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Don't Ignore The Secrets From Psalm 23 Anymore... · Off The Kirb Ministries

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Now for us to say the Lord is my shepherd, what do you and I have
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to 1st admit? That we are sheep.
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Sheep. And what is it that sheep are
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really, really well known for? Wondering.
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That's one. Yeah.
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Anything else? The grass.
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Thank you. Yeah.
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Anything else? Water.
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Anything else? You've still not got the thing
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I'm thinking of getting lost. Stupid sheep are well known for
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being stupid. And it's true, isn't it?
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No creature will lose itself quicker than a sheep.
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The sheep will leave the lush green grass and it'll walk
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straight into the wolf's den. Just like that hymn that I I
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didn't pick it, but it was picked providentially.
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That they're prone to wander, aren't they?
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They? They wander.
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And the fact is this, without a shepherd, the sheep simply would
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not survive. Have you ever heard this before?
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In society we're often told don't be a sheep.
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Have you heard that before? Whatever you do, don't be a
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sheep, don't be a follower. And yet the Christian must.
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He must follow his Saviour. So before I give you my sort of
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three headings for today, could I be a little bit personal with
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you? 2020's not been an easy year for
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us, has it? It's been tough, it's been a
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hard year. And there's a man who's
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particularly dear to me, the man who discipled me, a man called
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Vinny Commons. And after I got saved, he took
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me under his wing and he taught me how to open air preach.
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He cared for me, looked after me, a lovely man, 61 years old,
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but he never married. And last week we were on Zoom, a
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few of us evangelical workers, we were on Zoom having a chat,
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talking about different things. And there was also another young
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man who was also single and lived on his own.
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And Vinny asked the young man, He said, how are you finding
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this lockdown? And he said, I'm finding it
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tough. And he said, do people ever ring
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you? And the young man said, no, I
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have to call them so that I don't feel lonely.
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And then Vinny said, you know, sometimes you do have to take
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your own medicine. And I wonder now if there's
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someone in this room perhaps, who feels like that.
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You feel very, very lonely. Perhaps there's someone in this
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room and maybe you're a bit like me.
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You've been quite anxious. You hear what the media is
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saying, you hear what everyone's saying, and you've got a bit
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panicky and mental health might be an issue.
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Perhaps that's someone here. Perhaps as as Tim was saying
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before, perhaps there's someone who struggles with besetting
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sin, who lives in besetting sin and this lockdown has been
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poison for you. Well, I just hope that today
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Psalm 23 can touch us, can speak to us and can restore us.
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So I'm going to split it up into three chunks.
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The first one is the Christians wants.
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Firstly, the Christians wants. Secondly, the Christians
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restoration and thirdly and finally, the Christians shadow.
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OK, firstly, the Christians wants sweep over to verse one
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with me. It says the Lord is my shepherd.
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I shall not want. Can I ask you a big question
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now? Are you content with your life?
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Like are you really, really content with your life?
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If everything was stripped away and you were left with just
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Jesus Christ, would he be enough?
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Is the Lord Jesus enough? Or is it, if I get this sorted,
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OK, then I'm happy, if that, and then Jesus.
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And everything's so big, but God is so small in your life.
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You see, when a man or a woman comes to Christ, there's a sort
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of stillness that falls on their life with the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He leads them to those still waters.
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And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?
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When you first got saved, there was a joy there, there was an
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excitement. You just wanted to have a bag
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full of tracks. You wanted to go out, you wanted
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the whole world to know about Jesus Christ.
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And then what happened? Life happened.
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You got older, you got busy, and suddenly those still waters have
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now become so restless and dare I say, muddy?
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Wouldn't it be beautiful if we became so reliant on God that
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when we pray the Lord's Prayer, when we say give us this day Our
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Daily Bread, we believed that the very hand of God came out of
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heaven and fed us that bread straight away into our hand.
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Wouldn't that make the bread taste a little bit sweeter?
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I'm going to say something that might shock some of you now.
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Are you ready for it? But did you know this?
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You provide absolutely nothing for yourself. 0 Nothing.
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And the school of life teaches us that, doesn't it?
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Sometimes we can be sailing that boat to success and then
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something like COVID-19 comes along and shows us just how
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fragile we are. Sometimes we're just living our
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life and one phone call can show us just how weak we are, just
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how much we need the saviour. Here's something else a little
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bit controversial. Sometimes I think it can be good
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for us to be taken out of that lush green pasture.
