Peace in the Pressure | Names of God | Pastor Brian Aulick

Let's give him all we've got, come on, he deserves it. Some would say it's foolishness, but I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did. No, I'm not ashamed to praise God. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And looking what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid to never quit. No one loves as good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. I'll never be ashamed to praise God. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And looking what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your vow. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your vow. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing.

My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your vow. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone again. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I sing, I dance, cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your vow. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your vow. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. And look at what the Lord has done.

I'm never going back to the way I was. Say it! And look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. And look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I were. Look at what He's done. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what He's done. There's a miracle in store for all who will believe If you ask it in His name, you'll see There's a promise that is held He was faithful unto death Let the wounds be marks of evidence That He rose, He reigns Defeated death and grave His power, His name His resurrection sings Yes, it sings In a moment you can change You can walk right out your tomb It is finished, watch what God can do See the lion, hear his roar Let the gospel be proclaimed The King of heaven, He will be praised Yes, He rose, He reigns Defeated death and grave His power, His name His resurrection sings Yes, He rose, He reigns Defeated death and grave His power, His name His resurrection sings Yes, He rose, He reigns Defeated death and grave Let's sing this out straight, thank you Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your name Name above all names Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your grace Everlasting grace Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your name

Name above all names Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your grace Everlasting grace He rose, He reigns Defeated death and grave His power, His name His resurrection sings Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your name Name above all names Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your grace Everlasting grace Thank you, Jesus Thank you for your grace ♪ Oh thank you Lord Jesus, thank you Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord Jesus, thank you Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ Thank you for your grace, never ending grace ♪ ♪ Never ending grace ♪ ♪ So thank you, so thank you Lord Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ Cause he rose, and he rose, and he raised ♪ ♪ He defeated death and reigned ♪ ♪ See his power, his power, his name ♪ ♪ His resurrection sings ♪ ♪ In a moment you can change, you can walk right out your tomb ♪ ♪ It is finished, watch what God can do, yeah ♪ Thank you. God bless you. ♪ And I never knew till I had the scars ♪ ♪ How good your grace could be ♪ ♪ How you would be my strength ♪ ♪ And no matter what I have resolved ♪ ♪ And my lowest day is still in control ♪ ♪ I will not be afraid ♪ ♪ I'll get back up and say ♪

♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my hour of need ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ And you never said it wouldn't be fine ♪ ♪ You promised that you'd be right by my side ♪ ♪ No matter how it seems ♪ ♪ And my confidence shall be, yeah ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my hour of need ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ And the Lord is with me ♪ ♪ Ever present in my hour of need ♪ ♪ The Lord is with me ♪ ♪ You're right by my side ♪ Let's testify this. ♪ No fear may tell me the truth, no ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna bow ♪ ♪ I may be thrown in the fire ♪ ♪ I'm gonna walk out ♪ ♪ The heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke ♪ ♪ It may look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm not alone ♪ ♪ No fear may tell me the truth, no ♪ ♪ I'm not gonna bow ♪ ♪ I may be thrown in the fire ♪ ♪ I'm gonna walk out ♪

♪ The heat of the flame won't consume me ♪ ♪ It's nothing but smoke ♪ It may look like I'm surrounded But I'm not alone The Lord is with me The Lord is with me The Lord is with me ever present In my hour of need The Lord is with me The Lord is with me The Lord is with me ever present In my hour of need If God made me tell me to tremble I'm not gonna bow I may be caught in the fire But I'm gonna run The key to my faith won't consume me It's nothing but smoke It may look like I'm surrounded But I'm not alone The Lord is with me If God made me tell me to tremble I'm not gonna bow I may be caught in the fire But I'm not alone The Lord is with me The Lord is with me ever present In my hour of need The Lord is with me And I know that God is gonna speak to you and meet you even today in whatever circumstance you find yourself in. I do want to welcome some very special people, though. I want to welcome everybody at our Grand Rapids campus. I want to say good morning to En Guerrero Español. And then to all those who are joining us from jails and prisons around the country through the Pando app, we just want to say it is an honor to gather for church today and study the Word of God with you. Can we make a noise of welcome today at all of our campuses? I'm so excited that it's Mother's Day. And I know that for some, Mother's Day comes with some weightiness to it. For some, we're grieving the loss of a mom.

