June 14, 2010 The 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

Good Monday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters, and welcome to Psalm Twenty Three Week. God, again, has placed on my heart to write about the 23rd Psalm. This is not from any writing before but what God gives me this time around. Also, being Monday, it is the day we pray for our leaders in Washington, DC, and in our State Houses across this great nation UNDER GOD, where we live. It is also the day we pray for our veterans, and please remember today that we have veterans who are 18 years of age and some living right now in veterans hospitals. We also pray this day for our current military, our state and local police, our firefighters and all those who work so hard to keep us safe.

Just this past week our granddaughter Brittany's apartment burnt along with 11 other units. She lost everything she had. She is fine, but two firefighters, ones who get no pay, were injured when the roof fell on them. So please pray for these people who give of their time, their sleep to work to save the lives and property of others. Seems we don't think a lot about things till they strike home or near home.

Psalm 23: 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (KJV)

I see the 23 Psalm most often when attending a funeral service or a viewing of a friend or loved one. It is used often as the scripture on the "Service Notice" given at the funeral home. God has had me write about this in the past and I admit it is hard not to look back at what I wrote before, but I feel God wants this fresh. This Psalm, as in many, are so much comfort at a time of loss, and pretty much and you will recall that God left the Holy Spirit with us to be our comforter. As you look at this try and picture most of it as being sent by the Holy Spirit.

In the first verse we see David saying "The Lord is my Shepherd", and I can say that He truly is my Shepherd so I start with a question, is He your Shepherd? I want to go to the back of the book and bring forth another scripture. From Revelation 7...

Revelation 7:17 - For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to the springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (NIV)

Back in the day a king was often referred to as a shepherd of his people. Today, Pastors, Preachers, Priests, are also referred from time to time as a shepherd as they have been given a flock to take care of by our Lord Jesus, our Great Shepherd. Of course the messages of the 23rd Psalm will be about the Great Shepherd. So let's look at the first verse again and see what The Lord, our Great Shepherd is up to...

Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (KJV)

Here is a scripture where we can see that Jesus is our Shepherd, and I referred to Him as a Great Shepherd, but Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd.

John 10:11 - "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (NIV)

John 10:14 - "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." (NIV)

I wanted to point this out before we go on to the second part of that first verse. I want you to take a good look at where Jesus tells us that He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. And I pray as I write this message that all of you are saved, are born again and know our Lord Jesus as their Savior and of course in knowing Him as your Savior you would be indeed one of his flock. It would indeed be sad if when you arrived at the gate upon departing from this earth and you were to get to the Shepherd in the throne room that will lead you to the living water and He, the Good Shepherd, would say, SORRY I don't know you.

Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (KJV)

Now let us look at the second part of that very first verse. I shall not want. I shall not want back in the day would be taken to mean, I shall not be in need. Every need supplied to us if we truly believe... Yes, He supplies our needs most often through the hands of others. He could still, if He chose to do it, feed us all manna from heaven, and while that would be nice, Lord, my Dear Good Shepherd, please keep it as it is. For I love hamburgers and cheeseburgers and hot dogs and pizza and watermelon, and soups and all kinds of sandwiches, gosh is not our Good Shepherd really good, and He even sends us Ice Cream... Oh, and yes, He furnishes all of our other needs like the air we breath, the clothes we wear, the water we drink, and the roof over our heads and the job we have and car we have to get back and forth to work and back and forth to the doctors and the retirement.

Yes, folks, our Good Shepherd, as Jesus calls Himself, and our Great Shepherd, as I called Him this morning, is one and the same and He is also the GREAT PROVIDER. Think about it, and let's this week get nearer and nearer to the One who takes care of us. And for all the pastors on the line, remember that we have been given a flock and we need to take care of those folks in our flock for we WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for them when we are judged.

Dear Father in Heaven, Dear Great Shepherd, thanks so much for supplying our every need, for indeed every need is supplied by You and we so often forget to just stop and say thanks. So right now I want to just pause and say thanks. THANK YOU JESUS. And Lord, please look after all those on the prayer list for today, starting in our Nation's capital with our leaders and be sure to look after our military, and those who have given body parts for this Nation and be with the families of those who gave it all. In the name of Jesus I give thanks this day for my needs being supplied. Amen.

Now go forth and those blessings that help to supply all of your needs, why not share some today, in the name of Jesus, and have fun and feel good as you do... Love ya, Pastor Dan.

Carry The Light Ministries
16 Dewalt Drive
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050
Phones 717 691 8200 Cell 717 991 0754