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We are entering in, let me turn my mic on, that'll work. We're entering into what I like to call the

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the season of abundance and it kind of starts with Thanksgiving because there's

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going to be an abundance of food, right, and you're going to eat your fill and if

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you're anything like me then you don't just have one Thanksgiving gathering to

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go to, you've got multiple so you're going to really eat your fill over the

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next few weeks to the month and then no sooner does Thanksgiving end than the

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Christmas season begins and there's going to be an abundance of shopping, an

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abundance of wrapping and gift-giving and receiving and guess what, there's

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gonna be more food and so gym memberships are really gonna go up in

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January again but we are entering into the season of abundance and it's

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gonna be really easy over the next two months to get caught up in the busyness

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of everything, right. I mean when you become an adult it's actually pretty

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hard to even enjoy Christmas anymore because you're just so busy and so over

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the next two months there's gonna be a big season of busyness and it's gonna

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be really easy to get distracted and caught up in that and so I thought it

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would be nice for the month of November if we would just take some time to be

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thankful, to take a step back from all the hustle and the bustle and all the

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busyness and just reflect on all that we have to be thankful for as Christians

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and I was planning on doing a whole sermon series on reasons we had to be

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thankful and I was gonna do different passages in the Bible and I wanted to

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start with Psalm 23 and I was like that's be you know it's one of my favorite

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Psalms I'm gonna preach a sermon on that and so I started writing the sermon and

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after I got through two verses as you can see I had a sermon. We're actually

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gonna do a little series on Psalm 23 just looking at a few verses each week

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maybe next week only one verse but this Psalm does a great job of showing us

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all that we have to be thankful for as Christians. I know that we know it as

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the funeral Psalm because that's where most of us hear it and that's most of the

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time where we hear it preached but this Psalm is so much more than just a

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funeral Psalm. This Psalm line after line verse after verse just puts the glory in

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the goodness of God on display. It shows who he is and what he does for his

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people and it just shows us all that we have to be thankful for and I don't know

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about you maybe you're like me but every morning that I wake up and the older I

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get the more this becomes true every morning I wake up and I realize God has

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given me another day of life I'm thankful. I'm more and more thankful for

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God every day that he would continue to see me this wicked wretched sinner and

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choose to give me another day of life to not only do that but he would say that

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despite this person's sin and disobedience I still want him and I want

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him to be part of my flock and I'm gonna make sure that he is I'm increasingly

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thankful for God and his goodness every day and so really the whole point of

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these first two verses that I want to show you is that we should give

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abundant thanks for an abundant God. We have a God of abundance do we not church?

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He is abundantly good abundantly gracious abundantly merciful abundantly

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loving and I could keep going on for the next ten minutes but you get the point

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our God is a God of abundance and so as Christians we should give abundant

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thanks for an abundant God and you might be here this morning and you might be

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thinking well pastor that's easy for you to say but I don't really have much to

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be thankful for this morning. Life has gotten pretty hard recently. Times are

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troubling an election is happening this week money's pretty tight right now

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there's drama in the family work isn't going great and I'm just generally

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unhappy so what do I have to be thankful for this morning and that's actually the

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question that I want us to consider. How can we have a spirit of thankfulness

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regardless of our circumstances? How can we do this? So how is it possible as a

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Christian to maintain and have this spirit of thankfulness regardless of

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the circumstances that we face in our lives and I think that this psalm is

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going to address that. So let's dive in see what the word says Psalm 23 one my

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hope is that by the end of this series you'll have this psalm memorized and you

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can say it from memory there will be a test on that so be looking forward to it

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but Psalm 23 one the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. Now as you know

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throughout this psalm David is going to be using the metaphor of a shepherd and

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his sheep and this was really close to David's heart because you'll remember

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that long before he was a king and long before he was a warrior what was he he

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is a little shepherd boy watching over his daddy's flock and so this is very

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near to David's life and what's interesting is most scholars believe

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that that David was an old man when he wrote this psalm they believe that he