For some of us, we're grieving that we're not yet a mom. But in the midst of praying for you, we want to honor the moms who are present in this church. We are so grateful, moms, for everything you do to serve and love the kids of this church and the kids that are beyond this church. We know that many times your service is in secret, that I like to joke in our family, things just happen by magic. But actually, that magic is explained in this woman right here, Christina, because she just makes the whole thing happen, and we get to all be beneficiaries from it. I think it would be so appropriate today, in front of all of our moms here, if we just made some great big noise and honored them to the very top of our lungs. Moms, we love you moms. We honor you moms. We bless you moms. We celebrate you moms. We're so grateful for our moms. And today, we are starting a new series here at En Gedi. It's called Names of God. Anybody ready for a new Bible series today? Come on, somebody. It's going to be a good day. I've been really looking forward to this series for each week. What we're going to do is look at a different name that God is addressed by in the Bible. The names of God are important. Every time you come across a new name of God, it is describing a different kind of character trait

or attribute of who God is. Every time you learn a new attribute about God, you learn a new way of relating to Him, or a way that He relates to us. And so our prayer for this series, watch this, is that we would encounter God for who He is, and that He would meet us exactly where we are. Did you hear that, church? Our hope and prayer for this series, as we look at name after name that God is addressed by, is that we would experience and encounter God for who He is, but that He would meet us right where we are. And that's what we're praying for. Now, we're going to look at a number of different names throughout this series. And knowing that today was the launch of this series and Mother's Day, I thought it was important that we look at a number of different names was entirely appropriate to ask the mother that God is addressed by. of our household, Christina, which name of God should we start with? And so I showed her the whole series and she said that her pick was Jehovah-Rah-ah. Everybody say Jehovah. Jehovah-Rah-ah. Rah-ah. Rah-ah. You guys sound great.

It's like you speak Hebrew for your whole life right there, okay? Fantastic. Jehovah-Rah-ah, it means in Hebrew, the Lord is shepherd. And this name for God, Jehovah-Rah-ah, shows up in what is one of the most famous and most loved psalms in all of the Bible, Psalm 23. If you have a Bible, I'm gonna ask you to turn to Psalm 23. Now here's a little pastoral hack for you. If you're ever counseling with somebody or meeting with somebody, a friend or a family member, who is facing a hard time and who is struggling, you can always direct them towards Psalm 23. It is one of the most powerful psalms in the entire Bible that speaks to the challenges and difficulties that we face, but also to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Because in Psalm 23, we find that the Lord is our shepherd, and Jesus would use this very idea in his life where he refers to himself as the good shepherd. You know Jesus is the good shepherd, right, church? And so this psalm is pointing forward to who Christ would be and would become for us. Psalm 23, beginning in verse one. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Father, in the next few moments as we study this word, Psalm 23, I pray you would speak to us. I pray you would bring encouragement to the women in this space and those who are joining us online who are wrestling with infertility. I pray give them strength and comfort in this moment. I pray, Father, that in the midst of our moment of celebrating moms, that your spiritual blessing would pour out on moms and their cup would overflow today through the Holy Spirit. I pray for those who are here today who do not yet have a relationship with you, Father, through Jesus Christ. Their being here is not an accident. I pray for the person who has not yet turned from their sin and given their life over to you, that today they would turn their back on their stubbornness and resistance to the gospel, their resistance to the message of Jesus Christ, and today, I pray, would be the day

that many would come home to you and give their lives to you, finding life and forgiveness in Jesus' name. We are here to listen, we are here to receive, and so, God, would you speak. We pray it in Jesus' name and all God's people said. Amen and amen. My wife has become a follower of a very particular account on Instagram, and anytime I see Christina sitting on the sofa and she's got a big smile on her face or she's laughing, I can almost guarantee she is following this account. It's an account that follows a family, and I messed the details up for a service. I'm gonna fix it this time. They had two boys, three boys, exactly. I'm still messing it up, and that's all right. I'm just gonna stay over here so you can correct me as I go. They had three boys, and mom and dad said they were really trying for a daughter, and so they have these three boys already. They go for a daughter, and what they get is not just a daughter, they get four kids. Oh yeah, oh my is right. Two boys and two more girls, so two girls and two more boys. For a family of, hold on now, that was four plus the original three. We're at seven right now, all right?

