This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
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Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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Jehovah Roey, the Lord is my shepherd.
Turn to Psalm 23, please.
Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd.
I want to thank Pastor Carter, his wife,
and Pastor Nino Rhodes and Patrick and all
those who ministered.
I got most of the tapes and enjoyed
hearing what God was speaking to them.
A marvelous revelation coming from the heart of
God.
And thank you, Pastor Carter, your wife and
staff and choir and all who...
It's wonderful to come home to a church
that's on fire.
And it just proves it's His church.
It's not any man's church, it's the work
of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I
shall not want.
Now, that word want means I shall not
lack.
I shall not lack anything.
The Lord is my shepherd.
In Hebrew, it's Jehovah Roey.
I shall not want.
In other words, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not lack.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that we do
have a shepherd who cares for us and
watches over us.
And Lord, the message you gave me this
morning was born in my own need.
And we've been saying from the very beginning
that the names of God are revealed to
men and women in crises.
Where God comes and reveals Himself in a
special way to meet that need.
And Lord, I thank you for this, the
way that you ministered this to me in
a personal need that I was going through.
And you came to me, revealing yourself to
me as my shepherd.
And let it be revealed to the whole
congregation and all who hear now the wonderful
tenderness of our Lord.
You are our shepherd, Jehovah Roey.
Thank you, Lord, for your revelation of who
you are.
In Jesus' name, amen.
In Hebrew, Jehovah Roey means the Lord leads
and nourishes me.
And because of that, I am not in
need.
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
Boy, what an idyllic scene that is.
Can you picture it in your mind?
A flock, let's use a hundred because the
Lord used that.
If a hundred sheep, one is lost.
Say there's a hundred sheep in there.
The idyllic picture we have in mind when
we read Psalm 23 is a hundred beautiful,
white, maybe 99, beautiful, white, fleecy sheep.
And they're laying in this marvelous, lush, green
pasture.
And there's a beautiful, clear, cool water, a
pond.
And the trees around reflect in that pool.
And the sheep are all lulling about.
And they head down and they're grazing or
they're sleeping on a rise over the hill,
on top of the hill.
We picture a shepherd and he's meditating occasionally,
looks at the flock to make sure all
is well.
There's not a sigh, there's not a cry.
It's just peaceful, it's wonderful, green grass, cool
breezes.
Who wouldn't be happy?
But you know it's not like that in
life, is it?
That's not what Psalm 23 is about whatsoever.
That's a motley bunch of sheep.
Just look around you.
Look at me.
Look at Pastor Carter.
Look at all of the staff.
Look around.
Don't look at yourself first.
What kind of sheep are we?
This idyllic scene that we picture in our
mind has little to do with what the
Holy Spirit is trying to show us in
Psalm 23.
The Bible says, He shall feed his flock
like a shepherd.
He shall gather the lambs in his arm
and carry them in his bosom and shall
gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah is speaking of Christ.
He is our Jehovah-Roy.
He is our shepherd, the scripture said.
But he didn't come to minister just to
healthy, strong sheep.
He came to minister to those who were
broken.
In fact, the Lord in Isaiah condemned the
shepherds that refused to strengthen the diseased.
Now listen to the description of the flock
he's talking about.
The diseased, nor those who were sick, nor
did they bind up the wounded or the
broken, neither would they go after the lost.
Jesus said, My sheep have wandered over the
mountains and over every high hill.
Yea, my flock are scattered upon all the
face of the earth.
Ezekiel said, My people have been a lost
sheep.
They've forgotten their resting place.
Isaiah 53, 6 said, All we like sheep.
All have gone astray.
Now mark it down that these sheep have
all gone astray.
The Lord has found them.
There's something God is really trying to say
to us in this Psalm 23.
And I hope the Lord opens your heart
and mind to understand it.
When you look around the church of Jesus
Christ and you consider that among us now,
there are those young lambs that we wonder
if they're ever going to be able to
walk.
In our midst of those, there's a lamb
or a sheep or a soul that is
crippled and has got a bleeding hind leg
because the Scripture says the shepherd pulled it
out of the lion's mouth.
There are some of those sheep that are
in that flock that are naked.
They're shorn because they wandered away and some
false shepherd fleeced them.
In that flock are those that are bruised
because of divorce.
There are those that have carried horrible temptations.
