← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Loading summary
Transcript23 lines
- [00:00]
Pastor Paul
We've been in a series called the Psalms of David. And we've been talking about how David learned through every season to turn his seasons into songs, to turn his storms into songs. Some of David's greatest psalms came from his hardest seasons. We've talked about how David was young when we first meet him as a teenager, and we get to follow David all the way until the day he dies. David is the one guy in the Bible the that you kind of really get to watch in the Old Testament. You get to watch through these, you know, seasons of life. There's more written about David's life in the Old Testament than any other character. There's more written about David in the Old Testament than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Noah. David's story is so outlined in Scripture, but then we also get to look at his journal entries, what he was thinking while he was walking through some of his hard seasons. He's also the only one in the Bible called a man after God's own heart, which is really interesting because he was also a sinner and he was imperfect and broken. But God still calls him a man after his own heart. Which tells me that even if you've walked through some hard things in your life, even if you're an imperfect person, God can still use you. He can still write your name down in history as the woman after his own heart, the man after his own heart. David pursued God through all of it, and he wrote these psalms. He wrote over 70 Psalms and there's 150 chapters in the book of Psalms. But he also composed a lot of other people's psalms and he ended up writing multiple, like psalms connected to other people's prayers. But the most famous psalm is Psalm 23. If you're taking notes, note takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers. You can title the message Psalm 23. So we've been following David for the last seven weeks. And I felt like, you know, we left off last week where David almost quit. We talked about the day that David refused to quit, following through his teenage years, his 20s, running from Saul. And I was going to pick up on when he stepped in as king, because that was the next thing that happened. But I want us, I want to go to this passage, Psalm 23, because it outlines his whole story. David writes Psalm 23 near the end of his life. He's in his mid-60s. As he looks back on God's faithfulness from his teenage years to his older age years, as he's getting ready, he knows that his time is coming to an end. He stepped in as king at age 30, and he died at age 70. So he had 40 years, four decades of leading Israel into their best days yet. He was the one king that expanded Israel, expanded the borders. He won all the battles that he fought in Israel. I mean, he was just like God had anointed David for victory. How many I want to be anointed for victory in your life. Come on. That's what I want. The story over my life that Paul was anointed for victory. But I want to review before we go into the first verse of Psalm 23. Are you there? Before we go into it, I want to just review. We started with David getting anointed as a teenager. He was shepherding his. His father's flock, fighting lions and bears, overlooked by his dad. When the prophet Samuel came to anoint the next king of Israel, he almost anointed one of David's brothers. But God said, don't look at the outside man. Looks at the outward appearance. How tall someone is, how strong someone is, their birth order, how old they are, how much, you know, education they have, how much knowledge they have. But the Bible says that the Lord looks at the heart. And so Samuel said, we won't sit down until you bring in the forgotten son, the youngest son. And. And so Jesse, the father of David, says, all right, I'll get my other child out. Out from watching. The sheep brings him in. And God anoints David at 16 years old, 15 or 16 years old, to be the next king of Israel. And then after this anointing, he starts working in Saul's palace as a musician. He starts playing the harp, singing songs to help calm Saul's migraine headaches. And he's bringing food to his brothers when he hears a giant. And he says, I'll fight that giant. And the army of Israel laughs at David. His brothers misunderstood him. They called him arrogant. They said, you don't belong here. Go back to those sheep. But David slays the giant. And you would think after slaying the giant, David would step in as king. But instead, he's hunted by the king. He becomes the most hunted wanted man in Israel. He turns into a fugitive. He has to run for his life. He literally becomes a refugee, escaping to another country to. To try to hide from King Saul, who hates him, even though David was only trying to serve him. That's a crazy thought. David was doing everything to serve Israel. He was trying to do all the right things, but he still ended up in the wrong place. So he had to survive by living in the caves in the wilderness of Israel and in the wilderness of Iran. And he was running around the Middle east just trying to dodge spears from King Saul. He almost quit at Ziklag. He almost quit at age 29, right before his birthday, right before he would turn 30. Little did David know that when he turned 30, the Crown was coming. Don't quit before your birthday. Your birthday's coming soon. Tell the person next to you, your birthday's coming soon. Some of y' all are like, no, it already happened, bro. It just happened. But listen, what I'm trying to say is, don't quit before your breakthrough. So David steps in as king at age 30, and he enjoys years of greatness. He enjoys years of peace on all sides until he sins. He commits a big sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and then he orchestrates her husband's murder, killing the husband of the woman he committed adultery with. His heart is broken by his own sin. He's confronted by his pastor, Nathan. He's overwhelmed by the weight of his guilt. And he writes this Psalm, Psalm 51, where he cries out to God. He says, lord, I'm