Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / The Lord is My Shepherd - Max Lucado Daily Sermons

Transcript

The Lord is My Shepherd - Max Lucado Daily Sermons · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:23
  Speaker 1: God, Bless you. God bless you.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: May He give you strength. May He lift you up
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: however you are, and wherever you are in the midst
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: of all of the turmoil and chaos. May He give
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: you a spirit of inner peace that comes from trusting Him.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I'd like to pray for us all, and then we're
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: going to open our bibles to the twenty third Psalm.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Oh Great King, we honor you as the only source
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of peace. We honor you as the one who always
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: tells the truth, who always blesses, who always cares, who
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: hears our prayers, who comes.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: To us in our hour of need.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: We turn to you now, Father, and in the name
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ, our Savior, I would ask you to
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: speak a blessing over all who hear these words, young
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: and old, near and far, strong and weak. May you
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: bless them, Lord, Bless them with fortification, Edify them within,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Strengthen them, Bless their relationships, Bless their work, Let them prosper.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Father.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Let those who are sick be healed, those who are
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: lonely find fellowship, those who are confused find answers, and
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: those who are afraid find courage.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You can do this, our God, with just a.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Word, and we ask you to speak that word, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: we pray in the name of Christ and all the
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: church said. When did the craziness of the last few
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: months hit you? Was it when you were, for the
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: first time, standing in a grocery store check out, lying
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: neatly space six feet behind the patron in front of you.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Was it when you heard a New York City doctor
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: describe how her hospital was so overwhelmed with COVID patients
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: that they had to bring a refrigerated truck to hold
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the dead. Maybe it was when you visited your grandma
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: in the nursing home but had to stand outside the
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: window talking to her on your phone. Or maybe it
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: was when you heard the reporter state that unemployment is
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: the worst it's been since the Great Depression, and the data,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the numbers, the figures. Oh my thousand, over one hundred
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: thousand dead, forty million unemployed. Maybe it was the protests,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe it.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Was the lootings.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: These last months, well, they feel like a dream, feel
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: like a nightmare, feel like a novel, like a like
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: a dolly painting, people wearing masks, churches canceling services. What
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: do you mean no graduation? How are you coping? You know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: in changing times, I can think of no more important
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: step than to focus on the unchanging character of God.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: And I can think of no scripture that helps us
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: understand the unchanging character of God more than this one,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the Beloved twenty third Psalm.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: The Lord is my shepherd.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: I shall not want, And he makes me lie down
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: in green pastures, and he leads me beside the still waters,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: and he restores my soul. He leads me in paths
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: of righteousness for his namesake. And YEA, though I walk
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: my head with oil, and my cup runs over. Surely,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: my life. And I will dwell in the house of
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the Lord forever.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I ask you do more.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Beloved, words exist framed and hung in hospital halls and
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: scratched on prison walls, quoted by the young and whispered
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: by the dying. In these lines, the sailors have found
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: a harbor, and the frightened have found a father. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the strugglers have found a friend. And because the passage
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: is it's so deeply beloved, it is widely known. Can
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you find ears on which these words have never fallen?
