he looked up the sky one day and he said oh when I consider their stars in the work finger work work if your fingers what is man that your mind for of him your mind is full of man when you have all these stars to keep into place says in Isaiah that you've put all the stars in place and named them and not one of them is missing in hooks where each of them ah I always think Oh Lord just lend me a bit of that because I never know where my glasses are in my books and car or anything like that and and God knows where everything is not only the stars that are inanimate but certainly the sheep and he uses this image to talk about his own heart relationship with God with the everlasting God he calls him the Lord CAPITAL LETTERS lor d jehovah the personal name of god he could have used all the Creator God who created all things sheep included but he didn't he used Jehovah he used my god he used the name that Jacob in Genesis had used Shepherd of Israel Lord Shepherd of Israel and so this term Shepherd of Israel or the picture of God shepherding his people in the wilderness was well known to David he had it written on that scroll of scripture that he was given at his coronation that all the kings of Israel were given that the scribes had painstakingly written it was God's Word and as he received that scroll he was told to read mark inwardly digest it and carry it with him in his clothes in his robes for the rest of his life now we know that he left it behind a couple of times when he was on the roof and didn't get off was looking at Beth Sheba's naked body we know that we know he didn't always obediently follow the shepherd but we know he was a sheep after God's own heart in the end and he's a model to us so let's see what we can learn from Psalm 23 my husband has a friend who was an evangelist I don't even know if he's still here or if he's in glory but he used to go up to Scotland which is sort of on the pointed end the British Isles and he used to gather children in Kirk's churches little cooks and have a week's meetings just as a children's evangelist and Scottish pastor in little tiny isolated places up there in the north of the British Isles invited him to come and he the only time he could go was in the winter and so he went up in the winter and as he was going towards the place he was staying to this little church for the meetings he passed a shepherd boy looking after the sheep in the fields and already the snow was falling and winter was coming on and he stopped his car and he got out and he said hello what's your name and he got to know the little boy and he said I've come to the Kirk and I've come to do meetings about Jesus and I'd love you to come do you think you could get another Shepherd to look after your sheet and come one day and there is a voice at all I'd like to do that I'll try and he came and that week the man was doing the 23rd psalm the Evangelist and he was doing it like this and now try and describe it for the people that are listening and can't see me that I'm holding up my left hand with five fingers on it and I'm taking my right hand and the Evangelist used his right hand to put his finger on the thumb the Lord is my shepherd to touch each of the fingers the Lord is my shepherd and each day he talked about an element of what that meant to have the Lord as your shepherd and so the time went on and the little boy came a couple of times and heard those tours and a few weeks after the friend of ours had a very sad phone message from this little church and the pastor said a terrible thing has happened we had this blitt blizzard and this and the little boy and the sheep couldn't get through to get them all safely out of the way and the drifts came and in the end he died in the snowdrift and all the animals died with him and when they found his little body there was something really strange and that's why I'm calling you because he was holding his fourth finger like this why would he be doing that and why he was doing that is because the Evangelist would say the Lord is my shepherd and get hold of that fourth finger with his right hand just like this that's how they found his little body is the Lord your shepherd is he your personal Shepherd he's a personal God and we are the Sheep of his pasture if we choose to be it's a frightening choice the Lord is my shepherd says David he's mine he's mine and I am his forever as we've just sung he makes me lie down in green pastures these are the green pastures mine's red I don't know what color yours are I'm holding up my Bible here it's got a red cover but it is the pasture it is the feeding grounds it is the way that we little sheep who have gone astray but have been found by the Good Shepherd who are now sheep of his pasture it's the way that we live and move and have our being now there are many many times that a shepherd image is used in the Old Testament but also in the new Jesus borrows this particular picture and uses it and applies it to himself I am The Good Shepherd as opposed to the false shepherd I am The Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd he says gives his life for the Sheep not only am i the Good Shepherd I am the door of the Sheep fold and he uses all the pictures of shepherds and sheep which the group he was talking to would have made absolute sense I am the door why did he say that he says well if you're going to be one of my sheep you got to come in by the door when he had gathered the sheep every night safely in the fold for the evening he would lie across the front of the fold why he was the door there wasn't a door he was the door so if the lion came or the bear came the shepherd who was a good shepherd in essence said get my sheep you got me first not getting my sheep I'm the door not