So they've got seven kids, and I love and she loves, she'll be always like, Brian, you gotta see this one, you gotta see this real. I love watching this family parent these seven kids. I have to tell you, these parents love Jesus, and they are much better parents than we, or at least that I ever was, all right? So much grace, so much patience. How many of you know, you have to have a system when you raise them? that many kids, right? You gotta have a, I mean, they've got four high chairs. It's like, wha-pam, wha-pam, wha-pam, wha-pam. You know, I mean, it's amazing watching them do their thing. And most of the time, it seems like they've got a great system for everything, but then once in a while, they'll like let you in a little bit on the chaos that comes with seven children, four of whom were born at the same time. And I wanna give you just a little bit of a sense of what it is like in their household raising these four little ones simultaneously. Take a look at the video. They're having a good time. You know, you hear music, and then the kids go, wha-pam-poo-poo-poo time, you know, when you're moving or when you're singing, and they're in an equilibrium.

I'm so excited, they're so excited. I never, you know, I think I cover them but now that we've networked them, they're like, oh my gosh, look at these little babies, what's going on? You think we congregate them? I love, mom's unruffled, she's just peaceful, right? Oh, yep, that's it. I'd be losing my business right now, mom's just like, one at a time. All right, that's good, that's good, that's good. Now, listen, I don't know what your family was like growing up. Mine had some amount of chaos, I'm not sure we had that much. And listen, you may not even be parents today, but I think some of us see that level of demand, that level of busyness, that level of I need this, give me that, and you're like, I might not even be a parent, but that feels like my life. I've always got people asking for me for stuff, my boss is asking me for stuff, my friends are asking me for stuff, my parents are asking me, I've always got calls to make, I've always got people to respond to, I've always got people to need help, and I can't seem to ever sit down. I feel like I'm always running and going

and I cannot get a break. I keep running, and maybe some of you are even feeling symptoms of that today. Maybe some of you here today, you've been running so hard that even coming into church today, you just feel kind of tired. I'm curious, anybody willing to be honest enough to say, I just feel kind of tired today? Anybody like that? Yeah, there's a lot, oh my gosh, there's a lot. Don't fall asleep during this sermon, all right? That's all I'm gonna ask, all right? Once you get out of here, man, you can crash out. But listen, that's where a lot of us are, we're just tired. Maybe you've even got some physical symptoms, maybe you're dealing with some aches and pains because you're going nonstop, maybe you're dealing with a headache because you cannot seem to slow down, maybe you have a hard time sleeping at night because your life is one of just constant activity. Go, go, go, go. And if that's you, either today or at any other time, I have got good news for you. The news I have from Scripture is this, God is your good shepherd, Jesus is your good shepherd, he wants to help you lie down in a green pasture, he wants to refresh your soul.

Even in the midst of your fatigue and even right now, Jesus Christ wants to speak a word of rest over your life. I love what Matthew 11 says, these are Jesus' own words. "'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.'" If you had your hand up a few minutes ago, you are weary and burdened. And I will give you what, church? Rest. "'Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,' Jesus says, "'for I am gentle and humble in heart "'and you will find rest for your souls.'" I can't tell you how many times I have lived out the truth of this Scripture. I'll be running so hard and I'll be feeling all of the fatigue of all the activity that I am up to. And there's a part of my brain that's like, man, I'll say it to you, I need a vacation. No, what I need is an hour of just being still with Jesus. Oh, I need to get away from this, I need to take a couple weeks off. No, what I need to do is just sit down and be quiet for a moment and sit with Jesus because what I have discovered is when you're willing to slow down and stop and sit with Jesus, he's gonna give you rest for your souls. He's gonna meet you in precisely that place. The challenge I think many of us find ourselves in

