All right, good morning. We have been trying to finish
this series for about a month and a half.
I think something always comes up, whether it's the weather or
I think we had two lessons left in this series when we had our
Christmas breakfast. Believe it or not, that's how
long it's been that we've been trying to finish this.
But we are going to finish today unless I get going long and then
we'll extend it to next week. Now.
I'm kidding. No, we won't do that.
Brother. Josh is ready to go.
He's been waiting in the wings for a few weeks.
So he will, he will start up a new series next week, I hope.
I think, I think it was several months ago now, Pastor preached
a message and I don't remember what the title or anything was,
but that the idea was that, you know, hopefully we have a
little, a little spark left in us that the Holy Spirit can blow
on it and ignite a, a fire within us.
And I hope that when he reads these, these articles and things
that that, that you're not, I hope it, it stirs something in
you, not of anger necessarily, but of that we need to stand for
truth, everybody. And, and it's the more you get
around, and I don't get around that much as far as churches go.
But the more you get around, the more you see that people are
just asleep. They don't care.
You know something that that DL Moody, whether he was would have
claimed to be independent Baptist or not doesn't matter.
He was a Christian that was a soul winner and he was on fire
for God. And he did a lot to see people
saved. And now that campus is just
willing to, you know, give it up, give it up to ecumenical for
ecumenical reasons. I hope that stirs something
inside of you that at least means there's something still
inside of you that wants to fight for the truth.
But it is, it is everywhere. And we don't have a choice.
I believe we don't have a choice but to stand for the truth.
And we we've got to do it and hopefully raise our kids to do
the same thing. We don't know, I think we don't
know who who we have in our homes as far as what God might
do with one of our kids. I, I believe that when DL Moody
was growing up, his parents had no idea what he was going to
grow up and do. He wasn't even saved.
He wasn't even going to church at all until he was, you know,
6th, 7th grade. And so we're trying to raise our
kids for God, but we have no idea what God has in store for
them. So we do the best that we can.
We, we lead them and teach them how to follow the Holy Spirit.
And then let, let him do that work.
And I hope, I hope that we're doing that.
I hope we're serious about it. Go to Psalm chapter 23.
And very probably one of the most, if more familiar, if not
most familiar passages in the entire Bible, Psalm chapter 23.
Even the unsaved use it at funerals.
But we're going to look at our last valley this morning and I'm
sure you can figure out which valley we're going to look at,
the valley of death or the valley of the shadow of death.
I was thinking about this while I was driving this morning.
Has anybody never been to a funeral?
Good. It'd be more likely if we had
the kids in here. Maybe they, some of them have
not been to. I was going to say if anybody
raised their hand, that's probably purposeful that you've
not been to a funeral because we all know somebody that has
passed away. Every one of us, it's something
that we, we can't get away from. We can't get around death.
And, and so the Bible talks about it head on.
It doesn't try to skirt the issue.
It, it, it, it addresses it in Psalm chapter 23.
I'll just read these 6 verses and then we'll pray and then
we'll get into this lesson. But it says the Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake, which is an interesting
verse. We're not going to talk about
that this morning. But He leads us in those paths
of righteousness, not so that we can be looked at as righteous,
but for His name's sake, so the world can see us, and for His
name's sake He's glorified because of our life.
But verse 4, this is where we'll focus on this morning.
Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine
enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
House of the Lord forever. And you see at the top of Psalm
23, it says a Psalm of David, and we're going to talk about
that here once we pray. I believe David had very good
insight as far as this valley of the shadow of death.
We'll talk about it here in just a minute.
But let's pray. Father, I thank you for this day
you've given us. Thank you for another
opportunity We have to open your word.
God, thank you that we're able to meet with the snow we had
earlier this weekend. And God, I just pray that the
those that are still coming would would be, you'd bring them
here safely. And I got to just thank you for
the opportunity we have to meet in a church and under a pastor
who is still very serious about the truth being preached.
And God, I pray that we'd be very serious about it as well.
