Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. This is week number six in our
series where we're talking about names. What
are names about, anyway? I've entitled the series,
Hello, My Name is God, but there are three things
that we talk about that are encompassed in names.
The first one is identity. Each one of us have
a name, right? We go by that name. That's how
we're identified or distinguished from other
people is by our names. And I've shared this
with you. For those who haven't been here, you
might not know this, but my official name in
the state of South Carolina is No Name Forrest,
for those of you who haven't been with us. You're
like, how could you be No Name Forrest? my parents
didn't name me before we left the hospital and
the hospital sent in the records no name forest
unnamed forest and then when i tried to play
junior high football i had to get a south carolina
estate birth certificate when it came in it had
no name forest on it so i couldn't play the first
two or three games of my junior high football
career which was amazing by the way I was a defensive
back, not a guard or a center like you look at
me today. You'd think I was a guard or a center.
I was a defensive back. I caught punts. I was
a running back, defensive back. But anyway, I
was no -name Forrest, and I had to get my real
name put on my birth certificate before they
would let me play. So to this day, my South Carolina
state birth certificate has an asterisk on it.
Because my name's been changed. My official name
is no name, Forrest, but for the first 10, 11
years of my life, I guess that's what I was,
but then I changed it to Jeffrey Dean Forrest.
I go by my middle name, Dean, and I spelled Jeffrey's
name different with a G instead of a J because
I didn't want people calling him Junior, even
though he's Jeffrey and I'm Jeffrey. But I go
by Dean. One other name. that became my name
when I was nine years old is that I am a Christian.
That is my identity. It's not just something
added on. It's just as much my identity as Jeffrey
Dean Forrest and no name Forrest. Christian is
just as important as those. Everybody say identity.
But names also signify relationship. We have
a lot of names. If you think about it, right?
My mom always called me her baby. Even when I
was like 50 years old and she was introducing
me to other people, she would say, this is my
baby. I was bigger than her, you know. This is
my baby. And sometimes she would say, Dean. Sometimes
she wouldn't. She would just say, this is my
baby. Because I was the youngest of four. Any
other young people in their family, you're the
youngest, right? So maybe you experienced that
growing up. My dad never introduced me as his
baby. My dad introduced me as this is my son.
And then I became a husband in 1984. Again, and
I got married. I became a husband, but she doesn't
call me husband, even though that's one of my
names, right? She calls me honey most of the
time if I've been good. Now, if I've done something
wrong or if I've messed up, how many of you know
that probably happens a lot? You know, sometimes
she doesn't call me honey. Sometimes I won't
tell you why she calls me. Anyway, I'm a father.
I became a father in January of 92. Yeah, 92.
Jeffrey was born. But he doesn't call me father.
He never has called me old father because we
don't live in the UK. He called me daddy for
the long part of his life growing up, and then
we dropped the Y on the end. He calls me dad.
Those are my names. I'm also, when I think about
these types of names, I also am an uncle. I'm
a great uncle. I am a nephew. See, we have a
lot of names, a lot of relationship names. And
as I tell you those names, you find out that
I've got, you know, my mom and my dad had multiple
siblings. I mean, see how much you can find out?
Because if they would have been an only child,
then I wouldn't have an uncle or an aunt. I have
nieces and nephews, so that means I've got brothers
and sisters and they have children. So you learn
a lot about me just by knowing my names. But
names also signify activity. Everybody say identity,
relationship, activity. I've got a lot of names
that I've gone by. I was a student for a long
time. I've got to count up the years and tell
you how many years I've been a student. I was
a cook when I was in high school. Over one summer,
I was a salesman for multiple businesses. I've
been a sound man. I've actually been paid for
that. I was a custodian where I was a trainer
and a coordinator. I've been a janitor. Again,
I had some contracts where we would go clean
offices after the business closed in the afternoon.
We'd go three times a week and clean. I was a
screen printer. I had my own screen printing
business, making screens. doing t -shirts and
things like that. I was an A &R director for
Mark V Records. I was a vice president of state
and national organizations, a music director
for state and national organizations, an event
planner. I planned events all over the place
in the United States. I've been a crusade director.
