Ken's Sermon from Sunday, July 23rd.

23 Psalm

Song
This is the day, This is the day,
That the Lord has made, That the Lord has made.
We will rejoice We will rejoice,
And be glad in it And be glad in it!
This is the day that the Lord has made,
We will rejoice and be glad in it!
This is the day This is the day,
That the lord has made

Zeh hayom asah adonai
Nagilah nagilah
Ve nismecha vo

Zeh hayom= This is the day
He made it, we just need to keep our eyes open to see what it is God is doing. What is He going to do this day.
I rejoice, oh but I didn’t get enough sleep.

asa adonai= the Lord has made
We can’t say God’s name because He is so great and awesome. So we call him Boss. You are my boss, I serve and do what it is you want.

This is the day that my boss has made for me and I take security knowing you made it, you know what is going to happen and how it will turn out, I just need to join you in what you are doing.

Nageela= we will rejoice
Come on lets celebrate, lets throw a party

Vanesma havo= and be glad in it
And we will find inner peace from Him. Nowhere else will we find it, we have looked all over, I have tried many things, but only from God do I get that peace that brings me life and joy.

Zeh hayom, Zeh hayom
asah adonai, asah adonai
Nagilah, nagilah
Ve nismecha vo, Ve nismecha vo

Zeh hayom, asah adonai
Nagilah, Ve nismecha vo
Zeh hayom, Zeh hayom, asah adonai

We would make great Jews this morning because they do most of their singing and praying in the morning, and to the Jew they are both the same.

Prayer “amen”
We end with an “amen.” This means, “so be it” but to the Israelites it was also the picture of a fist. I can get my hand around that, I can hold onto that, more than just so be it.

Israel is a beautiful land 150 miles long and 50 miles wide, about the size of New Jersey. 90% of the word of God comes from here. Going to Israel and seeing the land and culture even today helped our group better understand why some things were worded and said in the Bible. I think we read the Bible with new eyes as we learned just a bit better the heart of those who wrote the Bible and the way they saw life. The setting became very important.

Israel is divided into two areas, the north and the south. Exodus 3:8 God said “I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” This is the land of milk and honey, the honey being a date that is mashed into a honey-like consistency. It is the land of cattle and farming.

The north is wet and fertile, everything grows in abundance. The land is lush and green. Most of Jesus life was in the north. You have everything you need here. One of the mentalities people from the north always struggled with was, because the land takes such good care of you, you don’t really need God because you have all your needs taken care of. In the honey land Jesus warns of the danger of having too much, where the human spirit can overcome anything except prosperity. The land is noisy and crowded.

Then there is the south. There is little rainfall, there are less people living there. It is desert and wilderness area. This is where the Israelites wandered for 40 years. Shepherds live here seasonally wandering from place to place to where the grass can grow.

Most of the country is milk geography. Will you be able to survive and how well will you survive? Milk is silent and lonely. God is found in the still small voice in the silence, not the booming. The land of milk is unpredictable and we would want it no other way. Silent and lonely, exhausting and tiresome. But it causes dependence and trust in God. It forces people to depend upon each other for survival which builds community, anything that tries to survive on its own will die. In the wilderness we know God will be faithful, we just don’t know how He will be faithful. God is not predicable here.

This is what is known as salvation geography. Where the Israelites left Egypt and moved to another where God would meet them and be with them. This land is where they can know God, salvation geography.

David was a shepherd who came from the milk economy so he knew the understood the desert. He knew that the most important thing was water. There is water in the desert if you know where to find it, but it can be very hard. If David is to be a good shepherd he needs to know where the water areas are to survive and to feed his flocks. Water is life! Where you find flowing water you find God. To any Israelite the two were synonymous. Where there is flowing water you should always be looking for God and what He is doing. Every Temple had to have a water source flowing underneath it. If they found a large spring of water they would know God was there. It is a symbol of life and the life that only God can give. We understand and know God thorough the land, salvation geography.