Some of them are caked with mud and
filth because they wandered away and they got
into some muddy thing.
Some of them are diseased inside.
They've been drinking muddy water.
Folks, those sheep that are there are there
for a reason.
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even
I, will both search out my sheep and
I will seek them.
Please go to Ezekiel 34.
Let me show it to you more clearly.
Ezekiel 34.
34th chapter of Ezekiel.
I'm going to start reading at verse 11.
If you'll follow me, please.
I'm reading from King James.
For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I,
even I, will both search my sheep and
seek them out.
See, he calls them his sheep even though
they've wandered away.
Even though many are diseased and broken and
the lion trying to devour.
He said, they're my sheep and I'm going
after them.
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in
the day that he is among his sheep
that are scattered.
So will I seek out my sheep and
deliver them out of all places where they
have been scattered in the cloudy and dark
day.
Those who've gone through their dark times.
That deep dark time that many of us
have experienced.
And I will bring them out from the
people.
And I, verse 14.
I will feed them in a good pasture
and upon the high mountains of Israel so
they fold bee.
They shall lie in a green fold, in
a good fold, in a fat pasture so
they feed upon the mountains.
I will feed my flock and I will
cause them, what?
To lie down.
There it is again from Psalm 23.
I will cause them to lie down.
He maketh me to lie down, saith the
Lord God.
I will seek that which was lost and
bring again that which was driven away.
Will bind up that which is broken.
Will strengthen that which was sick.
Verse 22.
Therefore will I save my flock.
They shall no more be a prey.
I will judge between cattle and cattle.
I will set up one shepherd over them
and he shall feed them.
Even my servant David, he shall feed them
and he shall be their shepherd.
Now you know that speaking of Jesus Christ.
That speaking of Christ.
He said, I will feed my flock.
I will cause them to lie down, saith
the Lord.
Now let's take, that's directly from Psalm 23
too.
He maketh me to lie down.
Now in the Hebrew, that is very clearly
interpreted to induce or compel.
They're not willingly ready.
Some of them or most of them are
gladly ready to lie down.
They're tired, they're weary, they're broken and they're
bruised.
And in his loving call he says, I'm
going to cause you to lay down.
I will cause.
And you just read that from Ezekiel 34.
I will cause, I will make them to
lie down.
You see, when we're hurt and bruised and
he calls us to himself.
We don't want to just give in by
faith and rest and become totally dependent upon
his power and his grace.
We want to go somewhere and lick our
wounds.
We want to tough it out.
We want to figure out, well, how did
I get so muddied?
How did I get so bruised?
Why did I run away?
We have all of these thoughts.
Rather than coming to him through his absolute
grace and love.
The unmerited love of the father, the shepherd.
We want to try to explain to ourselves.
We want to figure out how we did
this so maybe we won't do it again.
Folks, you'll never figure it out.
That's not what it's all about.
That's not what Psalm 23 is all about.
He maketh me to lie down.
He says, all right, lay aside all of
your fleshly dreams and schemes.
Lie down in my grace.
Lie down in faith now because this is
a time for restoration.
He maketh me to lie down.
He restoreth my soul.
Folks, our shepherd's not a benign shepherd.
He's not one of those hirelings who just
said, well, there's the green grass.
There's the water.
Go to it.
And then when he sees you in trouble,
he runs.
No, no, no.
He knows every pain.
He knows every tear.
He knows every hurt and every feeling.
And he knows exactly when to come and
compel us to lay down in his rest
and his grace.
Folks, honestly, I couldn't relate to an all
fleecy white fold where nobody has trouble.
All the sheep are smiling and their pearly
white teeth and nobody's crying.
Nobody's in pain.
Folks, I'd be miserable because I'm not that
way.
I have peace of God, but I don't
carry a Colgate grin everywhere I go.
You see, I get down at times and
I've known discouragement at times.
I've been confused.
I've preached hundreds and thousands of sermons.
I've worn out a number of Bibles.
I've prayed on the mountains and I've prayed
in the valleys and I've been through the
middle.
But I always haven't been happy.
There have been tears.
There have been sorrows.
There have been testing.
There have been trying.
And many, many times he's had to come
after me and give me a bath.
There was times I've experienced what David experienced,
that unexplainable physical, mental oppression of the enemy.