We had 31, like, area -wide crusades. I've directed
a couple of those. J .T.'s dad directed a lot
of those. He worked with our ministry. I've been
the president of state and national organizations,
non -profit corporation. I've been a worship
leader. And again, my claim to fame of a worship
leader is I led worship in the Ryman Auditorium.
I think that's a big deal. Obviously, you don't.
It's a historical place, right? I've been a conference
director. We ran a conference for 21 years. I've
been a camp director. We ran some camps. An evangelist,
a chaplain, preacher, a pastor. When you hear
these names, you find out a lot about me. Like
we just met today, right? But now you know more
about me than you did by me just saying, hi,
my name's Dean. And you figuring out that I'm
the pastor. You find out a lot about my past.
And the things that I've done, the things that
I'm qualified to do, the things that, you know,
I was trained to do. I've shared with you over
29 names, but I'm only one person. And, you know,
obviously we're not just talking about me. That's
not why we're here today, right? But we're looking
at the names that God has given us in Scripture
so that we can know more about who He is And
what he does and what he wants to do. So in his
names we find his identity. Everybody say Yahweh.
Yahweh is his name that his people are supposed
to know him by. Is what we found out in week
number one. So identity and then relationship.
Some of his names have to do with the relationship
he wants to be in with us. And then some of his
names represent the activity that he does, what
he wants to do in us and for us. Okay? And here's
our verse. Here's our foundation verse for this
series. Psalm 910 says, And those who know your
name, everybody say God's name. Those who know
your name will put their trust in you. Now that
Hebrew word that's translated trust is also translated
confidence. Everybody say confidence. So what
this is telling us is that when we know who God
is, when we know his name, then we can put our
trust and we can put our confidence in him. Everybody
say faith. That's another word for that, right?
To have trust and confidence. So when we find
out who he is, what he wants to do, what kind
of relationship he wants to be in with us, we
have to know it before we can put our trust in
it. Does that make sense? We have to know who
he is and what he wants to do before we can put
our faith in him to be that or to do that. This
is important. It's not just simple. Because I
went so many years of my life not understanding
this. And I hope you're understanding it and
not just listening to a bunch of religious gibberish.
I hope you're taking hold of it, what I'm saying.
Because when we have confidence and trust and
faith in who God is and what He wants to do and
who He wants to be in our lives, then we know
this. It's like... He's not going to forsake
us. He's not going to turn His back on us. He's
not going to let us down when we seek Him based
on who He is. Are you with me? Elbow the person
beside you and say, at least smile about it.
At least smile just a little bit. So, hello,
my name is God. This week, We're going to look
at one of God's names, Yahweh. We can say Ra,
or we can say Ra 'al, which is the... If you
look it up in Hebrew, and you look up the phonetic
way to say it, it's Ra 'al. Now, you might hear
me say Ra, because that's just when I look at
it. All right? In English, it's saying it, but
in Hebrew saying it, you would say Ra 'al. Yahweh
Ra 'al. Does anyone know what that means? Don't
shout it out, just if you think you don't know.
Okay? So today, when we find out who God is,
what He wants to do, then we can put our confidence,
our faith, our trust in Him to be that for us.
You probably know this. The Lord is my shepherd.
Ra 'al. The Lord is my shepherd. And when you
look up the word Ra 'al, you also see in the
Strong's Concordance. Anybody know what I'm talking
about? Because you can look up the Hebrew words
in the Old Testament, Greek words in the New
Testament, and then you can look at definitions
for the words. You can also construct this definition.
My friend who rules over me. My friend who rules
over me. This tells us that God's a good shepherd.
There's probably been some shepherds in the history
that weren't very good to their sheep. You think
so? Might be some shepherds who are mean to their
sheep. I mean, every time I talk about God being
a shepherd and talk about us being sheep, I remember...
what happened to me in Romania. I was in Romania
on a mission trip and we were going to minister
at a women's prison in Romania. On the way there,
we were in a van and the driver could not speak
English at all and there was about four or five
of us in the back who could not speak Romanian
at all. And all of a sudden, we stop. The reason
why we stop is because we're on a little two
-lane road. And there are sheep everywhere. Everywhere.
