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In Psalm 23, I'm going to be approaching
it in a way perhaps going to be
completely different for some people.
My message this morning is entitled, Death is
Only a Shadow.
Death is only a shadow.
Father, I thank you, God, for the anointing
of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, we thank you for your word, which
is a lamp for our feet and a
light for our path.
We thank you for the quickening power of
the Holy Spirit that takes this word and
makes it alive in the hearts and minds
and spirit of each one of us who
are gathered here today and those who will
be hearing this in the coming days.
Mighty God, show us truth that sets us
free, free from the lies of the enemy
and the confines, God, of all experience we
may have known or had before coming to
the knowledge of Christ.
Bring us deeper into the knowledge of our
Savior.
We thank you for this in Jesus' mighty
name.
Amen.
Psalm 23, I suppose one of the most
beloved psalms in all of the Bible.
More people know this particular psalm who are
even unsaved can quote it from beginning to
end.
There are numerous renditions of psalm written about
Psalm 23.
I believe that Psalm 23, when you really
take a good look at it, chronicles the
Christian life, the entire Christian experience.
The Christian life begins in verse 1 where
David says, The Lord is my shepherd and
I shall not want.
The Christian life begins when the knowledge that
God loves you and will provide what is
needed for all who come to him.
Beloved, you don't come to God without that
knowledge.
You can't possibly come without first understanding the
great and the incredible depth of God's love
that he would become a man, die on
the cross and pay the price for your
sins.
Not only is he our shepherd, which is
an indication of his heart for everyone who
comes to him, but it's in his heart
to provide everything that we need.
David says, The Lord is my shepherd and
I shall not want.
God will provide everything that I need in
my life.
Of course, this is quite often the gospel
that people hear when they come to Christ.
It's the introductory statement, as it is, to
a life of living for God and allowing
God to be honored in and to us.
Without this basic foundational knowledge, it's very difficult
to progress.
If we don't know that God will provide,
then we will make attempts to provide for
ourselves in the efforts of our own flesh.
And, of course, that will fail because we
can't build a kingdom that we can't even
see.
It's impossible.
Verse 2, it says, He makes me to
lie down in green pastures and leads me
beside the still waters.
The very presence of God in my life
satisfies and brings peace to my soul.
He makes me to lie down.
The word that he brings to my heart.
And many of you, that's why you come
to Times Square Church perhaps Sunday morning and
hopefully some other services Sunday and throughout the
week.
Because when we are away from God for
any amount of time, there's that natural human
troubling that wants to come into our spirit.
There's that restlessness that wants to, once again,
find its foothold and make its mark in
our lives.
But when we come to God and we
hear his word of reassurance and strength that
establishes our ways, he leads us again into
good pasture and brings us to a place
where we can rest.
Mark the end, James says, of the perfect
man.
The end of that man is rest.
The man, the woman that God has done
a work in has been brought into a
place of peace and rest and strong confidence.
That's why David later on in life could
say, even if the seas roar and the
mountains fall, my heart is fixed.
I will trust in God.
I'm not going to be moved by these
afflictions and by these adversities.
Psalm 112 said the man whose ways are
fixed upon God is not moved even by
evil tidings that come his way.
His heart has been established in the ways
of God and the blessing of God has
come upon his life.
Verse 3 tells us again that he heals
and restores and leads us into truth.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for
his name's sake.
You see, when you and I gave our
lives to Jesus Christ, he predetermined to do
a work in us.
There was something that God had in his
mind for you and for me even before
we were formed in our mother's womb.
And the moment we received him as Lord
and Savior, he set into motion a plan
that he alone can perfect in us and
take us through.
And he began to lead us on a
path of righteousness, which is really the outworking
of God's righteousness within us.
He began to lead us in that way,
not because of us, but because of his
name's sake.
Jesus said, these are mine and I will
be glorified in them.
I will be glorified in those that are
mine.
I will lead them in a pathway of
righteousness for my name's sake.
Now, all these three verses are preparation for
something that many, many Christian people never really
fully come to understand.
Verse 1, he loves us and provides for
us.
Verse 2, he satisfies and brings peace to
every longing soul.
Verse 3, he heals, restores and leads us
into truth for his name's sake.
And then all of a sudden we come
to verse 4.
And this is the point where so many
people stop in their Christian walk.
They don't go any further than verse 1,
2 and 3.
When they hit verse 4, it's as if
they're unable to go forward and they back
up and go back to verse 1 again.
I remember years ago that as I used
to travel as an evangelist or revivalist, and
I'd go into different churches and see people
20, 30, 40 years in the Lord, still
trying to go back to that infancy stage
when they first met Christ.
Trying to stay in that shallow rain puddle,
as it is, of knowledge.
Not ever wanting to go deep into things
of God.
Failing to understand what verse 4 is really
all about.
There is a verse 4, you know, in
the Christian life.
You cannot escape it.
If you are going to go on with
God, you've got to walk through verse 4,
just like David did.
You cannot escape it.
There's no getting away from it.
Yea, 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.
