Joyce Meyer - Psalm 23 (08/23/2019)
Psalm 23 shows the Lord as our personal Shepherd who guides us in paths of righteousness purely for His name's sake, not our merit. Even while walking through the valley of the shadow of death—hard times—we fear no evil because God is with us, and staying obedient brings ultimate victory even when results seem delayed or difficult.
The Shepherd's Personal Care in Psalm 23
As I've been saying, this is probably like the go-to psalm in the Bible. When people are hurting, they go to Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. Made a point last night that he's my shepherd. When you look at it, you need to think he is my shepherd, not just a shepherd, but the Lord is your shepherd. He wants a personal, intimate relationship with you. I shall not lack. That doesn't mean that you're gonna have everything you want the moment that you want it all the time, but it means that even while you're waiting for the things you want God to do, you can be content. Contentment is great.
He makes me lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures. If you won't do it on your own, he'll be happy to make you. He leads me beside the still and the restful waters. That's talking about entering the rest of God is just absolutely the most wonderful place to be in. He refreshes and restores my life, myself, or my soul. And we talked about the soul being our mind, our will, and our emotions, and how God has to work in those areas, and how he changes us and loves us into wholeness, but how that also requires us receiving correction from God, and how we respond to that correction a lot of times in not such a great way.
Understanding Sheep and Our Need for a Shepherd
Now, I'm making a lot of analogies about sheep. Jesus being the shepherd and us being the sheep. And there are some sheep facts that are kind of interesting. Number one, they don't instinctively take care of themselves like many other animals do. So they constantly need a caretaker. They're wanderers. They wander out of the place where they're going to be the safest if they don't have a good shepherd to keep bringing them back. They're actually not very intelligent. They're considered to be kind of dumb. And they sometimes get... they get cast down. And we see that word in the Psalms. David said, why so cast down on my soul? And when a sheep is cast down, it has gotten rolled over on its back and can't get up without some help. And then sometimes they get too much wool, and they have to be sheared. And so that's kind of where we were at when we stopped this morning.
Now tonight, I have one thing that I want to get across to you. And if it takes me the whole hour that I'll teach to do that, so be it. But I want you to leave here with one thing tonight. I was going to go in some other areas, but I'm saving all the rest of it for tomorrow.
Led in Paths of Righteousness – Not Earned, but Given
He leads me in the paths of righteousness, uprightness and right standing with Him. Not because I've earned it, but for His name's sake. Now, let me just say a word about righteousness and right standing with God. Most of us spend most of our life feeling bad about ourselves, feeling guilty and condemned, ashamed, and like there's something wrong with us. You ever have that record playing in your head, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? Anybody ever hear that? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? And the devil wants to give us wrongness. He wants us to feel that we're wrong, that everything we do is wrong, That we're just not what we should be.
And Jesus wants to give us righteousness. Our rightness. And you can't produce something that you don't have in you. An apple tree can only make apples because God has made it an apple tree. And so it's foolish to teach people to behave right if they've not first received the righteousness of God through Christ.
Religion vs True Relationship with God
That's why just what I refer to as religion, and I don't mean to be rude by that, but when I talk about religion, I'm talking about just following rules and regulations and going through formulas that really have no life and no power in them. Just keeping laws that you think are going to please God, when really Jesus didn't die so we could all have our own little brand of religion. He died so we could have an intimate, personal relationship with God through Him.
When Jesus died on the cross, the thick, three feet thick curtain that separated, that was in the temple, that separated the holy place from the most holy place, was ripped from the top to the bottom at the moment that Jesus died. Why not from the bottom up? There was a point being made. It was too tall for man to reach it. It being ripped from the top to the bottom was clear indication that God was opening up the way now for the common, ordinary, everyday person to enter into the holy presence of God and have fellowship with Him.
So you've been invited into intimacy with God. That's what it means to be born again. If you've never received Christ as your Savior, at the close of this message tonight, we're going to give you an opportunity to do that. We're not inviting you to be part of a certain religion. We would advise that you get involved in a good local home church for accountability, for teaching, for fellowship, for worship. Lots of... the local church is great. But we don't just need religion. And so, religion sometimes just gives you a bunch of things to do, but never teaches you who you are in Christ.
My Personal Journey from Religion to Identity in Christ
Now, I went to a church for many, many, many years, and although I learned some very good things, they had a good message about grace, and I learned about being saved through grace, and I learned a lot about doctrinal things, the virgin birth, and lots of really, really, really good things. But nobody ever taught me who I was in Christ. I never felt any better about myself at all, because I had a relationship with God. I still just thought that I was this terrible mess that just could never do anything other than just mess up every single day of my life.
And so, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, one of my favorite scriptures, it says that, He that knew no sin became sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, it's just important for me to take a minute and let you know that if you're a born-again Christian, then God views you as being in right standing with Him, irregardless of what you do.
No License to Sin – But Freedom to Please God
And I know that's really hard for us to wrap our heads around. You think, well, won't that just give people a license to sin? No, because here's the thing. Once you know, really, who you are in Christ, and the beauty of what He's done for you, sin is the last thing that you're going to want to do. You're going to do everything that you can to please God, not to be right with Him, but because you've been made right with Him. Amen? So, no condemnation of those who are in Christ.
So, it's important for me to let you know that you have a right standing with God, and you're in the process now of walking that out in your life. There's several ways I can say it, but I can say we're always in the process of becoming what we already are. So, we're spirit, so spiritually we've been made right with God, but now in our experience we're learning how to walk that out with God.
The Path That Grows Brighter and Brighter
Now, I made the righteousness of God when I am born again, but then I get on the path of righteousness, and the Bible says that He makes our path brighter and brighter every day. Let's look at Proverbs 4.18. That's why serving God is just so much fun. Proverbs 4.18. We're going to go back to Psalm 23. I just realized I didn't finish it. I want to do that. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines more and more, brighter and brighter, until it reaches its full strength in the perfect day.
And so, here's the thing. We're always going to be growing spiritually as long as we're here on this earth. We're going to be growing. We're going toward a point of perfection, but we will not finally be perfected in our experience until Jesus shows up and He finishes whatever is lacking in us. And God is not mad at anybody if they haven't arrived, but He is disappointed for our sakes if we don't keep pressing on.
Honoring Your Commitment to Growth
And so, therefore, I am very proud of you. I want to compliment you that you took a Friday night out of your life, and you have traveled, and many of you paid for hotel bills. It's cost you something to come here just to worship God and to hear His Word, and that means that you are a serious believer. And I want to tell you something. God is proud of you, that you care enough about Him to do what you need to do to grow spiritually.
Anybody who watches me for very long, you know that I don't serve up much dessert. Most of what I put out is meat and vegetables and spinach and stuff you could do without, but, boy, if you stick with it, it will sure help you grow. I mean, the devil is alive and well on planet Earth, and things are pretty tough out there, and we need to be pretty determined that we're going to stick with God and be all that God wants us to be if we're going to do that.
So, we're in a process of change. We're in a process of growth. I'm not where I need to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. I'm okay, and I'm on my way. So, everybody say, I'm not mad at myself. I'm on my way.
The Core Truth: Valleys Come Even on the Right Path
Now, let's just go back to Psalm 23 here. He leads me in the paths of righteousness, not because I've earned it, but for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Now, we're going to stop there, and all the rest of that. I'll read it, but the rest of this we're going to save for tomorrow morning. We're going to have some real fun tomorrow.