In the road, there was a small house. Beside
the road, they were all in the yard of this lady's
yard. The reason why I say lady is because she
came outside with a broom. I'm telling you, most
people in Romania have never mowed their lawns
in the area that I was in. Never. But this lady
was taking care of her place. She had flowers,
things like that. Very odd to see where I was.
And those sheep were like all in her flowers
and stuff. She's out there with a broom, swinging
that broom at those sheep. And the sheep are
just like, they don't know where to go. They're
trying to get away from the broom, but they don't
understand that they need to leave her yard.
Because she don't want them in their yard. So
we just sat there. The driver of the van was
blowing the horn. Sheep right in front of the
van. It's like, don't you realize a loud noise
probably means that you need to get out of the
way of the big white thing that's making the
loud noise. But the sheep, they didn't. We sat
there a little while, just watching all this
unfold. Then all of a sudden, a man walked beside
the house. He came out from behind the house.
He walked through the middle of the sheep. He
wasn't screaming. He just walked through the
sheep. And as he walked through the lady's yard
and across the road, all those sheep just lined
up right behind this guy and just followed him.
See, they didn't know the van. They didn't know
the lady with the broom. But they knew the shepherd.
And they followed him. He didn't have to scream.
I mean, we didn't have air conditioning on. The
windows were open. He wasn't saying, okay, sheep,
it's time to go. I mean, no, he wasn't. Let's
go, sheep. Come on, sheep. He wasn't screaming.
He just walked through. And they followed him
and off through the... All through the field
they went. God is our good shepherd. Everybody
say good shepherd. It doesn't say Yahweh good.
But we know from that word there's a friend connection.
So he's our friend who rules over us. One of
the places we find this in Scripture is the 23rd
Psalm. Has anyone ever read the 23rd Psalm before?
Or memorized the 23rd Psalm? It's very familiar,
right? But I want you to get a picture to set
up what we're going to talk about. Because the
actual Hebrew tells us that this was a psalm
written by David. Who is David? He's the king,
right? But he's also known for being a shepherd
boy. So I want you to think about this. One day,
as David was taking care of his dad's sheep,
the Holy Spirit began to show him something.
The Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit began to
show him that God, Yahweh, is his shepherd. Now
he's shepherding sheep, but all of a sudden it's
just like, revelation. Everybody say revelation.
All of a sudden it hit his heart. It hit his
mind. It did not come as an imagination that
he decided to write about. No, this is God's
word. Everybody say God breathed. God inspired.
And all of a sudden, he had one of those aha
moments. Have you ever had an aha moment looking
into the Word of God? Wow. So he's sitting there
taking care of his sheep. And the Holy Spirit
begins to unpack the truth of who God is to David.
See, with Yahweh as your shepherd, You have so
many things to receive by faith from God. Notice
I said you have to receive them. Just like we've
talked about before, God is our Savior. Do you
think God's big enough to save everybody? Do
you know that everybody's not saved? And everybody's
not going to be saved? Is it because God did
not want to save them? Some of you are thinking
way too hard on this. It's not God's will that
any should perish. That's what he said. It's
not my will that any should perish. So there
has to be a faith connection. We're saved by
grace, by God's work, through Jesus on the cross.
We're saved by grace through... Somebody help
me. Faith. Everybody say faith. That means we
have a part in it. We have to hear it. We have
to wholeheartedly believe it. We have to take
hold of it by faith. Right? Don't ever let this
get old. I've heard him say that before. Here
it goes again. I'm going to ask you if you have
received all it means for God to be your shepherd
if you are experiencing that by faith. Because
you can, just like you can experience salvation
by faith, that's the way it works for everything.
Hello? So don't tell me, well, you know, God
hasn't been a good shepherd for me all the time
in my experience. Well, Are you receiving Him
as your shepherd? Are you yielding to Him as
your shepherd? Are you believing that He's going
to do for you what a shepherd does for his sheep?
Are you connecting with that? If you're not,
then don't blame God for not experiencing it.