If we don't accept the truth being preached, that's that'll
discourage any man from from preaching that.
And I pray that you'd give our pastor the strength he needs to
continue to do that regardless. But I pray that you'd help us to
want to hear the truth, to accept it, to make changes where
we need to so that that truth can continue to be preached and
we can pass it on to our kids and and that next generation can
go on living for you as well. Pray that you bless this hour as
we talk about this valley of the shadow of death in Jesus name, I
pray Amen. You know, has anybody here ever
been to Israel? OK, good.
So what I say if I'm wrong, nod your head like I'm right, and
then you can correct me afterwards.
All right? I've never been there.
But they say that the valley of shadow of the shadow of death is
an actual place, which makes sense.
Why would David? David's very poetic, but why
would he be talking about? Why would he put it that way?
The valley of the shadow of death?
I believe David probably actually took his sheep down
through this valley of the shadow of death.
Did anybody remember when, when pastor was doing the Bible
geography Wadi Kelt QQELT? Did anybody remember that?
It's it sounds familiar. You may not remember where it is
or whatever, but Wadi Kelt, a Wadi is a dry.
It's not necessarily a riverbed, but in the in the dry season,
there's no water in it. But then when in the rainy
season, it's basically a runoff. Think of a retention pond that
doesn't have grass around it and you'll see those channels
running through it when, when it's real heavy rain.
It's kind of like that, except probably 1000 times the size.
It's, it's a true valley that's been carved out by runoff.
And so that's what this Wadi Kelt was it goes from.
And like I said, I've never been there.
So I'm, I'm taking somebody else's word for it, but it says,
they say it's a valley located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
And it goes from 2700 feet above sea level at Jerusalem and
travels all the way down to the Dead Sea.
Remember, Pastor just mentioned this, I think Wednesday that
the, the Dead Sea has a lot of stuff running into it.
Nothing ever leaves. That's why it's the Dead Sea.
Nothing. There's no, no turnover of the
water coming in. Well, this, this water is the
same thing. And it has created this Wadi
Kelt, which has come to be known as the valley of the shadow of
death. And I don't think it's a recent
term because we have David, I believe, talking about that
valley. What the Wadi Kelt here in Psalm
chapter 23. Yeah.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they come for me.
I think this was David impersonating his his one of his
sheep, maybe. Yeah.
Though I walk through this valley, I'm not afraid because
my shepherd David is with me. And then David uses that to to
basically make that portrayal of him and his his God walking
through the valley of the shadow of death.
But it but I do believe it was a a real place.
And in fact, I think it's very possible that this is where
David would have killed the the lion and the bear, probably in
this valley when he was taking his sheep down.
What would happen is the Highlands in the, in the dry
season would get very dry, hardly any, any grass.
And so these shepherds were almost forced to figure out a
way to, to feed their sheep. So they would take them.
It was a very much a shortcut without going all the way
around. They'd take them right down this
Wadi because it was dry, because it's the dry season and take
them down into the valleys. And they would during the dry
season would keep them there. And then once the Highlands got
rain again, they would back up the the Valley of the Shadow of
Death or Wadi Kelp, and they would graze them up in the
Highlands where they would like to be.
But the only way down there was through this valley of the
shadow of death. They had to do it.
And it was, it was a hideout really for think, think of any
animal, any prey animal. When it starts to realize that
there's a pattern, they just hang out there and wait for the
sheep to come down and then they attack them.
And sure, the shepherd might be with him, but all he needs is
one, right? And now he's got a meal.
And so I, I think it's very possible this is where David
killed that lion and that bear. These, these prey animals would
hang out in this valley of the shadow of death because it was
so easy to hide all the, the, the Craigs and the, and the
rocky terrain, even in the daytime, they say.
And you can still go there if you've ever been there.
Ben too, is they say even in the high noon, there's still all
these shadows. It's just a very eerie place.
And so I can imagine the shepherds don't hang out there.