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Sung in music to one hundred songs, translated in a
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: thousand tongues, domiciled in a million hearts, and one of
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: those hearts is probably yours. I'm curious what kinship do
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you feel with the twenty third song? Where do the
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: words transport you to a fireside, to a graveside, to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: a bedside. Let's turn to these words. I think we
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: need a deep dose of the twenty third song this
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: week and the next four Let's drink deeply from this
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: well of a handful of You might recall when we
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: as a church studied this psalm. The year nineteen ninety
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: eight was a long time ago. I think we're overdue
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: a revisit, and what a timely, timely contemplation. Each passage
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: is rich, each promise is worth memorizing. We need go
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: no further than the very first phrase to find our
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: first dose of strength. David says, the Lord is my shepherd.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: The Lord is my shepherd. You want to really know
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: who God is? David says, you need.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: To know that Yahweh is my shepherd.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a foreign word to us, but it wasn't
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: to David. Yahweh that Hebrew name. That way God introduced
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: himself to Moses through the burning bush. That name was
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: was fresh and meaningful to David. In fact, you might
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: say that the rest of the twenty third song is
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: just helping us understand the first word.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: The name Yahweh. You see, Yahweh is God's name.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: You might call me a preacher, or a writer, or
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: a half baked golfer. Those are accurate descriptions, but they
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: aren't my names. I might call you dad or mom
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: or teacher or student, and those terms might describe you,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: but they're not your name. And if you want to
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: if you want to call me by my name, just
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: say Max. And if I want to call you by
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: your name, I say it. And if you want to
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: call God by God's name, he says, call me Yahweh.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Yahweh.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: God has told us his name how he must long
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: to be close to us. Now, God, ever, gives a
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: definition of the word or the name Yahweh, and we
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: kind of wish Moses had requested one. Scholars have studied
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: this name trying to find the significance. It sounds strikingly
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: close to the Hebrew verb to be havah, and it's
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: quite possibly a combination of the present tense form I
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: am and the causative form I cause.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: To be Yahweh then seems to be a combination of
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: I am and I cause.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: God in other words, Yahweh in other words, is the
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: one who is and the one who causes? Why is
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: that important? Why does that matter? Because we need a
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: big God. And if God is the one who is,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: then he is an unchanging God. Think about it. Do
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: you know anyone who who goes around saying, I am,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: how are you? I am?
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: How you been? I am? We always add.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Another word I am happy, or I am sad, or
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: I've been tired, or even I am max. God doesn't
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: need to do so. He doesn't need to do so.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: I am, he says, and we wait for him to
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: add a phrase. But God needs no descriptive word why
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: because he never changes. He never changes. He is who
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: he is and always has been. His immutability motivated the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Psalmist to declare in Psalm one O. Two twenty seven,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: but thou art the same the writer is saying, you
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: are the one who is you never change. Yahweh is
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: an unchanging God. He's also this. He's also an uncaused God. Yes,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: he creates, but he was never created. He makes, but
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: he was never made. He caught, but he was never caused.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Hence the psalmest proclamation before the mountains were born, or
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: you brought forth the earth in the world from everlasting
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: to everlasting.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: You are God, God is Yahweh.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: He is an unchanging God, an uncaused God. And one more,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: he is an ungoverned god. Boy, we've been reminded lately
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: heaven' we that we are governed. The weather determines what
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: we wear. The terrain tells us how to travel. A
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: pandemic dictates our actions. Gravity describes or governs our speed,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: and health determines our strength. And we may challenge these forces,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: and we may alter them slightly, but we never remove
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: them yet.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Yahweh, our shepherd. He doesn't check the weather.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: He makes it. He doesn't defy gravity created it. He
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: isn't affected by health. Jesus said, God is spirit, and
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: since he has no body, he has no limitations. Listen,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: he is equally active right now in Cambodia and Connecticut.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: David asked, where can I go to get away from
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: your spirit? Where can I run from you? If I
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: go up to the heavens, You're there. If I lie
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: down in the grave, you are there. He is unchanging,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: he is uncost he is ungoverned. And these are only
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: a fraction of God's qualities. But, my friend, aren't they enough?
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Aren't they enough to give you a glimpse of your shepherd,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: of your yahwey. Don't we need this kind of shepherd?
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Don't we need an unchanging shepherd? We need a Yahweh.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: We've had enough change, haven't we? Relationships change, health changes,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: politics change, the weather changes. But the Yahweh, the Yahweh
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: who ruled the earth last night, is the same who
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: will rule the world tomorrow. He has the same convictions,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: He has the same mood, he has the same plan,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: He has the same love. He never changes, He never changes.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: You can no more alter God than a pebble can
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: alter the rhythm of the Pacific Ocean. We have and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: we need an unchanging shepherd. We have an uncaused shepherd.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: No one breathes life into our Yahweh. No one sired him.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: No one gave birth to him, no one thought him up,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: no one caused him. No act brought him forth. And
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: hear this, Since no act brought him forth, no act
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: can take him out. Does he tremble at a tornado?