Now verse 1, 2 and 3, the sole
purpose of this knowledge of Jesus is now
to bring us to verse 4.
Now verse 4 can seem to be a
strange place for the Christian person.
Coming to the house of God and you
say, Well God, I thought you loved me,
I thought you were going to provide for
me.
You satisfy, you bring peace, you heal, restore,
you lead into truth.
And now, I'm in the deepest valley of
my entire life.
I'm walking with you, I want to live
for you.
God, you know I'm willing to give up
things that are a hindrance to my relationship
to you.
Lord, I've yielded as much as I know
to yield.
And now I find myself in the deepest
valley that I've ever experienced in my life.
And it seems that death is all around
me.
It's a strange place sometimes for the person
who's not aware of what God is doing.
Obviously, and quite often we speak about the
verse 4 being the place of physical death.
Or passing through the waters of death into
eternity.
And it can mean a natural death.
And yes, because of Christ, natural death no
longer has to be feared.
One thing is certain in this room.
It is absolutely certain.
Should the Lord tarry, everyone in this house
is going to die one day.
We're all going to die.
That's a certain thing.
But when you come to Christ, you don't
have to be afraid of that anymore.
The Apostle Paul speaks of it as just
a passing.
It's just a moment.
And once we're absent from the body, we
are in the presence of the Lord.
It's an incredible thing when you behold that.
I was driving in a car one time,
and I found it rather humorous.
I don't remember the exact circumstance, but we
swerved somewhere.
And perhaps we're close to some kind of
an accident.
And everybody in the car, we're all Christians,
was saying, Oh, isn't God good?
He protected us and kept us, and we
could have all been killed.
And I was just sitting there kind of
grinning, and I said, Yeah, just think of
it.
We could be around the throne right now
with the seraphim and cherubim, worshiping God for
all of eternity.
How wonderful it is to escape that and
be left here on this dismal planet called
Earth.
A natural death is not to be feared.
Folks, I'm not afraid to die.
It's a wonderful thing to be able to
say that.
I think of the beloved songwriter Iris Stanfill,
who wrote so many wonderful songs that we
sing in the church today.
Like, he washed my eyes with tears.
A man who went through very real difficulties
throughout his life.
And from that difficulty came some beautiful songs
that we are still singing today.
I think of the story of when he
died.
He had a heart attack.
He called together his wife and his daughter.
He was in his living room, laid down
on the couch.
And as he passed into eternity with his
wife and daughter at his side, he just
laid there and worshiped God.
It's an incredible thing to pass out of
this life and into the next.
And not be afraid of death.
It's wonderful to be delivered from the fear
of death.
Death has no more fear to those who
know Christ.
When we're absent from this body, that's why
Paul the Apostle said, I have a desire
to depart.
I want to go.
This is only temporary.
This is only a vapor that's here for
a season, then passes away.
This is not the all in all of
anything.
This is only the beginning.
I'm only in the train station waiting for
the train to pull out.
I'm in the airport waiting for my flight
to leave.
But I'm going to a place where there's
never going to be an end.
There's going to be sunshine all the time.
There will never be sickness.
There'll be no complainers there.
There'll be not one single backbiter.
There'll be no arguments there.
There'll be no sorrow there.
There'll be no sadness there.
I'm going to a place for any time
because there's no day and night anymore.
I can leave my house on Golden Avenue
and go down to the throne of God
and raise my hands and sing the songs
of Zion.
Hallelujah.
O death, Paul said, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory?
Where is your victory?
Christ rose from the dead, and those that
are here shall also rise from the grave
and be with Him forever.
Natural death can be referred to in verse
4 of Psalm 23, but I believe the
valley of the shadow of death or the
valley of death's shadow is much more than
this.
It's interesting to note that Reese's Chronological Bible
places Psalm 23 as given to David by
the Holy Spirit just prior to Saul's first
attempt to kill him.
For Samuel 18.11 says, Saul cast a
javelin, for he said, I will smite David
even to the wall with it.
And David avoided out of his presence twice.
The shepherd who would be king up to
this point had known only victory and rest,
and now he was about to enter a
valley with shadows of death all about him.
An incredible thing.
You remember Samuel coming into the house of
Jesse and anointing David.
Now, David knew God had touched him.
He knew the Holy Ghost was upon him.
A sovereign strength was given to him that
was not found and can never be found
in those who are apart from God.
He was given courage beyond the peers of
his generation, even beyond the armies of his
generation, to run into a valley and face
a giant that had caused fear and trembling
in the whole host of Israel's armies.
He was able to sing songs.
The Bible tells us that when he would
sing and play, there was an evil spirit
that had come upon Saul.
And when David would worship God, that evil
spirit, in a sense, had to be abated.
And peace and rest would come into the
life of a man who now had lost
the presence of God.
He had known victory, and he knew he
was to be king.
The promises of God were as real to
him as they are to you and I
today.
We are promised that when we come to
Christ, we'll be given strength.
We are promised that no longer will fear
govern or reign our lives.