Hello? That applies to all these names of God
that we're talking about. Here we go. Let's go
through it. The Lord is my shepherd. Everybody
say, the Lord is my shepherd. You might have
memorized it as, I shall not want. Who memorized
it that way? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. Have you ever thought about what you're
saying when you say that? Have you ever really
thought about it? Or is it just something that
you memorize without really thinking about everything
that entails? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. What does it mean to want? It means
that you lack or you need something. There's
something that you don't have that you need.
And if the Lord is your shepherd, you have all
that you need. You can believe him to provide
all that you need for every circumstance that
you face. By faith. Or you can say, well, I don't
believe that. Guess what? If you don't believe
it, you won't experience it. But is this what
the Bible says? The Lord is my shepherd. I have
all that I need. Now, I didn't look up every
Hebrew word and define every Hebrew word. Well,
I did look them up, but I didn't put them up
here and try to massacre trying to speak Hebrew.
Okay? But I looked up all these things that the
Lord our shepherd, all these things that it says
that He is in the original language, which is
the way the original hearers would have heard
it. So let's take a look at that. With Yahweh
as my shepherd, I never lack. I never want. I
never fail. That's all part of the Word. There's
another one. I never lessen, which means I never
decrease. Somebody say, wow. I mean, that's what
a shepherd does for his sheep. A good shepherd
makes sure that his sheep don't go hungry. That's
part of being a good shepherd. That his sheep
are going to succeed in their day and what's
going on. That they don't fail. I mean, this
is what the Bible says. I know some of you are
looking at it like a new gate. Like, Dean, what
are you talking about? No. I mean, I'm just telling
you what the Bible says. You can trust him. When
you know who He is and what He wants to do and
who He wants to be, then we can trust Him to
be that. And you might say, well, in my experience,
I've got a lot of lack and wants and a lot of
failure. Well, you've got to trust God that He
is your shepherd. Let's keep going. Well, let's
read 2 Peter. I read this a lot. But it reminds
us of the same thing. By his divine power, God
has given us everything we need for living a
godly life. We have received all this by coming
to know him, the one who called us to himself
by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
And because of his glory and excellence, he has
given us great and precious promises. And part
of that is wrapped up in who he is, right? These
are the promises that enable you to share his
divine nature and escape the world's corruption
caused by human desires. That's where the corruption
comes from. He lets... Okay, I'm back to Psalm
23. All right. Verse 2. He lets me rest in green
meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams.
That's what a good shepherd does. That's what
a good shepherd wants to do for his sheep and
does for his sheep. Now, an earthly shepherd
might not have the ability or the power or the
resources to accomplish this, but I'm telling
you, God can do everything. He's almighty. The
earth is the Lord's and the fullness there is.
Also, the whole galaxy is His. He created it.
It's all His. He doesn't lack. So because He
doesn't lack, back to verse 1, then we don't
lack because He doesn't lack. He lets me rest
in green meadows and leads me beside peaceful
streams. So, when we trust and have confidence
in God being our shepherd, we can have rest.
And peace. We can have rest. And peace. How many
people in the room have times in their life where.
I'm just wore out. I need some rest. And I'm
not finding any rest. Anybody? That should be
about all of us. Huh? Just worked all night last
night. And came to church this morning. before
you go home and crash. And you're sitting up
in your seat so you don't fall asleep right now.
And drinking coffee. When you put your confidence
and trust and faith in God to be Yahweh Ra 'al,
the Lord your shepherd, one thing a shepherd
does is he gives rest and peace to his sheep.
So we need to take hold of that. If we don't
have peace, we need to take hold of that. If
we don't have rest, we need to take hold of that.
Because God can give us supernatural rest, not
natural rest, not just natural rest. He can give
us supernatural rest and refreshing and peace.
He renews my strength. He renews my strength.
Does anybody feel weak sometimes? Well, Yahweh
Ra 'al will renew your strength. He'll renew
it. I mean, y 'all are looking at me like, I
don't know if I can take hold of this or not.