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wrote this at the very end of his life nearing the time of his death and so

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just get this picture in your mind here is David as an old man he's nearing

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death and as he's reflecting on his life and all that God has done for him he

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sees the work of a shepherd and he sees the love of the shepherd and so he

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starts by saying the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and you need to

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understand that David is not just recognizing God's goodness to him only

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but he's also reflecting on God's goodness to all of his people but this

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phrase I shall not want it's the same phrase used in Deuteronomy 2 7 where the

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word says for the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your

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hands he knows you're going through this wilderness these 40 years the Lord your

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God has been with you you have lacked nothing now literally in Hebrew what

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this says is these 40 years the Lord your God has been with you you have not

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wanted it's the same phrase that's used here and so David is recognizing that

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just as God was gracious to provide all the needs that the people of Israel had

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during their time in the wilderness so too God has been gracious to bless David

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and provide David with everything that he needed in his life and I want us to

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recognize this attitude here as a spirit of thankfulness to say that he has no

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wants David is saying that he is perfectly content and what is contentment

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but thankfulness if you were truly content then you are thankful for all

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that God has given you and this means that it is possible to be truly content

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and thankful regardless of the circumstances you face in life Paul says

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this in Philippians 4 11 through 13 not that I'm speaking of being in need for I

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have learned in whatever situation I am to be content I know how to be brought

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low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance I have learned the

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secret of facing plenty and hunger abundance in need what's the secret I

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can do all things through him who strengthens me so what is the secret of

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contentment church what's the secret of being thankful in all circumstances it

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is recognizing that you can do all things through the one who strengthens

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you you can be thankful with little because Christ is the one who

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strengthens you and sustains you even when you have very little you can be

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thankful with abundance because Christ is the one who provided everything for

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you in all situations in all circumstances we can be thankful because

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we have a shepherd who knows what his sheep need and he provides everything

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that we do need and you might think well it sounds good but it's awfully hard to

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practice and I would agree with you right it's hard to practice being

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thankful like this in all circumstances but let me tell you something I have

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personally witnessed it I witnessed it firsthand when I was living in

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Charleston I think I've told you this before but when I was living in

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Charleston I became really good friends with a homeless man named Stephen

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Stephen was the most thankful content joyful Christian I have ever met in my

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entire life every time I would see him he would just be walking the streets

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singing praises to the Lord talking about God he had a sharpie and he would

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write Bible verses all over every inch of his skin so that people would ask him

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and he could share the Word of God with them I mean everything he did was just

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all about God and I'll never forget one day we were right outside Bubba Gump

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shrimp restaurant and Stephen comes rolling down the street and I start

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talking with him and I said Stephen have you eaten today do you need any food

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we're right here I can go and get he said nope God's gonna provide for me I

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was like I'm sure he will maybe I'm the one through whom he's providing so like

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could I do this for you he said no I trust God he's gonna provide so then I

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watched him walk over to a trash can and he reaches in the trash can and he pulls

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out this half the in hamburger and he starts eating it and he says praise God

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God has blessed me with protein today and then he found an apple he starts

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eating that too and he says praise God God has blessed me with fiber today and

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then what really got me because it was gross but he did it anyways is he found

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a little bottle of milk that barely had anything left in it and he took that

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final sip of that milk and he said praise the Lord God has blessed me with

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calcium today too we're over here complaining about our lives and not the

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fact that we're not making more money than we are the fact that we can't

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afford our dream car or a dream house or we can't afford the new iPhone which is

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the exact same as the last iPhone and the one before that the one before that

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we're complaining about all these little petty things and here's a homeless man

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eating out of a garbage can thanking God for providing him with discarded

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nutrients you see to say that we shall not want is not to say that God has made

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all of our dreams come true but it is to say that God has provided us with

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everything in our lives that is essential so God's not going to make all

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my wishes come true and all my dreams come true but he is going to provide me

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with everything that is needed and essential for my life so how can we have

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a spirit of thankfulness regardless of our circumstances thank God for what you