We are promised that we'll be taken to
places of plenteousness.
We are promised that we'll be given strength
where we are weak, and knowledge where we
formerly had no knowledge.
We are given the promises of God that
one day we'll rule and reign with Christ.
And until that day, God will keep us
and sustain us in places and a place
where we cannot be touched by the powers
of hell and darkness, but we will be
an example of the life that he offers
to all who trust in him.
In the New Testament, Romans chapter 5, verse
17, tells us that by one man's offense,
that's Adam's offense in the Garden of Eden,
death reigned.
Death reigned.
The word death is thanatos in the Greek,
and it means separation from the blessed influence
of God.
Death reigned when Adam's sin entered the human
race, and the human race began to be
cut off from that enlivening power of God,
or the blessed influence of God, and death
began to reign in all of humanity.
Death meant finality.
Death meant limitations in life.
The rule of death would tell you that
the circumstance you're born in, you'll never rise
out of it.
You have certain mental limitations that you cannot
ever ascribe to go beyond.
Born into poverty, you will live in poverty.
Born into a certain position in life, that
will be your position and station for all
of your life.
Death means limitation.
Death meant that in your life and in
mine, at some point, no matter how hard
we tried, the bar was higher than any
attempt I could make to leap it.
Try like I may, because of the death
reigning in me, there are certain elements of
character, certain things that I would desire to
ascribe to that I could make a few
jumps perhaps in my own strength, but the
bar would always rise.
And no matter how high I could jump,
the bar would always go higher.
And the reign of death meant that at
some point, there was a leap that I
would not be able to make.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 7,
that death had a ministry.
He says that death had a ministration written
and engraved in stones.
In verse 9, Paul calls it a ministry
of condemnation.
The ministry of death, which was represented by
the law, was sent to condemn all of
our attempts to be restored to God's favor
through anything that we, apart from God, are.
The ministry of the law was a ministration,
Paul says, of death.
And try as we may, there is not
one man who could fulfill the law.
All, Isaiah said clearly, have fallen short.
We've all sinned and fallen short in the
glory of God.
We see the issue perhaps of the woman
caught in adultery in the New Testament when
she was brought to Jesus.
And I've often heard it preached that all
the people standing there were just religious hypocrites.
I don't fully believe that.
Yes, there's hypocrisy in every crowd.
But in that crowd, there were also people
who wanted to do right, who wanted to
fulfill the law in their heart.
They wanted to walk in all of the
commandments of the law.
They wanted to obey.
They wanted to rise above the limitations as
it is of the natural man and to
be able to ascribe to the glory of
God.
And when Jesus said to them, Whoever is
without sin among you, let him cast the
first stone.
And folks, I want to tell you what
caused the people to drop the stones.
The Bible said from the eldest to the
younger.
The conviction of the Holy Ghost came.
And even though every man there, many of
them were zealous to do right as they
saw it in the sight of God, there
was not one in that crowd who had
fulfilled the law.
The law had done its ministry and the
law had condemned every man in the crowd
because there was none that could fulfill the
requirements of God in his own strength.
Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 tells us
that the devil had the power of death.
That means the knowledge of our limitations without
God at his disposal.
And verse 15 tells us that because of
this power of death at work in us,
that people became afraid and all their lifetime
were in subject to bondage.
Now, the bondage, the word bondage means that
state of man in which he is prevented
from freely possessing and enjoying his life.
The devil had the power of the law,
the power of death at his command.
And no matter how hard any of us
would try, he could rightfully look at us
and say, no, you failed here, you failed
there, you'll never make it, you'll never do
it, you'll never, you'll never, you'll never, you'll
never, you'll never.
And he had the power of the law
as it is behind him, which gave him
a legal right to condemn any who tried
to be righteous apart from the righteousness that
only God can give.
And it kept all in fear of death.
Death was all around.
I want you to think for a moment
of David.
He walks now from victory in verse 3
and honor and sweet worship, to terror, to
the cave, to drooling like a madman at
a foreign king's gate, to even ending up
preparing to fight in the wrong army.
From all this supposed victory and invincibility, he
now finds himself on the road to the
kingship that's been promised him, but through a
valley he never anticipated.
And the scripture clearly tells us that David
really didn't fully understand what it was that
God was doing in his life, and he
really at this point didn't have the knowledge
of how God was going to take him
through.
And all of a sudden he finds himself
in the very valley that the Holy Spirit
had spoken to him about before Saul's first
attempt to kill him.
See, God will always reveal what he's about
to do.
We may not understand it, but he will
reveal it.
He will tell us, and with our limited
understanding, we will try to walk in the
truth as it's been revealed to our hearts.
Think of David.
Think of him clearly.
The sweet psalmist killing Goliath, having the favor
of much of the populace in Israel, singing
songs that caused the devil to flee, knowing
in his heart that he's been anointed for
leadership, now fleeing, drooling, ending up in a
cave.
And folks, I'll tell you something, that's how
some of us feel sometimes.