I want you to take hold of it. God wants you
to take hold of it. God wants you to not be locked
in to the natural so much that you miss the supernatural
or the spiritual. See, He can renew your strength
in ways... See, you might think the only way
your strength can be renewed, the only way you
can have rest and peace is to go on vacation
and go sit in a chair under an umbrella and just
stare at the ocean and not work. not have responsibilities.
That's natural. Our good shepherd can do some
supernatural things in your life if you will
allow him to. He renews my strength. We talk
about this a lot, but Isaiah 40, 31 says this,
but those who trust have confidence. In God.
We'll find new strength. That's part of having
faith in God. Confidence in God. Trust in God.
Those who trust. Those who wait upon the Lord.
Those who trust in. The picture of this Hebrew
word is. That we bind together with Yahweh. With
expectation. When you bind together with Yahweh,
with expectation, you can find the strength that
you need. Hallelujah. Joel 3 .10, we don't quote
Joel much. Let the weak say, I am strong. When
you look up those words, in the Hebrew it means,
let the weak say, I'm a champion. Let the weak
say, I am mighty. Let the weak say, I am strong.
Look to the person beside you and say, what have
you been saying? What have you been saying? Huh?
Come on. What have you been saying? You know?
If you talk about your failure and talk about
your weakness, you're not tapping in to who God
is and what He wants to do, who He wants to be.
So with Yahweh as my shepherd, my strength is
renewed. My strength is renewed. I'm getting
happy just talking about it. Verse 3, he renews
my strength. He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name. That's what a good
shepherd does for his sheep. And God's a good
shepherd. So he guides me along right paths to
bring honor to his name. With Yahweh as my shepherd,
he keeps me on the right track. Now that means
I'm in fellowship and in communication with Him
in such a way that He is leading me. I'm being
led by the Holy Spirit in my life. Look to the
person beside you and say, you can be led. Or
you can do your own thing. Those sheep in Romania
could have followed the shepherd or turned and
walked off on their own. He didn't force them
to. He didn't make them follow. They could have
went their own way, but they didn't because they
knew they had a good shepherd who was going to
take them to their lunch today and to their dinner
and to their safety and to their rest. They wanted
to follow him because they trusted him. They
didn't trust the lady on the porch. They didn't
trust the big white van. They trusted the shepherd.
So they followed him. And if we really trust
God, if we really have faith in God, then we
want to follow Him. We want to be led by Him,
led by His Spirit in our decisions, in every
area of our life. And when we do that, He's going
to keep us on the right track. There's been times
in my life where I went my own way and I have
not been on the right track. Can anybody look
back and see that happen in your life at times?
You go your own way, you get on the wrong track,
and then you're like, shouldn't have done that.
It was bumpy and fearful and worrisome. But when
Yahweh is our shepherd, He keeps you on the right
track where you can flourish, where you can succeed.
And when you look up those words, He guides me
along the right paths. When you look up those
Hebrew words, you find even the word prosperity
in here. I don't like to put the word prosperity
on the screen a lot because prosperity has a
bad name. But that says that you will prosper,
you will be in prosperity when... The Lord is
your shepherd. And guess what? When you flourish
and when you succeed and you don't take credit
for it, hello? Because there's been some things
that God did in my life. I mean, you know, I
hate to be up here and be the bad guy, but there's
been some times. When I talked a lot about my
accomplishments and left out that, you know,
God did it. God did it. But with Yahweh as your
shepherd, He will keep you on track where you
can flourish, where you can succeed, and then
you can tell everybody about it. Hey, God did
this. It'll bring glory and honor to Him when
we start testifying of the amazing supernatural
things that God has done in our lives. It's going
to bring glory and honor to Him. Y 'all are listening
real slow today. Verse 4. Even when I walk through
the darkest valley... Has anyone been... through
some dark valleys in your life. Some dark days.
Some dark times. The good thing is we're going
to walk through them. We're not going to live
in them. You can choose to live in it if you
want to, but I'm saying keep on walking. Some
people are locked up. Some people enter into
a dark valley and then they stay there the rest
of their life. But this doesn't say, even when
I live in the darkest valley. It says, even when
I walk through the darkest valley. Keep on walking.