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Sometimes it can be good for God, if you like, to inject a
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bit of suffering into our lives. If we're fed every single day
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without a pinch of anxiety, we soon forget the shepherd.
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We become expectant, we become entitled, and we think all these
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things that we have, they're our rights rather than our gifts.
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In a moment's time, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand.
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I'm going to ask you to do a vote.
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I want to ask you, do you think there are more Christians in
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Ethiopia or more Christians in Hollywood?
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OK, so over to you. Raise your hand if you think
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there are more Christians in Ethiopia.
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Raise your hand if you think there are more Christians in
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Hollywood's. Put your hand up if you think
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this is a trick question. Let me tell you, I think, I'm
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not saying everyone in Ethiopia is born again by any means, but
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I think there are more Christians in Ethiopia.
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Why is that? We go down to Hollywood Blvd.
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and we see those brats, dare I say, who have iPads, who have
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everything they need and they're miserable, they're spoilt,
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they're unhappy. But you go to a third world
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country and you give a child a yoghurt pot and their face
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lights up with joy. And it's that same kind of idea
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that that God allows these things to happen to us to show
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us that we need Him. When we've got everything that
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we need, we become so proud and ignorant of the fact of just.
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We're just dust and ashes. And sometimes I think there's a
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reason why God withholds a dream from us.
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The Bible says he will supply our every need, not our every
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lust nor every craving, our every need.
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And sometimes God knows that at the moment it's not right for me
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to have this thing in my life. Let me quote some some men on
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this theme of contentment. Thomas Carl once said abundance,
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like want, ruins men. Another man said this.
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For every 100 men who can stand adversity, there is only one man
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who can withstand prosperity. And Charles Spurgeon, the Prince
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of Preachers, once said this, If you are not content with what
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you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
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So let all of our selfish, vain ambitions die and let us trust
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on the sovereign Shepherd who says, I'll give you just what
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you need, all that you need, I'll give it to you.
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And let's trust that whatever is in our life, whatever's in our
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path, He's given it for us and we should rely on him alone.
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OK. Secondly, the Christian's
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restoration, trot over to verse three with me.
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It says he restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of
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righteousness for His name's sake.
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Do you notice there's something there?
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It says he restores my soul. It's not another.
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It's only he. It's only the Lord God who can
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restore your soul. There's something I passionately
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believe pretty much more than anything else, and it's this.
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Our hearts were designed to worship.
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If we plunge right now into the jungles of Papua New Guinea,
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we'll find a tribe and they'll be worshipping something.
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We go, and I don't know who you support, whether you're Man
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United or Manchester City, but we go to a football match and we
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see all of these big burly men. What are they doing?
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They're worshipping, aren't they?
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And yet let's stand in the Lake District.
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Let's go onto the side of the Lake District, and let's stand
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on a mountain. And we look at all these vast,
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vast mountains and we feel so very, very small.
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And those mountains feel so very, very big.
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And it feels amazing. Why is that?
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Because you and I were designed to worship a God.
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A God who is so big that the universe can't contain him.
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And yet what do we do? We like to make ourselves feel
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really, really big and everyone else feel small and it makes us
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so very miserable. So what am I trying to say to
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you? Because our hearts are designed
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to worship, they will actively, automatically run to worship
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something else. So if you're not actively trying
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to to worship Christ, if you're not actively trying to fill
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yourself up with the good things with worship in the Lord Jesus
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Christ, your heart which is designed to worship will
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automatically run to another poison.
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Whether that be the praise of man, whether that be the
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luxuries of life, whether that be a sin, it will run to
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something else. And just look at the world
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around us. We've got a world who is doing
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that. There's millions who self
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medicate themselves on holidays, on self help schemes, on gym, on
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comedy, on alcohol. But the Bible says it is only he
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who can restore the years which the locusts have eaten.
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And the disturbing reality is this.
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We're either fascinated with Christ's Kingdom or the devil's
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Kingdom. There's no middle grounds.
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There's no halfway house. It's either darkness or light.
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It's either him or the devil. It's either we put our faith in
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the Lord Jesus Christ, we repent, we turn of our sins, or
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we go the way of the devil and follow after the Father of lies.
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I hope I don't sound harsh at any point this afternoon.