Oh, yeah, we come to church and put
on our suits and sing our songs and
open our Bibles and shake people's hands, but
we go home and act like a madman
at the king's gate, complaining and moaning, God,
why are you doing this to me?
Why are you leading me here?
I'm afraid.
Fear seems to be on every side.
I thought you said you're not giving me
a spirit of fear.
Then why is fear on every side?
The things that I didn't even battle with
at one point are now all around me.
It seems like I'm in a valley, and
it's the farthest down I've ever been, and
death seems to be all around me, mocking
me, laughing at me, threatening me.
Oh, God, what is it that you're doing
in my life?
And that's exactly where David was, because when
you read some of the songs that he
had written round about these times of indecision,
and yes, there's a turning point as you
follow them in progression, but there was that
season of questioning God.
What is this all about?
Why do I have to go through this?
Why is it necessary to go through this
valley of the shadow of death?
And tell me now, at what point do
you think that David finally realized the truth
of the words which the Holy Spirit had
already given him?
The Holy Spirit had told him that even
in the valley, when you're at your lowest
and the bar seems to be at its
highest, when things that you thought you may
have been able to attain are now so
far out of reach.
Folks, it's like standing on a runway in
an Olympic event, and the bar you have
to jump is higher than the ceiling of
this sanctuary.
And you look at it and you say,
Man, there may have been a chance ten
years ago, but now I'm so low that
it's absolutely impossible.
And there's no shortage of people around that
will tell you that too as well.
The devil will use everybody he can and
say, Well, you'll never make it.
You can't do it.
You're just too far down.
He says, I'm in the valley, and the
death that wants to reign in me is
all around me, trying to speak to my
life and trying to speak into my heart
and trying to discourage my confidence in God.
At what point was it that David finally
realized that the death which he had so
feared was now only a shadow of its
former self?
You see, there's a reason why the Holy
Ghost called it when he gave it to
David, Though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death.
There's a difference between death and the shadow
of death.
Now, I want to explain this to you
as simply as I can.
I want you to catch this.
There is a big difference between getting hit
by a bus and getting hit by the
shadow of a bus.
I think you're starting to catch it now.
If I have a choice, I'd much rather
be hit by the shadow of a bus
going by than by the bus itself.
And the Holy Ghost is speaking now to
David.
In 1 Samuel 16, 13, it tells us
that he was anointed in the midst of
his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord
came upon David from that day forward.
Now with God's Spirit upon him and the
promises of God being fulfilled by God himself
in and through him, death with all its
limitations could roar, and death could pass by
with all it wanted to, but now it
was only a shadow, a powerless shadow at
that of its former self.
Do you understand what this means?
There's a time, there's a season when God
will take us into a place where we
have to face our deepest fears, we have
to face our own inadequacies, we have to
face the biggest enemies that we will ever
face in our entire life.
And they will roar at us, and they
will threaten us, and they will come against
us with everything they've got, but they are
only a shadow now.
They have no power.
All they can try to do is block
out the signs just for a moment and
try to get you to believe they can
actually conquer your life.
But listen to me, beloved.
They can no more conquer you than they
can conquer the God who now lives in
you.
They can't conquer you.
Your fears can't conquer you.
The power of hell can't conquer you.
There's no devil can conquer you.
There's no circumstance in life that can conquer
you.
There's no weakness that can keep you down.
There's no limitation to God and what he
can do in your life.
Death is only a shadow.
It was defeated at the cross.
Hallelujah!
Christ defeated death when he rose from the
grave.
Death shuddered because death now knew it had
no power over all of humanity that would
come to Christ.
When I received Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost
came into my life, and by the power
of God's Spirit, I was quickened and raised
from the dead with him.
All death can do, like a passing bus,
is make noise and roar at me.
But it can't touch me, because the hand
of God is on my life.
Hallelujah!
The writer of Hebrews says it this way
in chapter 2, verse 14 and 15, For
as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death,
as is Christ, he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the
devil, and deliver them, who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Christ came to deliver us from the fear
that we would never enjoy this life in
him, that we would never realize the potential
that God has planted by his Spirit and
his promises in each and every one of
us.
We were sent.
Christ was sent and delivered us.
He broke the one who had the power
of death.
That means the devil's voice means nothing to
me now.
It means nothing to me.
I love it.
My daughter is not little anymore, but when
she was little, we had a visiting minister
and his wife in our house one time,
and she was just three years old.
And out of the mouths of babes, doesn't
the Scripture say that was perfected praise?
And this minister's wife went into the bedroom
that night to tuck her in.
She asked if she could do it.
We said, sure, fine.
She tucked her in, and she's just a
little kid with pigtails.
She's laying in bed, and she said to
her, Katie, does the devil ever come and
try to tell you lies and make you
afraid?
And Katie says, oh, yes, he does.
He does a lot.
And she says, what do you do when
that happens?
She looked in the eye and said, I
tell him to go right back to hell
where he belongs.
Hallelujah.
Out of the mouths of babes, that was
perfected praise.
Would be to God we could all learn
that lesson.
