The Lord Is My Shepherd

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Psalms 23

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4Yea, 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.

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Join me in Prayer!

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter says, "Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."

"That’s wonderful," says St. Peter, "that’s worth three points!"

"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."

"Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that’s certainly worth a point."

"One point? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."

"Fantastic, that’s good for two more points," he says.

"TWO POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"

St. Peter says "Come on in!"

You know GOD really does love all of us, even the sinners but HE hates the sin. HE hates sin yet HE is willing to forgive each one of us for all our sins so we can go and live in HIS house through all eternity. That was the last part of the Psalm which we just read this morning. In fact it is the last half of the final verse, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

David was sure of it; you notice he doesn’t say maybe I will live in the house of the lord forever. He said “I WILL dwell in the house of the LORD forever. David was sure that he would live with GOD because GOD had chose David to be King of all Israel and HE blessed David as long as David followed HIM. But GOD did punish David when he was wrong and when David knew that he was wrong he tried to make amends for it.

But what I want to talk about today is the rest of David’s Psalm as we read it this morning. You see David had a journey to go through before he became sure that he would dwell in GOD’S House.

You see anyone who accepts JESUS CHRIST as their Lord and Savior can be assured of living in GOD’S House. Look at John 14: 2 & 3

2In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Jesus promised many mansions in HIS FATHERS HOUSE and HE was going to prepare a place for us. So if we accept JESUS as Lord and Savior we are already promised a place in GOD’S HOUSE!

But what about the other verses in today’s scriptures. Well let’s look at the first three verses.

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

The LORD is my shepherd. What is a shepherd’s job?

His primary goal is to care for the sheep but in order to do this there are several things that he has to do. The three primary things are covered in verse 2. A sheep must have rest, food, and water.

2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures If the sheep can lie down in green pastures then he has plenty to eat and he can lie down and rest knowing that the Shepherd is there to watch over him and he will be safe. The Shepherd will keep the coyotes and wolfs away. But he also must keep anything away that would harm the sheep.