Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 371 | The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want (Psalm 23)

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371 | The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want (Psalm 23) · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and as such, He gives His sheep all that they need.
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  He provides countless blessings for His children who are the sheep of His pasture.
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  As His children, He ensures we have everything necessary to be holy,
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  satisfied, and productive.
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  Join us in this episode of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a
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  journey through the scriptures, revealing the blessings of Psalm 23.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  You know, today we're going to look at a very familiar passage of scripture
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  to most people who have spent any time in church, and even to many who are not church people.
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  Because the 23rd Psalm is often read at funerals.
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  It's often spoken in times of absolute need and trouble.
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  And it often finds itself on the back of those little pieces of paper that talk
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  about the services at funeral.
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  And so when we look at the 23rd Psalms,
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  It's almost like we are conditioned to be
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  in this state of sadness that is overwhelmingly joyful in the fact that those
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  that we love have gone on to be with Jesus and that they didn't walk this world
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  alone and that they didn't have to cross from here to heaven by themselves.
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  But there's something about the 23rd Psalm that for most people,
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  when they hear it, when they read it, when someone speaks about it,
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  they automatically go into this state of melancholy.
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  And I want you to know something. The 23rd Psalm is not a psalm that is meant to make you melancholy.
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  In fact, the 23rd Psalm is filled with such hope and such joy and such amazing
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  truths for those that are currently alive and those that are walking for Jesus Christ,
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  that it should overwhelm you with the amazing love, grace,
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  mercy, and joy that the Lord has for each of his children.
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  And so today I want us to walk through the 23rd Psalm with the understanding
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  that the Lord is our shepherd here and now for every moment of the day, for all of our lives,
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  both here and in the next, for those who know him as Savior.
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  And it's important that you realize the 23rd Psalm is something that we can
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  read over and over and over and over again and allow him to soothe our souls,
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  to inspire us to greater things and to experience the comfort of his peace.
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  The overwhelming motivation of his love, and the joy of his presence. Let's pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you.
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  I thank you for your word from Genesis to Revelations.
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  I thank you that it is the greatest love letter ever written, and I thank you, Jesus,
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  that you make it so special to each of us and that it's so alive and dynamic
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  because it is you incarnate, Lord,
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  that we are able to read it and it touches our lives right where we are,
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  regardless of how many times we have read the same passage.
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  And Lord, I want to thank you for the 23rd Psalm that has brought such peace
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  and solace to many in their time of need.
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  But I want to thank you for the opportunity today to walk through the 23rd Psalm
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  with you as you open it up for us in our current lives and for us to see that
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  you are the Good Shepherd.
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  And because we have you, we have all that we need, and you bless us daily.
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  Lord, thank you for loving us. And all these things we ask in your most precious and holy name.
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  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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  Let's read the 23rd Psalm in your hearing and begin our walk and our journey
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  through this amazing, beloved passage.
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  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
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  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.
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  He restores my soul. he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake,
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  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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  I will fear no evil. For thou art with me.
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  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
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  Thou preparest to table before me in the presence of my enemies.
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  Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.
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  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
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  and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
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  As we read these precious words in the 23rd Psalm, you can't help but feel a
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  sense of peace and a sense of joy.
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  But as we begin to unpack this passage of scripture, I hope that you allow the
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  Lord to speak to your heart and to open up your mind.
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  And whatever it is that you might be thinking, whatever it is that may be happening
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  in your life, that you would allow the good shepherd to come in and to care
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  for you and to walk you through it.
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  Because we know in Hebrews 13, 5, he said, he would never leave us nor forsake us.
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  So as we begin to look at this passage, it's super important that we understand who he's talking to.
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  In Psalms chapter 100 verse 3, he says, know ye that the Lord, he is God.
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  It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves.
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  We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
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  So who he's talking to are his children, those who are born again.
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  Those who have given their heart and their minds to him,
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  those who have turned their lives to him
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  and submitted to his authority that
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  we may walk in his righteousness and that he has
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  imputed his righteousness in us so
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  that we are no longer slaves to sin but we are victorious over hell death and
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  the grave just as he was for death no longer has its sting and the grave no
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  longer has its victory we are his sheep Thank you.
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  We are the ones he is caring for.
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  And I want you to look in John chapter 10, verse 14, at what kind of shepherd he is.
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  He says, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and have known of mine.
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  So if you're wondering who Psalms 23 is written for, this is David telling us
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  about the confidence of God's grace.
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  And it's our ability to know that as children of God, we are living in God's grace.
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  In Ephesians 2, 8, 9, he says this, for by grace are you saved through faith
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  and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works,
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  lest any man should boast.
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  Our salvation is predicated on the love of God and his, the finished work of
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  Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. We are his sheep, and he is our shepherd.
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  We just aren't any sheep. We're the sheep of his pasture, and he is the good shepherd.
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  Let's take a look at verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd.
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  What does it mean that the Lord is your shepherd?
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  A shepherd will give his life for his sheep.
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  A shepherd will leave the 99 safe and step out of safety for himself to bring
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  into the fold that one which has left the flock,
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  that one which has gone astray,
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  that one that has done something that put themselves in harm way.