They they use it. They get through there, but they
get through there as quick as they can, as carefully as they
can with their sheep. So that's kind of a background
of, of what we see here in Psalm chapter 23.
I believe David is talking about this place.
It's also known to have a lot of robbers hanging out there
because they knew people were taking this shortcut to get down
to where they needed to go. A bit of a scary place.
But anyways, we the, the picture here is that all of us are going
to walk through this valley of the shadow of death.
And I want to look at that this morning.
This is not necessarily in fact, it's not the valley of death.
It's the valley of the shadow of death and the reason death is a
shadow to us. And we'll look at this in just a
minute is because of what Christ has has done to death.
And we can you can think of the verses that will be going along
with that and we'll talk about it in a minute.
So let's go ahead and get into it.
First of all, death is an acknowledged fact.
It's undisputed death is going to happen to every one of us.
Some of us have had death in our in our families that closer
closer than others. All of us have had acquaintances
of some sort, if not family members that have passed away,
but death is coming to every single one of us.
You've heard pastor say that they did a study and they found
out that 100% of all people die, right?
There is no way to beat it. I just, I did just hear I was
listening to a a podcast that since somebody got to talking
about some different health things.
There are people, in fact, I don't know exactly who he is.
I don't know him by by face or I don't personally know him, but
his name is Brian Johnson and you've probably seen him on some
some ads and things He does some kind of a protein mix or
whatever. If you recognize that name.
But he believes or he's trying to live forever.
That's literally his goal is to live forever.
So he's trying to be super healthy so that he can live
forever. I have news for him.
He's not going to he will die at some point because Hebrews
Chapter 9 verse 27 says it is appointed unto men wants to die.
Does Nick say is set for a few It is appointed unto men wants
to die. But after this, the judgment and
you've heard in boxing somebody wins the heavyweight title and
what do they call him? The undisputed champion of the
world, right. Well, death is physically the
undisputed champion of the world.
You will die. It's an acknowledged fact.
We, in fact, none of us except Brian Johnson think we're going
to live forever. We know it's coming all right.
Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says wherefore as by one man sin
entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men. Now that's that's a physical and
a spiritual death, but it is a physical death.
Death, death passed upon all men.
We are now falling creatures because of sin.
And so death passed upon all of us.
It's an acknowledged fact. It is a promised thing.
It's coming, but it's also very personal.
Look at Psalm chapter 23 and verse 4.
This is really the verse we'll focus on.
But it says, yeah, though what's the next word?
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
And every one of us, that's me. And you can say that about you.
That's me. Yeah, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death. We are going to die.
And you know, we talked about when we're sharing the gospel,
we tell people, you know, your sin has to be paid for and
somebody else can pay that debt for you, right?
Jesus Christ can't pay that. But when it comes to death,
nobody can die for you. They might die in your stead as
a punishment, but eventually you're still going to die.
And so we, but we all have to walk through this valley at some
point on our own. It is a personal, very personal
event. Yeah, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death. But then if we're smart, death
is a prepared for event. James chapter 4 and verse 14
says, whereas you know not what shall be on the Morrow, for what
is your life. It is even a vapor that appears
for a little time and then vanisheth away.
I remember talking a few maybe months ago now, but it was in
this in this series and we I was it was as a way of introduction
on one of these lessons. But I said I asked a question,
does the Bible try to prove that God exists?
Do you remember that? And the answer I believe is no.
It just gives us that fact. In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth. It doesn't say there was this
being. OK, let me explain what God is
to you. He just says in the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth.
It's a fact. And yes, there are places in the
Bible that give us a lot of detail about God, a lot of proof
that he does exist as far as our faith is concerned.
But death is the same way. It doesn't try to explain what
death is. It just tells us our life is a
vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
You're going to die. It's an acknowledged fact and we
need to prepare for it physically and spiritually.
I think if, and I'm not the best, I'm not the best at
planning or preparing or organizing.
I, I acknowledge that. But if, if it, it's very wise
from a very practical standpoint, very wise to have a
will and all the rest of that, Who was I talking to?