You don't know how it came, where it
came from, but you wake up one day
and there it is.
David said, why is my soul cast down
in me?
Why is my soul disquieted in me?
Why do I go mourning because of the
opposition or the oppression of the enemy?
He explained it.
It's the oppression of the enemy.
The enemy comes to those.
Every time I write a book that is
having some kind of an impact on people,
I know what happens.
I get ready for it.
The unexplainable thing that David's talking about, why,
where, how did it happen?
And you examine yourself and you can't find
the reason.
If you haven't gone through that, you're in
la-la land.
Every man of God in this book knows
what I'm talking about.
You see, David had a loving, caring shepherd,
Jehovah-Rahi, who would go after him time
and time again and bring him in.
He had to keep bringing David back into
the rest.
We so easily lose the rest.
We so easily lose the truth that we
have heard.
We don't maintain that truth.
Folks, I don't think I have maintained one
twentieth, maybe one one hundredth of all the
truth I've preached.
I retained so little, but that's why we
have to keep coming back and that's why
we have to be restored.
And folks, by the way, the food that
you eat, you don't retain it.
You didn't retain the food you ate last
year.
You have to keep coming back to the
table.
See, the sheepfold in 23rd is David's flock.
By that I mean he's one of those
that are in this flock.
Sometimes it's not easy for the shepherd to
get us to lie down.
But the Lord says he wants to come
and dwell in our midst.
The whole scene here, I see it, is
the Lord is bringing all his bruised sheep
together for a time of restoration.
This special green pasture, this special one, this
whole scene is a time of restoration for
his people that are hurting and bruised.
See, God knows how much you can take.
He knows how much I can take.
He knows exactly when we need healing, when
we need restoration.
And the word is very, very clear here.
In Exodus 29, 45, for example, it says,
And I will dwell among the children of
Israel, and I will be their God.
This is exactly what happened.
The Lord brings his sheep in to dwell
among them.
That word dwell in Hebrew, shekinah.
And shekinah means not just a passing presence,
but a permanent presence.
A presence that never leaves.
The shekinah glory of God is not a
passing, vanishing imprint in our heart that vanishes
like vanishing ink.
No, it's something that God by his Spirit
imprints in our soul.
You are loved by God.
He is your shepherd.
He imprints that, and when that's implanted, imprinted
indelibly in your heart, Folks, I don't believe
you can ever exist.
I don't think you can make it in
last days unless you're totally convinced God loves
you.
No way.
That's the shekinah glory of God, the abiding,
everlasting presence.
It's when you and I in our troubles
are told by God, by our shepherd, Lay
down, I want to restore you.
And I'm going to restore you by letting
you know I'm going to be with you
through the valley and the shadow of death.
I'm going to be with you through everything
the devil throws at you.
I am never going to leave you again.
Even if you run from me, I'm going
to chase you.
I'm going to fall in.
When I find you, I'm not going to
spank you.
I'm going to take you in my arms
and love you back.
He said, I'm going to bind up your
wounds and strengthen that which is sick.
Jehovah-Rohi knows his sheep.
He said, I'm the good shepherd, and I
know my sheep.
The Lord knoweth them that are his.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them.
And they follow me, and I give them
eternal life.
And they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand.
David said, the Lord knows me.
Folks, I'm so glad God made that so
clear to me.
He knows me.
He knows all my frailties.
He knows my weaknesses.
He knows when I'm fibbing.
He knows when I'm exaggerating.
He knows when I'm jealous.
But he also knows something else.
The same thing he knew about David.
He knew that David would not hide his
sins.
That David would confess them openly before him.
He said, I know, David, everything about you.
I know my sheep.
I'm glad for that.
I'm glad there's nothing hidden from God's eyes.
And in spite of that, he loves me.
By his own confession, David said, my iniquities
are over my head.
They're a burden so heavy for me, I
can't carry them.
There's no rest in my bones because of
my sins.
Does that sound like a healthy sheep?
My wounds stink?
He's a stinking sheep.
Is that what the Bible says?
Because of my foolishness, I'm troubled.
He's a troubled man.
I'm bowed down greatly.
I'm sore broken.
I roar because of this.
This quietness in my heart.
My strength is gone.
My sins are not hid from you.
You know my foolishness.
Psalm 69 5.