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You do know the man who's standing in front of you is a
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Sinner. And I wonder if I ask you this
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question, since you have come to the Lord Jesus Christ, is there
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anyone here today who's failed their Saviour?
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Is there anyone here today who who's made a mess since you've
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become a Christian? What do we do if we fail God,
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not just once, not twice, but we fail Him often?
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What happens then? Let me tell you this.
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In the whole history of sheep and shepherds, has there ever
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been a sheep which was murdered when it was stood by the
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shepherd's side? Has there ever been a wolf
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that's managed to catch a sheep when it's been stood by the
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shepherd's side? No, and likewise, there's never
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been a St. who has been hardened by the devil's schemes when he
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has been stood by the Saviour's side.
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So if you wrestle, if you struggle with sin, do you know
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what the answer is? Deeper fellowship with the Lord
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Jesus Christ. I'm kind of glad that my wife's
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not here today because I can let you into a few secrets about my
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wife. OK, so between you and me, let
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me tell you something about my wife.
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My wife loves chocolate. Is there any other women in the
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room here? I'm not going to.
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I'm not going to go there. But my wife loves chocolate.
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And if you go into our house, you'll notice that pretty much
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everywhere you go, there'll be chocolate.
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You open one drawer and there's a big Dairy Milk bar.
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You open another, buttons full on.
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You Skittles. Everywhere you go, there's
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chocolate. There's sweet stuff.
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I'm exaggerating a little bit, but me, myself and I, I'm not
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the biggest guy who likes sweet stuff because it's always in
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front of me. I'll find myself eating a Galaxy
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bar. I'll find myself eating
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chocolate. But here's what's very
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interesting. When we filled our house up with
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lettuce, with cucumbers, with pumpkin seeds, with all those
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sorts of boring things that are good for you, fruits and
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vegetables, When we filled the house up with those things and I
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started to eat them things, suddenly I didn't have the room
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anymore for those nasty things. And likewise, I'd like to say
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this to you, my dear brother, my dear sister, if you fill
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yourselves up with the good things, with prayer, with
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fasting, with reading the Word of God, with evangelism, with
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church fellowship, if you fill yourself up with those things,
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suddenly you won't have the same room anymore for those sins, for
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those temptations which can so easily get a grip of us.
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I believe you. You know, my former pastor, some
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of you might, because I think he preached this church in
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February, a man called David White.
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Do you know him? Yeah, David White's actually the
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man who led me to the Lord's. And I remember when I first got
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saved, around 1819 years old, I went up to David White and I
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said to him, I'm really struggling with a sin and I just
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can't get free from it. And I'm starting to doubt, am I
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even saved? Does God love me?
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What do I do? This is what he said to me.
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Joe, when you were a child, do you remember those little
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ladybird books that had a little ladybird on the spine?
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Do you remember those books? Well, those books had a motto in
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them and it was this. Every day is a new page.
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Every day is a new page. And that's how the Christian
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should live his life. So today, Lord, I've failed you.
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Today, Lord, I've made a mess. But tomorrow is a new page.
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So if that's you and you failed the Lord, perhaps you have
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you've had an argument with your wife, perhaps you are that
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you've struggled with a sin, come back to the Saviour,
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repent, turn from your sins. As Tim said very powerfully, the
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Lord will chastise the sons that he loves.
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And if you're going to wonder if you are truly born again, God
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will bring hard things into your life.
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Bad things will come to you. But any of you, I see a lot of
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children, any of you are parents in this room, you would do the
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same thing to make sure that you would bring your children back
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to that place of righteousness. And so our Heavenly Father who
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loves us, he will sometimes bring things into our lives.
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But that's a good thing. And don't despise the, the
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chastisement of the Lord. So if there is anyone wondering
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today, I just plead with you, come back, come back to the Lord
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Jesus Christ, the gentle Saviour.
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He's the doctor, but he's also the medicine.
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OK, my third and final sort of chunks sort of heading.
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Is this the Christian's shadow? OK, check out verse four with
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me. It says this.
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Yeah. Though I walk through the valley
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of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with
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me. Your rod and your staff, they
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comfort me. Now, I don't know Hebrew, but I
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did a little bit of research and if you look into the word the
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shadow of death, it can be translated to mean the shades of
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death. And I find that quite eerie, the
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shades of death. But remember, it's only a shadow
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for the believer. Now suppose that I pull out a
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sword now, OK. And suppose the sword falls on
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Tim. OK, Will the the shadow of the
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sword. Suppose the shadow of the the
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sword falls on Tim. Will Tim die from the shadow?