Oh, I'm in a, I'm in a, I'm in a real estate group.
Anyways, we went to a meet up a few Saturdays ago and there was
a lady there and she said me and my husband made the, made the
decision to get into real estate.
And, and I think she said eight days later, he dropped out of a
heart attack and they had already kind of joined the and
paid for their membership and everything.
And she said I had a decision to make.
He left me no will. He had bought their house before
they got married. So her name wasn't on the House
and her name was not on the bank accounts.
She had nothing. He was not prepared for death.
And I say so from a practical standpoint.
We need to prepare for that physically, but we also more
importantly, need to prepare for that spiritually.
And if you've come to this church for any length of time,
you have heard the gospel. If you have not made that
decision to accept Christ as your Savior, today is that day.
It's so important to prepare for our physical and spiritual
death, but especially spiritual. That man that I was just talking
about, I had no idea he was in fact, he was going about his
life joining a real estate membership so that he could
start another business. And eight days later he's gone,
Not prepared. We need to prepare for it.
But but then I want to talk about this.
And this is this is key. And This is why it's called the
valley of the shadow of death. Death is an abolished foe.
I like to, I think often we read the Bible and we familiar
passages, we just mow right through them, right.
Especially if you're if you're reading on a on a schedule to
for your devotions or something like that.
We mow through these passages. Oh, this is a familiar passage.
Good. I got through that chapter.
But think about Christ on the cross.
The Bible says this in First Corinthians chapter 15, and you
can turn there if you'd like, but First Corinthians chapter 15
and verse 55, in fact, I will go there as well, 1st Corinthians
15 and verse 55. Very familiar passage, but think
about what it's saying. O death, verse 55, where is thy
sting? And O grave, where is thy
victory? And maybe, maybe we could read
it another way, almost in your face to, to, to death.
Oh death, where's your sting? Where, where is that sting at
engraved? Where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. For as much as you know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord, but thanks be to God,
verse 57, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is, this is, we hear it
preach this way. But this is not necessarily
talking about victory over temptation or or victory over
other things in our life. This is talking about victory
over sin and death, death particularly.
O death, where is your sting grave?
Where is thy victory? So I like to think about it this
way. When Jesus Christ was on that
cross, he came face to face with sin and conquered it.
He took it on himself and then conquered sin.
And when he went to the tomb and, and, and lay there for
three days, he was dead. We don't deny that fact, right?
There are some that try to try to explain it away, a swoon or a
coma or whatever. But he was dead and he came face
to face with death and conquered it.
And so for us, death is no longer something to be afraid
of. It's a shadow of death.
Think about this. Pastor mentioned this a few
weeks ago that if he saw sees a picture of his wife or whatever,
he doesn't go hug the picture, right?
It's not the real thing. It's a picture of the real
thing. Well, so is a shadow a shadow?
I'm not afraid of a shadow. I I do remember when Emma was a
little girl. And, and probably most kids come
through this the first time they see their shadow, they're scared
of it and they're running from it and it's chasing them.
They don't know what it is. But a shadow is nothing to be
afraid of. It's the thing that's making the
shadow that we're afraid of, right?
But Christ conquered death. So we do have the shadow of
death on us. We do go through death, but it's
nothing to be afraid of. It's been conquered.
And so that's an exciting thing, but it is just a shadow.
It is not the real thing that we need to be afraid of.
But then there's also something that's important.
When you have a shadow, you have to have two things.
You have to have the physical thing that's making the shadow
right. And you have to have light.
Yeah, some, some light source, the sun or a flashlight or
whatever else. I remember being in Sunday
school and, and the Sunday school teacher doing object
lessons and, you know, using a flashlight to make big shadows
on the wall when it's really just this tiny little thing not
to be afraid of. I think Patch the pirate does a,
does a story and I'll, I won't remember Emma or one of the kids
would know it, but there's this legend of, of this, you know,
this, this beast that they are, are coming up to and they're
trying to, to conquer this or figure out what it is.