When I walk through the darkest valley, I will
not be afraid. For you, my good shepherd, are
close beside me. When I'm walking through this,
I know that you're right here with me. Every
day is not a bed of roses. Every day is not perfect.
We live in a fallen, broken world. We face trouble.
We face pressure. Tribulation. Do I have to tell
you that again? Some of you weren't here. So,
I want to remind you of a series that we did
where we discovered a very... Amazing verse that
Jesus has says, in this world, you will have
tribulation. Thank you, Jesus, for the encouragement,
right? I just appreciate that so much. Just gives
me warm fuzzies all on the inside. In this world,
I'm going to face tribulation. That word tribulation
is also translated trouble, pressure. In this
world, we're going to face some of that. In this
world, we're going to face some dark valleys.
But Jesus said, in this world, you're going to
face pressure and trouble. But then he said,
but be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Look
to the person beside you and remind them, that
means cheer up, buttercup. Go ahead and say,
cheer up, buttercup. Cheer up. Right in the middle
of the pressure. It doesn't say after it's over
and after it's alleviated and after you've gone
through it. No, he said, be of good cheer in
it. You might say, that's impossible. How can
I be of good cheer in the middle of pressure
and in the middle of trouble? How can I do that?
But Jesus went on to tell you. He says, in this
world, you will have tribulation, but be of good
cheer, because I have overcome the world. See,
when we walk through some dark valleys in our
lives, we're not overcome by what we're feeling,
by what we're seeing, by what we're thinking.
We're not overcome. We will not be afraid. No
fear here. No fear. Why? Because you're close
beside me. Now, if you're not believing God to
be your shepherd and to be close beside you in
the middle of it, then you might think that you're
just all alone. And guess what? You won't experience.
What God wants you to experience unless you're
by faith receiving Him as your shepherd. I know
that we sit there and we go, I didn't know that
this had to do with me responding. I thought,
you know, I just always thought, well, you know,
if God wants to be my shepherd today, He will,
but if not, I'm on my own. Isn't that the way
we've lived? Our lives? Are we living our lives
now? And we look and we say, well, God, you say
that you're the Lord, you're my shepherd, and
the preacher's talking about you being a good
shepherd, but I'm not seeing that evidence in
my life. So why are you holding out on me, God?
Well, you've got to hear it. And then what do
you have to do? Wholeheartedly believe it. To
the point where you have trust and confidence
in that's who God is and what He wants to do.
And then you act on it. First way I know to act
is start saying, in the middle, when I'm walking
through the darkest valley, when I'm walking
through this difficult situation, I need to start
saying, I will not be afraid. I know there's
opportunities for me to take hold of fear right
now, but I'm not taking hold of fear because
fear doesn't come from God. So I'm not taking
hold of it. I'm not going to experience everything
this dark valley is throwing at me. No, I know
I'm walking with Jesus and I'm walking with Yahweh
who is my shepherd right through the middle of
this. So the first act you need to do is start.
confessing the Word of God, the promises of God.
And when you do, all of a sudden, there's going
to be something supernatural that happens on
the inside of you. And even though you're in
the dark valley, you're going to start experiencing
peace and joy. Security. That's what you'll start
experiencing. But it's going to take some work
on your part. This is not just easy believism.
It takes work. Hebrews 13 .5 I will never leave
you. I will never forsake you. That's just one
of the many instances that truth is in the Word.
And you dig into it more. I will be with you
at all times. I will never fail you. I will never
abandon you. That's what that means. Somebody
say, that's my God. He's going to always be with
me. He's never going to fail me. He's never going
to abandon me. That's my God. With Yahweh as
my shepherd, I'm never alone. And because he's
with me, I will never fear. Some of you need
to start saying this. God is my shepherd. I'm
never alone. The good shepherd's with me, so
I'll never fear. Do you believe it's possible
to never fear? I'm telling you it's possible.
God is telling you it's possible. I'm just a
delivery boy for the news from God. Read all
about it. I'm never alone, so I will never fear.