sorry against you and you alone have I sinned. Don't forsake me. Don't pull your presence away from me. Lord, let me still dwell in your house. The difference between David and Saul was not that Saul was a sinner and David was sinless. They were both sinners. But David dealt with his sin differently than Saul. Saul kind of looked at his sin and was like, it's not a big deal. Just get over. Just make sure that I can keep doing it. But David looked at his sin, and he was like, God, I am a wretch in need of a Savior, in need of amazing grace. And the one thing I want is your presence. Presence more than anything. I don't care about the crown or the throne. I just want your presence. I just want to worship with your people. I just want to stay in the presence of God. And God forgave David. Aren't you glad that God can forgive even the worst sinners in the world? Anyone need God's forgiveness in your life? So David walks in this forgiveness, he loses a child, then he has a child, and then his. His kids start to get crazy. He starts raising teenagers, and his teenagers start acting up. One of his teenage sons gets into some trouble, does something really bad to his daughter, and the other teenage son was named Absalom. When he hears about it, he kills his brother Amnon for what he did. Because he's mad that his dad wouldn't correct the son. The reason why David didn't correct his teenage kids is because he felt like he was unworthy to bring correction after his own mistakes. And in the middle of this drama and trauma in David's house, the house of David was a mess. At this season, Absalom, the son of David, this teenage boy, he starts standing at the gate of Israel. And every time people came to see his dad, he would say, hey, my dad doesn't have time for you. My dad's too busy. Besides, he doesn't even care about you. And Absalom, the Bible says he turned the hearts of Israel against David. Little by little, he turned their hearts away from the king, and he developed this whole army. And the majority of Israel turned against David. And Absalom took his father into a civil war. And in this civil war, the Bible says that David had to flee the palace to save his life. He had to run for the first time in 40 years. He hadn't ran since he was in his 20s out of his own home. He hadn't been pushed away from his home since he was in his early 20s running from Saul. But now he's running from his son, and he's hiding in the caves. And he writes Psalm 23. It's in this place that David is running for his life, hiding from his family, overwhelmed by the weight of his own sin and the weight of his family sins and the trauma and the drama and all the pain where he says, the Lord is my shepherd. I want to talk to you today about the shepherd that God is for David and the shepherd that God is for you and for me. Everybody say, the Lord is my shepherd. What is a shepherd? A shepherd is one who guides. A shepherd is one who corrects. A shepherd is one who counsels. A shepherd is like an usher leading you where you need to go. But I want to give you five clear points of a shepherd. Number one, the shepherd leads me. He leads me with purpose, not with panic. The shepherd leads me with peace, not with paranoia. Everybody say, he leads me. So David is literally running out of the palace. And in this place of overwhelmed fear, on the outside worry, everything seems like this is the wrong direction. David says, he leads me. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The shepherd sees what the sheep cannot see. The shepherd has a different vantage point. So David is literally walking up this mountain and he's headed back down towards the valley. And every step, every step David takes, he says, my shepherd is leading me. He's leading me not just when I was a teenager. He's leading me not just when I was in my 20s. He's leading me not just when I'm in the palace, but. But he's even leading me in the valley of the shadow of death. He's leading me even when it feels overwhelming. He's leading me even when it's dark. There's a song we used to sing when I was a kid, and it went like this. Step by step, you lead me and I will follow you all of my days. It was like a rich Mullen song. How many all remember Step by step. But David was realizing, he's leading me step by step. He's leading me. He's leading me through the valley. He's leading me When I don't understand what's going on. The shepherd leads me. And secondly, the shepherd stays with me. Just say this with me. He stays with me. When everyone else leaves, the shepherd is there. David realized I. I may not have my dad anymore, I may not have my mom anymore. I may not have my wife or my kids, but the shepherd is with me. And because he's with me, I'm going to make it because he's with me, because he stays. You know, as a pastor's kid, I watched too many people leave. And I had PTSD as a pastor's kid. Like, who's going to leave next? Because Victory's been around for 45 years, and the longer a church is around, just people sometimes come and go. And I. The other night, I was thanking some people who've been here for a long time, and I just got overwhelmed with tears and I just couldn't stop crying. And I was like, why am I so emotional? Because staying is a big deal to me. Anyone who stays with me for a while. Because sometimes I just feel like maybe people. People don't want to stay with me. I don't know, maybe I'm not a stay able person. And the Lord was correcting me. He was like, paul, you got this all wrong. If you got the Lord with you, you're gonna make it stop putting your faith in people. Put your faith in the shepherd who stays with you in your teenage years, in your 20s and 30s. And I look at Al and Pat Richardson. They've been part of Victory for how many years? At least 45 years. Come on. That's some faithful people right there. Every time I see y', all, I just want to hug you and say, thank you for staying. Thank you for staying. I look at David in This psalm. And I'm like, man, this guy has walked through some pain. He's walked through some hardship. One thing I know is that we will all face pain no matter how good life is right now. At some point, you'll go through a valley. You'll be sitting in the sunlight on one day and then shattered on the rocks the next day. And you'll be trying to figure out what happened. I was. I was in the green pastures. I was beside still waters. But now I'm in a valley with the shadow of death. But here's what David says. The shepherd stays with me. He never leaves me nor forsakes me. Number three. The shepherd protects me. He protects me. Sometimes his correction is actually his protection. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. Rod speaks of protection. Staff speaks of rescuing, guidance. I came across this video of this shepherd, true, real shepherd, who was trying to rescue a sheep that had gotten stuck in a ditch. I think they got the video on the screen, and he's trying to pull this sheep out. And as soon as he, like, yanks the sheep out, the sheep's like, whoo. Just, like, runs off and then, like, jumps back into the ditch. And I'm watching the video, I'm like, I can relate with this sheep sometimes. How many all can relate with that sheep? Like, God gets you out of a mess, and then you still a little stupid. You still like a work in progress. Come on, don't act like you're smarter than all of us. How many y'? All? Sometimes you. You put your foot in your mouth more than once. Like, ah, I shouldn't have said that in front of my wife. I shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have done that. But I'm so thankful. The shepherd never gives up. The shepherd never stops rescuing the sheep. You know, I preached a message with the sheep this year. It feels like 10 years ago. Every month feels like a year. So I was like, when did I preach with that lamb in my arms? It was like, three years ago, back in April of this year. Y' all remember when I was preaching with that lamb about three years ago in 20, 26 of April, and I was holding a lamb, and Ashley said I couldn't watch. I couldn't listen to the sermon because the lamb was so cute. The lamb was just, like, just content in your arms. And this is what I imagined David as. He's just content in the shepherd's arms. And I came across a lamb that was just smiling, just a happy lamb. And I was like, this is David. He's just. Even though at this point he's in his 60s, he's a little worn and torn and weathered. I mean, I just imagine David's got a raspy voice. He's still singing, but he's a little rough. You know, he's a little. Just scattered in his brain. But he's like, I still have a shepherd. I still have a pastor. I'm still being led, by the way, a shepherd can only lead the sheep that want to be led. Can he still lead you? Because sometimes we get to the point where, like, I don't want to be led. I don't want to be told what to do. I'm my own man. I'm going to call the shots in my life. You keep doing that, you'll stay in the valley, you'll push everyone away from you. But if you'll come to that place of humility. The Bible says that he opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. A humble sheep like that little lamb just smiling, just says, God, lead me. Lead me, Shepherd. Lead me, good shepherd. The Bible says that Jesus is the good shepherd. He's a good shepherd. We serve a good God. He's not a mean God. He's not a bipolar God. He's not. He's not a schizophrenic God. He's not a moody God. He's not happy one day and bad the next day. He's not gonna hit you with cancer because he's mad at you. No, no, no. Sickness and disease is not from the Lord. Crisis and earthquakes are not from the Lord. Tornadoes are not God's way of trying to correct you. Like, the world is evil and the world is full of bad stuff. But we have a good God in heaven who knows how to work even in the middle of the bad stuff that happens on this earth. And you may be having theological questions like, why did I go through this? And why do we walk through hard times? I went through that when my dad passed. My dad was a great man who loved God and prayed for people and tithed and ministered and. And always did the right thing, it seemed like. And even though he was imperfect, he made his mistakes, but he was a man that loved God and pursued God, and he still died at age 57. But I had to realize my faith should never be, in my circumstances changing because that's. That's theologically shallow. My faith is not in answered prayers. My faith is in a shepherd who shows up even when our prayers aren't answered, even when I'm in the Valley, who never leaves me nor forsakes me from the hospital, from the nursing home, in my bedroom, that God is with me. He's protecting me. And then fourthly, the shepherd provides for me. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Your enemies don't get the final word in your life. God can bless you without even changing your surroundings. He can bless you in a battle. He can bless you in front of the people that hate you. He can bless you in front of your critics. God knows how to set a table before you in the presence of your enemies. My kids wanted to play a Nerf gun war this last week for my son's birthday. And they want to play capture the flag Benaiah. So Benny was like, it's me and Liam, which is my two oldest boys, versus daddy and Mac. And no, he was like, it's me, Liam and Ellie versus Daddy and Mac. I was like, okay. You know, And Gianna was like, I'm gonna pick up the bullets. I'm not on anybody's team. I'm just gonna run and pick up the Nerf gun bullets. So we're out there and Mac goes, you know, dad, you run and go get that flag and I got your back. I was like, okay. So I run, bullets are flying. I'm getting hit left and right, grab the flag, and I get hit so many times, I have to drop the flag. I go back and I see Mac just sitting at our base. I was like, I thought you said you had my back. He's like, I did. But then I decided I didn't. Mac's got your back until he decides he doesn't. How many all know some people like that? And you're like, don't look at them right now. I'm so glad that the Lord still has my back. That the Lord, even if other