Would be to God that we could understand
that His power is only a shadow now.
And if God's going to use my life,
He's got to take me through the valley
of the shadow of death.
I'm never going to escape it.
Folks, don't make the mistake of turning back
and trying to become a baby Christian all
over again.
Don't make the mistake of thinking you can
live in immaturity and ever understand and know
the fullness of what God desires to put
upon your life.
If you're going to live for God, there
is a time where you're going to have
to understand what it means to die with
Him first, before you can live with Him.
A time when you've got to face your
fears.
A time when you've got to go through
the limitations.
You've got to walk into the midst of
every lie that has ever been spoken over
your life.
Things that have been said about you can't,
you won't, you never will be, you'll never
change, you'll never make it.
God's going to take you right through the
valley of those shadows.
Right through the valley.
And not one of them is going to
touch you if you will keep your trust
and confidence in Him.
You're going to walk right through the midst
of them all.
Hallelujah.
He says, 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.
Now, I've heard a lot of sermons about
the rod and the staff.
The rod of correction.
The staff of protection.
And how a shepherd gently nudges and leads.
Folks, I had a sheep farm.
I've raised over a hundred sheep.
Let me tell you, it doesn't work.
It's humorous to hear these things.
You can tap a sheep all you want.
That thing gets it in his head to
go left, he's going left.
Folks, I want to tell you what the
rod and the staff are all about.
It is simply the presence of God.
It is His comfort.
Thy rod and thy staff.
He says, Lord, it is Your comfort that's
going to keep me.
It is Your promises.
It is Your very presence.
The fact that Your power is with me.
The fact that You are my shepherd and
I shall not want.
The fact, oh God, that You've not sent
me to walk alone in the midst of
my fears and troubles and difficulties.
You are with me every step of the
way.
And that comfort.
And that comfort alone is what's going to
bring me in and through and up the
other side of this valley.
It's Your comfort.
The fact that You said, I will never
leave You nor forsake You.
You said every thing that rises against me,
that I have the right now to condemn
it.
This is the heritage of the servants of
the Lord.
Your presence and Your comfort are all that
I need.
To take me through the valley of the
deepest of my fears and my former limitations.
Verse 5, he says, Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup
runneth over.
David said, there's voices on all sides.
And they're telling me I'll never make it.
I'm too weak, it can't be done.
There's a narrow corridor that leads to that
life of Christ.
And it's like initiation, I guess, into the
army.
Perhaps used to be.
Maybe that's not the best example to use
now.
But having to walk through that corridor and
there are people on all sides.
Shouting, telling you things you can't do or
places you can't go or things you're never
going to be.
Trying to stop, trying to test as it
is your determination to go on.
Voices on all sides when you begin to
go on with God and are led into
this valley of difficulty, this valley of the
shadow of death, are there to tell you
you're never going to make it.
They're there to tell you you're too weak.
They're there to tell you it can't be
done.
They're there to tell you there's no hope
for you.
They're there to discourage you and tell you,
what's the sense of pressing on?
You're never going to amount to anything.
You trusted in God, but He saw something
in you you're not even aware of.
And there's every kind of lying voice under
the sun to try to stop you from
becoming what God has destined you to be.
Yet David says, in the midst of them,
you prepare a banquet for me.
Incredible.
Now, that banquet is none other than the
promises of God.
It's the table of His bread.
David said, in the midst of the valley
of the shadow of death, where all my
enemies are all around me, you prepare a
banquet for me.
You anoint my head with oil, which means,
God, you touch me time and again with
your presence.
I am daily aware of your presence in
my life and upon my life.
I don't understand my circumstances.
I don't know what tomorrow holds for me,
but I do know one thing.
I understand that you are with me.
I understand that your hand has touched my
life and that you have anointed me for
a purpose.
I understand, O God, that you have put
a banquet of promises before me.
And by these promises, you said I'm going
to become a partaker of the very nature
of God.
David says, it's so much that it's more
than enough.
He says, in my cup runneth over.
I mean, it's more than enough to do
what you've called me to do.
Hallelujah!
Have you ever gotten to that place in
your valley of difficulty, where the shadow of
death is all around you, where you can
say, God, you have given me more than
enough to meet the need that rests before
me?
Look at Psalm 18 with me for just
a moment, if you will.
Psalm 18, verse 28.
David says, For thou wilt light my candle.
The Lord my God will lighten my darkness.
Now, this psalm is written just after now
his deliverance from the hand of Saul and
all of his enemies.
Psalm 23 is just before.
Psalm 18 is just after.
Look at the difference now.
For thou, verse 28, wilt light my candle.
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
For by thee I have run through a
troop, and by my God have I leaped
over a wall.
David says, I was given strength.
I was given strength to run through the
gauntlet of my enemies.
I was given strength to leap over every
barricade in this valley of the shadow of
death that the devil tried to put before
me.
As for God, he says, his way is
perfect, and the word of the Lord is
tried, and he's a buckler or a sustainer
to all those that trust in him.
For who is God?
Save the Lord.
And who is a rock?