is we think we're actually too busy to rest with Jesus. No, you don't understand, pastor. I'm way too important for just sitting down and resting. I got way too much, I'm much in too much demand for that kind of thing. I got too many things going on, I could never rest. Watch this, we have all kinds of people complaining about how tired they are, complaining about how burdened they are, complaining about they're about to get burned out, why? Because they're not willing to follow Jesus in the first place when he says you need to rest. Listen, it's very important you understand there is a promise of rest in the text, but watch these words that God says, he leads me beside quiet waters. How many of you know today if you are going to experience Jesus rest you have to let Jesus lead you? That's what's tied to it. Some of us are so tired because we say oh man I can't get any rest and we're not listening when Jesus wants to lead us to slow down. Here's my challenge for you today. My challenge for every one of you is to say I will make 15 minutes I will make space for 15 minutes every single day where I'll just be still with Jesus. Now I'm not saying you need to limit to 15 all right. Frankly I couldn't maintain rest if I just spent 15 minutes and only 15 with Jesus. I go beyond that I have for a long time but listen if you're not used to this I'm saying I'm inviting you into a discipline where you say I'm gonna start every day with at least 15 minutes where I get somehow I get quiet before Jesus and I just say Jesus I'm here to listen to you and I'm gonna talk to you and I'm gonna let you know what's going on in my heart. Can I tell you friends you do that day after day guess what Jesus is

gonna bring you rest. He's gonna refresh your soul and I know what some of y'all thinking right now I can see in your eyes some of you are like oh pastor I don't have time for 15 minutes a day you don't understand I got like five that one great-grandma she's got like 95 you know grandkids I don't even know right how am I gonna rest I got like 30 games to go to this week watch this if you think you don't have time for 15 minutes here's what I want you to do I want you to come up after the church come up to me with your phone I'm gonna check your screen time log after this thing's done all right because we make time for whatever is important to us amen church and I want to just challenge you make space for Jesus because if you are willing to let him lead you beside the still water can I tell you Jesus is gonna breathe peace and rest into your soul it's what the Good Shepherd does as long as we let him be our lead and our shepherd and so those are the opening verses now take it take a look at the text again verse 3 it says about the Good Shepherd says about Jesus he guides me along the right paths for his namesake even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil for you are with me somebody shout out with me I love that line we just sang it many times over in that song you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me I told a story a couple weeks ago at worship night and it was such a good fit for this day that I want to tell it again I was once traveling in an Islamic country just trying to share Jesus had an opportunity to do this and I was in a part of the country that even many Muslims don't feel comfortable going in fact I traveled in several parts of the country and and we would tell some of the people there we were going to a certain part of this country and they said what are you going there for and they looked at us like we were crazy but here we are in this part of the country and we're taking every precaution when we would travel we'd be in a in a mini van with with curtains that are covering all the windows so they wouldn't know that it was a bunch of Americans in the van when we stayed for the night we went went to a house where all the blinds and drapes were drawn so that the neighbors would not realize we were there just trying to be safe so we wake up one

morning and we are on our way to some place to talk to people about Jesus and how many of you know many places in the world have no access and no knowledge of Jesus Christ and so we're going to make Jesus famous on our way there we suddenly notice there is a military vehicle that is trailing us with a number of guys with machine guns now how many of you know that's not what we planned for our mission trip right so they're trailing us along and finally they they kind of indicate that they want us to pull over we pull over they say we need to follow them back to a military base we get to the military base they take all of our passports and tell us where we can sit and not get up at this point I'm thinking to myself I don't remember this on the mission trip itinerary I didn't read this in the brochure anywhere be detained by the military of that city nevertheless I'm not terribly nervous in that moment and the reason why is because we were traveling with a national from that country who is very politically well connected and so I was like even though we're in a bit of an uncomfortable situation here I'm not all that worried because this important person is with me how many of you know that's exactly what Psalm 23 is talking about when it says Jesus your Good Shepherd is with you it's interesting what it says about how our Good Shepherd Jesus works it says our Good Shepherd guides the sheep along the right paths for his namesake in other words our Good Shepherd In a world full of danger, make sure your feet are walking along the right path. It says he carries a rod and a staff. For an ancient shepherd, these served two very important purposes. The rod was what you beat back any predators with, all right? The rod is what you... No, I won't even go there. I was gonna make a joke, but I'm gonna take it back. The rod, though, is what they did with their... The staff had a hook on it. It would guide the sheep back to the path.