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have and trust God for what you need that's the point I want to make here

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this morning thank God for what you have and trust God for what you need my mom

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is smiling because I stole that from her that's my mom saying that's not mine so

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all credit to Lisa Chapman goes to her thank God for what you have trust God

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for what you need that's what she used to tell me all the time growing up most

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of you know me really well and you know that I never worry I never struggle with

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anxiety I never overthink everything it's just not who I am by nature of

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course it is that is me to the core right I worry about everything I get

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really anxious and worked up and overthink everything and so I remember

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there were times growing up I mean we didn't have a lot we were pretty bad off

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at times and there were times where we really didn't have anything and we were

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struggling and I remember there would be times when there was a bill that needed

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to be paid or something that was coming due and I was like mom what are we gonna

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do I mean we don't have the money to pay for these things what in the world are

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we gonna do like I don't know how much plasma is going for these days but I'm

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sure I could sell that off like whatever we need I've got two kidneys we could

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sell one of those make a little money and I'm trying to think through all these

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solutions and mom it was so pure infuriating at the time because every

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single time mom would just go thank God for what you have and trust God for what

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you need I'm like I get that mom I understand praise to the Lord but what

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are we gonna do and she said we're gonna thank God for what we have we're gonna

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trust God for what we need and every single time the Lord provided for us the

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good Shepherd knew what his sheep needed and he was good to provide that's

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exactly what David is saying here the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want why

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shall I not want because God is going to provide for me he's going to make sure

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that I have everything that I need and everything that is essential for my life

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and you might be saying well pastor I don't really have much I don't have much

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this morning well the Bible says in first Timothy 6 8 but if we have food

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and clothing with these we will be content let me ask you a question do you

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have food at your house everybody eat breakfast this morning yeah do you have

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clothes to wear now listen you don't have to answer that because I know the

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answer okay clearly you do and nice clothes at that even if this is your only

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outfit you have clothes to wear so you have food to eat you have clothes to

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wear the Bible says with these we will be content everything else is just icing

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on the cake is it not I mean how petty is it of us to complain about all these

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things that we wish we had that we do not have and we rarely take the time to

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remember that God owes us nothing we are entitled to nothing from God we are

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sinners enemies of the Lord before Christ God doesn't owe his enemies

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anything except justice you wouldn't give your enemy anything and yet God is

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so good that he provides for those who even hate him he provides for those who

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were going to curse him all day long and so we don't need to be complaining about

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all these things that we don't have when we need to take time to realize that

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everything we do have comes from the Lord and he is good because he didn't

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know us anything and gave it to us anyways and I want to just remind you

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this morning that everything good you have in your life comes from God the

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Bible says in James 1 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above

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coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or

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shadow due to change so thank God for what you have trust God for what you

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need because everything good in your life comes from the father and David

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gives us even more reason to be thankful look at the first part of verse 2 with

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me the Bible says here he makes me lie down in green pastures what a beautiful

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sight is it not he makes me lie down in green pastures I learned something

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really interesting recently because I was reading a book that I highly

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recommend I recommended it to the Wednesday night crew it's a book called

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a shepherd looks at Psalm 23 and it was written by a shepherd named Philip

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Keller who spent a portion of his life as a shepherd and decided to write a

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devotional book on Psalm 23 from the perspective of a shepherd and so he

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writes on every line and it was interesting when he got to this part he

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said it's interesting that the Bible says he makes me lie down in green

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pastures because it's almost impossible for sheep to be made to lie down unless

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four requirements are met in order for a sheep to lie down they must be free from

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fear free from tension free from aggravation and free from hunger and the

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most interesting part about all of that is please notice this it is only the

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shepherd who can provide those things it is only the shepherd who can provide

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release from these anxieties and is only the shepherd who makes it possible for

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the sheep to lie down and be at rest Keller recounts that when he first

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became a shepherd his flock was under constant attack and threat he said he

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would wake up to find that there were some sheep dead from cougar attacks he