For you are with me. Your rod protects me. Your staff guides me. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely only goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Now, you lead me in the paths of righteousness. Yea, though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Now, here's the message that I want to get across to you, and I'm going to tell you up front what it is, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the time re-reminding you and convincing you that what I'm saying is scriptural.
Even though you're doing the right thing, and you're on the right path, and you're growing in God, you're pressing on in righteousness, your path is becoming brighter and brighter every day, that does not necessarily mean that you won't pass through what the Bible calls the shadow of the valley of death, which basically just means hard times.
Leave Results to God – Focus on Obedience
So we've got to get rid of any kind of thinking, well, you know, I'm doing all this stuff, and I'm trying to do what's right, and the right thing's not happening to me, and I'm just tired of this, so I'm just going to quit and give up. We need to leave the timing of our results in God's hands. Our job is not results. Our job is obedience.
We do what we do, not even to just get a result, but because that's what we believe God wants us to do, and we know that if we do what is right, we will have peace. And listen to me, there is no way that we can ever fail and not be delivered if we're doing what's right. Amen.
Yea, though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. I'm pretty busy these days trying to get people prepared for whatever may be ahead in our lives. Hey, listen, I hope we just have nothing but prosperous, wonderful, amazing things happen in our world until Jesus comes back, but I'm not so sure that that's going to be the case. And I want us to be prepared and ready.
Preparation for Difficult Seasons
If it stays great, amen, but if it doesn't, I want to be just as strong in that hard place as I am on the pulpit in the good places. Amen? And we're making a mistake if we don't ask ourselves, am I ready for that? We need to ask ourselves if we're ready, if we need to, to go through difficulty and stay firm.
Now, what sense does it make if you're doing the right thing, but you're just having trouble because of it? Well, it's just kind of part of the thing. And the whole thing is is if you've got problems in your life right now, you feel like you're being attacked, it's for one of two reasons. Either you've opened the door by doing something stupid, and you've let the enemy in, or you're doing something right and the enemy's mad about it, and he's trying to come against you to get you to stop it.
And you don't need to try to figure out which one it is, you just pray and ask God to show you if you're wrong, keep showing you if you're right, and either way, I'm going to keep on keeping on, And I'm gonna come out with the victory on the other side.
The Devil's Rampage and Our Response
You know, I can tell you, the devil's on a rampage. I mean, he's just absolutely having an all-out fit. And I think it's because he knows his time is short. I mean, the devil is trying everything he can to get as many people as he can to no longer believe in God. He's trying to get God out of our schools, God out of our government, God out of our society. He's trying to frighten Christians and make them think that they need to be quiet about what they believe. And it's not just going on here, it's going on worldwide.
But we've had a lot of freedom here that we haven't appreciated and maybe protected, and we need to step up our game a little bit and start saying, I'm not gonna be quiet, and God's not gonna go away. Listen, I know lots of good people, I mean great people, that are going through some really, really, really difficult things right now. I mean, really difficult things. I mean, you talk about, yea, though, I go through the valley of the shadow of death.
And I'm so proud of different ones of them because they love God just as much in the valley as they did on the mountaintop. They love God just as much when things are hard as they did when things were good. And I tell you what, we can say, well, I believe this, and I believe that, and I trust God, but we don't have a clue what we believe until our beliefs get tested.
Standing Firm When Tested
And I want to make sure that, for my part, as a teacher in the body of Christ, that I do what God would have me do to help get you prepared, not for just every bad thing that comes along, but to stand firm in difficult times. Yea, though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
So that's kind of going to be the thread of where we go, because when you're doing what's right, you're not getting the right result, sometimes it can be confusing. It's like, well, I did what you asked me to do, and things are no better than they were before. Or how about this? I did what you asked me to do, and my circumstances are worse. I got a good laugh from over there, somebody understands that.
I mean, I can talk about when God called me into ministry, and... You know, I was just trying to obey God. I mean, I really felt like God was calling me to teach, and I didn't know it was going to make everybody mad. I thought they'd all think it was cool that I was going to obey God, but I didn't know hardly anybody that thought it was a good thing. They thought I was crazy, and a lunatic, and a rebel, and told me I shouldn't do it because of this, and I shouldn't do it because of that, and who did I think I was? And I'm just like, I just was trying to obey God.
So here I step out, and I obey God, and I lose all my friends. Well, that was kind of disappointing. And you know, as somebody who really didn't have a whole lot of the word in them yet, it still is a marvel to me that I hung on and went on with God.
God's Faithfulness When We Obey
So I think sometimes even when we would give up, God won't let us give up. And He hangs onto us and helps us go on to the next place because He sees our heart. And so then I taught home Bible studies for five years, one in my home and one in somebody else's. And then at the end of that five years, I felt like God told me to lay those down. Behold, I do a new thing. That was the great word of God that I got.
And so for a year, I did nothing. Well, that didn't seem to work. What happens when you really believe that God's leading you, and you step out and do what you really believe He told you to do, and it just doesn't seem like it's working? Well, you can get confused. You can get all down in the dumps. You can go start acting emotionally and make a bunch of weird mistakes. Or you can just hang on and say, well, God, I believe you're still going to come through.
And if I did make a mistake, then you can take even my worst mistake, and you can still work it out for my good because my heart was right when I did what I did. I can tell you story after story after story of right decisions that I've made that didn't seem to get right results right away.
Be Not Weary – Due Season Will Come
And the Bible says in Galatians 6, 9, Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, whatever that is, and who knows what that is. That just... You know, I know God knows I love Him and this won't offend Him, but sometimes that scripture annoys me. It's like, Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not.
You know, and especially it annoys me when I'm going through something and somebody comes and gives me that as a word from God. Because here's the thing, why does it annoy you? Because nobody knows what due season is. Only God does, and it sounds good, but you still don't know any more than you did before. It could be another 20 years, or another 5 years, or it could be in the next 5 minutes.
And so really, the message there that God is giving us is just keep on keeping on until I show up. Just keep on keeping on until I show up. Listen, if you feel like you haven't heard anything new from God in the last 5 years, then just keep doing the last thing you heard. And that's what it means to be faithful. Amen?
I haven't gotten any big news from God in a long time. I'm just doing what I do. I mean, people ask me all the time. This is another thing that could annoy me sometimes. But since I'm practicing trying to be sweet, I won't let it. Well, what's God saying to you these days, Joyce? He loves me. Keep doing it. You know. Keep trying to help people.
Well, what's your vision now? What do you want to do that you haven't done yet? You know what? I just want to help people. Well, a lot of times that don't suit people. They want some real fancy thing. You know what? Just get up and love God and serve the Lord with gladness and go about your business.
And if you're a mother, be a good mother. If you're a wife, be a good wife. If you're a husband, be a good husband. Love people. Help people. Help the poor. Help the needy. Do what you know to do to represent God right and be happy about it. Come on. There's not something wrong with you because you're not floating around on a cloud getting angelic prophecies every day.
We think, you know, something exciting has got to be going on all the time. You know what? I remember when I was excited just to know I wasn't going to hell. How about if we just stay excited about that? Amen? Hey, we're going to live forever in the right place. We're not going to be in the hot place. We're going to be in the cool place.