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No, he won't. Let's let's go to America.
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Suppose I, I pull out a rifle and and the shadow of the rifle
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falls on I don't know everyone's name on Paul's.
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Will the shadow kill Paul? It won't, Will it?
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And likewise with Christ. The sting of death has been
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removed. It's only the shadow which
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remains. But that doesn't make walking
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through the valley of the shadow of death a bed of roses.
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Have you ever been in a cave before that's so black that you
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can't even see your hand in front of your face?
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Have you been there before? Well, that's what death is like.
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It's dark, it's gloomy. The very shadow chills the
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heart. When a man or woman is in
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darkness, there's no hope, just darkness, No peace, just
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darkness, No sun, just darkness. Anxiety is their friend and
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sorrow is their companion. And all day long, these shivers,
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these chills of death, follow them around.
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And then we start to warm up again.
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And just when you think everything's OK, the chills
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return. Some of you have got no idea
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what I'm talking about, have you?
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But others of you, I'm describing your life.
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If you know nothing of this gloom, praise the Lord today.
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Laugh, rejoice, be silly whilst you can, because there are some
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of God's people who've forgotten what it is to laugh.
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We've forgotten what it is to smile.
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Oh, how we need to pray for those who are plagued with a
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restless mind. You see, God's in his kindness
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has given you a mind at ease. But your sister carries a cross.
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Some of the best Saints, some of the most godliest Saints, they
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walk through that valley of of death.
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They, they struggled with darkness, with depression.
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I mentioned Spurgeon earlier, Charles Spurgeon, when he would
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preach, literally thousands of people would come to hear and
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preach. And these pranksters, they, they
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got wind of it and they snuck into his church and they stood
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at the back and they shout at the top of their voices.
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Fire, fire. So all the people that like,
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they bolted for the doors trying to get out and there was a
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crush. And that day, seven people died.
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And for the rest of his life, Charles Spurgeon carried this
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darkness. He felt this guilt that it was
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his fault that these people had died.
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David, the man who wrote this Psalm, he said this, my eye is
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wasting away with grief. He also said this, you, Lord,
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have collected my tears in a bottle.
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And some of you might say, well, there's not a bottle big enough
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to to carry the tears I've cried in my life.
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Job said this. I have one request.
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Crush me. God.
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The prophet Elijah was also suicidal.
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He said it is enough now, Lord, take away my life.
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And that's just the men. Have you heard of Doctor Helen
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Roseveer? You heard of her one one day,
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she was she one night, in fact, she was working away in Africa.
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And these Congolese soldiers, they snuck into her house and
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they abused her, they beat her, they terrorized her.
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And because of her wound, she actually got breast cancer later
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on in life. And she walked that darkness for
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the rest of her days. And then we've got Hannah.
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In the Bible, Hannah was barren. And then let me ask you this, do
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you remember Mary Magdalene? When Mary Magdalene fell at the
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feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and she started to cry and she
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washed Christ's feet with her hair and her tears, do you think
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those tears were tears of joy or do you think they were tears of
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brokenness? That here in front of her was
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perhaps the only man that has ever respected her in her life?
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Suffering Christian remember this the the some of the
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greatest Saints have ABS sailed through that valley of the
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shadow of death, but they still left their mark on the world.
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Why? Because the Man of Sorrows, who
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is acquainted with grief, was their guide.
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Remember this, it says. Here it says, though I walk
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through the valley of the shadow of death.
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You might have just been diagnosed with a terminal
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illness, but you've still got to keep walking.
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Your home life might be falling to pieces, but you've still got
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to keep walking. Every single dream which you
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once had might have been snatched from you.
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It might be gone, but you still have to keep walking.
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Why? Because lying down the feet in
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the valley, that won't save you self pity.
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That never did anyone any good. No, you need to keep walking.
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But you might be thinking, but Joe, I can't.
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You don't realise how much I'm struggling.
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I, I don't feel like I can keep going anymore.
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Well, to you, I'd say this. Just take one step at a time.
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One step. But the Valley's deep.
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It's long. It's what goodwill one step do.