That evil is going to come upon me or overtake
me. I'm never going to fear that. Because God's
my shepherd. God's my shepherd. Your rod and
your staff protect me and comfort me. Everybody
say protection. Everybody say comfort. Your rod
and your staff protect me and comfort me. With
Yahweh as my shepherd, I'm protected and I'm
comforted. That's what a good shepherd does for
his sheep. And you can easily say yes to that,
but that's what God wants to do for you. He wants
to protect you and comfort you. The rod, shebet.
I don't know why I put the Hebrew in for the
rod and the staff, but your rod and your staff,
shebet. The rod is a stick. It's a stick for
fighting or punishing or fending off attackers.
How many of you know we're in a spiritual battle?
We live our lives every day in a spiritual battle.
And we know that God is our shepherd and God
has a rod. And that's for fighting off and punishing
our enemies, fending off our attackers. And it's
also for rioting. I found that interesting. That
word rod is used for riding and walking and ruling.
So there's authority attached to this rod. Your
rod and your staff. See, I told you I didn't
need to try to pronounce all that stuff. Your
staff. What's staff? It's a support. Signifies
what a person leans on for a support. So, God,
your word and your spirit protect me and comfort
me, support me. Rod and staff. Verse 5. You prepare
a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.
There's one thing to prepare a feast. There's
another thing to prepare a feast in the presence
of your enemies. You honor me by anointing my
head with oil. Listen, my cup, It's three -fourths
full. Quarter full. Got a few little mercy drops
in it. I love that old hymn. Every time I hear
somebody singing, I say, mercy drops? Really?
Mercy's flooding. It's not just little drops.
My cup overflows. Everybody say overflows. Overflows
with blessings. This can be your experience.
God wants this to be your experience. Listen,
God is with you. God is for you. And God will
vindicate you in the presence of those who wish
to harm you. When you look to him as your shepherd.
Just let me sit there a minute. Because sometimes
we get in situations where we think we've got
to vindicate ourselves. Has anybody ever been
in a situation like that before? When God's your
shepherd, he will vindicate you. right in front
of people who wish to harm you, He will vindicate
you. But you have to trust Him to do that. You
have to trust Him to do that. In David's day,
if he desired to honor someone, he would prepare
a formal meal, he would anoint the guest's head
with oil, and make sure they had everything they
needed. With Yahweh as my shepherd, I am honored.
I am anointed. I am blessed. And I am satisfied.
I even want you to say this one with me. With
Yahweh as my shepherd, I am honored. I am anointed.
I am blessed. I am satisfied. Keep saying it
until you see it. Because Jesus said to say it,
say it, say it, and then you'll have what you
said. Verse 6. Surely, your goodness... You're
my good shepherd, so... Surely, your goodness
and unfailing love will pursue me. Have you ever
took hold of this? Have you ever took hold of
the fact that God wants you to see His goodness
and unfailing love running you down, pursuing
you, always coming towards you? All the days
of my life. And I will live in the house of the
Lord forever. with Yahweh as my shepherd, I continually
experience it. Why do I continually experience
these things? Because they're chasing me down.
If you will have confidence and trust that God
is your good shepherd, there's going to be some
things running you down. And you're going to
continually experience these things. God's goodness.
God's mercy. God's love. And his manifested presence.
Continually. That's what God wants us to experience.