Moving to New Pastures for Growth
All right, now... In the paths of righteousness and to grow, we have to do new things. We have to be willing to change. And here's a little sheep fact. They will stay in the same pasture forever if the shepherd doesn't move them. Matter of fact, they will wear out the pasture. They will destroy the pasture. And it and them will get infected with parasites. They need to be moved regularly in order to be healthy.
Deuteronomy 1.6 Thus says the Lord, you have dwelt long enough on this mountain. Come on, some of you have been dancing around the same stinking problem. You've had the same bad attitude for the last 20 years. You've been mad at the same person for the last five years. You've had the same chip on your shoulder since you were 20 years old. And it's time to move on.
Yes, you're made right with God through your faith in Christ, but now it's time to shine a little brighter. The path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter. Can I tell you something? Jesus is the hope of the world, but people are not going to see Jesus if they don't see him through his people.
Wherever God has got you, whatever neighborhood, whatever job, whatever school, whatever church, you are strategically placed by God for a purpose. And your purpose is to shine. Come on. Well, I just don't know what God wants me to do. I don't know what my call is. Shine. Go to work and smile. And when people ask you why you're so happy all the time, tell them because I know Jesus. I've always got hope. My circumstances may not always be what I want them to be, but he's my helper.
Following the Cloud – Timing of Change
To be led in the paths of righteousness and to grow, we have to do new things. We have to be willing to change. And here's a little sheep fact. They will stay in the same pasture forever if the shepherd doesn't move them. Matter of fact, they will wear out the pasture. They will destroy the pasture. And it and them will get infected with parasites. They need to be moved regularly in order to be healthy.
Deuteronomy 1-6, Thus says the Lord, You have dwelt long enough on this mountain. Come on, some of you have been dancing around the same stinking problem. You've had the same bad attitude for the last 20 years. You've been mad at the same person for the last five years. You've had the same chip on your shoulder since you were 20 years old. And it's time to move on.
Yes, you're made right with God through your faith in Christ. But now it's time to shine a little brighter. The path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter. Can I tell you something? Jesus is the hope of the world. But people are not going to see Jesus if they don't see him through his people. Wherever God has got you, whatever neighborhood, whatever job, whatever school, whatever church, you are strategically placed by God for a purpose. And your purpose is to shine.
Come on. Well, I just don't know what God wants me to do. I don't know what my call is. Shine. Go to work and smile. And when people ask you why you're so happy all the time, tell them, because I know Jesus. I've always got hope. My circumstances may not always be what I want them to be. But he's my helper.
Change always requires new challenges. God wants us to follow him and move when he says move and stay when he says stay. Sometimes we want to stay and God says move. And sometimes we want to move and God says stay. And we don't have time to go there right now, but in Numbers chapter 9 we have a great example of when the cloud covered the tabernacle, when the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness.
They were led by a cloud during the day and fire by night. And if you read Numbers 9, 17 through 22, they're just really beautiful scriptures because it basically says that sometimes the cloud stayed a day and then it moved and they had to move. And sometimes it stayed overnight and sometimes it stayed several days. And so they never knew when God was going to move. But when God moved, they needed to move.
Recognizing When God Is Finished with a Season
Now, how can you tell when God is finished with something? There's nothing that makes you more miserable than to keep holding on to something that God got done with a long time ago. Are you prone to stay in the same place until it becomes a rut? Do you feel like you're stuck in a rut you can't get out of? Do you need something new but you're either too lazy to move or too fearful to move?
When the place where you're at is no longer giving you maximum benefit, you need to move, you need to change. You know what? I hope that my television program, my teaching, my books and CDs, I hope they help you forever. But you know what? If you ever get to the point where I'm not helping you anymore and you've got all you can get from me, then please go listen to somebody else. Because the most important thing is that you grow. That you grow brighter and brighter.
And you know, different people get different things from different people. Some people couldn't stand the way that I preach. And then others, the only way they're ever going to get anything is to hear from somebody like me, who kind of like is straight forward and in your face. But some people couldn't take that. I mean, I'd make them mad in five minutes and they'd be ready to just throw me to the dogs or something.
There is nobody like me. Have you been in a job for years that's a rut, a grave with no ends? Do you need a new pasture? Are you in a church where you're no longer growing spiritually? Wow, you guys got really quiet.
Now I'm all for commitment. And as long as you can grow, you need to stay somewhere and be faithful. I don't care if you're there a hundred years. But you need to ask yourself, am I changing? Am I growing? Am I serving? Or am I just going in and taking up space on a pew every week, warming the seat? Going home, going back, going home, going back, going home. And nothing has changed in me in the last 20 years. I've still got the same dumb problems I had 20 years ago.
Then something is wrong either with you or the place. Well, do what you want to with it. Are your friends causing you to become sharper and better? Are they a good influence on you? Or do you need a fresh pasture of friends to graze in? Man, I'm telling you what. The people that you hang out with sometimes can make you or break you.
Wow. I want to get around somebody that's got some kind of a godly anointing on their life. Man, get me away from a complainer, a murmurer, a gossiper, somebody who finds fault with everybody else. I just like... I don't want to hear nothing about except just what's wrong everywhere. Just tell me something happy.
The path of the righteous, I believe, is being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. So here's the thing. I can be doing the right thing, but if I'm doing it in the wrong place, it becomes the wrong thing for me.
My Story of Leaving for God's Bigger Plan
I was in a church. I worked at a church for five years. And that was where my public ministry began. There were five wonderful years and also growing years that were painful for me. I learned a lot about how to come under authority and just a lot of things I won't go into. But God started dealing with me that He was finished with me there.
And, you know, it's really painful when God gets finished and you're not finished yet. And so I didn't go. I felt like God wanted me to step out and start my own ministry. Not that I was just trying to be some rebellious woman trying to have my own thing. I really just felt like that God wanted me to have a broader area, a broader platform than what I was ever going to be able to have there because I worked for somebody else and needed to help them fulfill their vision.
And had lots of confirmation, but just didn't move. Didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Didn't want people to think that I was rebellious. Didn't want them to think I was full of myself. Didn't want to get out and fail and make a fool out of myself. There was all kinds of reasons.
And one night I was sitting in the front row in my second seat over from the aisle where I sat every Sunday morning for two services and every Tuesday night because I was on the leadership team and so we were at all the services. And God hollered at me. I heard very loudly inside, what are you doing here?
I thought, well, I'm going to church. That's what I do. And the next thing that I felt in my heart was, I don't need you here anymore. I need you somewhere else now. See, it's not about me just being where I would like to be for my benefit. I need to be where God can use me the most.
And like I said, I'm saying, you know, man, please, if you're growing and you're serving and you stay right where you're at, I'm not encouraging anybody to leave their church, to leave their job, to get rid of their friends. But I'm asking you to examine the fruit of what you're doing and see are you growing? Is it helping you become all that God wants you to be?
And if you do need to do something else, you don't have to do it in a nasty, mean, hateful way. I'm still friends with the pastor at the church that I left now some odd 25 years ago. And we still have great relationship. There's a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things.
But you know what? If I would have stayed for all the wrong reasons, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now. I wouldn't be reaching people all around the world. So I'm just telling you, if God is trying to give you a holy push, then you need to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes not everybody likes it when you do that.