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Well, let me ask you this. The Notre Dame Cathedral was
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built just one brick at a time. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was
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built just one brick at a time. So just take one step at a time.
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Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and He will get you
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through that valley. But again, note it does say he
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walks the man of God, the woman of God, she doesn't run through
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the valley of shadow of death. They don't Sprint through the
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valley of the shadow of death. They walk, they quietly endure
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the trial that the Lord God has put in their life.
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The same God who has given all the good things has also allowed
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this trial to enter sovereignly into our lives.
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Am I the only one who's thinking this?
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You're hearing the whisperings on the news.
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In March, the lockdown will be over and we start to get, I
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can't wait. I just can't wait for March to
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come. I can't wait to do it.
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And we rush. We rush it, but we need to
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remember that God in his sovereignty is allowing these
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things to happen. And we mustn't rush the lectures
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of God, because when we finish we will get a PhD in suffering,
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which is better than anything you'll get at Harvard, better
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than anything you'll get at Manchester University, Oxford,
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because it's come from gods. The poet Robert Browning
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Hamilton once wrote this. I walked a mile with pleasure.
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She chatted all the way, but left me none the wiser for all
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she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and
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never a word said she. But oh, the things I learned
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from her when sorrow walked with me.
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Above all, remember this when we get there, when we get to
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heaven, will there be any shadows in glory?
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No, because the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ will shine far
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too brightly for there to be any shadows in heaven.
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Like the children's hymn goes, shine, Jesus shine and he will
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shine. He'll shine so brightly.
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Can I ask you another question? If tonight was your last night
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on planet earth, do you know that you would be going to
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heaven? Do you know that heaven is
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assured for you? If you have not yet come to the
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Lord Jesus Christ? You know what he once said.
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I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down his life
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for the sheep. Are you one of His sheep?
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If today you can see the Son of God bleeding, dying, hanging on
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a cross for your lies, your blasphemy, your sex outside of
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marriage, your lust, your pride, all, if you can see him there,
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bleed in there crucified, breathing his last breath, don't
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look the other way. If today, this very day, God has
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granted you this heart of repentance, where you think,
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Lord God, I can see that the Son of God rose from the dead.
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I know He rose from the dead so that he might grant me eternal
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life. And if today you can hear him
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knocking on the door of your heart, I plead with you, do not
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close the door in his face. Turn to the Saviour.
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Repent. Turn from all your wasteful
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ways. It's none of it is worth it
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compared to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, compared to
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knowing the Saviour as your Lord and Saviour.
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Let me leave you with one final thought.
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Is there anyone here today who's ever been to an after dinner
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speech? Just raise your hands.
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Yeah. Oh, a couple of you.
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I didn't think you look particularly cultured, but maybe
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you are. So there's a few of you have.
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OK, well, let me tell you about an afternoon speech that
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happened one night where there was a Shakespearean actor.
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And they they asked the Shakespearean actor to do all
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these different requests. And at the end of the night, he
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said, I've got time for just one more request.
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Does anyone have one more request that they'd like me to
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to say as I finished the night off?
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And this old dodering minister, about 80 years old, stood up and
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said, excuse me, Mr. Actor, do you know Psalm 23?
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And the actor said, yes, I do. And he said, would you mind
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reciting that for us? He said, yes, I will, but under
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one condition, that after I recite Psalm 23, well, you, Mr.
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Minister, you also must recite the Psalm.
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So the minister agreed. Anyway, away went the the
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Shakespeare enactor. He he recited it with colour,
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with diction, with charisma. When he finished, everyone stood
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up and gave him a standing ovation.
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And then he looked into the crowds and he found that that
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old doddering minister. And he winked at him.
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It's your turn now. The minister stood up.
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He needed a chair to sort of steady himself, and he
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stammered, and he stuttered his way through the Psalm.
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When he finished, the sound of clapping wasn't heard, but the
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sound of weeping was. And when everything died down,
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the actor stood up again. And he said this.
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Now do you see why I asked the minister to go after me?
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I know the Psalm, but He knows the Shepherd.
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I know the Psalm, but He knows the shepherds.
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My dear friends, do you know the shepherds?
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Can you say the Lord is my shepherd?
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I shall not want. If there's anyone here today,
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you can't say that. I plead with you.
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Come to the gentle arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He loves you, He died for you, and He wants you to come to Him.