And it ends up being this tiny little little elf or something.
But because of the shadows, he, he portrays himself as this
giant monster. And I think death does that to
us. So many people are afraid to
die. And, and pastor says this as
well. I don't want to die, but I'm not
afraid of death. Why?
Because we, we know it's been conquered and we have the light
of Jesus Christ in our lives. Think about think about an
unsaved person, maybe you before you were saved and when you
would think about death, that's a fearful thing.
It really is. Who knows what's going to happen
after I die? Who knows what the afterlife
holds until we come to understand that Christ conquered
death. He paid for our sins.
He he redeemed us back to himself.
Now all of a sudden death is is not a a scary thing.
There's a light that is throwing that shadow, but there's a light
for the believer. But then lastly, and and we're a
little bit shorter today, but that's fine.
Death is an accepted not thing, but an accepted friend.
And you've heard pastor say this before.
You can't threaten me with heaven, right?
Death for the believer is not only not scary, it's it's a
friend. We're going we're going to be
going to our Savior and I I couldn't, I didn't write this
and I didn't I'm not going to memorize it.
So I'm just going to read it to you.
It says this though, if we carefully consider we will see
that death is for the benefit of the believer.
And here here's what he says physically, those who die in
Christ gain freedom from pain and temptation.
Have you ever I can't speak for the ladies, but I can speak for
the men. Have you ever had some, some
temptation that you constantly deal with and look forward to
the day that Christ comes? So you're just done with that
temptation? I, I think that's humankind in
general. Every Christian I believe comes
to that point. I can't wait till I go to be
with Christ so I can be done having to fight this temptation
and the pain. There are some I think of this,
I think of this often and I don't know if they're listening
or not, but JJ, most of you, in fact very few of you have
actually met JJI believe, but they live right behind the
church here. And for the last it's been 5 or
6 years. He's he's he's dying with ALS
and the pain that comes from just laying in that bed.
His mind is perfectly capable. He understands everything, but
he cannot communicate. He can't move the pain that
comes with that. What an accepted thing death is
a friend to be done with that pain and then to be present with
the Lord. But then he says mentally, those
who die in Christ gain liberation of mind and perfect
heavenly wisdom. Wouldn't that be nice to have
that perfect heavenly wisdom here on this earth?
And that's why we pray for it. We ask God for it.
We are. We do have access to it through
our God. But when we die, we will have
liberation of mind and perfect heavenly wisdom.
Think about them, the mental health crisis or the issues that
people have in our world today. I think a lot of it is, is
oppression from Satan. That's where it comes from.
But I can't I can't speak as an expert on that, but for the
Christian to finally be liberated from that the the
liberation of our mind. And then he says socially, those
who die in Christ gain friends and experience and eternal
reunion with loved ones. And then spiritually, and I
think this is key, those who die in Christ gain the pure,
undefiled, uninterrupted enjoyment of the presence of
God. We will be made like Christ in
the next life. And so in verse 4 of chapter 23
of Psalm, yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, we're walking through it.
We're But I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
What a comfort that is for the Christian.
The unsaved cannot know that comfort.
They can't. They may act like they're not
afraid of death, but in the quiet of their home and they're
sitting there thinking about it, they are afraid to die.
However macho they may come across, they're afraid of death
because God put that in US so that we would turn to the
answer. We would search for the truth of
what happens when we die. And David encourages us here
that even though we're walking through that valley of the
shadow of death, all of us are, we don't have to fear evil.
And so we'll close with this, the shepherd's goal.
Remember, I told you the reason these shepherds would take their
sheep through this valley, through this Wadi kelp was for
what reason? Not to scare them, not to, you
know, to practice fighting off and predators.
What was the reason to get them down to fresh grass, right?
He always had a reason and and it was always with the sheep's
best interest in mind. And think about that.
For, for us, we must die to go to be with Christ.
We have to, for that to happen unless he comes in and and takes
us in the rapture. But we have to die.
But there is a purpose in it. It's to to get us to a better
place to heaven. And the same thing with us in
our lives going through this valley.
