Wed. 12/5/12 The Story 10

Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for another day, and thanks for the wonderful load of bread that we received this day.  Lord, thanks for the support You are sending to us to help the needy, and thanks to You for pointing the needy our way.  Lord, we want to serve these folks in Your name, and please, dear Lord, help us to help feed their souls also.  Lord, what good is a full tummy if the soul is empty of You?  Lord, help us to work those fields of Harvest for You each and every day of our young lives.  Please be with those we pray for each day, and please, dear Lord, watch over our leaders.  Be with Grant today as he gets treated for his back.  In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen.

Good Wednesday, my dear brothers and sisters.  It is a great day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  Santa's House is open this evening from 6 to 8, so bring those children and grandchildren to see Santa and Mrs. Claus and tonight get to meet a person who "spies for the big guy".  Friday evening, an added treat at Santa's House, the Elves will be here.  Bring the kids to HERE THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS.  Pray for Grant today as he has shots in his neck and back.

Now let me get to the message, on our side trip, so to speak, on our message series about The Story.

Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.  2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.  3 He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.  4 Yea, 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.  5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  (King James)

The Story Day Ten.

Psalm 23:4 - Yea, 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.  5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  (KJV)

A few years back when Dolores and I rode motorcycle all the time on one of the bikes I had an artist paint a picture of an open Bible.  On it the 23rd Psalm verse 4 and it read like this ... "Yea, though I ride through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou rides with me."  The point I was making then and now it does not make a difference if you are walking, riding a motorcycle, a pedal bike, driving a car, or in your pickup truck, God is with you if you just ask Him to be.  And you can be in some really bad spots and He will protect you, although we should not do stupid stuff.  But when we think of the evil that God protects us from do not just think of high crime areas, or places like that, for sometimes our enemies hide themselves by saying they are our friends.

One of the most important parts of this Psalm in my opinion is the fact that it points out that our Lord is our Shepherd and he will comfort us.  It talks about the Shepherd's rod and staff, the shepherd's hook some might call it.  Was it just something for the shepherd to lean on?  No, it could be used to chase off animals coming after the flock or it could be used to sort of help along one of the sheep lagging behind.  It was a tool of the shepherds.  Well, our Lord God, our Great Shepherd, our Good Shepherd, as Jesus even refers to Himself, has many tools that He has offered out to us.  Let's just take time to look at a few of these, and let me call them His rod and staff.

Okay, let's start with the Holy Spirit which was left with us when Jesus went on to heaven to prepare a place for us.  The 23rd Psalm is mainly the comforter, the Holy Spirit talking to us.

What else?  God has given us an open line to talk to Him through His Son Jesus.  It is called prayer.  So we have God to talk to and we also know, if we listen He will talk to us.  And yes, He will comfort us.  We have our Bibles, the inspired word of God, with many, many, many direct quotes from our Lord Jesus.  We have folks today that are anointed and blessed by God to talk to us, to comfort us, and yes, to do His work for Him as we are the disciples of this day.  We who are working for God are the James, John, Simon, and others today.  Those to me are just a few examples of our Good Shepherd's rod and staff that comfort us.

Now just a minute on verse 5.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

What does this say to me?  It is very clear that if I love Him, if I live for Him, I will have my needs furnished, every one of my needs will be supplied and it will be done regardless of who is watching or who is trying to destroy me.  I don't remember ever, not once that when I was hungry I did not have something to eat.  Always, and my parents did not have much money.  I can remember being sent with a dime to the corner store and asking for a "dog bone" and the owner knowing we did not have much money would let some meat on it.  Mom would cook it and cook it more and then make soup out of it.  As for the dime, I don't remember him ever taking it.  Today we have people who have trouble feeding their families who would not cook off a bare bone, but would spend their last dime on a cell phone.

But I must bring this up.  A lot of times our Lord uses us to prepare the table for others, like our food pantry.  And folks, God has taught most in America well for we do have a giving nation, we really do, and the more we work for God and for this Nation and know that we would not even have a nation if it were not for God the better off we will be.  One Nation Under God, with a table before us, even when people want to take us apart.  Let's give thanks now.

Father in Heaven, forgive us of our sins and restore us to Your full service.  And Lord Jesus, I want You to know that I love You and I know so many people on this line love You also.  Thanks for keeping the line open for us.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now, brothers and sisters, go forth knowing that Your needs will be supplied, so how about sharing those blessings?

Love ya, Pastor Dan.