This is how the shepherd brought them comfort, used a rod and a staff. He guided them along the right paths. But honestly, the rod and the staff were not the key to the protection of the sheep. The reason why the sheep could experience the shepherd's comfort is because they stayed close to him. The reason why the sheep could benefit from the shepherd's protection is because even in a dark valley, they were in close proximity to their shepherd. Some of you right now are in the midst of some very dark valleys. Some of you right now have a family member that you love who is serving a prison sentence or a jail sentence, and you don't know when you're gonna see them next. Some of us, even in this place, are battling with addiction. Right now, you're in the dark valley of addiction, and you can't seem to break through. It keeps pulling you back into that same darkness. Some of you right now have kids who are prodigal children who are wandering away from Jesus, and you don't know how to bring them back. They don't seem interested in Jesus at all. You don't know how that will change. It feels like you are spiritually in a dark valley. For some of us in this room, you're in the dark valley of infertility. For others of us, you're in the dark valley of seeing an aging parent begin to approach what seems like the end for them. Church, I need to say something to you right now if you're in a dark valley. Jesus Christ does not promise to remove you from that dark valley, but he does promise to walk with you through the dark valley that you might get to the other side. Jesus Christ doesn't promise he's gonna take you out of that dark valley. What he does promise is if you're walking with him is he will give you all of the strength and all of the comfort and all of the encouragement you need to get through that dark valley. Do you know that, church? This is what God says. This is what our good shepherd says he wants to do, not pluck you from the dark valley,

but give you the strength to get through it. I was talking to a friend this week, and he just said goodbye, one final goodbye, to his adult son who passed from cancer. I cannot imagine walking through the dark valley of watching one of my own children pass from this life to the next. I asked him, how are you doing it? How are you walking through a valley this dark? And he said, we are only getting through it one way, and that is because we know God is walking with us right through this dark valley, and therefore we have hope, not just for us, but for him. This is the hope and the strength you have when you walk with your chief shepherd who is Jesus Christ. Now here's the important thing. The reason why the shepherd can comfort the sheep is because the sheep are close to him. It says he guides them on the right path. How do you stay on the right path with Jesus? So important, church. You stay on Jesus' path by being a student of the word of God. You stay on the right path by knowing what this book says and aligning your life with what God — how many of you realize this is the best field guide to the paths of God you can find, right, church? Listen, this is the — you want to say, God, I want to know which way I'm supposed to go. Read the book, all right? This is why we do a Bible reading plan for every single one of our teaching series. You can find one for the Names of God series right now. Go to the En Gedi app, you can download the En Gedi app, you can go to our website, and not only do we have a Bible reading plan for this series, for every Name of God, but we have experiences and activities you can do to help cultivate this relationship with God our shepherd in every other week in your life throughout the week. Use those resources.

The way you stay close to the shepherd is you read his book so you know his path. Does that make sense, church? I love this. First thing we see is the good shepherd comes alongside tired and weary people. He says, I'm going to refresh your soul. You can come to me when you're exhausted. You can come to me when you're burned out. And if you make space for me, he says, I'm going to bring life, I'm going to breathe life into your soul. The same good shepherd says you can be walking through the darkest valley. Some of you are walking through that dark valley right now. And if you stay close to your shepherd, he will bring it to you. comfort, even in the midst of the darkness. And then I want you to see something else about our Good Shepherd, verse five. Says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. This is an image of abundant blessing. This is an image, my cup overflows. It's like, I can't even contain it. That's what God is doing to me. And the psalmist is saying, get this, that God can bless him abundantly, even in the middle of dealing with opposition. How many of you know God can do that? Listen, I know the whole COVID season from a few years back. I know that was hard on all of us, but it's pretty well documented. It was particularly hard on churches and church leaders.

In fact, many, many pastors actually quit ministry during that COVID season because of the level of vitriol and divisiveness that was happening in their churches at that time. Couldn't make anybody happy. Many pastors stepped away from ministry after COVID once they could find other employment. So terribly difficult time in the church. I'll be honest, there were days I thought, man, another job is looking pretty good right now, right in the midst of that difficult season. And yet even at the height of the difficulty that came with COVID and all of that, I felt like God spoke to me and said, Brian, if you would just be faithful, Brian, if you would just continue following me and trusting me, even in the opposition, I will pour out my cup of blessing over your head. I will set a table of blessing at Engedi Church. Just stay faithful and stay walking with me. And reading this text caused me to just reflect on those promises. I didn't just hear them through the word and even through my own prayer time. I had people come to me from Engedi Church. We just feel like God is saying this. And so this text forced me to look backwards and think about what God did in and through that difficult and demanding season. First, on a family level,