But you're going to be very sorry if you get to the end of your life. And all you can think is, I wonder what would have happened if I would have. So anyway, now I hope I don't get anybody in trouble and you go do a bunch of crazy stuff. How many of you understand the balance of what I'm trying to share with you?
The Lifelong Pattern of Letting Go and Taking Hold
So, my journey with God was very, very interesting, like everybody's is. And I found that life is a never ending pattern of letting go of and taking hold of. Letting go and taking hold. I let go of a full time job to begin to study so I could prepare for ministry. And all I was doing was those home Bible studies.
When I let go of that job, I thought surely God would really bless us financially. And we'd see miracles in our finances. But for six years, we just had to believe God for our socks and underwear and enough money to pay the bills and everything else.
So I did the right thing and actually seemed to go backwards before I went forward. Let me tell you, sometimes our commitment is going to be tested. We let go of childhood and we become an adolescent. We let go of adolescence and become an adult. We leave friends and go to college. We leave those friends and go home and get a job. We get married. We leave parents. We have children. We leave freedom behind.
How many of you didn't miss what I said there? Amen. We take on more responsibility. Our children leave. We have to take hold of a brand new life. And personally, I'm in a place in my life right now where I am having to take hold of some wrinkles that I would prefer not to take hold of.
How many of you are there? You're having to take hold of a knee that doesn't want to do what it used to do anymore. And a wrinkle that wasn't there the day before when you looked in the mirror. And so, the thing is, am I going to do things the right way or am I going to do them my way? Am I going to just do what I want to do? Or am I going to do what God wants me to do?
You know, if we always do what God wants us to do, we're always going to have peace. Doing the right thing is an amazing thing. What would happen if we made a commitment tonight? God, from now on, I'm just going to do, with your help, what I really believe in my heart is right. I'm not going to argue about it. I'm not going to make excuses. I just want to very simply do what I believe is the right thing to do.
Everyday Integrity – Doing Right Because It's Right
How many of you know that if you go shopping and they give you too much change, keeping it is not the right thing to do? How many of you know when you get your groceries that it's not right to leave your grocery cart out in the middle of the parking lot leaned against somebody else's car? Look at how smart you are.
How many of you know that it's not right to sit at work and play on the internet when your boss isn't looking? Oh, only about half of you know that. Well, do I need to rework my message tonight? That's called integrity. Sadly, a lot of people today don't even know what that is.
And we have to learn to do what's right because it's right, because it honors and glorifies God when we do what's right, and we have to leave the results to God. You don't always get instant results. Honestly, if the devil sees that you're committed to righteousness, he more than likely is going to find a way to persecute you.
But if you're steadfast, you will ultimately come into a place of reward that is so amazing that you absolutely won't even know how to think about it.
Biblical Examples of Right Choices in Hard Places
You know, listen, I mean, I look at the hard things that I went through, and the friends that I lost, and getting asked to leave my church, and being made fun of, and just all the... I mean, just, it was so painful. But you know what? God is faithful.
Do you know how awful it is to always know, have this nagging feeling that you're not doing what you should be doing, but you just keep doing what you shouldn't be doing anyway? I mean, it just sucks the life right out of you. It is wonderful to just know that you're doing the right thing.
You know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are a good example of somebody who did the right thing, and it looked like it just turned out sour. I mean, they decided that they would rather go into a burning, fiery furnace than to bow down to a wicked, ungodly king. And so, they made the right choice. They went into the furnace, and their reward was the king turned the furnace up seven times hotter.
But guess what? If you go and read in the book of Daniel, it's such an amazing story if you're not familiar with it. When the king looked in the furnace, and saw the fire, and saw the flames, he said, wait a minute, three men went in the furnace, and I see a fourth man in there. And I love this part. They went in bound, and they came out loosed. Sometimes it's in the furnace that your greatest bondages are broken off of your life.
And so, I mean, it's in those times when I lost all my friends, and nobody wanted anything to do with me, that I got to really know God. And I love the fact that the Bible says, when they came out, they didn't even smell like smoke.
Joseph, Daniel, and the Promise of Deliverance
He leads me in the paths of righteousness. And yea, though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Just because I'm doing the right thing, doesn't mean that I'm not going to go through difficulty. And it's not something I need to whine about. It's not something I need to get confused about. It's not something I need to remind God how good I am, and now I don't understand why this is happening to me. Why me? Why me? Why me? Well, why not me? You know?
I mean, there's all kinds of people going through lots of different things. And if I trust God, I can trust Him in the valleys as well as I can on the mountaintops. And I can trust that God's got something good for me, even if it takes place in the furnace.
Joseph made the right decision when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him. He said no to maintain his moral standard. Boy, I wish we had more of that today. You don't want me to go there, do you? Wow. And he said no, I'm not going to get sexually involved with you. Why? Because he knew it wasn't right. He did it to honor God. Period. End of the conversation.
So, she lied about him. Said that he tried to attack her. Potiphar believed her. And Joseph went to prison for 13 years for something that he didn't do. He did the right thing and spent 13 years in prison. But those years in prison was when God forged him into a man that he could use. And he went from the pit to the palace and ended up being the number two ruler in all of the land.
Daniel in the lion's den. So many great stories. Daniel was a man of integrity. And the other leaders and people in high positions hated him because he had favor with the king. And you know, even a wicked king will like you if you're a person of integrity.
And so they knew that the only way that they would ever trip Daniel up and get him in trouble with the king is if they could make some kind of a law involving his godly commitment that they knew that he wouldn't break because he would honor God.
So they got the king to make this rule that for 30 days anybody who asked any man or any other god or king or ruler for anything other than that king, that they would be cast into the lion's den. Well, Daniel had a habit of praying three times a day with his window open. And he continued to pray three times a day with his window open.
I love that the Bible says with his window open. He didn't even say, well, I'm going to keep praying, but I'll do it quietly so I don't get caught. And sure enough, he got put in the lion's den. And the king was more bothered about it than he was. And the king stayed awake all night.
You know, when you do the wrong thing, you can't sleep. There's no biblical proof that Daniel slept all night in the lion's den, but I've seen pictures of him laying down and having a nap while he's in there with all the lions all around him.
And when the king looked in the next morning and saw that he was still alive, he was all excited. Oh, your god has come and saved you. And he said, my god came and shut the lion's mouth and delivered me.
So here's the thing, you do the right thing, you get punished for it, but God will come and shut the lion's mouth. He will come and deliver you where you're at in your life right now, or what kind of decisions you're facing, what kind of moral decisions you're facing, what kind of decisions you're making about compromises you may have to make to keep your job, to keep your friends.
Just because you find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death, you need not fear because God is with you, and it may take a while for you to get the right result, but there is no way that God will not come through and deliver you at the right time if you don't give up and quit.
Choose God's Way Over What Feels Right
Are we going to do things the right way because they're right, or are we going to do them our way? You know, we get comfortable with our ways, and even though they destroy us, we hesitate to let them go. Sometimes the thing that feels right is not right, and the thing that's the most uncomfortable is the right way to do things.
Now, you all know that Dave plays golf. I talk about Dave playing golf all the time. But the thing you don't know is that I used to be a pretty good golfer myself. And actually, Dave and I used to play in golf tournaments. What do you think of that? And so, I mean, I wasn't just like, you know, all that amazing, but I was pretty good.
