God's Campaign Promises Series

Text: Psalm 23

Title: God’s Campaign Promises

Introduction

As all of us know this year is a presidential election year and there are several candidates trying to become the One chosen to lead us.

One way every candidate tries to win our vote is with campaign promises…

This is what I promise to do if I’m elected as your leader

-I promise to create more jobs…

-I promise to reduce the deficit…

-I promise to solve the housing crisis

Well Psalm 23 is like a list of campaign promises from God

Here we have a list of things God promises to do for those who allow Him to be their leader/shepherd

***And Unlike most politicians- God always keeps his campaign promises

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want

He makes me lie down in green pastures

He leads me beside quite waters

He restores my soul

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

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; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I count a total of 12 campaign promises from God in Psalm 23

Psalms 23 starts with the campaign promise “I shall not be in want”

Psalm 23 ends with the campaign promise “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

So notice that God’s campaign promises are for both this life and for the life to come

**Because God is not limited to at most 2 terms in office

God is God now and forever!

God’s campaign promises are promises that God makes to everyone…

But only those who…like David …can with confidence say …

“The Lord is my shepherd” can ever hope to experience all 12 of God’s campaign promises.

But the Lord is my shepherd and I’ve yet to experience any of God’s campaign promises…

You need to question if the Lord really is your shepherd.

Because God never breaks any of his campaign promises

The truth is…

We like to give ourselves the job of president and we like to give God the job of vice president.

God can’t fulfill his campaign promises to us if we make him vice president in our lives.

For example look at Campaign promise #1 You shall not be in want

“The lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. (v1)

I shall not be in want if the Lord is my shepherd

Psalm 34:9-10 “For those who fear him lack nothing…those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Psalm 84:11 “No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is

blameless.”

Psalm 107:9 “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things”

God knows every person in the world wants a better future.

Nobody ever wakes up and says to themselves “I really hope today is no where near as good as yesterday.”

The only way we can be better off today than we ever were yesterday is to let God be in control/be our shepherd.

That’s the only way God can fulfill his 12 campaign promises in our lives.

How are all these campaign promises going to get paid for?

In the world campaign promises are paid for by raising taxes

God pays for his campaign promises by raising Jesus from the dead.

We have been given everything we could want in the resurrected Christ!

God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Phil. 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

But to give us what we want we first must give God what He wants

We have to give over control of our lives to God

Illustration: Problems with the Church computer. Dave can from his office control the mouse and access the computer

And Psalm 23 tells us how God makes his campaign promises happen

**Politicians at best are only guessing

For example God has to first lead us to green pastures and to quite waters.

Definition of green pastures and quite waters = all the different places where we get to know God better

Church is to be for us a green pasture, Sunday school is to be for us a green pasture, small groups is to be for us a green pasture

Christian radio…Christian cds…

Any place or situation where we get to know God better is a green pasture

And we also need the quite waters…