Now, folks, get this picture again.
Let's go beyond.
Let's leave the Green Valley.
And go up the hill and on the
other side of it.
Where the shepherd's gathering his lost herding sheep.
And he's got to pull them over here
on this side.
There are no trees.
There's no grass.
There's no water.
And the shepherd's gathering his flock.
And David's among that flock.
And they are herding and they're bruised.
And you see the shepherd now calling them
by name.
How wonderful it must have been for David
at that time to hear his name.
Folks, David was going through a dark night
of his soul.
A terrible, terrible dark night.
You see, restoration begins with a fresh revelation
of the love of Jehovah roaming for his
sheep.
I believe this is the greatest battle that
a Christian has.
Is to maintain this imprint in his soul.
That God loves me.
That at times I fail.
I do things that grieve the Holy Spirit.
But he loves me.
Folks, that's been my biggest battle since I
was a child.
I could preach the love of God.
I could preach it to multitudes.
I could preach it to drug addicts, alcoholics,
and prostitutes.
And believe it and preach it with all
my heart and soul.
And be anointed with the Holy Spirit.
And then go home and lose my temper
with my wife or something.
And say, Lord, I failed you.
And as if he didn't love me anymore,
somehow I slipped away from his love.
I've come to examine my own heart on
this many times.
After preaching it to so many people to
go to prisons, for example.
And other times and preach about the love
of God.
And so seldom feel loved by God.
Even though I knew the Scripture and everything
else.
You take David now.
Psalm 119.
175 spiritually correct verses.
175 verses about the power and the majesty
of God.
175 verses that just thrill your heart.
He knew the Scripture.
He knew the work of the Spirit.
He knew the names of God.
He knew the majesty of God.
He knew Jehovah El Shaddai.
He knew El Elyon.
He knew all.
He had a revelation of the names of
God.
The spirit and nature of this Heavenly Father.
But what does he say in the last
verse?
176.
I've gone astray like a lost sheep.
Oh God, seek me.
Because I trust your word yet.
After 175 verses of pure revelation.
And then sudden happens to David.
Because you see, you can know the Bible.
You can know the workings of the Spirit.
You can be a preacher.
You can be a teacher.
You can talk about how God gives such
grace in times of need.
And all of this.
David knew that.
And yet he said, I've gone astray.
That didn't mean that David went out again
and committed adultery.
It didn't mean that he turned his back
on God.
He had strayed from the knowledge that should
have been imprinted in his crisis.
He forgot about the love of God for
him.
He strayed from the love of God.
I've gone astray.
Come seek me.
Lord, I'm at the place where I can't.
And folks, when you turn to Psalm 14.
And I keep going back to Psalm 14
where David says, How long?
Four times in two verses, Lord.
How long does this go on?
How long do I have to endure this?
How long do I counsel with my own
soul, with my own heart?
Well folks, please, would you turn, flip left
to Psalm 14 for just a minute.
Or 13, sorry, Psalm 13.
Folks, I want you to get a picture
in mind.
This is where David was just before the
shepherd again finds him.
Didn't the Lord say in Ezekiel 34, I
will go and I will seek my sheep?
He went out and he found David in
this condition in 13.
How long will thou forget me, O Lord?
Forever?
You know what he said, Lord, this has
been going on long enough.
How many of you said that to the
Lord?
Lord, this financial problem is getting pretty scary.
How long?
This physical condition of my body, I prayed,
I fasted, and I believed you.
I've done everything I know according to the
Scripture.
Why am I not healed?
Why is there such trouble in my marriage?
How long will you hide your face from
me?
How long shall I take counsel in my
own soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?
David was living with pain every day.
There was a sorrow in his heart.
Every day he woke up, there was something
hanging over David for a period of time.
That wasn't his lifestyle, that was just the
temporary thing that had happened.
But he'd evidently gone astray.
And he's saying, now how long does this
go on?
How does it end?
Folks, I know what David's talking about.
He started counseling with his own soul because
before this had happened, he said, the Lord
is my counselor, he said, my reigns instruct
me in the middle of the night.
He said, I lay down in bed and
I'm convinced I won't do anything unless I
consult with the Lord.
He's my counselor.
Over and over again, David talks about the
Lord being his counselor.
And we have many of us here who
say, I don't make a move unless I
check with God.