And Dave taught me how to play golf, and I thought when he started teaching me how to play golf that the man was insane. Because to be able to get your body to do what it needs to do to spring, to swing this thing right, nothing feels right about it.
And he would get me in the position, and I'd say, well, this feels stupid. I told him one time, I said, you'd have to be triple jointed to be able to... There's no way that all these different things can go in a different grip. Because see, you've got to... one arm's got to be straight. This one has got to be a little bit, you know, relaxed. You've got to wrap one finger around other fingers, and you've got to squeeze, but not too tight.
And then you've got to get in this position. I haven't done this for years and years. And so then, while you hold your hips still, your shoulders have to rotate around your hips, and then you've got to bring through with your hips, and you hit the ball and it goes...
But see, that doesn't feel right. Just because something doesn't feel right doesn't mean that it's not right. We have to stop living by our feelings and go back to what our heart says. Did I do that okay, or am I going to get a golf lesson? What? Don't hit my podium back there. Okay, thank you.
Dave's always helping me with little things in my life. I just so appreciate it. He fixes my hair for me in the back almost every day. That's only because I've got a cowlick back there now, since I have some gray at the roots that you will never see. And so now it goes two different ways, and I can't see to get it fixed. So, he loves playing in my hair.
There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end of that way is death. How many of you think we need to be a lot more committed to just doing what's right in our life? How many of you are going to do what's right even if you don't get a right result right away, and you're going to just stick in there and do what's right to glorify God?
How many of you are going to do what's right if you're the only person that's doing what's right? I'll tell you what, God has got some good things. Oh, my goodness, if you could just see the plans that God has for you. Oh, my, my, my.
He has got some good stuff ready for you, and now you know what's happening? He's getting you ready for what he's got ready for you. It's yours bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus Christ, but now we're getting rid of some of our wool. You don't get that if you weren't here this morning. We're getting our wool sheared a little bit so we're not top-heavy, and we fall over and end up being cast down.
In other words, we have to get spiritually mature enough to be able to handle the blessings without letting position go to our head, without letting power cause us to mistreat other people, and when God brings more prosperity in our life to use what he's given us to be a blessing and not just let it make us more and more selfish. Come on, get up on your feet and give God a praise.
↓↓↓ Part 2 ↓↓↓
Psalm 23 presents the Lord as our Good Shepherd who personally feeds, guides, shields, and restores us so we lack nothing. He leads in paths of righteousness for His name's sake, comforts us with rod and staff through correction, and prepares a bountiful table even amid enemies, anointing us with oil for protection and blessing.
Opening Prayer and Introduction to Psalm 23
Father, we thank you for the word today and just so appreciate every person that you brought so we could all be together today. And I pray that their lives would be impacted with the word of God, that I would say only what you want me to say and that they would be very attentive to listen and to receive specifically what you have for each one of their lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. To feed, guide, and shield me, I shall not lack. He's my shepherd, not just a shepherd. We need to personalize it. I shall not lack doesn't mean we'll never want anything, but it means while we're waiting for the things that we do want, we can be perfectly content where we're at.
He makes me lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures. He leads me beside the still and the restful waters. He refreshes and restores my life, my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with Him, not because I've earned it, but for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for you are with me. Now that's how far we've gotten so far, and we're going to pick up right there in the middle of that verse.
Sheep Facts: Why God Calls Us Sheep
But first, let me just go over a few sheep facts with you because we've got so many people here that haven't been to the rest of the conference. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. Why refer to Himself as a shepherd? Well, you know, shepherding sheep and taking care of sheep was a big business back in those days. And so, as you know, in the Word of God, God very often used natural things to make a spiritual point.
And so, Him saying that He is our good shepherd means that He's our manager, our caretaker. He behaves with us the way that a good shepherd would have behaved with the sheep. And there was lots of cool facts and things that we went over. But we're called sheep. He's the shepherd and we're called sheep.
Sheep don't instinctively take care of themselves. They need a shepherd. They need constant attention and special care. They're prone to disease and parasites, which represent sin, failure, and weaknesses. They're very fearful. One rabbit can stampede a whole herd of sheep.
Sheep are said to not be very brilliant. Actually, if you read the sheep book that I read, it says they're stupid. They're stubborn. Sheep are earmarked with what's called a killing knife. And that means that the shepherd cut a mark on their ear, a certain kind of a mark that was unique to each shepherd, I'm sure, signifying this sheep belongs to me.
And I love to think about the fact that we are marked, branded, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. So in the spiritual realm, just like if one of those sheep wandered off and got into another pasture, the shepherd could come and quickly take ownership of that sheep, we also are marked by the Holy Spirit. And that lets the devil know that we do not belong to him, and he has no real authority over our lives. Amen?
The Killing Knife and Dying to Self
Now, this killing knife can be a little disconcerting to people, but there is a spiritual analogy. Basically, the Bible tells us that we're to let God help us die to self and kill off different areas of the flesh that are really just hurting us and keeping us from being all that God wants us to be.
Sheep are stubborn. Some are what's called fence crawlers. They're always getting out into other pastures and having to be brought back. I have a little dog. She'll be ten months old in a couple of weeks. Dave and I do. Her name is Jazzy, Jasmine. And she's a little black and white malty poo.
And she's a good little dog, just as sweet as she can be. But she won't come to me when I call her unless I've got a treat. And so because of that, she only has kitchen privileges. That means she doesn't get to run the whole house, not unless I'm with her and I take her into another room.
But by and large, the kitchen has to be her domain simply because she won't do what I tell her to. Well, I wonder how many of us will only come to God when there's a treat involved. And therefore, we only have kitchen privileges or, you know, certain little privileges. There's the whole house that God would love to let us have access to, but He can't because we won't listen when He tells us something.
God's Instructions Are Always for Our Benefit
I try to say this once or twice in every single conference that I do now. Please understand that everything that God asks you to do or not to do, it's not for Him, it's for you. If you read in the Word that if you do this, it's sin, it's not because God's just trying to take things away from you and let you have no fun in life.
Everything that the world offers that God tells us to say no to is something that will ultimately end up harming us and ruining our life. Everything that Jesus asks us to do is for our good. He is the good shepherd. Not just a shepherd, the good shepherd.
How many of you are wrestling with something in your life right now, you feel like God is really dealing with you to let go of something or to lay something down and you're just having a real struggle with it? Okay. Look at me, don't be a stubborn sheep. Don't go, but, but, but, go, bah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Amen.
And remember that even though it may be hard for you right now, if you hang on to what God is trying to get you to lay down, it's going to get harder and harder and harder in your life. It's going to steal everything from you that God really wants you to have.
Now, sheep also can become cast down. And that literally means that they get over on their back and they can't get up. And David said, why so cast down, oh, my soul? And that's like a different... We look at it as a different phraseology for depression or discouragement.
And God doesn't want us down. He wants us up on our feet living the life that he wants us to live. But thankfully, he will come and help us get back up when we do get over on our back.
Avoiding Cast Down States and Embracing Struggle
But one of the reasons why they get cast down is they always look for the soft, cushy, grassy areas in the meadow to lay down in. They don't want to deal with anything hard. And it's interesting that strength is gained in the struggle. We have to stop being afraid of difficult things.
Whatever it is you think God's dealing with you about right now, probably the first excuse we give is, but God, that's so hard. That's so hard. Well, you know what? We need to not be afraid of hard things because he wants to harden us to difficulties so he can use us for greater and greater things.