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Does he fear an earthquake? Our Yahweh can sleep through
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: a storm, and he can speak a word to the
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: winds and silence them. Pandemics do not trouble him. Cemeteries
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: do not disturb him. He was here before they came.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: He'll be here after they're gone. He is uncost and
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: he's ungoverned. He's ungoverned. Counselors can comfort you in the storm,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: but you need a God who can still the storm.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Friends can hold your hand at your deathbed, but you
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: need a Yahweh who has defeated the grave. Philosophers debate
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: the meaning of life, but you need a lord who
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: can tell you the meaning of our existence. You need
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: a Yahweh. You need a Yahweh. You need a god
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: who can place one hundred billion stars in our galaxy
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: and one hundred billion galaxies in the universe. You need
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: a god who can shape two fists of flesh into
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: seventy five to one hundred billion nurse cells, each with
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: as many as ten thousand connections to other nurse cells.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Place it in a skull and call it a brain.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: You need a.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: God who, while so mind numbingly mighty, can come in
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the soft of the night and touch you with the
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: tenderness of an april.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Snow, you need a yahweh.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: And according to David, you have one.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: And you know what he is your shepherd. He's your shepherd.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Now that's a wonderfully poetic and comforting thought until you
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: stop and think. In order for God to be my shepherd,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I have to admit that I am a sheep. Of
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: all God's animals, a sheep is one sure I want
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to be. The sheep is least able to take care
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: of himself. Think about it. Sheep are dumb. They're dumb.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Have you ever met a sheep trainer? Have you ever
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: seen sheep tricks? Know anyone who has taught a sheep
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: to roll over? Ever witnessed the side show featuring Mazdon
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: and his jumping sheep. Sheep are too dumb, and you
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: know what, they're defenseless. You can likely outrun a sheep,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: and sheep don't have claws. Sheep won't bite you. That's
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: why you never see a sheep. They see sheep as
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: team mascots. We've heard of the Saint Louis Rams, and
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: the Chicago Bulls and the Seattle Seahawks, but the New
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: York Lambs. Who wants to be a lamb? You couldn't
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: even stir up a decent yell for the cheerleaders to use.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: We are the sheep. We don't make a peep. Victory
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: is yours to keep, but count us if you want
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: to sleep. What's more, sheeper dirty. A cat can clean itself,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: so can to a degree, a dog. We see a
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: bird in a bird bath, even a bear in a river.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: But she.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: They get dirty and stay that way. Come on, David,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: come on, couldn't you have thought.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Of a better metaphor? Surely he could have.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: After all, this is the great David, the poet, David,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: the great King, David, the great worship Leader. This is
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: David who outran Saul Any outgunned Goliath. Why didn't he
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: choose something other than sheep?
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: How about this?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: The Lord is my commander in chief, and I am
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: his warrior. There I like that, I mean, a warrior
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: gets a uniform and a weapon, maybe even a medal.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Or the Lord is my inspiration and I am his singer.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I like that too. We are in God's choir. What
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: a flattering assignment? Or how about this, The Lord is
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: my king and I am his ambassador. Who wouldn't like
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: to be a spokesperson for God? Everyone stops when the
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: ambassador speaks, Everyone listens when God's minstrel sings. Everyone applauds
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: when God's warrior passes. But who notices when the sheep
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: show up? Who notices when sheep sing or speak or act?