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also discovered that rival farmers were coming by night with their dogs and

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picking off the flock and so what he said is that he started sleeping outside

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every single night with his rifle right beside him and at the smallest sounder

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Russell he would jolt up call his collie and dash out into the night with his

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rifle in his hand ready to protect his sheep and he said this he said that over

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the years he found that nothing so quieted and reassured his sheep as to see

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him in the field he says the presence of their master and owner and protector

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would put them at ease as nothing else could do I think children are not very

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different from sheep we made the mistake Anna and I of reading Judah the story of

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the three little pigs when he was way too young for that apparently because

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after we read that story to him he went through this long phase where he was

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deathly afraid of the big bad wolf I mean it all times he thought the big bad

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wolf was gonna come get him all the time especially at night and so we would be

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trying to put him to bed and he didn't want to go to bed or go to sleep or be

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left alone because he was worried that the big bad wolf was gonna break into

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our house and come get him in the middle of the night and then we had a pack of

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coyotes outside our house and then he became deathly afraid that coyotes were

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somehow going to break into our house open the door go up the stairs open his

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door and eat him in his sleep and so he was having a hard time lying down and

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going to sleep and wanting to be not letting not wanting to be left alone and

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so he's going through this fear and he's not lying down and so I just told him I

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said hey buddy listen as long as your daddy is in this house you don't have to

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be afraid of the thing I said as long as I am in this house there's nothing and

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there is no one going to come in this house and they're certainly not going to

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make it up the steps I promise you that they are not coming to get you so as

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long as daddy is here you're safe and without assurance he started to lie down

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and go to sleep what is it that makes David lie down like a sheep in green

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pastures here what is it that frees him from fear and anxiety enough to rest it

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is the presence of the Good Shepherd right next to him and the same thing is

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true for us church when we are riddled with anxiety when we are fearful about

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the future when we're distressed and uncertain nothing can quiet those fears

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and anxieties like knowing that Jesus is with us I know that storms are coming

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there's not a thing I can do to prevent that I just want to know that when I'm

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going through the storm Jesus is going to be in the boat with me amen I need to

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know if I'm gonna have to face it please just let me know Jesus is going to be

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with me and the Bible says that he is you know I said well how do I know that

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pastor well Jesus says in Matthew 28 20 and behold I am with you always to the

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end of the age and again in Hebrews 13 5 the Bible says for he has said I will

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never leave you nor forsake you church listen to me this promise is yours in

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Christ no matter how alone you feel no matter how overwhelmed you are no matter

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the circumstances you face in your life Jesus our good Shepherd has promised you

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personally that he is with you and that he will never leave you he will never

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forsake you and so as his sheep we are free to rest and isn't that good we are

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free to rest in the presence of the good Shepherd knowing that he is with us and

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watching over us and so if you want to foster this spirit of thankfulness this

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morning then here's what you need to do learn to treasure the presence of the

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good Shepherd more than the presence of the good Shepherd there's an intentional

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play on words there so if you're listening to this later I apologize to

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that it's not going to make sense to you but we need to learn to treasure the

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presence of the good Shepherd more than the presence of the good Shepherd the

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great Puritans and Thomas Watson said it like this he said we love we must love

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God more for what he is than for what he bestows the way I would say it is that

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we must never love God's blessings more than the God who blesses we have to

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learn to treasure his presence in our lives more than the things he gives us

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because here's my concern as Christians today we have this really bad tendency

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to judge the goodness of God based upon our circumstances or the things we have

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correct and so we say if we go through a hard time we're tempted to doubt the

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goodness of God how can he be good if this is happening if there are things we

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want in life and we fail to get them then we question the goodness of God

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here's the problem the Bible says God is good period but we've added an amendment

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as Christians today and we say God is good amendment as long as and then we

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fill in the blank God is good as long as life is good God is good as long as he

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follows my plan for my life and make sure that I can do everything I want to

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do God is good as long as he gives me everything that I want in life God is