And then there's the shearing of the sheep. Sometimes they have too much wool, and it's dangerous when they have too much wool because it makes them unstable, and once again they can topple over and get cast down.
What does it mean if you have too much wool? Well, it means that sometimes we have more of something than we're able to handle. Sometimes somebody comes along, they recognize a gift in our life, and they want to promote us into a position, and we're really not spiritually mature enough for that position, and it ends up actually causing us harm instead of doing us good.
I shared an example in one of the other messages, but I want to share it again because I just think it's a good example, and there's a lot of new people here today and probably a lot of people watching TV program today that didn't hear this example.
We have a men's home at our St. Louis inner city church called St. Louis Dream Center, and that men's home is designed to bring restoration to men that have pretty much destroyed their lives with drugs and alcohol and just all kinds of wrong things.
Many of them, if not almost all of them, have ended up living in shelters or even living on the street. And so we take 35 men at a time and we help them go through a program of complete restoration. Some of them are missing their teeth. They're just all kinds of situations.
And so while they're in the program, one of the things that they become part of is a men's choir that they put together down there just to, you know, get them involved in something good. And probably none of them by themselves could sing their way out of a paper bag, but it's amazing how good they sound all together.
Now there might be a few of them that actually can sing, but we had them come to our women's conference just a few weeks ago, which was about almost 14,000 women there. And so these 35 guys stood up there and they sang, I've been, I am redeemed. And it's just such a moving thing.
I'm redeemed. I'm not the man I used to be. I've been made new. And I mean, it brought the house down. It was great. So after that, they started getting different people asking them, will you come to my church and sing?
And so people who told me about it were like, oh, yeah, that's really great. And even when I told the crowd the other night, everybody was, yeah, that's great. And then I said, I'm not going to let them go. And see, kind of like you guys, you're looking at me like, well, why?
Because they're not ready for that. They don't need to be promoted to a platform. What they need is to get their lives right with God, get stability, get off all the wrong influence that they've had in their life. And so I would not be a very good shepherd if I gave them too much wool.
The next thing I know, they'd be cast down somewhere and probably right back in the same mess that they used to be in before. So don't be surprised when you think that God is shutting doors that have opened to you that you'd like to walk through. Always stay in God's timing.
Pruning and Remaining Fruitful
You know, in John chapter 15, it talks about pruning, that He's the vine and we're the branches and that He prunes off dead areas in our life. And that really is kind of the same thing as this sheep shearing process. He always keeps us in a place where we can bear the most fruit, not where we can get the most attention out in the world.
Come on, somebody give God a praise.
Now, so now here, let's just, we're going to read the rest of Psalm 23, then we're going to get started. Your rod and your staff, they guide and comfort me. Now, I don't know too many people that are too interested in the rod and the staff, so we're going to talk about that in just a minute.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely only goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And unfailing love, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord and in His presence forever.
Understanding the Rod and Staff in Detail
Now, the rod and the staff, this is actually what they look like. This was the rod, and it's just a long stick with a knob on the end of it. And a shepherd practiced literally an unbelievable amount of time, and he got very precise at throwing that thing to either ward off enemies, like if a wolf was coming around or a lion, but he also sometimes would hurl it at the sheep if it was wandering off, getting in trouble, doing something.
He never did it for any reason other than to keep them safe. And, you know, a lot of times when something hurts us in life, we don't understand why in the world God would not deliver us from everything that was uncomfortable.
But let me tell you something. Even something that temporarily hurts us can ultimately end up being very good for us, and we need to trust God that in those times He's got our best interest in mind, and it will still work out good.
I wrote on my notes, even a no from God is a good thing. It's not always good to hear yes from God.
So, then this was the staff, and this, you know, the shepherd. You've seen pictures of shepherd. I mean, they walked around with this all the time. Well, they didn't carry it around for themselves. It wasn't really a walking stick.
They used it to bring wayward sheep back. They would get out, get it around the neck, and pull them back. So, I have myself a sheep this morning. And I look dumb and pitiful. Alright. Thank you.
Now, so let's just say that, that sheep shepherd here, which is kind of an oxymoron, so, but sheep bike wanders. Let's just stay right over here where you need to be. Alright.
Another thing that it was used for, and I love this, was to examine their wool for parasites. So, they'd get in there and look around. I think that's where the phrase come from, you can't pull the wool over my eyes.
We have to let God examine our life, and when He finds things in there that, you know, aren't good. Now, this rod and this staff, just stand there and be a nice sheep.
This rod and this staff are emblematic of the Word of God. The rod is the Word of God. And the staff is like the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And so, God uses mainly in our lives...
You're looking, you're looking pitiful, brother. You're doing good. God uses mainly His Word and His Holy Spirit to bring correction to our life.
But let me tell you something, and don't let it scare you. I always gave my kids my word first, and if they didn't listen, I was not afraid to touch their circumstances. Come on.
So, another thing that they used this for, and I thought this was good, was if a sheep was a loner, like going out there by yourself. You don't want nothing to do with anybody. If he was a loner, and the rest of the flock was over here, he would use it to bring him back into the flock so he could have the right fellowship with other sheep.
Come on. And some of you are loners. You go and... Thanks, Mike. You go and... You sit... You sit in the back row of the church all the time, and you don't want to talk to anybody or get involved with anybody.
And God may have to come after you with the rod of the staff and bring you back into the fold and help you get involved.
The Amazing Power of God's Word
Now, the Word of God... I mean, God's Word is so amazing. Sometimes I don't even really know how to get across to people how amazing it is. You know, this is not just normal, ordinary words.
You didn't travel here to hear me speak today just because I'm just up here talking. Yes, I'm talking, but what I'm saying has substance in it. It has... There's power inherent in the Word of God.
When I stand up here and say, God bless you, there's something in that that does something in you that lifts you up. When I stand here and say, your sins are forgiven, and through the blood of Christ, you're made new, that brings life to you.
Jesus said, my words, they are spirit and they are life. And I really want to encourage you in your own private study time, or when you go to church, or when you watch any form of the Word on television, or listen to it on radio, don't ever approach the Word of God out of an obligation to put in your little bit of time with God, to think now you've fulfilled your obligation.
This is your life. I mean, this is what guides us. This keeps us out of trouble. This keeps us... When we're being tempted... How many of you have had a time when you're being tempted to do something wrong, and a portion of the Word will rise up in you?
You'll hear a scripture, the Holy Spirit speaking a word to you, and you know right away what you need to do in that situation. The Word of God is amazing, and I really encourage you to study the Word, learn it for yourself, know the Word well enough that you can quote different parts of it when you need to, and let the Holy Spirit guide you in your life.
The Call to Preach the Full Word
So, 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 2... You know, we've kind of got... We've kind of got a thing going around today in certain circles that... I mean, I would hate to stand before God and give an account of the gift that He gave me, if I never, ever corrected anybody with the Word, or told them something they didn't want to hear.
And a lot of times, I think part of that is done out of being afraid that you're going to lose the people if you tell them the truth. Well, the bottom line is, is, you know, my job is to serve God. I mean, I hope you like me, but I'm trying to save your life.
I don't... You know... I mean, somebody in the society that we live in today, we need to stand up and tell people, listen, adultery is still wrong. Fornication is still wrong. You don't need to be living with somebody that you're not married to, and having sex with them. These things are wrong.