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Only one person does, and that is the shepherd. And
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: you know what, I think that's precisely David's point. Sheep
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: are dumb, they are dirty, they are defenseless, and at
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: the risk of offending you, can I just remind you
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: that those three words describe us as well.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I don't mean to offend you.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: But who among us can say for certain we know
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: what's going to happen tomorrow or next month or next year.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: We've learned, haven't we. This world can get derailed. We
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: don't know what the future holds. We're not that bright.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Sometimes our forecast becomes more of a fear cast because
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: we don't know what the future holes. And we're not
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: too clean either. I mean physically we may be fine,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: but spiritually don't. We need somebody to clean us, to
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: bathe us, to wash us, to cover us in grace,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: to cleanse us of our transgressions. That's what we have
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: in our shepherd. And we're defenseless. We're defenseless, defenseless against
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: the attacks to the devil.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: We need us.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: We need a shepherd to encircle us, to come alongside,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: to go and to go behind, to stand to the right,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: to send to the lefts and yes to dwell us.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And he does. He does. Praise me to his name.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: He protects us from the attacks of the devil. Now,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: come to think of it, you know, being a sheep
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: is not a bad thing. It would be a bad
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: thing if you didn't have a shepherd. But we have one.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: We have a good shepherd. And his name is Yahweh.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: When David, who was a warrior, who was a minstrel,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: who was an ambassador, search for an illustration of God,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: he went back in his mind all the way back
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: to those days early in his life when he was
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: a shepherd, and he remembered how he lavished attention on
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: his sheep. You see, the only job of a shepherd
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: is to care for the sheep. He took care of
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: them day and night. He slept with them, he watched
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: over them. And I can just picture David when he
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: wants to write a song that commemorates the character of God,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: that speaks to people in trouble times. He says, oh,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: I tell you who God is. God is to us
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: like I was to that little flock of sheep in
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: the hills of Bethlehem. He cares for us, He watches
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: over us, he leads us, he guides us, he makes
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: us lie down, He anoints our heads with oil. He
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: makes sure that our cup is overflowing. And when that
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: time comes to walk through the valley of the Shadow
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: of Death, he will lead us his rod and his staff.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: They will comfort us. And oh, my goodness, goodness and mercy,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: goodness and mercy.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: They're kind of like the sheep dogs.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: They come up behind us and they follow us all
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: the days of our life. That's good news, that's good news.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: That's who your shepherd is. But the question is, have
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: you made him your shepherd? Can you say what David said?
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: He said the Lord is my shepherd. Can you say that?
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Can you say with assurance, the Lord is my shepherd.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Our world has been rocked over the last few weeks.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: We feel like we've been knocked off our feet a
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: time or two. And maybe God has used this to
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: reveal to you that you have depended upon sources of
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: strength that are short term and insufficient. Maybe you've put
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: your trust in your savings account. Maybe you've put your
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: trust in your ability to stay healthy. Maybe you've put
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: your trust in global peace. And wherever you've placed your
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: trus you're beginning to think. You know, I can lose
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: my savings account and I can try to be healthy,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: but inhale the wrong virus, and by goodness, this world
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: doesn't feel as peaceful as it did just a few
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: months ago. Could it be that God is using this
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: as a wake up call for you, for you, my friend,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: for you, for you to be able to say what
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: David said, the Lord is my shepherd.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: He is my shepherd.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: I want to invite you to call out to God
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: and say I want you to be my shepherd.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: It's not enough for you to.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Look around at your church and say, well, the Lord
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: is our shepherd. Or to look around at your family
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: and say, well, the Lord is our shepherd, or to
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: think of your ancestry and say, well, the Lord is
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: our shepherd. No God wants to be a personal shepherd
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: to you. He wants you to reach up to him
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: and say, please be my shepherd. I acknowledge that I
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: am a sheep, that I need someone to protect me.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: I need someone to cleanse me, I need someone to
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: lead me. I want you to be my shepherd. If
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: you've never done that, my friend, do so.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Do so.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Let this season, a struggle in which we have found ourselves,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: be used for good, because it calls upon you to
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: call upon your good shepherd.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Do so.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: You need a shepherd. You need an uncaused god. You
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: need an ungoverned god. You need a God who is
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: greater than your problems. And you have one, but it