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  So they're no longer in that fold
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  of the shepherd the shepherd will go
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  and take care of that one how many
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  of us would be perfectly satisfied with a 99
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  out of 100 on a test how many of us would think that's more than enough that's
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  perfectly fine we wouldn't put ourselves in any harm's way but see jesus come
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  that we might have life and have it more abundantly in john 10 10,
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  jesus came to seek and to save those which were lost and romans 3 23 tells us
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  that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of god and that we all
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  need to call upon the lord that we might be saved and whoever does that surely will be saved.
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  All of us were the sheep that was astray.
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  But the ones that have named Jesus as Lord and allowed him to be shepherd of his life,
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  of their lives, who have placed him in his rightful place as king of their heart and Lord of their lives,
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  those are the sheep of his pasture.
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  And he is the good shepherd.
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  He's watching out.
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  He's caring for each and every one of you. That storm you're going through,
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  he's already there, just waiting for you to call on him and to lean upon him
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  and to allow him to navigate you through the storm and to manage the storm for you.
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  Because he's never going to leave you nor forsake you in Hebrews 13.5.
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  How do I know this? One, he said it. But too, he gives us a marvelous account
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  of Peter walking on the water.
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  After he had bid this being that he could see and said, Lord, if it be you, bid me come.
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  See, Peter didn't ask the Lord to come in the midst of his storm.
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  He looked out through the storm and could see Jesus was already there.
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  Jesus is in your storm.
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  Jesus is there wanting to help you.
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  No good thing will he withhold from them that walk up rightly.
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  He will give you the strength you need in Philippians 4.13, and he will give
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  you all you need in Philippians 4.19.
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  Jesus is the good shepherd who has already laid his life down for you,
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  who's already stood high and lifted up and is drawing all men unto himself because
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  he wishes that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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  Jesus wants what's best for you, and he proved it by providing for you that
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  which no one else could do and
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  always being where no one else can be and doing what no one else can do.
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  He ever lives to make intercession for us he watches us to and fro he never
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  sleeps and he never slumbers and no one can pluck us out of his hand according to john 10 28.
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  He's the good shepherd. What I love about Psalms 23.1 is that it doesn't stop
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  with, He's the good shepherd.
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  It continues with, I shall not want.
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  If you're not careful, you'll buzz right past that phrase or that sentence in
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  Psalms 23.1 because you can be so overwhelmingly joyful about the fact that He's our shepherd.
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  And you can be so inspired and motivated because he's our shepherd,
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  that you forget what it means that he's our shepherd means you shall not want.
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  But friends, that's a choice you make.
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  He is God, but you got to make him Lord in order for you not to want while you're
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  being cared for by the shepherd.
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  See, too many of us have one foot in the world and one foot in his word,
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  and our heart and our mind is distracted in various places in between.
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  See, many of us have not put Jesus as Lord.
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  We've totally extracted James 4.4.
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  This is, no, you not, that friendship with the world is enmity with God.
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  In fact, he calls us adulterers and adulteresses because we are living in the
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  world and we are being part of the world and we are literally cheating on him
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  who bought us and paid for us with his own blood.
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  This relationship of the shepherd and his sheep is a covenant.
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  Sealed by the blood of Jesus, and he's always holding up his end.
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  But we somehow feel like it's a contract, and we don't hold up the covenant
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  of our relationship of holiness,
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  and our purposing him in our lives and being determined to follow the good shepherd.
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  But instead we break it left and
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  right when our worldly desires and our
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  fleshly lust seem to pull us away
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  from the good shepherd when the
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  pastures on the other side seem better
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  because there is pleasure and sin for
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  a season scripture tells us and the devil is
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  walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he
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  may devour instead of crawling up next to the shepherd listening to him when
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  he whispers and following his every command and experiencing the goodness and
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  the daily blessings that comes from following Jesus and his commandments.
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  Instead of doing that, we take our eyes off of the shepherd and we look to the
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  left and to the right. and the worldly desires and fleshly lust draw us in.
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  And those who are not keeping their
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  eyes on the shepherd find themselves sinking in the sin of this world.
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  And again, we see that as Peter's on the boat and he looks out and he sees this
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  figure on the water that's already there, just wanting him to acknowledge him.
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  Wanting him to be invited into the situation.
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  Wanting him to be placed as Lord of his life and King of his heart.
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  Waiting for Peter to abandon himself, to deny himself and to pick up his cross and to follow him.
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  Peter says, Lord, if I be you, just as I said before, he said, bid me come.
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  And Jesus bids him come, and Peter's walking on the water.
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  When you are following Jesus
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  Christ and you are listening to his
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  call you can do things that you
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  would never be able to do on your own because now you're doing it with the supernatural
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  power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you who is empowering you and Ephesians
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  3 20 says that now unto him who can do exceeding abundantly above all that he
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  asks or think according to the power that works in us.
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  There is no limit to what you can do in Jesus Christ when you allow the Holy
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  Spirit to be unleashed in your life because you are following Jesus Christ and
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  his commandments and the world
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  doesn't have an attraction to you and sin doesn't have a place in you,
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  but you are allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you,
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  to guide you, to direct you, and he's keeping your heart clean as you diligently
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  sweep your heart by asking the Holy Spirit to search me,
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  O God, and knoweth there be any wicked way in me as we are told to do in Psalm 139.