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good as long as I never face trials as long as I never face setbacks or hard

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times or persecution God is good as long as and here's the problem church God's

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goodness is not dependent on any of those things in any way shape or form the

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Bible says God is good and because he is God he is good all the time because God

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never changes the Bible says in Hebrews 13 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday

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today and tomorrow he's always the same God is good because he is God his

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goodness does not depend on your circumstances God was good long before

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you were ever even a thought in your parents mind God was good long before he

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ever established the foundation of the world God has always been good he is

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always good and he will always be good we don't need an amendment God is good

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all the time in church all the time God is good and so we have to learn to stop

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judging God's goodness and basing his goodness on our lives and our circumstances

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and the things that we have and this good God tells us that regardless of what

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we face in life he is always with us and just as the presence of the shepherd

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allowed the sheep to rest in peace so too the presence of the good shepherd

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allows us his sheep to rest in green pastures Jesus said this in Matthew 11

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28 to 30 come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I'll do what church

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I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle

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and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy

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and my burden is light so are you tired and worn out from your circumstances

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this morning are you beaten down from life the Bible says come to Jesus find

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your rest in him are you anxious and fearful the Bible says cast all your

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cares on him because he cares for you are you under weight of the pressure

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from the world from expectations are you feeling the pressure of trying to live

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up to the expectations of others Jesus is inviting you to get out from under

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that yoke this morning and take his yoke upon you which is easy in light you see

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here's the thing I know that you want your problems and your difficulties to

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go away but listen to me say this as your pastor even if that were to happen

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you're gonna have peace for a moment and guess what's gonna happen next month

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you're gonna have more problems and more difficulties and you're gonna lack that

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peace again so listen wouldn't it be better to learn to find your peace in

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Jesus so that you can have peace regardless of your circumstances it's

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not so much better than what we have been doing it is for me at least and

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that's what the Good Shepherd offers us he makes us lie down in green pastures

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he is with us and he is watching over us there's one final reason I want you to

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see this morning to be thankful look at the second half of verse 2 yes we've

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only made it to the second half of verse 2 I know it feels like it's only been

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five minutes he leads me beside still waters now some of your translations

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might say quiet waters in Hebrew it literally says waters of resting places

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and here's what's interesting about this phrase the first time a portion of this

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phrase is used is all the way back in the book of Genesis and Genesis chapter

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2 verse 15 the Bible says the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden

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of Eden to work it and keep it now you're wondering okay pastor we see that

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verse I don't see anything about waters of resting places or resting places it

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looks like just work and keep so what am I missing well that phrase put him in

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the garden in Hebrew it actually literally says that God caused him to

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rest in the garden so this Garden of Eden this meeting place between God and

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man it was a resting place where Adam and Eve were invited to rest in the

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presence of God and so when David says that the Lord leads him beside waters

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of resting places he is saying that the Lord satisfies his soul in a way that

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allows him to experience true rest you see church it's not enough simply to be

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in green pastures in order to find rest the soul must be satisfied in a way that

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allows for rest to happen you see what's interesting is a sheep will not rest as

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long as it is thirsty and if a shepherd is unable to lead his sheep to clean

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pure drinking water Philip Keller says this he says sheep will drink water from

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polluted potholes where they pick up parasites and diseases so unless a

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shepherd is able to lead his sheep to clean pure drinking water they're gonna

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drink out of polluted potholes and try to quench their thirst with that I want

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to tell you that in the same way our souls will not enjoy true rest and true

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satisfaction until they have drunk deeply from the well of Christ Jesus

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said in Matthew 5 6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

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for they shall be what satisfy this is the satisfaction that we need but like a

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bunch of sheep we are trying to satisfy our thirst by drinking out of a bunch of

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polluted potholes we're like the man who stranded on a desert island and he's

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slowly dying of thirst and he wants so badly for that thirst to be quenched

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and to fill water on his tongue and his lips that he starts to look at the ocean

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he says that's a lot of water I bet it's pretty cold too it probably