I say that over and over again.
I won't do anything unless I pray about
it and I check with God and he
speaks to me.
Oh, how many of us have boasted, God
talks to me.
God speaks to me.
I take everything to God.
And then David's in this condition, feeling unloved
and forsaken by God.
Now, folks, even the Son of God knew
that.
My God, why have you forsaken me?
So don't tell me that this is not
the experience of godly people.
I take counsel my own soul.
So you see, David, now he's got a
problem and it appears to him like his
prayers are not being answered.
And so he's got to do something about
it.
So he stays up all night making plans.
I got to do something.
I got to make a move.
I got to do something.
And so he said, how long am I
going to take counsel with my own soul?
Now, folks, come on.
A little honesty.
Let a gray-haired papa talk to some
children.
Sheep.
Isn't that what you do?
I am not the only one that does
that.
Over the years in this ministry, there have
been some times when our finances would just
die.
We'd go a whole month and there was
no money.
It's just trickling in.
We have missionaries that depended on us and
staff and ministry needs all over the world
and it would dry up.
So the first thing you do is, at
least I did, Lord, what did I do?
Where have I failed you?
What's wrong?
Then you go to your wife and say,
honey, did I do something wrong?
And then you examine everything you write or
do.
I would say, well, I must have angered
everybody and they've forsaken me.
And so I'd stay up at night and
I'd examine my heart for a whole week
and dig and probe and couldn't find anything
there.
And you wind up after saying, I have
no righteousness.
If I don't have righteousness in Christ, I
have no hope.
He's my righteousness.
He's the only way I can stand before
God.
And so I would scheme things.
We're going to do a phone marathon and
we're going to call everybody.
And I'd line people up on the telephones
and call the people.
And or no, I'm going to write the
most pathetic letter I've ever written.
I'm just going to say, people, you've forsaken
me.
I'm a humble servant of God.
I feel so neglected.
I feel so abandoned.
God, you've got to help me.
And nothing worked.
It all failed.
It happened two weeks ago again.
Our mail died.
There's no explanation.
Suddenly we were half a million dollars short.
With missions demands all over, we feed thousands
of orphans around the world.
We have missionaries around the world that depend
on funds that we send.
This money is used very judiciously.
And we don't know why.
We were probably 10, 11,000 letters short
in just two weeks.
And it just died.
And I would get the office reports.
I'd say, what's going on?
What's going on?
You see, I've learned some things.
But the first thing that happened is that
same thing.
What'd I do?
I didn't get very far in it because
I've learned something.
Like Sister Teresa was talking about that iron
that God puts in your soul through past
experiences.
And there had been some iron put in
my soul.
So I didn't let it go very far.
But the first thing is, well, we've been
getting letters from people saying, hey, you're writing
about Depression Common.
Where's the depression?
And they're not inferring that I'm a false
prophet.
But I was.
Trying to tell my own soul, Lord, am
I that kind of a person?
Where is it?
All of this.
Are people mad?
What is it?
And the Lord says, look.
And I was walking the beach.
I was vacationing in Florida.
La La Land.
Forgive me, you Floridians.
I'm talking about Marco Island.
And I walk on the beach and I'm
saying, Lord.
If this goes on another two weeks.
What about all those missionaries about all those
needs and so forth?
And.
I did experience a time.
Where just those fleeting thoughts.
Lord, are you trying to chasten me?
Have I been preaching the wrong message?
You see, when David is running over the
hills and he's hiding in caves, he's trying
to protect his family.
He's worried about his family.
And he's been told by Samuel after he'd
been anointed with oil that he's going to
be king in the kingdoms.
His.
And now he's running.
And he said that the wicked are on
all sides now because Saul had put up
watchers everywhere he went.
There was somebody spying and he said, surely
David had to.
He didn't walk the beach, but he walked
some starry night somewhere under the same stars
that I walked the same moon.
And he had to be thinking.
Is Samuel a false prophet?
He said, I'm king.
Look at me.
I'm a fugitive.
I'm broke.
I have no money.
He had to live on handouts.
His soldiers, they had to go out and
pillage to get money to feed that army
around him.
What went through David's mind?
He said, why am I so disquieted inside?
Because of conditions.
And folks, I'll tell you what.
Those conditions sometimes don't change.