It was in this desert that David wrote a powerful song and prayer to God. 23rd Psalm
1The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

David was a shepherd and known as the "Shepherd King" of Israel. David saw the Lord God of Israel as his shepherd. David speaks in this psalm as if he was one of the flock, one of the sheep that he himself cared for. And it is as though he literally boasted aloud at the beginning, "Look who my shepherd is -- my owner – the one who I follow, my Lord! The Lord is my shepherd!" He is the one I follow, He is the one who knows my name and I go where He goes, I trust Him.

Many thought we were going to a dangerous country, more dangerous than Seattle, but I am here to say The LORD is my shepherd, This psalm is about learning and following in trust. How the Lord takes care of us. David continues by saying, "I shall not want." The Lord supplies our every need. Most of the flocks in Israel were located in the south of the country. The south is the desert. (Pictures) Not like Ellensburg or Moses Lake desert, this is life and death desert. Why would people live there desert, where is the water desert, my body is about to either burst into flames or dry like a raisin desert.

I have what I need, everything necessary, food, drink. There are no pastures in Israel. Where water and life are nowhere else there He gives us what we need. God you provide for me. You take care of my heart, my life, my possessions, you know what I need and you take care of me. Paul told the Philippians, "And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus..." (Philippians 4:19). The same one who sustained the children of Israel in the wilderness, the one who fed Elijah by the brook in the desert, the one who provided the needs of the disciples sent out without staff or shoes only, has promised to provide our needs both physical and spiritual. God says “If you trust me, even harder, if you let me, I will provide for your needs. I know you can do it in the land of honey, but will you let me do it instead?”

That’s the kind of shepherd we have. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." (John 10:11). "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
Not lie down but to curl up. I curl up in the green oasis. What a wonderful image of safety.

It’s not easy to get a sheep to lie down. A strange thing about sheep is that they will refuse to lie down unless three requirements are met. (1) They must be free from all fear. Sheep are very easily frightened. A stray jackrabbit jumping out from behind a bush can stampede a whole flock. When one startled sheep runs in fright, all of the others will follow behind it in blind fear, not waiting to see what frightened them. But nothing quiets a flock of sheep like seeing their shepherd in the field with them.

(2) There must be no tension between members of the flock. In every animal society there is an established order of dominance or status. In chickens, it is known as the pecking order. Among sheep it is called the butting order. Sheep maintain their status by butting and driving away other sheep from their favorite grazing spot. When there is this tension in a flock, the sheep can’t lie down and rest. They must always stand up and be ready to fight. The result is that it wears the sheep out, they lose weight and become irritable. But whenever the shepherd is around, they forget their rivalries and stop their fighting.

(3) And they must be free from hunger. Sheep will not rest until they are free from hunger. A hungry sheep is always on its feet, searching for another mouth of food, trying to satisfy its gnawing hunger. Keep in mind that in Palestine where David wrote this psalm, it’s a dry, brown, sun-burned land. Green pastures didn’t just happen by chance. Shepherds had to search hard for green areas or cultivate them themselves. But when a sheep had eaten enough, when it was free from fear, tension and aggravation, it would lie down and curl up.

That is what our shepherd does. He provides us with the food we need. If we hunger and thirst after Him, he has promised to fill us. All of our needs are met in Jesus. That’s why 2He satisfies me so I can curl up in the oasis with the desert around me.
This is a verse of comfort, he doesn’t make me, he makes it possible for me to rest and not be afraid of life around me.

He also "He leads me beside quiet waters. " Sheep need water to survive. And they will not drink from noisy, turbulent water. They require a well or a very, very slow-flowing stream, “quiet waters”. Sheep are frightened of swiftly moving water. They’re poor swimmers, & if they get in the water they would get bogged down with their heavy wool.

Leads me beside the pooled water, God is sensitive to me. A closeness to God. He provides.

Jesus made it clear that the thirsty souls of men and women can only be fully satisfied by coming to him. In John 7:37, he stated, "If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink." Our Shepherd leads us beside the still waters.