We have to receive it. By faith. His name is
Yahweh. Raw. Yahweh Ra 'o. And if you'll seek
Him, you know what His name is, you know what
He wants to do, you know what His promises are
connected to His name. Now, you might not have
known that before today, but now that you know
it, and it's been explained to you, you have
the opportunity to put your trust in Him. I can't
make you. I can't... put trust and confidence
in Him for you. But I can tell you what He wants
to do for you and who He wants to be in your
life. It's up to you to take hold of it, to wholeheartedly
believe it, to receive it, to keep speaking and
align with it, even when you don't see it with
your eyes yet. It's up to you. Because I know
something. I know that God's not going to forsake
you. He's not going to turn His back on you when
you seek Him. He's not going to do it. You might
say, I tried that for like 10 seconds and I didn't
see a result. To God a day is like a thousand
years and a thousand years like a day. But I
tell you something, if you'll put your faith
in God, really put your faith in God, if you're
genuinely putting your faith in God and you're
speaking according to His promise and according
to who He is and according to what His Word says
and you're seeking Him, with all of your heart,
and you are consistent in this, there's going
to come a point where what's happening around
you isn't affecting you. Instead of your life
being like a roller coaster of ups and downs,
it's going to be like a drag strip. It doesn't
mean you're not going to have any pressures or
trouble. It means that the pressure and trouble
aren't going to take you on a roller coaster
ride every day. That's where you can be. That's
where God wants you. Hallelujah. John 10, 11,
he says, I'm the good shepherd. This is Jesus
talking now. And the good shepherd sacrifices
his life for the sheep. Here's how much God loves
you. Died for you. I was dead in my trespasses
and sin. The Bible says all of us have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God. Every single
one of us have messed up. Look to the person
beside you and say, don't forget, you've messed
up. Big time. We've all fallen short of the glory
of God. The Bible says the wages or the paycheck
for that sin is death. We all deserve spiritual
death. If we get what we deserve, we get spiritual
death. But God and His great love and mercy.
Even while we were still sinners, Jesus came
and died for us. I deserve to die for my sin.
The eternal Son of God said, I will die for your
sin in your place. He stretched out his arms
and he died for you on a cross. Then he says
this. It says, if you will believe in me, you
won't perish. You won't have to experience eternal
spiritual death and be separated from me forever.
If you believe in me, I've got a gift for you.
That gift is eternal life. And how do we receive
that gift? Some people think that we receive
that gift by being dipped Dr. Sprinkle, baptized.
We can talk about all those different forms,
but I tell you, none of those things give you
the gift of eternal life. None of them. Some
people think you get that gift of eternal life
by joining a church somewhere. As long as you
join the church, your name's on the roll of the
church, you're good, you're going to heaven.
Here's the deal. God's not looking at church
rolls to see who comes to heaven. He's looking
in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's recorded in
heaven. How do you get your name in that Lamb's
Book of Life in heaven? By believing in Jesus.
Putting your faith in Jesus. The Bible says if
we confess our sin, He's faithful, and He's just,
and He will forgive us and wash us clean. The
Bible says, with the heart we believe, with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. We have
to agree with it. We have to say it. So we confess,
and then the Bible says this, if you call on
the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. That word
Lord is a title. It's going to be one of our
names in coming up weeks. Names for God. One
of God's names is Lord. And there's different
Greek and Hebrew words that are defined in our
English Bibles. All is Lord. They're close, but
they have little bit differences of meaning.
So here's my question. Have you ever called on
the name of the Lord? Lord means that He's your
master, your boss. Just like in this good shepherd,
your friend who is going to rule over you, so
you give your life to him. Has there ever been
a time before today that you've said, Jesus,
up until today, my life's just been all about
me. But from now on, I want my life to be about
you. I want to live for you. I want to know you.
Jesus, be my Lord. I confess you as my Lord.
Has that ever happened? If it hasn't, I've got
some great news for you. You can do that today.
The Bible says today is the day of salvation.
It's always today. It's always now. If you would,
I want everybody to bow your head and close your
eyes. And if you've never... said those things
to God and you would like to say those things
to Him now, I want to ask you to pray with me.
It's not about repeating words after me. It's
about the words that I'm leading you in. It's
about them being personally from you to God.
I'm just putting in the words what I just said
to help you formalize a prayer. So if that's
what you want today, I ask you to pray with me.
I prayed a prayer that went like this, and I've
never been the same since. Jesus, tell them,
Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Tell
them that. I believe you died on the cross for
me, for my sin and my place. I believe you rose
again from the grave, just like the Bible says.
I realize today that I'm a sinner. I broke your
rules. I ask you to forgive me. Wash me clean.
Jesus, up until today, my life's just been about
me. But from now on, I want my life to be about
you. I surrender all that I am to you. Jesus,
be my Lord. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank
you for washing me clean. Thank you for sending
your Holy Spirit to be with me and in me. Thank
you. Thank you for giving me your gift of eternal
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