They don't change immediately till God accomplishes his
purpose in our lives, that we will trust
him no matter what happens.
Let it let let the earth and the
moon and stars collide.
Let the earth burn.
I trust almighty God.
I have a shepherd who is leading me.
And one night walking that beach at night
after nine o'clock, all the old timers
go to bed.
I got the whole beach.
Nobody anywhere.
Stars everywhere.
And I'm walking along.
And let me tell you where this message
was born.
It was born that night on that beach.
No money coming in, facing one of the
largest financial crisis we've had, not knowing why.
No, I can't explain it.
And I'm not even going to try to
explain it.
I said, Lord Jesus, I need your presence.
I need to know that in this crisis,
you love me.
That you're not mad at me.
And I need your smile.
I just need a smile.
I need a hug.
And suddenly, Jesus was walking beside me and
he should kind it on me.
You know what that is?
It's the sudden presence of the Lord.
And you know what came out?
David, I'm your shepherd.
Just quote Psalm 23.
So I started quoting Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not lack.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures.
And the Lord said, now you just lie
down in those green pastures with my loving
arms.
Everything's under control.
And folks, I'm going to tell you something.
Every time over the years that I would
go in panic and I would try to
cut here, cut there, make plans and everything
else.
Two weeks later or three weeks later, we'd
have the biggest avalanche of mail.
It had been backed up in the post
office.
And I'm standing there saying, what a dunce!
Why didn't I trust him?
Dummy!
What I'm trying to tell you, two weeks
from now, we're going to have the biggest
mail we've ever had in our lifetime.
And he will not only replace what we
need, but over in abundance because we've learned
to trust him in these times.
Hallelujah.
He's not only my shepherd.
And I'm going to close this in a
few minutes.
He's not only my shepherd, but he's the
shepherd to everyone here this morning that's wounded
and hurt because of a marriage problem.
Maybe you've already been divorced.
And you're having a real time of testing.
You're going through it right now.
You dare not accuse God of abandoning you.
He is still your shepherd.
The Lord Jehovah Roy is still walking beside
you.
And he wants to bring healing.
And when he says he causes me to
lie down in Hebrew, if you study the
Hebrew content of it, the real meaning is
that he takes up residence beside us for
the purpose of healing and restoration.
He sits down right beside you in that
green valley.
He's not up there on a hill meditating.
He's down there.
He's got a surgeon's knife in his hands.
You know, I picture Jesus with blood all
over him.
Oh, come on now.
Because he's there and he's dealing with his
sheep.
He's passing.
He's healing.
He's at work.
He's doing this.
You see, we have an almighty God who
can do that to 10 million, 100 million
people all at one time.
But I picture him physically as that shepherd
that would have blood on his hands and
feeling the pain and calling them by name
and doing all this marvelous work of healing.
That green valley is like a hospital, a
nice serene hospital.
Now, you may not like that, but I
like it because that's what I need.
Let me talk to those of you who
are fighting a lust problem.
You may be a homosexual.
You may be a lesbian.
And you don't want to walk away.
You come to this church because you feel
the presence of the Lord and you've not
yet come out of the closet.
You've not given yourself over to that sin.
Now, we can't condone your sin.
Not at all.
The Bible clearly calls it what it is,
a sin.
In fact, it's called an abomination.
But you see, what grieves me is this
new thing that…
Oh, by the way, did you see in
the paper yesterday that you can tell if
you're homosexual if you have a certain length
of fingers, you know, your finger?
If this finger is longer than this finger,
you're gay.
I don't know why I got off on
that.
You see, people are trying to justify sin,
looking for alibis that it's in your genes.
Now, let me tell you something.
I hear this, I'm a homosexual because I
was born that way.
Well, let me tell you something.
We've all been born that way.
We've got the Adam nature in us.
Sometimes it breaks out in homosexuality.
Sometimes in adultery.
For an occasion, we all have that Adam
nature.
And that includes homosexuality.
So don't tell me that you're any different
because you're homosexual or you're gay, lesbian.
Every alcoholic can say the same thing because
he was born with the same nature that
you have.
It's the Adam nature.
But I'll tell you that we have a
shepherd that knows how to deal with the
Adam nature.
We have a shepherd who loves you.