Save our God.
It is God that girds me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like hinds feet and
sets me upon my high places.
He teaches my hands to war so that
a bow of steel is broken by mine
arms.
Thou hast also given me the shield of
thy salvation.
Thy right hand is holding me up, and
thy gentleness hath made me great.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that
my feet did not slip.
I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them,
and neither did I turn again till they
were consumed.
I have wounded them that they were not
able to rise, and they are fallen under
my feet.
For thou hast girded me with strength under
the battle.
Thou hast subdued under me those that rose
up against me.
Look at verse 46.
He says, the Lord liveth and blessed me
my rock, and let the God of my
salvation be exalted.
It is God that avenges me and subdues
the people under me.
He delivered me from mine enemies, verse 48.
Thou liftest me up above those that rise
up against me.
Thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
Now, some say that man would be Saul,
but I don't believe that.
David knew the battle was much more than
this.
There's a violent man that has attempted to
overthrow the kingdom of God right from his
beginning.
And David said, God, you gave me strength,
and you delivered me from the violent man.
Therefore, I will give thanks unto thee, O
Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto
thy name.
Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and
shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and
to his seed forevermore.
You have to understand now, David is the
lineage of Jesus Christ.
Through Jesus Christ, we are grafted into that
very lineage.
We are, in effect, the seed that David
is speaking about.
And David says, God gives great deliverance and
shows mercy to his anointed and to his
seed forevermore.
Great mercy and great deliverance from the violent
man.
You and I have a choice to make,
beloved.
When God says, you can, and the devil
says, you can't, tell me who you're going
to listen to.
Who are you going to listen to?
If you're going to listen to God, you're
going to go into the valley of facing
your fears.
I believe it's a testing and proving ground
for everyone that God will use greatly in
this kingdom.
I don't personally believe there's any escaping the
valley of the shadow of death.
We have to die to anything we thought
we were.
All ambition has to go.
All self-reliance has to be put under
foot.
In this valley of the shadow of death,
it's only the sustaining power of God that
will get you through.
And when you come out the other side,
you have a message for your generation.
You have a message that God gives great
deliverance and mercy to those who place their
confidence in Him.
God makes my feet like hinds feet.
In other words, like a mountain goat and
gives me the power to climb to high
places.
God gives me the power to run through
a troop.
In other words, if the enemy sends a
host against me, David says, I'll not be
afraid.
He gives me the power to run right
through the middle of it.
God gives me the power to leap any
wall that the enemy would try to build
around me or over me or try to
encompass my path with.
God gives me the power.
I can't be boxed in.
I can't be stopped.
I can't be slowed down.
Because it's not about me.
It's about God.
It's about what He is destined to do
through my life to bring glory to His
name.
Let hell shout all it wants.
Let the voice of the darkness cast their
shadows over my life.
It's only a shadow.
It can't touch me and can't touch you.
Do you understand?
The book of Exodus, when they're in the
wilderness, God told Moses, I want to build
a tabernacle, a dwelling place.
Portable dwelling place as it is for the
nation of Israel as we travel together.
And he said, now announce this to the
people and everybody who has a willing heart.
Let them come and make an offering and
give their lives to the service and the
work of God.
That's an incredible thing.
Because there were very, very specific instructions that
were given in the building of this tabernacle
and all of the veils and curtains and
the lavers and the dishes and the mercy
seat and all these things had to be
constructed and they had to be exact because
this was the dwelling place of God.
This was a foreshadowing of Christ and His
church.
And you can see when the call from
Moses went out, there'd be a momentary hesitation
among the people.
Who possesses the skill to do such a
thing?
Who can design the dwelling place of God?
And what if I head out and make
mistakes?
But the call is put out and the
call always looks like an impossibility.
How can I do this?
How dare I ever even rise up and
say, yeah, yeah, count me in.
Yeah, I'll design the mercy seat.
You see, people had an actual fear of
God.
Many did, at least in those days.
And how do I dare touch these holy
things?
I don't have the skill.
I don't possess the knowledge.
And I believe that when the call first
went out, that would be exactly what would
go through the hearts of most of the
people as they go home to their tents
and begin to think this over.
Look out of their tent and see the
pillar of fire, see the glory of God
and say, oh God, how do I touch
these holy things?
How can this happen?
I don't have, but I want to.
You see, it was a foreshadowing of the
New Testament.
I see the next day or days later,
people coming to Moses and say, my heart
is willing.
My heart is, I want to do this
thing.
The scripture says those who had a willing
heart, those whose heart had been stirred up
and were willing came and they willingly offered
not only the gold and silver and these
things for the building of the tabernacle, but
they offered themselves.
And then all of a sudden there's a
marvelous switch in this passage of scripture.
If you have time, Exodus 35, chapter 35,
36, some time to read it.
And all of a sudden we begin to
see God, the scripture says, put in these
workers the wisdom.
He put in these workers the ability, the
cunning and the skill.
He, every worker, some became teachers of others,
but he gave them the skill and he
gave them the ability.