people. The shepherd. The shepherd keeps protecting me, keeps providing for me. God's got your back. Tell the person next to you, God's got your back. And fifthly, the shepherd is bringing me home. The shepherd is not going to leave me in the shadows or the valleys. It's not going to leave me in the dark places. David knew, even though he was running from Absalom at this moment, even though he was 63, he knew. This is not my final chapter. I will make it back to the house of the Lord. I will make it back to his presence because the Lord has the final say. David oftentimes would look back in his life and he would say, forget not his benefits. Forget not how he redeems. And he crowns your year with favor. And he satisfies the hungry. And praise the Lord. From one generation to the next, Praise the Lord. So he was looking back and he was saying, the Lord is my shepherd. And then secondly, he says, I shall not want. I shall not want. In other words, I'm not living this desperate life of feeling like I don't have enough in my life. And I'm always discontent. David was saying, I've learned the secret to happiness. If the shepherd is with me, I lack nothing. See? Some people say, I won't be happy until I get there. I won't be content. I won't lack nothing until I reach there. Once I get a house, once I get a good job, once I'm making this amount of money, once I get married, once I have kids, once my kids move out, once I get to this, then I can say, I shall not want. But David was saying, even when I don't have what I want, I shall not want because the shepherd is with me. Paul said it like this in Philippians 4. I've learned the secret of contentment. Whether I'm abased or abounding, whether I have nothing or I have everything, whether I have a massive budget or I have zero dollars in the bank, I've learned the secret of happiness. And it's not what you drive or who you're connected to or what you wear. It's not your personality. It's not who knows you, it's who is with you. He says, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. David was saying, I'm going to make it because the shepherd is with me. Me, I'm content because I have Jesus. Just give me Jesus. Too many people are chasing stuff, chasing jobs, chasing money, chasing girls, chasing guys, chasing things, chasing trophies. I remember hearing this, you know, famous athlete get up and talk. They told him his name was Colt McCoy. He was the quarterback of Texas back in the day. And they said, colt, you're the greatest quarterback that's ever played here. We're going to retire your jersey. Everyone will know your name because you found greatness. And they'll always remember your name and your jersey. And he says, no, my jersey will fade and my name will be forgotten. And I hope it is. Because the name that matters most is not my name or my number or my jersey, but that I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And if I'm playing football or I'm working in a hospital, or I'm a policeman or a mechanic, Or a janitor, or whatever I do, it doesn't really matter. As long as I have Jesus, I have all that I need, I shall not want. And then he says this. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. You can either lie down in green pastures or you can be made to lie down in green pastures. My mom and dad said, you will obey or you will be made to obey. You can either rest or be made to rest by the doctor at the hospital. A key word in this sentence is make.
- [21:34]
Worship Leader
Make.
- [21:34]
Pastor Paul
He makes me. He makes me. There are times where a lamb will try to run away from a shepherd. You saw it in the video. And if a lamb keeps doing this over and over. I talked with a shepherd in Israel. We were on a. On a trip in Israel many years ago, and I was talking with the shepherd. He says, sometimes for the. For the lamb's own good, if he keeps running away and he keeps trying to leave the flock and keeps trying to. He's running towards wolves. He doesn't know it, but he's running in open country where he'll be devoured by wolves. For his own good. The shepherd will actually gently break his leg, forcing the lamb to lie down. The leg will eventually heal, and the shepherd knows this, but it will force the lamb to have to trust the shepherd. I remember when I was in high school and I broke my leg and I couldn't swim that summer. I couldn't do many of the things. I couldn't run, couldn't go to football camp, couldn't do a lot of things because I had to sit out. The doctor said, you're going to be in this cast for at least 2012 weeks because you need to heal. And if you try to take this cast off too soon, you're going to forfeit the healing process. And then it's going to take longer because you're going to have to have surgery, and there's going to be all kinds of stuff. So he's like, warning me. He's like, trust the cast. You are being made to lie down in green pastures. And I was antsy. I was. I was itching to do what I wanted to do and what I saw other people doing. How many have ever been made to lie down in green pastures by a doctor, by your spouse, by your. By your parents, by someone in your life? You. You were put on the bench and you were like, how long do I have to sit here? But it's here that God does his greatest work, because the next thing he does is he restores you he leads you beside still waters, and he. He restores your soul. The restoration cannot happen without the rest. The restoring cannot happen without sitting and being still. I remember talking to a mentor in my life, a pastor who got really sick, and he was pushing himself. He never took a break, never took a day off. Was at the church and at the Outreach center every single day, all day, every year, never left. And he had a crazy heart attack. And it was like he almost died at age 33. And the doctor sat him down and said, matthew, you're going to be in this hospital for a while. He said, if I'm in this hospital, then our church is going to drown because I'm the one that's leading the church. And if I'm not there, it's going to go down. And the Outreach center, the