And the worst thing you can do if
you have these tendencies or if you're going
in that direction, the worst thing you can
do is stop going to God's house, stop
getting away from Christian friends and going out
and hanging at bars or anything else.
No, no, no.
Jesus says, come on, follow me.
Follow me.
If you will keep following Him, acknowledging your
sin, there is healing, there is restoration.
The Bible says for you, there is restoration.
God's been putting a love in my heart.
I would to God that this church would
reach out even to homosexuals, even those that
are act up and in your face.
They were in Jesus' face, weren't they?
That we could say, no, we can't condone
your sin.
And I'm telling mothers, don't cut off your
sons.
There are preachers that I'm hearing of, their
sons are gay and they're cutting them off
and just cutting them off.
No, no, no, no.
You don't condone it, but you still love.
God put a love in our hearts because
Jehovah Rohe is a loving shepherd.
It seems to me the Lord all through
the scripture is just crying and screaming, reaching
out to try to show us His tenderness.
He reveals Himself to us as a mother
hen who gathers her chicks under His wings.
He speaks to us as a father, as
a brother, sticks closer than a friend.
He gives us all of these illustrations as
a bridegroom wanting his bride.
They're all tender revelations of His nature.
Tender, loving, caring, all of these.
How many times over and over He said,
yes, I'm a majestic God.
Yes, I'm the Lord of hosts.
All of these revelations in my name, fine.
But the real revelation I want you to
have that will bring you through is this
tenderness of Jehovah Rohe.
I'm your loving, caring shepherd.
I love you.
Glory be to God.
And for you that have gone deeper than
others have gone, and you've had revelation beyond
what others have had, and yet you're going
through a dark night of the soul, you're
being tempted, and no one hurts more than
those who've walked deepest with God, who face
a dark night of the soul.
No one knows the pain more.
It's the greatest pain probably of any that
is faced by human nature.
But I want you to know, whatever you're
going through, He said, I will never, ever
leave you or forsake you.
I know your name.
I know what you're going through.
Come on, lay that in my grace and
my love.
Don't try to figure it out.
Just accept my loving arms.
Let God embrace you.
Some of you need to hug this morning.
Let Him hug you.
He's not mad at you.
He wants to deliver you.
Will you stand, please?
Hallelujah.
We have a song that we sing in
the church called, Oh, How I Love Jesus.
I wish somebody would write a song, Oh,
How Jesus Loves Me.
He loves me, but we're afraid to embrace
that love.
As I look out over this congregation, hear
me for just a few moments, deep in
my heart I wonder how many of you
are at that place where you can't perceive
His love.
Now, theologically you believe it, but in a
practical way you don't feel it, and you
don't live like He loves you.
There's nothing I can say from this pulpit
that could be more spiritually, biblically correct than
this truth, that God loves His people, even
in their failures.
Here's what God told me.
There's nothing you can do to make me
love you more than I do, and there's
no sin you can commit that will make
me love you any less.
Did you hear it?
There's nothing you can do to make me
love you more than I do.
You are not loved by what you do
or by your works.
You're loved because He is God, He is
love.
He loved you when you were in sin,
didn't He?
He loved you when you were an alien
to Him, the Scripture says.
And He loves you now.
Have you backslidden, have you run from God?
Are you here this morning hurting in a
very deep way and nobody knows around you
what you're going through?
Folks, if one of your pastors can go
through such deep trial after preaching to you
so long, you can imagine yourself going through
the same thing, couldn't you?
It's called oppression from the enemy.
But we have the Word that we stand
on, we have the truth that comes, and
we are set free, and we become stronger
every time the enemy comes, so the next
time you have that iron in your soul.
Lord, I pray for those in this building
and in the annex, wherever we're at, that
you would give us now by your Holy
Spirit the knowledge, the truth, and even the
feeling of your great love for us.
There are some that listen to me, Holy
Spirit, that have grieved you.
Things that you've been trying to rid their
life of, problems that have come because of
their own doing, and even foolishness.
But you said, in that time, that is
when the love of God is most needed.
Oh, precious Holy Spirit, come.
Let the love of Jesus, the love of
our God, embrace us now.
Let there be a godly sorrow for sin.
David said, I trust in Him, because He
is my salvation.
He is my strength.
Forgive us, Lord, where we have failed you.
Forgive us for straying away from your love.
Lord, I think that's the most lost person
on earth.