There are trials that we run into, but it's always it's for
our good. And and because of that, we
don't have to fear evil because God is with us and that guidance
from the shepherd. Thou art with me.
I, I, I picture this and remember the staff of a
shepherd, right, has the, the hook on it.
And I remember in, in as a kid in Sunday school thinking, if
you can reach down, first of all, here's what happens in my
mind. There's a ledge and then, you
know, 10 feet down there's another ledge and the sheep is
down on the ledge and he's reaching down there to, to pull
them out. And in my mind, I'm like, what
is the sheep doing down there? Unless he fell, why would he be
that? There's no grass.
What is the sheep doing now down there?
But this valley of the shadow of death, this physical place kind
of makes a little bit more sense.
You can you can picture a sheep getting to an edge of maybe a
rocky outcrop and and knowing it needs to get down there.
And sheep are too stupid to go, OK, let me figure out another
path. So they just jump, right?
You can, you can imagine that and they're either hung up in
the rocks or, you know, or they hurt themselves when they land.
And then, and then here comes the shepherd and he helps them
up and he carries them or whatever.
So that's, that's what I picture here in this, this valley of the
shadow of death, the shepherd guiding them and, and leading
them and, and sometimes a sheep doing something stupid and
getting out of the way, but the shepherd's there with them and
he brings them back on the path and keeps them on their way.
The shepherd is guiding us, and I'll give you a quick story, and
then we'll be done. How many of you ever met my dog
Pete? I know a few of you have.
Yeah. He's really stupid.
He's a stupid dog. You know, he's he's really
friendly, but he is so, so stupid.
And he's just a dummy. He's 9 1/2, I think, years old.
And he's been dumb since we got him and he's still, he hasn't
learned anything. That might be my fault.
Maybe he's around me. He hasn't learned anything.
But he's a really, he's really, really a silly dog.
And I take him on a walk every single night.
And that is his the highlight of his day.
About 9:00 I'll take him for a walk and he soon as I get home
from work at whatever time that is until 9:00, he follows me
around the house ready to go for his walk.
And anyways, we'll see rabbit sometimes and he's a he's a he's
a puggle. So he's a pug and a Beagle,
right. Beagles chase animals.
They they sniff them out and and chase them down.
Not Pete, he I will see a rabbit, I'll put the flashlight
on the rabbit, go get it and it's 15 feet away and he'll put
his nose to the ground and, and head off that direction and I'm
like, it's, it's right there. Then he comes to the road where
what, what's right here? I don't know how he does it, but
he's, he's a goofy dog. But last night I knowing this
lesson in my mind. So we came back from
Pennsylvania last night and for the, the, the couple's retreat
and you all got a bunch of snow. What was it Friday?
I think Friday night. So, but they put a bunch of salt
down, but the snow was so fine and blowing around, they
couldn't really plow it. So they just melted it.
Well, we went for our walk last night and those puddles now had
started to sort of freeze over, but not really.
So on our walk, he's walking across that ice and, and fell
through. It's only, it's only, you know,
an inch thick. It's not like he fell through,
but he but his feet are wet now. So what happens to wet feet when
you now walk in the snow? It's binding up in his paws and
he can't figure out what is going on.
So I'm walking. I it's a walk for me too.
It's a little exercise. So I walk and I turn around
because I don't hear him behind me and I wish I could have get a
video of it. He's got his front foot in the
air and his back foot in the air like this.
And then he's switching 2 feet at a time.
And I look back, it looks so funny and I'm like, what is he
doing? And I came back to him and sure,
that's what I figured out. Oh, he's got ice in his paws and
he can't figure out how to get it off.
So he's shaking like a cat. And anyways, so we started
walking on the dry pavement. Now there's puddles on both
sides of the road. There's about a foot of pavement
that's dry in the middle. And if he walks on that, he's
not going to get ice in his, in his paws.
And so I, I got him up to me and he does pretty good.
I don't even put him on a leash or anything.