only do I give my life for the Sheep he says in John chapter 10 but once you're in my fold I will protect you there he'll you there I'll rub oil on your head I'll anoint your little woolly head with oil if you've got bumps and bruises I will heal you I will renew you I will rest you I will count you I will touch you and I will give you all a name I know your name and in the morning we will go out we'll come in we will go out we will come in we will go out and I will go out with you and Jesus uses all those pictures in John chapter 10 so Jesus is our Shepherd he says I came to give my life for the Sheep I knew I'd have to do that before I came Jesus was not a hired hand Jesus in John chapter 10 says the hired hand the person that's hired to be a shepherd here run if the lion comes he'll be gone if the bear comes he's got nothing to lose they're not his sheep he's just hired I'm not a hard nobody hired me God didn't say get yourself down there now how much do you want I'll pay you to go on sort the mess out in earth know I came I came because I love them because they're lost and if something doesn't work they're going to be lost forever Jesus is our Shepherd so the image in parable in teaching is there and of course we all know Luke chapter 15 and the Good Shepherd who has 99 safe in the fold and he counts them in and one is lost one is lost and he goes and finds it I cannot imagine what it's like to lose a child I can't even watch TV with the terrible horrific things that are happening to children I just I can't watch through another abduction or another whatever it just is so horrific and so terrible and that's what the Shepherd would find when he counted he's got a hundred sheep and he can Stan I 9 and this one lost and that's what Jesus feels about the lost sheep and he leaves them safely in the fold or in the field and he goes and finds us and he comes himself if you want to read about it read Psalm 22 which precedes Psalm 23 and that's where David taken out of himself talking about his horror of being hunted by his enemies comes into a prophetic words about the crucifixion in detail and he starts and talks about the Good Shepherd that will give his life for the Sheep and he comes out of Psalm 22 into Psalm 23 so that's the background to it all and David begins to take the pieces of it and put it together for us the Lord is my shepherd I shall be in want it doesn't mean I'll have everything I want it means spiritually I will have everything I need everything I need everything I need down here and the key to this whole Psalm is the first in the last verse for the first verse says the Lord is my shepherd all the days of my life that's it first and last verse it's about living why is it used for funerals I don't know one verse but this is about you and me before we get to Evan s before we get to the heavenly fold this is about life itself so how are we doing the essence of iniquity all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all iniquity is sin in its most grievous form is independence from God is a sheep that says I live with myself I'll be my own God I'll answer my own prayers I'll choose my own religion I'll be my own shepherd I'll find my own flock now here's a flashlight of my own abilities and resources to walk through any old Valley you can't frighten me I'll anoint my own head I'll fill my own cup I'll hear my own wounds and I'll choose my own address at the end of the day the scary thing is the Shepherd says go right ahead go right ahead go right ahead and we'll be astray forever do you believe that I don't believe we have any alternative but to believe if we're lost and we're not found we'll be lost forever what a terrible thing so how does he replenish me how does he renew me I had three emails this week from friends of mine and all of them use the same word I'm depleted I mean everything is awful in my life or everything's not terribly awful but I'm just down Jill I'm depleted and these are wonderful people that are all serving the Lord either here or abroad and but they all use the same word which is interesting because the opposite - depleted and I looked up in a dictionary is replenished the opposite being depleted is being replenished and maybe you are fine physically you are fine in every way except spiritually but in your spirit you're down in your spirit you're depleted and if that's the case when you're listening to me right here or by radio or whatever else if that's the case have you just got a minute to listen to the rest of this talk and at the end of it you come back to the Shepherd if that's what you need to do have you just been wandering off haven't you been following closely what's been happening are you depleted or have you been perfectly alright in your relationship with God but you've been giving out and giving out and giving out until you haven't been taking in and you can't do that without being depleted you need restoring coming back to my favorite piece of shepherds and sheep in the Old Testament Isaiah 49 the Shepherd says about depleted sheep you will feed be beside the road you will find pasture on every single turn of the road you won't hunger you on thirst you won't know the desert heat or the Sun beating on you I will take you to springs of water I will lift the Lambs in my arms and carry them close to my heart and I will gently lead those who are with young you ever seen that I have a slide I've waited to show for about two years that I found in England if you put it up this is a sheep and there's something wrong with it I don't know how well you can see this but it's wool is falling out you see that it's losing its wool I was in England with hundreds of these like this last spring at Cape Anne ray where we served for 11 years