3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake

He restores my soul. The OT never says soul. They didn’t understand that concept of the abstract. They understood two things, you have flesh and there is wind. God restores my life. Nefesh. “My throat” That is where God breathed life into us. First He gives us food, water, and then he restores our life inside us, he breathes His life into us, restores my throat.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake
There are many paths that cross the hills from all the wild animals that live and hunt there. The shepherd leads me not on the straight path but the right path, the correct path. The path that leads to where we want to go. There are many paths but few know the ones to the water source. Only the shepherd knows which one leads to life, to the oasis.

Why? Because he loves us. Have you ever fallen in love with anything that can’t help you? Just because? (Lipton getting out at night)

Why does He do this. Because it is who He is. He does it for his names sake. He keeps me from danger, to ourselves and from our enemies. Our response is to watch his feet. Broad is the path that leads to destruction, not always the right route. For the sake of His name. Why does he do this? Whey so tender? Why does he even endanger himself when wolf and bear could come after him? For the sake of His love for his sheep? No, but because it is the nature and character of God. He is our Father. He does it because it is who He is. He cannot do anything less than to care for us because He is such a great and wonderful God.

4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

It is not meant to be translated as evil but rather “bad.” They did not talk about morality here but survival, we think evil. Instead “I will fear no bad thing.”

Where there is water there is life but there is also danger because this is where all the predators wait for all the other animals to come. I need the water but there I can also lose my life. Lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, bears…I will fear no bad thing in this deep canyon where the sun struggles to penetrate fully.

The rod is kinda like a club from an olive tree. It grows a shoot from the tree and develops a large bulb at the end. It becomes his main weapon of defense for himself and his sheep. He uses it to drive off predators like coyotes, wolves, cougars or stray dogs.

The staff, on the other hand, is a long, slender stick, often with a crook or hook on one end. The shepherd will use the staff to guide sheep along a new path or through a gate. He doesn’t beat the sheep. He just nudges them along. At times, the staff may be used to get a sheep out of trouble, to pull it from the water or to free it from a bush it is entangled it.

Even when I walk in this deep canyon I will fear no bad thing, your rod and staff, one for the enemy and one that pulls me out of the water, support me.

5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.
David changes the metaphor now as he talks about being a guest.
Turned away from shepherd job to a home. All those things he does for his sheep he does for his guests, he prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, those who would want to do us harm. Even here I am safe because as a guest the host will protect you to the death. If you are a guest the host will send his oldest son to guard the door to the home as a sentry. My son will die before you do, I will do all I can to protect you.

Then he anoints my head with oil. He gives a neck rub with olive oil. A good back rub. He touches you and gives you a sense of connection.

Then he brings out the wine and pours your cup full. You are worth all that I have, I want you to enjoy it. But not just full, I will pour until the cup overflows and you cannot contain all that I am giving you. I do not spare myself, I do not hold myself back from you says God. I give myself to you with abundance and exceedingly more than you could ever want or know. Do you know me like that? That is what a relationship with me is like.
He fills me to the brim, all I could want.

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
In a flock 80% live and 20% die of injury, animals eat them, or you eat them.
Luke 15 Jesus says
4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? (No they wouldn’t) When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

This is shocking. It is ok if 20% die. Not to God. I want to save everyone of you. When you follow me I will pour into you, I will protect you and I will do the shocking, I will not let go of any that follow me.

The Lord is my shepherd. What a difference that little word "my" makes. It is all the difference between joy and sorrow, purposefulness and meaningless, eternal life and eternal death.

What did God finally do for us? He sent his son to the door. The rest of our life. Not just one day of hospitality but forever and ever. As long as I live. I will always be with Him. I will dwell with Him. What a great psalm.

1The LORD is my shepherd, He takes care of all my needs.
2He makes me secure so I can curl up in the green oasis; He leads me beside quiet waters.
3He restores my life; He guides me on the correct path for His name's sake because he can do no less.
4Even though I walk through the deep valleys, I fear no bad thing, for you are with me; your rod protects me and Your staff guides me..
5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies and sent your son to guard to door; you have given me a neck massage and filled my life with your love till I cannot contain it.
6 Surely your goodness and loving-kindness will be with me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in your house because I am no longer just a guest visiting, forever.