Dream center in la, it's going to go down. This is Matthew Barnett. He said, if I'm not there, if I have to be in the hospital and I'm being made to lie down and rest, everything's going to fall apart without me. And when he said those words, it was like pride was all of a sudden right in front of his face. He realized, I have built too much on me. And the Lord said, matthew, am I the shepherd or are you the shepherd? Trust me. So Matthew was made to lie down for three months. And you know what? During that time, their church actually grew. And the Dream center raised all the money they needed to keep reaching people in Los Angeles. When he got out of the hospital, they said, we don't even need you, Matthew, but we want you. Come on back. Here's the reminder when you're made to lie down that everything in life is not built on you. If it's built on you, it's going to crumble. But if it's built on the good shepherd, you're gonna make it. You're gonna make it. He next says, he leads me beside the still waters. Now, here's the interesting thing. David is talking about God for the first three verses of Psalm 23. But when you get to verse four, he starts talking to God. He's saying, he, he, he, he in verse 1, 2, 3. But then he gets to verse 4, and he says, you are with me. David had this revelation. He's not just my parents God. He's not just Abraham's God or Isaac's God. He's my God. But here, he says, he leads me beside still waters. Here's what these still waters represent. They represent peace. Still waters are deep waters. The more noisy the waters are the more shallow they are. That's a word for some critics in your life. The loudest critics in your life are. Are in the shallow waters. But I'm telling you, there's a deep place where you don't hear the loud noise. It's in the stillness that he is there. Be still and know that he is God. So David says, he leads me into still waters. We named our pond out at Victory Park Still Waters. Don't confuse it with Stillwater, Oklahoma. OSU cowboys. We are still a boomer. Sooner Church. No, we love the cowboys, too. We love. We love the Stillwater cowboys.
- [26:01]
Worship Leader
Whoo.
- [26:03]
Pastor Paul
But David says, you lead me. You lead me with peace in the middle of panic. Peace is an inside job. It's not an external thing. I don't find peace because I'm not surrounded by problems. I find peace even in the middle of my problems because I have a savior. I have the Prince of peace living inside me. Peace is not the absence of a storm. Peace is having a shelter in the middle of the. The storm. Jesus said, why do you worry? Worrying cannot add one thing to your life. Worrying doesn't add one inch to your life. If it could, some of you would be 40ft tall because you worry too much and you're worrying. If it could add inches to your life, you'd be the tallest person in the room. You'd be as tall as our church. Everybody say, don't worry. Trust the shepherd. David says, I trust in you. I trust in you.
- [26:54]
Worship Leader
You.
- [26:54]
Pastor Paul
He says, he restores my soul. And David needed restoration. David had committed some big sins. But David would Write in Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart, Lord. Put a steadfast spirit in me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. David cried out to God in his sin, and he found healing. And in the end of his life, he was saying, lord, you restore my soul. My. My dad had a friend that was a friend to me. And my brother. He was like an uncle. His name was Gordon. And Gordon would restore old cars. He would take one man's trash. He would always say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. He'd go to the junkyard. He would go talk to people who had just an old, you know, beat up, not working car, and he would restore that thing and turn it into a classic. But he was very tedious about the restoring projects. How many have ever restored a car or a motorcycle or a table or some furniture? Anytime you restore something, it takes time. It takes investment, energy. This is what God was doing with David. He was saying, david, you've gotten broken, but I'm going to turn you into a mosaic. I'm going to take all the scars, all the pieces of your broken heart. I'm going to put them back together, and you're going to be better than you were before this sin. I'm going to restore you to a greater. I'm so thankful that when he restored restores, he doesn't restore us halfway. He restores us all the way. David says he leads me in paths of righteousness. That's the good path. He leads me in the good path. By the way, that means closed doors are just as important as open doors. When God closes a door, trust him. He's leading you down a better path. When a relationship doesn't work out. I was talking in the last service. One of my good friends, Maria Clingscales, who's been here for many years. She's been at our church for 38 years. She moved here. Her husband said, move to America. I'll meet you there. She had a son. He never met her. He left her for another woman. She was stuck here as a single parent mom from Africa living in Tulsa. Didn't know what to do. She was alone, didn't have a job. Victory Church showed up, took Maria in, helped her raise pj. God blessed her with her husband Joshua. Today they lead our single parent ministry, leading tons of single parent moms and dads, ministering to them every single week. But she said I had to trust God when one door closed, that God was leading me even though I felt alone. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Not for my glory, but for his glory. For the name of God. God is not just about you getting everything you want. God wants to take care of you so the world will know that he is good and he is worthy. For for his name's sake. I'm not in it for my name. I'm in it for his name. And then he says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I felt like I was about to start rapping right there. Felt like gangster's paradise right there. Everybody say, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you know what David was saying?