The most lost person is not a drug
addict or an alcoholic.
The lost person is that believer who's lost
the sense and knowledge of your love.
That's lostness.
God, bring us back to your love.
If you feel you have left or lost
the love of God, if you've sinned and
you want to confess that whatever it is,
and you feel that of the Lord, we
don't try to build up numbers here.
But I will pray for you, and this
congregation will pray for you.
So wherever you are, up in the balcony,
come to the stairs on either side.
And in the annex, you just walk forward
between the screens.
Don't block the screen, but in between.
We'll pray with you, and we'll ask God
for a miracle to deliver you.
Bring your failure.
Bring your broken heart.
Bring whatever it is to the Lord and
say, Lord, here it is.
I need restoration.
If you're a sheep this morning that needs
to be healed, if you need restoration, step
out and come.
And let's believe the Lord for healing.
Let's believe the Lord for full restoration for
you before you walk out of this building
today.
Listen very closely, please.
Some people and even preachers would say, if
you tell people that God still loves them
in their sin, that would lead to permissiveness
and compromise.
But you can say that about all the
graces of God.
You can say that about any grace.
And that's what Paul said.
We preach grace to you, and you say
that we're preaching permissiveness.
You could say that about anything having to
do with grace.
You could say that about God just freely
forgiving the world, or just simply repent.
It's unmerited grace.
It's the love of God.
I want you to know that God does
chasten.
He does correct.
But He's a patient God.
But if you try to presume on that
grace, that's a whole different story.
When you presume on that grace and say,
well, one man literally said that.
He said, I sin because I know I
can just run to church and I can
get all the grace I need.
This guy was dishonest in his business.
This guy was drinking.
He was an alcoholic, in fact.
And he told a friend, he just goes
to church next Sunday.
God's grace, God's love, it's all forgiven.
But you see, he has no hatred for
his sin.
He doesn't want a shepherd.
He just wants a sugar daddy that will
just let him do what he wants and
never chasten him, never deal with him.
But he does love us.
Receive that love.
But there has to be something in your
heart that says, I want to be free.
I want to be free and I want
to hear the shepherd's voice.
I don't want to love my shepherd.
I like that story Teresa told about when
Pastor Carter used to keep sheep.
He had some grain in one of his
pockets.
Those who were closest to him got the
grain.
And I don't know what else you feed
sheep, but I know what he feeds us.
This living word.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the grace
you've shown me.
I wouldn't be here, Lord.
I would be a broken down man trying
to figure out how to get right with
God.
But you came in your grace and your
mercy and said, I loved you when you
were in sin.
I love you now when you're seeking my
face.
I love you.
Lord, imprint that love.
Imprint it, burn it into our hearts and
our minds and our memories so that when
the enemy comes in like a flood, we
can raise up our hands and look the
enemy in the face and say, I'm going
through it, but I know God loves me.
I have a shepherd who is with me.
I have a shepherd.
I want everybody who came forward to raise
both hands.
Just raise your hands and pray this prayer
with me, please.
Lord Jesus, you are my shepherd.
You said, I shall not lack.
And I need a touch.
I need my soul to be laid down.
I need rest and peace in my heart.
And I need to be restored.
My shepherd, Jehovah Roy, restore me to peace
of God.
And let me know and understand that I
am loved.
And that you will not walk away from
me.
You'll not wait for me to do it
on my own.
You will restore my soul to the joy
of the Lord and the peace of God.
Just thank Him now with the joy in
your heart.
Lord, I give you thanks.
I truly thank you, Jesus.
I give you thanks.
I give you praise.
I give you thanks.
Folks, in this church, we do what the
Bible says.
I would men everywhere lift holy hands.
The hands are holy only through the righteousness
of Jesus.
So, you can raise.
Your hands are clean, but they're clean through
the righteousness of Jesus.
Let's sing, I receive His love.
Everybody, and before we walk out, let Him
Shekinah upon you right now.
That's the promise of God.
I'll never leave you.
I'm going to permanently be with you and
lead you and guide you.
Hallelujah.
God has not forsaken anybody in this church.
He forgives any kind of sin.
He's here right now to just smile upon
you.
Let Him hug you as we sing it
now.
Raise your hands to the Lord, everybody.
Let's sing it as we receive His love.
This is the conclusion of the message.