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feel pretty good in the moment but we all know what would happen right if he

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tries to drink that water to satisfy his thirst what's gonna happen so I'm gonna

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make it worse it's gonna worsen his thirst it's gonna kill him quicker and

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so too we often try to satisfy that thirst that we should have for God with

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all the things that the world has to offer with fame and with fortune with

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relationships with material goods or even worldly comfort and listen to me

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church I want to tell you all of these things are nothing but salt water they

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cannot satisfy your soul they will only worsen your thirst and they will kill

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you quicker the only thing that is going to bring you true lasting eternal

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satisfaction is Jesus Christ Augustine was right when he said oh God thou has

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made us for thyselves and our souls are restless searching until they find their

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rest in thee we find this satisfaction and rest by drinking from the waters

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that the Good Shepherd leads us to listen to Revelation 22 17 the Spirit

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and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who

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is thirsty come let the one who desires take the water of life without price so

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Jesus has come drink deeply drink your fill it's no cost to you and when you

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drink this water of life you will become a new changed person an entirely new

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creation in Christ and I know you might be thinking to yourself right now pastor

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that sounds nice I'm sure it's even theologically correct it is but I don't

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see any water so how do I do this if I don't see any water how am I supposed to

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actually drink this water that Jesus is offering here's what you need to

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understand drinking is just a metaphor for taking in and for accepting and

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believing in Christ when you take in the message of the gospel when you believe

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in Jesus when you depend on him for life just as a person depends on water for

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life then you are drinking the waters of life that Jesus offers us and the ones

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he promised to the Samaritan woman at the well only then will your soul be

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truly satisfied and only then will you find peace and rest and so here's what

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we need to do if we want to develop this thankfulness this morning we need to

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follow the shepherd to the true source of satisfaction follow the shepherd to

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the true source of satisfaction if you take notes in your Bible if you

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underline in circle in verse 2 circle the word leads that's an important

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detail you need to notice here David said he leads me beside still waters

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leads meaning David is following wherever God leads because he knows

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that God is going to lead him to the good places to the quiet waters to the

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waters that can satisfy my question to you this morning is what do you think it

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is that you need to be truly satisfied some of you this morning think I would

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be satisfied if someone would just tell me I'm doing a good job if someone would

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tell me that I'm a good spouse a good parent a good grandparent a good friend

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that I'm doing a good job other people think this morning that they'd be

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satisfied if they just had a little more money in the bank account maybe a car

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that's a few years newer maybe a house that's in a certain neighborhood let me

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ask you something even if if God gave you all those things do you think you

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would actually be satisfied or would you just not find something else

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something new to start desiring and thinking you need I want to tell you

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something this morning the Good Shepherd never leads his people to pot holes with

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polluted water the world will lead you there the culture will lead you there

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and they will say these are the good waters drink deeply from them and you

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will be satisfied and it will only make you sick the Good Shepherd does not lead

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his people to potholes with polluted water I want to tell you God wants more

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for you than a life spent drinking from potholes do you believe that this morning

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that is not what God wants for his sheep he wants more for you than a life spent

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drinking polluted water out of potholes he is offering you eternal satisfaction

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in Christ joys and pleasures forevermore in his right hand when you learn to

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drink from the well of Christ and you taste true satisfaction then you will

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finally stop settling for polluted potholes because that is not the life

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God intended you to live remember our scripture reading Jesus said I came that

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they may have life and have it abundantly that is what he wants for his

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people the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me lie down in green

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pastures he leads me beside still waters this is what we have to be thankful for

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this morning Christians that we have a God who provides for every single one of

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our needs and everything that is essential in our life that we have a God

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who is with us every minute of every day he is with us on every mountaintop and

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I promise you he is with you in every single valley and we have a God who

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satisfies our souls eternally in such a way that we would never want the

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polluted waters that the world has to offer again he says come drink deeply

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this is who our God is this is who the good Shepherd is and so as his people

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this morning let us give abundant thanks for an abundant God amen