And when they began to do the work,
the scripture says at the end of chapter
36, that so much stuff began to come
in from the camp of Israel to accomplish
the work.
They had to plead with Moses.
You have to stop the stuff.
We have too much to work with.
And so Moses put out a plea to
the camp and said, please don't bring any
more things into the work of God.
We have so much stuff.
We're overflowing.
We don't know what to do with it
all.
David says, you anoint my head with oil.
You prepare a banquet table for me in
the presence of my enemies.
And my cup overflows.
God, you're giving me so much stuff.
You're putting so much in my life that
it's overflowing me, even in the midst of
my deepest trial, even in the midst of
my own fears and my deepest struggles.
God, you are planting within me everything I
need to be what you called me to
be.
And you're giving me so much that I
can't contain it anymore.
It's flowing over my borders.
I've got to share it with others.
I've got to tell them, God, what you're
doing in my life.
I've got to tell them who you've been
to me and how you've been faithful to
me and how you will touch and keep
and hold and sustain and keep all who
call out to your name.
If you will listen to God and let
His Word and His presence comfort you, God
is going to assign two friends to you
that will never leave you.
Two friends.
He says, I'm going to give you two
friends.
And they will never leave you.
They will follow you all the days of
your life.
Goodness and mercy.
David says, surely, goodness and mercy will follow
me all the days of my life.
That means the farthest I walk, I'm walking
through this valley of the shadow of death.
I may have to go through it once,
twice, three times, four times throughout my life.
I don't know how many times I'm going
to go through, but as many times as
God deems it necessary to do the work
that He wants to do through my life.
But when I get to the other side
of that valley of the shadow of death,
I'm going to look back.
And every time I look back, I see
two friends covering me, covering my back as
it is, walking with me all the way.
Two friends called goodness and mercy that God
has assigned to my life that are going
to follow me all the days of my
life.
Hallelujah.
And when the devil tries to accuse you
and tries to lie to you and tell
you you're not going to make it through
your trial, say, listen, devil, talk to the
friends that are following behind me.
Goodness and mercy.
All the days of my life.
Folks, if you will trust God, when you
are 99 years old, should the Lord tell
you, you're going to look back from the
day you received Christ to where you are
in your old age.
You're going to say, goodness and mercy have
followed me all the days of my life.
God has been good to me.
God has been merciful to me.
Even when I didn't understand Him.
Even when I was in confusion and despair,
God was still there.
He's not a fickle friend.
He sticks closer than a brother.
And David said, not only that, but I
will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Goodness and mercy are behind me.
And the house of God, the eternal dwelling
place of God is before me.
How can I lose?
Tell me.
Who can rise against me?
Tell me what power of hell can destroy
me.
David says, goodness and mercy walk behind me.
And the house of God is before me.
I have a long table that's been set
for me all through the valley of the
shadow of death.
And on it are incredible promises.
And I just stand there and eat while
all these shadows whiz by.
The shadows of the bus just go by,
but the bus can't touch me.
And every once in a while, God just
comes and touches me because He knows I
need it.
And I get to the end of the
valley not worn out and exhausted.
But I get to the end of the
valley with my cup overflowing.
I come out of trial stronger than I
went in.
Because I've chosen to trust God.
Amazing.
Amazing, amazing, amazing.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have
already come.
His grace, He said, has brought me safe
thus far.
And grace will lead me home.
My other call this morning is simple.
It's just for people who want to say,
Pastor, I'm getting up and I'm going with
God.
Death and all of its limitations are only
a shadow.
Lord Jesus, make me everything you've called me
to be.
Take me everywhere you've destined me to go.
Jesus, be all in me that you desire
to be.
I especially, especially give an altar invitation today
for those who are in the valley of
the shadow of death.
You've gone through verses 1, 2 and 3
in Psalm 23 and you're now in verse
4.
Not understanding what's going on.
The devil barking at you from all sides.
Trying to convince you that there's some incredible
failure in you somewhere that God has seen
and He's rejected you.
Trying to tell you you're never going to
make it or become anything or anybody.
The promises of God are of no effect.
But God says, no, no, no.
My very honor is at stake in bringing
you through to everything I promised you.
You have to understand this today.
He stakes the honor of His name on
bringing you and I through to everything that
He's promised us that He's going to be
in us.
The devil doesn't want you to know that.
But if you're in the valley of the
shadow of death, you are in a wonderful
place.
Because on the other side, you're going to
come out with a cup that is so
full, you're going to have something to say
to your generation.
It's not going to be all just nice
little platitudes.
Nice little quick snap answers for everybody that's
going through difficulty.
You're going to say, no, grace brought me
safe.
You know, when I was a younger pastor,
you know, you're going through a hard time.
When you come to young people, younger Christians,
and you're going through a hard time, they
just, they're like this.
It flips through the Bible.
And they throw a promise at you.
Or a condemnation half the time.
And it's so quick with the answers.
I love the older folks.
Especially the ones who walk with God.
They have soft hands.
And I've been more encouraged through my walk
with God by an older person from time
to time, just sensing the hurt.