- [29:55]
Worship Leader
Yay.
- [29:56]
Pastor Paul
My dad used to say, yay. I know he wasn't saying, yay. I get to walk through a valley.
- [30:02]
Worship Leader
Yay.
- [30:03]
Pastor Paul
I've got some unpaid bills and you know, yay. It's getting hard. And yay, people. David was saying, Yay. I'm gonna confuse the enemy. The enemy thinks this valley is gonna end me, but yay. I'm going through this valley. I'm going through the. I'm not camping out. And the fact that it's a valley means that there's two mountains on both sides. I'm coming from a mountain, and I'm going back towards. Towards the mountain. I'm not staying in the middle. I'm not living in the middle. I'm not raising my kids in the valley. Don't send my mail to the valley. Don't tell people to visit me in the valley. Because this is temporary. I'm getting through the valley. By the end of this summer, I'm gonna be back on that mountaintop. Somebody say, I'm going through it. Through it means I'm not staying in it. And the fact that it's a valley and a shadow is all proof that there's a mountain and there's a sun. The shadow come. The shadow proves the sunshine. The shadow proves the sunlight. David was saying, this is not my final scene. I'm coming through this. What looks like humiliation is God's preparation for an acceleration towards my destination. I'm not staying here. It's humbling, it's embarrassing, it's difficult, it's hard, but I'm coming through this. He says, I will fear no evil. Everybody say that with me. I will fear no evil. You got to separate your feelings from the facts. Your feelings might say, paul, you should be afraid. Ashley, you should be afraid. Doctor said this. Your son said this. You should be afraid. And there are things in life that can stir up fear. But David separated the feelings of wanting to be afraid and stay afraid from the facts. Because the facts are, God is with me. God is for me, and he's working all things together for my good. So I'm not going to let my feelings dictate my faith, and I'm not going to let what the doctor says dictate my faith. And I'm not going to let what you say dictate my faith. My faith is in someone who's outlived doctors and presidents and emperors and empires and nations and TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and all the toxicity that exists on social media and news. I'm putting my faith in the one who created the universe. These are the facts, my friends, there is a great physician in heaven, and he has the final say, and he leads us from glory to glory and from strength to strength. So I will not fear, for you are with Me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. Oil was symbolic of the Holy Spirit, joy, filled with the oil of joy, and it was filled. And oil was symbolic of the anointing. David was saying, I still got my joy. I still got my anointing. Even though I'm not in the palace, even though I'm running for my life, even though my teenage son wants to kill me, and sometimes I want to kill my teenage son. Even though David's like, even though I'm in a famine, I still got the oil. Even though the enemy has stolen a lot of things in my life, he has not stolen the oil. I still got my song. I still got. I'm so glad Pastor Sharon Daugherty is still singing at age 73. Still singing like Barbra Streisand, still hitting the high notes, still getting up here singing, God bless him. Don't let the enemy steal your song. David was saying, I still got the oil. I still got the song. I might sound a little bit different than I did in my 20s, but I'm still singing, and I'm still anointed. And the Holy Spirit is still with me. He has not forsaken me. My cup runs over. I'm almost done, but let me finish this. Give me just a few minutes. My cup runs over. Everybody say, my cup runs over. In other words, David was saying, I didn't just get a half cup. I didn't just get 3/4 of a cup. I didn't just get a cup. Enough for me in this generation. I got more than enough to pass on to my son, to pass on to my children, to pass on to the future generations. David's life was about to end at age 70. He would die, but the story of David would live forever. We're still talking about David thousands of years later. We're still reading his Psalms. Movies are still being produced about him. Netflix just had a number one cartoon for several weeks on his story. There's. There's an entire show on Amazon. Why is the world still talking about David? Because David had this revelation that even when I die, my story still continues. If I put my trust in God, my cup runneth over. David wanted to build the auditorium while he was alive. He wanted to build the house of God. God. He wanted to build a temple. He wanted to have worship services. But God said, you won't do it, but you're going to raise up more than enough money so that when you die and your son has a building campaign, you're going to have an entire bank account that when he gets ready to build the temple, he'll have all that he needs. All he will look back on is that his dad fought for his debt. Freedom. Let me tell you, God has a legacy and an inheritance that I'm. I'm standing on the shoulders of Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty. It's not lost on me that when I stepped in as pastor, my mom and dad fought battles that I didn't have to fight so that we could sit in this room and praise the Lord. You don't know who paid the price for you to be here today, but I'll tell you this. You're not alone. And you got a generation before you that believed in you before they even saw you. David said, my cup runs over. I've got more than enough. I've got more than enough of his love, his favor. I've got too many benefits to count. God has been faithful. Your obedience today impacts tomorrow's generation. David was dying with an overflowing cup. Which leads me to a question. What kind of legacy will you leave one day? We don't get to control the legacy we inherit, but we do get to control the legacy we leave. And you can start right now. Maybe you grew up with a parent that was abusive or a parent that was absent, or someone that left you or someone that left nothing for you.