before we came here to America and they have hundreds of sheep they look after in their fields and I asked the Shepherd what is the matter is this a disease I've never seen anything like this their wall is just falling out and while I was saying it there was a sheep like this and literally a big chunk of wall just felt it oh my word is losing its wool and so the guy who looks after the Sheep one of them said yes it's sheep stress I said really what's that with he said well you can't see it on the photo but it's got two lambs behind it who are teenagers Oh got it I love it love that picture mom liked that picture you're losing it wall right they don't have to be teenagers do they they can be any age cause your will to fall out thank you I love that picture I wanted to show you just so you know but this is the verse he tends his flock like a shepherd shepherd he gathers the Lambs in his arms he carries them close to his heart and he gently leads those who have young moms mothers you feel depleted mom would you love to have your teenagers around you but there's been a divorce there the other side of the country is that why the walls falling out is that where the heartache stress is or are they with you and you're a single parent with two jobs the Shepherd wants you to come close he wants to gently lead you and he wants to take the lambs in his arms carry them for you yes he does yes he does ask him you say I have been asking him but I'm still frightened I'm still scared it's like a big Valley I'm walking through this valley of the shadow of death it could be the death of a marriage it could be the death of a relationship it could be the death of anything it could be a physical death it could be death what Valley are we walking through he wants to walk it with us and notice it's the shadow it's not totally dark for where does the shadow there's always light right and for the believer for the Sheep for the one who said the Lord is my shepherd is that you and you're in a valley and you're confused and you're depleted and you're fearful never be totally dark where does the shadow there's always light and where does that light come from he who is the light of the world as well as the shepherd of sheep I am with you always you might not emotionally feel it you have to know it in your convictions deeper than your feelings do not live your Christian life in your feelings live it in your knowings I know you are my shepherd you promised me and I can hardly see you for it's it's it's so shadowy and dark and there are forms and I'm frightened but I will believe you promised you always keep your promises you are with me always how do we practice that presence of God in the sunshine so that when the time comes for you and I to walk through a valley we know there is no shortcut you put it on your calendar every day and beside what you do normally with your scripture and your prayers and everything else put another 10 minutes aside every day put it on the calendar what's that for just for you in the Shepherd just you because so often what we do is always for someone else oh that's good for mrs. Smith oh this is great for my daughter and the Lord saying but we need to talk you know I I need to feed you I I need to take you and give you a good cool drink I need to rest you I need to peace you I need to piece yourself your so-and-so get organized and step into the presence of God what else is there save time at your feet our paws in your presence time holding its breath with a sense of evanesce pervading my living room holiness that Havas evidence by quietness beyond quietness permeating the space beneath the praise of angels whatever just walk into his presence do it anywhere in the world where there are people where there aren't time Here I am Lord I see you he says I'm coming and he always does because it's his book it's his pastures he's the Shepherd so where are you in the Sam perhaps you're seeking his will I don't know what he wants me to go I spoke to the students our students in the half in our Chapel at this week I always love to do that that's my age I don't know what I'm doing talking to all you big people I like kids but never mind that's all right I had a wonderful time the other night and most of the questions afterwards were how can I find the will of God how can I find what he wants me to do with my life will he tell me who he wants me to marry should I take this job should I go to seminary what what should I do and I said ask him he said well how early they said well how will he tell us he'll lead you in right paths by principles from this book he will not say when you're in your reading go and get a job in the supermarket it will not be there right but he might say I have called you to be an under Shepherd of the sheep you might be in those marvelous passages and you get this sense you know I could do that I love the Lord I love people I maybe I could do psychology and as you start and read principals will pop up and little pieces of grass you'll be nourished your soul and you'll say yeah that feels good that feels right or you take step by step by step and he'll lead you in right paths if you ask him just the right path Lord just the right way and when that happens you will find that your whole soul becomes nourished and cherished you follow in obedience you just say yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord and when you do that your whole life will be a testimony and people will look at you and say there's something about you that I want yes the world you're standing in Jerusalem on a holy land trip and I saw the sheep coming in to Jerusalem at the Sheep gate still happens centuries this has happened and they bring the sheep through all the tourists and all the people