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  And as long as Peter is keeping his eyes on Jesus,
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  and following exactly what Jesus says,
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  and he's not looking left or right and the storm has no presence in his life,
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  and the evil of the world doesn't even have a spot in his mind or his heart.
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  Peter's doing the impossible.
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  He's walking hand in hand.
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  With Jesus. But just as soon, as Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus, it is then that he falls.
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  But praise be to God, Peter again shows us the love of Jesus,
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  the goodness of the shepherd.
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  And 1 John 1 9 is fully revealed as Peter says,
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  Lord save me and immediately Jesus reaches down and picks him up and carries him safely to the boat.
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  See for many of you, you may have abandoned who the good shepherd is.
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  You may have gotten your eyes off into the fleshly lusts of the world and your feet have followed.
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  But praise be to God in 1 John 1.9. He says, if we confess our sins,
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  he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  Friends, Psalms 23.1 is a beautiful picture of the love,
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  the goodness, and the grace of God. He's the good shepherd.
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  We are the sheep of his pasture.
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  And he knows my name.
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  And those who are his sheep know who he is. So the question for you today is this.
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  Do you know the Good Shepherd? Do you know him in the pardon and forgiveness of your sins?
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  Can you see in your heart the goodness of God and point to a knowledge that
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  you are no longer serving the world,
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  but you are walking in the newness of life.
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  Have you come to that place.
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  Well, you know you're a sinner in need of a Savior. Perhaps the most familiar
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  verse in all of Scripture,
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  even more than Psalms 23, is John 3.16, which says, For God so loved the world
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  that he gave his only begotten Son,
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  that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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  He tells us in John 3, 7, Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
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  And in Romans 3, 23, it's a discourse on all of humanity.
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  He says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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  But in Romans 10, 13, he says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
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  shall be saved, just as you are the sheep of his pasture.
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  When you've been saved and born again, you too are a whosoever.
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  You are the reason he died, the reason he came, the reason he stayed on the.
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  Cross, because there wasn't any other way to pay that penalty for sin.
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  I'm afraid some of you, you might have spoken the words, Lord save me,
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  but you never placed your faith in him.
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  You've raised your hand in a service.
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  You might have received a book.
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  You've walked with a crowd of people who said, Jesus is my savior.
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  You may have friends who have truly believed in the only begotten son.
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  But you haven't. You've never given your life to him.
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  You've never said, Lord, I need you. I can't do this on my own.
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  You've never done what Peter did. Peter got out of the boat.
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  He tested his faith.
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  See, Jesus said, come.
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  Peter Cain. Some of you are at the stage where you hear Jesus say,
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  come, and you think, well, this is a good idea.
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  My friends do it, and hey, if there's something to it, maybe I should do it.
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  And so you say a few words, and you walk with the red crowd,
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  but you don't make a change in your life because really you never gave him your life.
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  You just said a few words.
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  I know approximately maybe five phrases after four semesters of Spanish.
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  And the chances of me using them correctly are slim to none.
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  But every now and then, I can get one or two right.
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  And that in no way makes me a fluent Spanish speaker.
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  And even if I could speak Spanish, it doesn't make me a person who is of Spanish descent.
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  I kind of feel like that's how many of us are. We know a few phrases.
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  We can say a few words. Every now and then we can even look the part.
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  Well, we've never been transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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  We've never placed our faith in Jesus Christ. It doesn't take a knowledge of the scriptures.
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  It takes a knowledge of who Jesus is, the Savior, the Shepherd.
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  And it takes putting your faith in him.
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  That you don't want anything else. Nothing in this world is greater to you than Jesus Christ.
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  Your relationship with him is your most prized possession, and growing in his
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  grace and in the knowledge of the Lord is your primary purpose.
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  Knowing him changes everything, and your want to is changing, your desires changing,
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  and it takes time to know him completely, but there's an instantaneous change
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  that takes place for those who abandon self and cling to Jesus Christ.
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  For those that understand, as Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death,
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  but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
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  2 Corinthians 5.17 says that, behold, all things have become new.
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  We are new creatures in Christ Jesus.
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  Old things have passed away. All things have become new, not because of us,
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  but because of the finished work on Calvary.
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  Psalms 23 verse 1 explains who the Good Shepherd is, and the second half,
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  well it's the affirmation of who you think he is he is the good shepherd and
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  if you can say in your heart he's all i need.
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  Music.
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  If you can say that from the depths of your heart, then you know the Good Shepherd, and He knows you.
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  Friends, I ask you, do you know the Good Shepherd?
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  Join us in the next podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as we continue our walk through Psalms 23.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast you can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references we pray today has been
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  a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through our app our website
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  or our facebook page you can find our app by searching for a woman at the well
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  ministries in your app store or through our
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  If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
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  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  our Heavenly Father, and it is through your loving and generous support that
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  our ministry continues to bless others.
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  Remember that God loves you, you.
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  Music.