And if we don't do that, then we're going to be held accountable when people go astray. So, don't ever get your underwear in a bunch. Because a preacher says something that maybe confronts an area of sin in your life. Don't get mad at somebody because they're telling you the truth just because you don't want to hear it.
You know, dessert is nice, but you'll die on it. 2 Timothy 4.2. Herald and preach the word. This was Paul's instruction to Timothy. Herald and preach the word. Keep your sense of urgency. Stand by. Be at hand and ready.
Whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. Whether it's convenient or inconvenient. Whether it's welcome or unwelcome. You, as a preacher of the word, are to show people in what ways their lives are wrong.
And you are to convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging, encouraging. It's all part of it. It's not that we don't want to be encouraged. Being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and in teaching.
So the word of God is not always just going to be something that makes you feel good. Sometimes, God's gonna hurl a section of the word at you that maybe deals with some area in your life. And it doesn't feel really good right then.
But don't get mad at the messenger. Just learn that he's a good shepherd that's only just trying to keep you from trouble later on.
Now, we need discipline in our lives. The Bible says that if God didn't discipline us, chastise us, correct us, then he wouldn't love us. And like I said, he tries to use his word first.
My son told me one time, and I love this, my oldest son. He said, I have to honestly admit that every time that I've had to be brought in him, he works for us. And every time that I've had to be brought in and I've really gotten corrected by you and dad for something...
Now listen to this, because this is a good message. He said, if I'm honest, I can tell you that the Holy Spirit has already tried to tell me that three or four times. And I wouldn't listen.
So here's the thing, God would like to keep your problems just between you and him. He would prefer to correct you privately and for you to just let him deal with you and nobody else ever know that you are a wandering sheep.
But let me tell you something, if you won't lie down in green pastures, he will make you lie down in green pastures. And if you don't receive the word, he loves you enough to mess in your circumstances.
And honey, let me tell you, when God puts his foot in something and says, no, this is not going to work, then you might as well figure out it's not going to work and go ahead and get turned in a new direction. Amen?
The Table Prepared Before Enemies
I don't care how bad my dog wants to get out of that kitchen and run the house until she learns to come to me with or without a treat, she's not getting out.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Okay, what's that all about? Well, first of all, from the shepherd's point of view, the table is called, it's the table lands, and that's actually a high plateau on the top of a mountain range.
They're very hard to get to, but very good, healthy grass up there. Sometimes God will lead us even to a place that's been hard for us to get to, because it's going to be the best thing for us once we get there.
And the shepherd goes in ahead of time, and he prepares that table land with salt and minerals spread out on the ground for the benefit of the sheep. He makes sure the range has good, healthy grass and good vegetation.
He checks for poisonous weeds, because he knows, and I love this, there are even some flowers which, even though they're beautiful, are deadly. Come on, let's see.
He knows the sheep's going to go in there and eat anything that looks good. Well, I mean, if it's good, it's good. But not everything that looks good is good. Amen?
Not every person who pays you all kinds of compliments and makes on over you has a right motive in mind. A lot of people are trying to use you or abuse you or misuse you.
So the shepherd knows that even some beautiful things are poisonous and are going to kill you, and so sometimes he'll take something away from you that you think looks good.
And what is all this about? We must trust God. Well, the devil, the devil, the devil. Let me tell you something. The devil is alive and well on planet Earth, and he will come against us.
But if you really put yourself in God's hands, and you love him with your whole heart, God is going to make sure that there is no devil in hell that can really do you any permanent damage.
Now, I believe that God has a table set all the time that he wants us to come and eat at. But a lot of times we don't know how to receive what God wants us to have and what he has prepared for us because we don't see ourselves the way that God sees us.
So we're going to go look at 2 Samuel chapter 9 and get what I believe is a great lesson from the Word of God.
Receiving God's Goodness Without Deserving It
You know, in God's economy, you don't have to deserve everything that God does for you. You just need to believe that he's good. How do you feel about yourself? What do you think of yourself?
The good news is, is we're all people that are flawed. We make mistakes. We have weaknesses and we have failures. But God loves us anyway.
And one of the best things that you can find in the Word of God is simply this. That when you're in trouble, even if you haven't been a perfect specimen of spirituality, you go to God and he will help you anyway.
That doesn't mean that he won't deal with us about our problems, but he doesn't say, Well, I'm not going to help you because you've done this. And I'm not going to help you because you've done that.
So no matter what you've done wrong in your life, if you're at a point this morning where you want to serve God and you're willing to turn away and try to learn to do right, you do not have to be bashful in asking God to do anything for you.
You don't have to deserve God's goodness to get it. It's called mercy. God, I ask you to bless me and prosper me beyond my wildest imagination.
And boy, the next thing you're going to hear is the devil saying, Well, you don't deserve that. And then if you really know who you are in Christ, you can say, Yeah, and that's the good news of the gospel. I don't deserve it, but Jesus deserved it.
And I get it because I come to God in his name, not because I go in my own name. It's just almost like too good to be true.
So here's the best analogy in the Word of God. 2 Samuel 9, chapter, verse 1. And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I might show mercy and kindness for Jonathan's sake?
Now, this is not... this would be just equivalent to God saying, Is there anybody in the body of Christ that I can be good to for Jesus' sake? Jonathan and David had a covenant relationship.
Just like we have a covenant relationship with God. And covenant relationship meant so much more to them than we understand today. But when you were in a covenant relationship with somebody, everything that you had was available to them.
Everything that they had was available to you. And it not only worked in your relationship, but it went down your bloodline, even to your children and grandchildren after that.
And so now, Jonathan is dead, but David's still alive, and he's king. Saul is dead. And he's wanting to do something for somebody that was in the bloodline of his covenant friend, Jonathan.
Now, if you're a sharp little saint this morning, and you listen, you're going to get something here. And out of the house of Saul, there was a servant whose name was Ziba.
And when they called to him, called him to David, he said, are you Ziba? And he said, yes, I am. And the king said, is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I might show kindness?
And he says, yes, Jonathan... Now, watch verse 3. Yes, Jonathan still has one son who is lame in his feet.
Now, what that means is, well, yeah, there's this one guy, but he's got all kinds of things wrong with him. He's not the guy you'd want to help. He doesn't deserve any help. He's got a lot of issues in his life.
And the king said, where is he? And he said, well, he's in the house of Maker, lives in a place called Lodibar.
And verse 5, the king said, have him brought. And in verse 7, I love this, David said to him, fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father's sake.
You know, God is wanting to say to you, don't be afraid. Don't live in fear over your past mistakes, even if that mistake was this morning. I will show you kindness for Jesus' sake.
I want to be good to you, not because you deserve it or you've earned it, but because of what Jesus did in your behalf. This is what it means to be in Christ. Amen? Somebody ought to be getting happy.
And David said, fear not, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan, your father's sake, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather.
And watch this, and you shall eat at my table always. My table. Now, eat means receive. And actually, there are one, two, three, four times between now and the end of this chapter that he says, eat at my table. Eat at my table. Eat at my table.
Even though you're lame in both feet, come and eat at my table. And this, I mean, this just did an amazing thing for me years ago when I first got this revelation, because I felt bad about myself because of all the things that had gone wrong in my life.