Or sensing the despair that the devil wanted
to plant in my heart.
Just coming and taking my hands and saying,
God has been faithful to me.
And God will be faithful to you.
There's more theology in that than somebody reading
me ten chapters of Scripture.
Somebody has come through the valley.
I can always tell the ones that have
come through the valley, there's something in their
eyes.
Something in their voice.
The hard edge is gone.
It's become all Jesus and none of them.
They have a message.
It's implanted in them.
Their whole life has become the message.
No longer rattling theology and trying to prove
a point.
They now know God.
It's an incredible thing.
I want to be like that.
But to be like that, I have to
go through the valley of the shadow of
death.
I'll never escape it.
I'll be a fool to try.
I'll be a fool to try to get
around the very procedure that God uses to
make me a man of God.
Of God.
We want to keep the man part and
still have the of God.
But God says, no, I've got to get
rid of the man part to make you
of God.
In order to do that, I've got to
take you through a place where you will
see that there's no hope of you ever
getting through without me.
I'll take you to the very extreme of
your limitations.
And show you the bar is too high.
You can't jump it.
But then I'll take you through.
And none of the lying voices will touch
you.
And you'll come out the other side with
a testimony and a song.
These are the people who reign with Christ.
The people who reign with Christ are not
the ones who run churches of 10,000
and 50 and 20,000.
People who reign with Christ are these people
who have come through.
They have this confidence and peace that nothing
in the world can take away from them.
They may not look like much, but they
are kings and queens before God.
They are reigning already on this side of
eternity, for those who can hear it.
They have a cup that overflows and a
testimony that's unshaken.
They've walked through sorrow and trial and difficulty.
God has sustained them.
And given them a feast of himself.
If your desire is to be everything God
called you to be, to go everywhere God
called you to go, and to be everything
in you that God called you to be,
I'm going to ask you to come to
this altar.
In the annex you can go up between
the screens and we'll pray with you momentarily.
But those in the main sanctuary of the
Holy Spirit spoken to you, especially those who
are in the valley, come join with me.
We're going to pray together.
Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm
found.
Was blind, but now I see.
Through many dangers, toils
and snares, I have already
come.
His grace has brought me safe thus
far.
And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten thousand
years, bright shining as the
sun, we've no less days
to sing God's praise than when we'd
first begun.
Praise God!
Praise
God!
I'll rest my feet.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
One thing
never failed me yet, never
failed me yet.
Jesus' love has never failed me yet.
This one thing I know, that wherever I
go, Jesus' love has never failed me yet.
He's never failed me yet, never failed
me yet.
Jesus' love has never failed me yet.
This one thing I know, that wherever I
go, Jesus' love has never failed me yet.
He's never failed me yet, never
failed me yet.
Jesus' love has never failed me yet.
This one thing I know, that wherever I
go, Jesus' love has never failed me yet.
Now we're going to pray a very simple
prayer this morning.
And I want to tell you especially, there
are people here that the devil and circumstance
and life has told you that you'll never
be anything.
Or you'll never be a good father, good
husband, good wife.
You'll never be intelligent.
You'll never be able to clearly even preach
the gospel or articulate the things of God.
Folks, I want you to know the devil
is a liar.
Jesus will make you everything that you ask
Him to.
He said to his disciples, you've asked me
up to this point for nothing.
Now ask in my name, ask the Father
and He will give it to you.
He said that your joy might be full.
He said, just ask me, but ask with
a believing heart.
Let's pray this simple prayer together.
Lord Jesus, I have a willing heart.
And today I ask you to make me
everything that you've called me to be.
Take me everywhere that you've called me to
go.
And be in me everything that you desire
to be.
I believe that because I ask, you will
answer my prayer.
And you will give me everything that I
require that your name would be honored in
and through my life.
You will take me through the valley of
my deepest fears.
And in the midst of that valley, you
will put a banquet table before me.
You will anoint my head with oil and
my cup will overflow.
I believe today that at the end of
my life, I'm going to look back and
say, Goodness and mercy has followed me all
the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the house of
God forever.
I believe today that death and all of
its power is now defeated.
It's only a shadow.
It can't touch me.
It can't touch my life.
It can't touch what God is going to
do in and through me anymore from this
day forward and forever.
Jesus, be glorified in and through my life.
I believe this now with all of my
heart.
And I shout hallelujah to the Lamb of
God.
Hallelujah.
Mighty God, thank You for what You're doing.
I thank You, God, for the changed lives.
I thank You for the changed homes.
I thank You, God, for the changed testimonies.
I thank You for the strength and skills
and wisdom You are giving.
Holy Ghost, right this very moment, God, You
are giving skills and wisdom.
You are releasing gifts into the lives of
those that are placing their confidence and trust
in You.
Father, I thank You for it from the
depths of my heart.
And I say, Jesus, be glorified.
Let there be testimonies that can mark this
day as the beginning of a life of
abundance in God.
Hallelujah.
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Lord.
This is the conclusion of the message.