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: avails you nothing if you don't, in your heart of hearts,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: say please be my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: Years ago, a chaplain in the French army used the
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: twenty third Psalm to encourage soldiers before battle, and he
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: would encourage them to repeat the opening line of the psalm,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: ticking off one finger at a time. The Lord is
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: my shepherd, and he would have them go through it
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: over and over again. In fact, I encourage you to
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: do so. The Lord is my shepherd. The chaplain's space
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: placed special emphasis upon the message of the index finger,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: My shepherd, my shepherd, and he reminded the soldiers that
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: God is a personal shepherd with a personal mission to
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: get them home safely. Did the chaplain's words find their
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: mark in the life of one man.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: They did.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: After a battle, one of the young soldiers was found dead,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: his right hand clutching the index finger of the left.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: The Lord is my shepherd. Reach up and take the
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: hand of your ship. Declare today that you trust in
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: the one who will not be troubled, who will not
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: be dissuaded, who has already set his mission in gear.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: He is our shepherd, My friend. We do not know
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: how many more days of life we have.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: We just don't.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: We do not know, except that these events might be
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: signaling the second coming, the return of Jesus Christ, and
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: his promise is to come and gather his flock and
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: take them into a pasture, a pastor that knows no graves,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: that knows no tears, that knows no anguish that knows
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: no anxiety, that knows no pandemics. But he will not
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: take you if you do not accept his invitation. So
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: I feel lad to ask you just one more time.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Are you sure? Are you sure? Have you reached up
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: and taken the hand of your shepherd? Have you called
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: out to him? If not, you can do so right now.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: I'd like to lead us in a prayer. And for
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: those of us who call upon Christ as our good shepherd,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: this will be an affirmation of our faith. But for
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: those of you who never have, no matter how old
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: you are, no matter where you are, I'm asking you
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: to repeat this prayer in your heart. If you want
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: to say it out loud, do so. But don't let
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: this service come to an end with any doubt in
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: your mind. Make sure that you believe in the good Shepherd. Oh,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, we bless you, and thank you.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: We praise your mighty and your holy name. Your name
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: and your name alone is worthy of recognition and applause.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: And today we declare, Heavenly Father, thank you for being
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: our shepherd. Just thank you, Lord, thank you so much,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: thank you that in a trouble time we have a
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: certain good, a certain source of hope. We can turn
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: to you. We can always look up and we can
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: see you leading us and guiding us. And we thank
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: you for these words. And today we say you are
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: our shepherd. Let's affirm our faith. Dear God, I accept
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: you as my savior. I ask you to forgive my sin,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: to include me in your flock, and to lead me
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: safely home in the name of Jesus Christ.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Amen. Amen.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: No one knows when or how this crazy season will end,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: but we.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Do know this.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: We have a shepherd, We have a yahweh and he
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: will lead us home. Now go in the great grace
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: and peace of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. And
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: remember that the one who came to it comes, and
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: the one who spoke still speaks.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: Everything I used to live for faith is slowly out
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: of sight. Now my days just circle around you, like
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: I'm lost without life.
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: All the noise just turns to silence when your memory
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: comes through. And the world I once was chasing and
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: now feel small.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Shape like you.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: My whole world is only you.
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: Every dark he's breaking through. You're so close inside my mind,
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: but so far and relife.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: I can feel you everywhere, and the things we live sh.
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: All this love I'm going through never reaches you.
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: Every image feels so real now, like you're standing.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Next to me.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: But the truth is in the silence. You are never.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Man to see.
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: My whole world is only every darky speaking through. You're
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: so close inside my mind, so far in real life.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: I can feel you everywhere, and the things we live.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Ship all this all I'm going.
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: Through, never reaching you.
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: If you fail to fall moment, it would have changed
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: the way you stay, would still be shadow thatches face.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: To my world?
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: Is only you on? Is only your world a different
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: I'm just someone passing by.
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: In your open Scott.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Still, I hold on to to.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Every Harvey calls for you.
• 31:09
  Speaker 6: Oh this letter, I always know we'll never read you.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: H mm hmmm