And even though I was now a Christian serving God, I paid more attention to what I did wrong in life than I ever did to what Jesus had done right for me. I was more sin conscious than I was God conscious.
Come on, is anybody home out there? Don't be so focused on all your faults. Confess them. Ask God to forgive you for them. But then go on and keep your eyes on Him. And be bold in prayer.
Go ahead and ask God for everything that you want, need, and even things that you would like. And do it loudly and without fear. Not because you deserve it, but because you are a child of God, and you come in Jesus' name.
Overcoming the "Dead Dog" Mentality
I'll never forget a woman that I ran to in a store one time. She was working at a department store, and she'd been a Christian for a long, long time, but she was part of a Christian denomination that I guess didn't teach too much about how generous God wanted to be with us.
And so I was asking her how things worked in her job. Did she get paid on commission, or did she make a salary? And she said, well, we actually make a salary, but we still have quotas that we have to keep.
And if we don't keep those quotas, then we'll lose our job. And she said, I just haven't had a lot of customers lately. And we'd been talking, so I knew she was a Christian.
And I said, well, why don't you just pray and ask God to send people over to your department? And she looked at me like I had three heads. I mean, this is a woman who's been in church like 30 years of her life, and she doesn't know that she can ask God to give her favor with people and send clients to her.
And she looked at me, and she said, well, would it be okay to do that? And I said, well, of course. God wants to bless you, but listen to me today. You have not because you ask not.
If you're not going to ask God for anything, you're not going to get anything. And I would rather ask God for a lot and get half of it than to ask Him for a little and get all of it. God is not going to get mad at you for asking. The worst thing that can happen is you won't get it.
So stop being fearful. Now watch this. Verse 8. After David has said, come and eat always at my table. Verse 8. And the cripple bowed himself and said, what is your servant that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am?
Now there was the problem. So I have to ask you again, how do you see yourself? What you think about yourself is more important than what anybody else thinks about you.
Do you see yourself the way God says you are in His Word? Or are you still listening to the lies of the enemy? Get off that works treadmill where you think that you have to earn and deserve everything that God gives you.
His mercy is new every day. Amen? I guess I figure if He makes a new batch of mercy every day, I must have used up all of yesterday's.
And in verse 10 it says, and you shall eat always at my table. And verse 11 it says, and you shall eat always at my table. And verse 13 says, and let's just read verse 13. Let's look at it together.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table, even though he was lame in both feet. I love that. Even though he continued to have weaknesses and failures in his life, he never stopped continually eating at the king's table, because Jesus paid for us to be able to do that. Amen?
You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. And I love this part. You know, Satan comes like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
But here's the thing I want you to understand. You know, there's nothing wrong with you enjoying your life while you're having a problem. I don't think you heard me. There's nothing wrong with you enjoying your life while you have a problem.
And you know, to be honest, that statement right there could be the whole reason why God sent some of you here today. Amen? It makes the devil mad when you're happy. He can't stand it when we have joy. Joy is strength.
And so many people think if they've got a problem, they just can't enjoy life while they have a problem. Well, he prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. While we still have problems, we can go to the king's table, and we can eat a fine meal, and we can enjoy it.
Come on, now you're getting it. You're getting in there with me.
The Anointing Oil: Protecting the Mind
You anoint my head with oil. Wow. Summertime is fly time for the sheep, and all types of parasites attack the sheep. This doesn't sound very good, but this is what the book says.
Nasal flies are particularly irritating and can even be dangerous. They attempt to deposit their eggs in the sheep's nose where they hatch to form a slender worm that works its way up the nasal passage into the sheep's head.
They burrow into the flesh, and there they set up intense irritation accompanied by severe inflammation. Now you're like, okay, Joyce, I want to see what you're going to make out of that. Okay, here it comes.
Certainly, Satan tries to work his way into our heads and affect our minds and every other area of our living. He is constantly trying to deposit his little ugly eggs that turn into worms that work their way into our mind, and from there, they inflame and infect our whole life, and they begin to control everything that's going on.
Because no matter what God offers me through Christ, if I don't believe it, I'm never going to have it. Be it unto you, even as you believe. I'm believing for good news today.
Every day I say, God, I'm looking for good news. I don't know about you in life, but I need to be encouraged sometimes. You know, I mean, I work hard. I'll be tired when I go home today.
Dave's going to go to the baseball game to see the Cardinals win again. Amen. And that's cool. I'm glad he gets to do that. But you know, I may need some good news.
And so, I've learned not to get mad at people because they're not giving me what I want. I go to God and ask Him for what I want and let Him arrange it.
But now look, you're not going to get anything if you don't expect anything. And you're not going to expect anything if you think you have to be good first to get it.
And I'm not saying, you know, that we can just live these wretched, awful lives and God just pour His blessings out on us. I'm talking about people who love God and make mistakes and you are sorry for your mistakes and you really are, you're on the path of righteousness.
You're getting brighter and brighter every day, but you're still not where you need to be all the time. It's like I said last night, thank God, I'm not where I used to be. I'm not where I need to be, but I am somewhere in the middle and my heart is to continue pressing on with God.
Come on, stop being mad at yourself. Stop being mad at yourself because you don't always do everything right.
Oh yeah, boy, the devil loves to infect our mind. I wonder just in this room today, let alone if we would branch out into the people watching my TV all over the world, I wonder how many lies we believe.
Wonder how many things the devil has told you for years and years and years that you believe are true and the only way you're ever going to know that they're not is to find out what this says.
And you see, the good thing about this is it's not just like reading some romance novel, although it is a romance novel. But there's power in here when you think you're no good and you read in here often enough that you have been made right with God.
That you don't just have wrongness, but God has given you rightness. It may take you reading it a thousand times, but eventually that word is going to renew your mind and you're going to begin to think different.
And then when the table's set, you're going to get up there and eat. Amen.
I've been preaching some version of this message for years and I don't know, probably 25 years ago. My kids heard me preach this where I talked about when we should be sitting at the table eating and asking for more.
We crawl around under the table acting like beggars and servants being willing to just eat the crumbs that fall off the table. And so, one Thanksgiving, we had worked pretty hard to put together a nice meal like most families would.
You know, there were pies baked and there was turkey and there was everything. And so, you know, I got all this stuff out on the table just like the shepherd finds those table lands and he really works and prepares and makes sure that everything is just right and everything is good.
And so, they'd been watching television doing different things. And so, I called from the dining room where I had the table all set and I said, okay, it's time to eat. Come on and eat.
And my kids all came out and got under the table and started crawling around saying, oh, mother, we're not worthy to eat your meal. Oh, dear mother, we are so wretched. We cannot sit at the table.
Just throw a few crumbs off the table and we'll be happy with that. And the thing that was interesting to me was even though I knew what they were doing, it embarrassed me.
And I thought, get out of that floor and get up here and sit down. I have worked and made this meal. You get up here and you eat this.
And you know what? God wants to say the same thing to you today. Come on. You stop crawling around under the table being satisfied with a few crumbs.
And if God says, the table's set, then you get up there and you eat. And don't even be embarrassed if you like what you're getting and you say, more please.
But I'm trying to make a point. Listen, if you seek God's face, His hand will always be open. But if you just seek His hand, He may get insulted.
In other words, don't just go to God when you want something or need something. Go to Him for Him. I need your anointing. I need your presence. Anoint my head with oil.