- [35:48]
Worship Leader
You.
- [35:48]
Pastor Paul
But you don't have to carry that on for the future generations. You can decide right here, right now. You're going to be a blessing to future generations. You're going to be blessed coming in, blessed, going out. You're going to walk in abundance. You're going to overcome poverty mindset. You're going to rise up with faith and believe that your cup overflows for the glory of God. See, David was driven. David wanted to give his son something that he never had from his own dad. David didn't have a dad that believed in him, but David wanted to be the kind of dad for Solomon that his dad wasn't for him. A dad that believed in the next generation. So David says, my cup overflows my cup. Everybody say, my cup overflows. It overflows. Surely your goodness and your mercy shall follow me all the days in my life. Juan, will you hop up here? Tim, will you hop up here? I want you to be goodness and mercy. Just get right behind me. I want you to follow me. Follow me wherever I go. If I go down, I want you to go with me. Everywhere I go. I cannot hide from his mercy. It's there every morning I wake up. There's his mercy. There's his goodness. On my worst day, on my best day, on the mountaintops, in the valleys, his goodness and his mercy shall follow me all that the days of my life. Come on, church, give these guys a big hand. Last verse right here. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Stand to your feet. All over this place, David was saying, I'm gonna finish in victory. I'm gonna finish. Not in these desert caves. He's writing these words while he's running. But spoiler alert, David wins. Almost the entire nation had turned against David, but God had not turned against David. You and God are the majority. If you got God, you're going to make it with Jesus. I can make it with him. I know I can stand. No matter what may come my way. My life is in his hands. David was saying, even though I'm living in caves right now and I'm running from Absalom, I will dwell in the house of. Of the Lord forever. I'm coming home. I'm gonna finish in my hometown. I'm gonna finish in victory. I'm not dying in defeat. I'm gonna finish in my anointing. I'm gonna finish in my calling. I'm gonna finish in my purpose, because the shepherd is with me. I just feel to pray for people right now. You know, you're gonna hear some amazing voices in July. We always use this month as a month to pour into our marriage and our family, because pastors need pastoring. And so Ashley and I are going to take some time to really just pour into each other and our kids. But you're going to hear some amazing pastoral voices speaking to you for the next four Sundays. And I will be tuning in and we'll be refreshed and come back ready to run. But, you know, I felt the Lord telling me before I stepped away for these next few weeks, just to Finish on Psalm 23, to remind the church that there is a legacy that God has for you, and it is a marking on David's life that the Lord was his shepherd, and the Lord never forsook him, and the Lord always walked with him and his cup always overflowed. One thing my dad said right before he died, I was in the hospital with my dad, and he said, paul, when I get out of here every year, I'm taking a break, because he never took a break. He said, when I get healed, I'm gonna take a break every year, and I'm gonna spend time with mom, with Sharon, and with you guys and your kids. And he said, we're doing it every year. We're going to spend some weeks together and I'll have other people preach, which was a big deal because my dad didn't trust anyone else really, to preach on Sunday. But he said, when I get out of here, I'm going to get better at resting. And when he didn't, his best friend came to me, said, paul, when you step in as pastor, will you promise me that you invest in your marriage and family and pull away to rest? Would you do that? And so I just want to say thank you, church, for trusting us during this time and the team that carries the load that allows us to pull away. I feel like I'm honoring my dad by doing that and honoring you and honoring God, and honoring my wife and my kids. But I felt like this was the word. I had to finish with this series, and I know we'll preach more on Psalms later this year, but I felt like this was the word. Psalm 23. And I want to pray for any person in this room that wants this passage to be like your life story. Growing up, this passage was in my house. And I remember walking past the picture in my mom and dad's house of Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. And I remember writing my name down. The Lord is Paul's shepherd. The Lord is Daniel's shepherd. The Lord is Abby's shepherd. The Lord never leaves Abby. The Lord never leaves, leaves Juan. The Lord stays with Tim. The Lord prepares a table before Tony in the presence of his enemies that God will never leave. I want to pray that over people. So if you're here today and you say, man, I want this, this passage, this word to be my story. I want the. The shepherd to lead me, to guide me. I want my cup to overflow. I want to leave a legacy one day. Maybe you're here today and you're single, or maybe you're married, or maybe you're divorced. I just tell you right now, God has a future legacy for you, and he's developing it right now. So if you're here and you say, man, I want this passage to define my life. I want you to just raise your hand all across this room. Maybe you're a believer, you're