He, he follows me and we're out in the country.
So I said, stay with me. And if he, if I say that he
normally stays with me. And so he's walking right down
this path right behind me. We get through there and we
continue on our walk. We come to some more water.
He has not put any of that together that it's the water in
the snow, right? I don't really expect him to,
but he's dumb. He's very, very silly dog.
And what's he do? Walks right through the puddle
again and right into the snow. And then he starts doing like
this. Can't figure out what's going
on. And I thought about this, you
know, we're, we're like that so often with a, with our pastor
and then also with God. He's leading us.
He shows us the path. This is the path you've got to
take to stay out of this trouble.
And we go OK and then right into trouble again.
But on the way back home, I got him right with me.
We walked through the dry patch so he wouldn't happen again and
then got and that's what God's trying to do to us.
That's what this is talking about.
I will fear no evil because you're with me.
You're guiding me. If we listen, the only sheep
that get hurt when they're going through this Wadi Kelt down to
the to the grass at the bottom are the ones that aren't
following. If they're following the
shepherd, he's not jumping off the Cliff.
He knows better, right? And he's not sending you off the
Cliff. He's not pushing you here.
Hurry up. Just go that way.
He's guiding you carefully and and knowledgeably.
But here come the sheep. Here come, Here we come and we
don't follow. That doesn't mean necessarily
that won't, we won't eventually get to the bottom.
But if we want to get to the, if we want to get through this
valley of the shadow of death all in one piece, if we want to
get to the end of our life not in pieces, we've got to follow
the shepherd. I will fear no evil because
you're with me. You're Rod and thy staff, they
comfort me. And we, and we know all those,
we've heard those in Sunday school.
But the rod and the staff, it was, it was one thing, but one
was for correction and one was for, for the comfort of the
sheep, the, the, the shepherd would, you know, nudge them
along. And the other one was sometimes
he's correcting them and sometimes he's rescuing them.
But that rod and that staff, it doesn't need, we don't need to
be afraid of it. It's a comfort to us if we will
listen to the guidance of our Shepherd.
So hopefully that's a help to you.
But we are all going to face death.
There's no way around it. But if we listen to the shepherd
on our way through, we death has been conquered.
There's no, we don't have to fear that, but we need to listen
to the Shepherd as he guides us through this valley of the
shadow of death. All right, I hope you've enjoyed
it. I know we had so many weeks off,
you probably can't hardly remember the lessons, the 1st 12
lessons, but hopefully it's been a help to you, brother Josh.
We'll pick up with a new series starting next week.
And I know he's been, he's had a month to prepare.
So I told him his first one better be really good.
We don't care about the rest of them, but the first one better
be good. So anyways, let's pray and then
we'll be dismissed. Father, I thank you for this day
you've given us. God, I thank you for all these
passages in Your Word that help us as Christians.
God, we do get fearful. I know we do.
It's human nature. I do at certain times.
But God, I pray that we would put our full weight and our full
trust in you. Your word says that.
And in all our ways acknowledge you and you'll direct our paths.
I pray that we would do that. God, I pray when we get tempted
to just figure it out on our own, that we'd stop and get on
our knees and we would ask you for the guidance, for the
wisdom, and for the understanding that we need.
And God, we're so thankful that you conquered sin and death for
us. And I pray that we would, as we
come through this life, that we would let you lead us.
And, and God, we look forward to the day when we'll finally be
with you. God, we envy those that have
gone before us and been done with this life.
And they're and they're in your presence now.
I pray that you'd, God, just help us to look forward to that
day. God, I pray that you would come
soon and come, come back and get your, your people.
And God, I just pray that as with the time that we do have
left here on this earth, you'd help us to rescue those that are
perishing and care for the ones that are dying.
And we'd and we'd show them the way, show them the the truth of
your word and the gospel and they would come to know you as
their savior. Pray that you bless the next
hour. Be with our pastor, give him
power as he preaches and feed us from your word.
In Jesus name, I pray, Amen. We're dismissed.