and they go in the Sheep case still and they have folds inside the Sheep gate so that they're safe for the night now they don't need to do that now they can leave them on the hills but they used to do it and they passed and they still do it for different reasons now in the middle of our century and I looked one way and there were all these wooly little sheep or following along at nose-to-tail very very obedient and they were all sort of fluffy and and happy and firing you know and the shepherd was in front of them because of Western shepherd leads drives his sheep but an Eastern Shepherd leads his sheep and so his leading and yes they're all there and he goes in and I thought wow what a shepherd what a shepherd and then I looked the other way into my amazement there was another line of sheep but they were so different and they were scraggy and some of them were dirty and they were getting in the way of cars and he was running back and hitting them with this their stick and get back get back in line and one had an ear hanging off I can't tell you and I thought well he's not much of a shepherd and do you know that people judge the shepherd by the Sheep how dare we be so little redeemed hurt a wee people are judging our Shepherd who died for us by us so we need to be like these Shi right and then people will say wow somebody's looking after you who's your Shepherd yes they were for his sake for his sake it says he'll lead us in right path for his sake never mind our sake you'll fill us and he'll heal us and he'll help us they'll fill our cup to overflowing again in the Middle East in a Bedouin tent if you go in for hospitality invited by a family you sit on the floor which is getting harder and harder to do in my old age and they bring a cup small cup and they give you the cup and then they bring a big cup a jug really and they start and pour and you hold the cup out and the first time it happened to me I did what all Westerners who are ignorant do I pulled it away because he went on pouring he filled it and it went over my hands and he said no no no no and so you leave it there and He pours it until it overflows and that is the symbol of saying that is how we honor you that is how we welcome you overflowing our hospitality our hearts are overflowing that beautiful that's what he'll do for us she kept this for she kept this for that's your fault your fault he will fill your cup to overflowing if you ask him if you step into his presence you say I'm here Lord you have the conversation and he applies his word and says there's a little bit of nourishment for you and you eat you drink and he touches you yeah that's how it works and one day you're trot all the way into glory for he has prepared a room a room with a view and surely surely surely not maybe maybe maybe but surely goodness and mercy will follow us there God's good sheep dogs if you wish he will come behind he has gone before he is with me he's everywhere what else is the folks he's everywhere he is the shepherd me finish with this when healing oil was needed for the wounds within my soul when battered raw and bleeding I needed to be whole when enemy has surrounded me and all I knew was fear my shepherd came and found me and whispered I am here he lifts me on his shoulders and he laughs and fears face and he carries me through danger and all I know his grace then gently puts me down again though enemy is abound and tells me I am dear to him for behind the sheep he found he leads me to green pastures and rests me by coral streams he lays a table for me within my darkest dreams and the nourishment is such that when it's time to follow on I gladly face tomorrow for all my fears are gone so when I cannot thank him for all it's come to pass I'll feast within the wilderness and wait for greener grass when I can't praise for what's been done I lift my voice out loud and praise my lord for who he is in what he has allowed and I'll quit saying take the shadows away and I'll quit asking him to kiss every hurt better here and I'll try and follow when I can't praise for what's been done I lift my voice out loud and praise my lord for who he is my shepherd in what he has allowed praise who he is my shepherd dear who gave his life for me who's led and fed and raised the dead to live in victory whose rod and staff have saved me from all my sinfulness he will wipe the tear the ever near in glories heaven as Stuart and I put that together we've never written a poem together and we put it together after I had shared what I was going to share with you and said tell me teach me help me expand it push me so I can get some of it right and at the end I the poem and sent it to him to edit and he did a pretty good job he edited and he put within it his own thoughts so I rather neat we wrote a poem together I love it but those are the lines when you can't praise for what's been done lift your voice out loud and praise your Lord for who he is in what he has allowed he's your Shepherd pray with me Heavenly Father dear Shepherd of the Sheep you found me you save me I'm so lost thank you you are my shepherd I invite you to tell him that even if it's for the first time or reiterate it remind yourself hold that fourth finger where you sit and say the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want lead me home Lord lead us home and may we make people say who is looking after them I'd like to belong to that flock what a challenge we love you Lord I'm in you

Channel: Johnny Harsh

Views: 39,109

Rating: 4.8590784 out of 5

Keywords: Jill Briscoe, Johnny Harsh, Bible, God, Holy Spirit, Twenty-third Psalm, 23rd Psalm, Jesus, Pray Miracles, Bible Study

Id: BuOPWdLltbE

Length: 38min 29sec (2309 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 28 2013