saved, you've been saved for a long time, but you're saying, would you pray a blessing? We're going to sing the blessing song, and I want to speak it over moms and dads, husbands and wives, college students, young adults, single dads, single moms. Whatever season of life you're in that you would know the Lord is with you. And if you raised your hand or you need to get right with God, would you leave your seat, Come and fill this altar. Let's just flood this altar with an altar of legacy. That God is writing your story. He's speaking over your future. He's speaking over your past. He's saying you will not be defined by your mistakes. You will not be defined by your valleys. You will be defined by the goodness of God and the mercy of God. He's writing a better chapter for you. He's changing your story for his glory, for his name's sake. He's leading you down paths of righteousness. He's shutting the wrong doors, and he's opening the right doors. His favor is going before you and behind you. Yeah, let's go ahead, just worship. Let's just come down to the altar and let's just surrender to God today and just receive this song. Lord, I pray for faith. I pray for the good shepherd to lead, to protect, to provide, to go before you and behind you. His mercy follows you all the days of your life. He's writing your story. He's directing your steps step by step. When you look behind you, God says, I've got your back. I'm with you. I'm covering you. I'm protecting you. He says, I'm delivering presence, and I'm
- [43:22]
Worship Leader
direct for you and behind you and beside you, all around you and within you. He's with you. He's with you in the morning, in the evening. In your coming, in your going, in your weeping, in rejoicing. He's for you in the morning, in the morning, in the evening, in your coming and you're going. He's for you. He's for you. He's for you. He's for you. He's for you. He's for you. He's for you.
- [44:08]
Pastor Paul
Come on. There's room at the altar. If you need God's presence, if you need his help today, just come to the altar. If you need his peace today, if you need his strength today, if you need to get right with God today, come and join us at the altar. He is for you. He is with you.
- [44:32]
Worship Leader
Ra. May his favor be upon you and a thousand generations in your family. Your children, the children and the children. May his presence go before you and behind you and beside you, all around you. Within you is with you. He's with you in the morning. Your goodness is running after.
- [45:37]
Pastor Paul
It's running after me.
- [45:41]
Worship Leader
Your goodness is running after.
- [45:44]
Pastor Paul
It's running after me.
- [45:47]
Worship Leader
With my life laid down, I surrender now. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after me. It's running after me. Sing your goodness, your goodness is running after. Your mercy is running after me. Your favor, Lord. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. With my life laid down. Surrender now. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me.
- [46:33]
Pastor Paul
And your mercy is running after.
- [46:36]
Worship Leader
It's running after me. Your mercy is running after. It's running after. With my life laid down, I'm surrender now. I give you everything. Your mercy is running after. It's running after me.
- [47:02]
Pastor Paul
His kindness is running after you. His favor, his goodness, his mercy, his provision, his protection, his counsel, his holy spirit. He has not abandoned you. He will never walk out on you. He stays with you through every season, every year. He is with you and he is for you. And he's working all things together for your good, because you love him. Because you're called and you're his child. He's working all things for your good. So trust the shepherd. Trust the shepherd. He cares for you. He cares about the desires of your heart, the dreams in your heart, the tears that you've cried. David said, though weeping may last for the night, his joy is coming in the morning. Those who sow in tears will reap a harvest of joy. So I take off this heavy garment and I put on a garment of praise. He gives beauty for ashes. He turns graves into gardens. He takes broken vessels and he restores and makes them new. Lord, I thank you that you're working in all of us in this room. I thank you, God, that you are our shepherd. I pray for legacy in this room. I pray for every man in this room, every woman in this room, every person in this room that desires to carry that Psalm 23 passage in their life. That they would trust you every step of the way. That they would see your goodness and your mercy all the days of their life. That they would dwell in your house in your presence. That we would be marked as worshipers. That we would be known in our generation as the worshiping church. The church that trusted in Jesus. And I thank you that your favor lasts a lifetime from generation to generation. Just pray this with me. Say, jesus, you are my shepherd and I shall not want you lead me. You protect me, you provide for me, and I trust in you. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil. My good shepherd is with me. Jesus, you are working all things together for my good. I repent of my sin. I receive your forgiveness. I confess you as my Lord, my Savior. Thank you Jesus that your goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in your house and I will praise the Lord in Jesus name. Amen and Amen. I love you. God loves you. Be blessed.