I recalled that this was the time that our oldest son began seriously dating his girlfriend who is now our daughter-in-law. I remembered it was during this season that we were able to take some steps forward financially in a way that we had hoped to, but didn't know how it was gonna happen. Christina and I look back on that COVID season and realizing we were incredibly knit together in our marriage and we experienced a powerful kind of unity in our loving and serving Jesus and the people of God. And Christina and I also look back at that season as a time where we profoundly depended on God and we felt his presence so near. And how many of you know there is nothing better than sensing the presence of God? Man, we were walking with him tightly and we knew the power of the Holy Spirit. And these were just the things that God was doing in our life. We were sensing, he was setting us a table even in the midst of opposition. But then I looked back at the things God did in our church in and through that time. Can I share just some statistics with you real quick? Is that all right, church? Listen to this. The year before COVID, we had 405 people make decisions for Jesus Christ. This year, we expect 800 people will make decisions

for Jesus here at Engedi Church, 800. That's what we're on track for by the end of this month. That's crazy. The year before COVID, we baptized 114 people as part of Engedi, amazing. This year, friends, we have baptized 264 people. 264 declared Jesus Christ has made me new. The year before COVID, we were able to dedicate $998,000 towards community ministries and to sending people to the nations so that Jesus' name would be known throughout the entire planet, $998,000. Friends, this year, through your generosity, we will dedicate $1.4 million towards missions, towards community outreach, and towards church planting. And then the final thing I'll just share with you is it was during this season that God started laying the groundwork for what Engedi Music is today. A year ago, Pastor Jerrion and I were talking about what God was doing with Engedi Music. We were reflecting on the previous 12 months. A year ago, this is. And we were celebrating the fact that last May was the first year Engedi Music had been streamed one million times around the world, okay? This year, watch this. This year, that was a year ago.

This year, having the same conversation, looking back on the last 12 months and seeing what God has done with the music that has come out of this house. And can I tell you, last year, Engedi Music had been streamed one million times. And this year, friends, it is gonna be streamed five million times all around the globe, making Jesus' name famous. And I just wanna declare to someone. today that even in the midst of opposition God can and will bring blessing. He is faithful to his word. He can do a good thing even when you are in the midst of difficulty. We've seen it. We've seen it in our church and we've seen it in our family. I know some of you are in opposition mode right now. I know people in this church who have their own family members are slandering their name. I know for some you're in opposition mode when it comes to your health and every day you wake up fighting that disease, fighting that ailment, fighting whatever it is that causes you to not function and be able to live the way you would like. I know some of you have faced opposition in friendships where you've had friends betray you and turn their back on you. Others even in our church have been taken advantage of financially over this last year. Many in this church know opposition well but I want to say to you today if you are in a place of opposition God is declaring, God is preparing a table for you for your enemies. If you are in a place of opposition I want you to know your cup will overflow in Jesus name. Make some noise for that. He's at work right now. You don't always see it. Listen, some of us want to give up. I want to say to you if you're in a place of opposition don't give up, don't lose heart, and do not compromise or stand for Jesus. Trust God in the middle of opposition and God will pour out blessing in your life. I believe it in Jesus name. It will be so. This is our God. This is who he is. This is what he loves to do. He is Jehovah

Raa, our Good Shepherd. And in the midst of all of these ways that God will show up in your life as Good Shepherd, bringing rest when you're tired, bringing comfort when you're suffering, bringing blessing when you're facing opposition. In the midst of all of these things there is one thing more I want you to show you our Good Shepherd does, and to be quite honest it's more important than everything I've said thus far. Verse 6, the psalmist says to God, his Good Shepherd, surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Here the psalmist is making a shift. He's no longer talking about the gifts we get from God. He is talking about the gift of God himself. He's not talking about the presence we receive from God. He is talking about experiencing the very presence of God itself, the very presence of his goodness, the very presence of his love, the very presence of a personal relationship with him. And if you noticed in the text, this presence, this relationship with God that he's talking about, is not something that is limited to life on this earth. If you read closely the end of that verse it says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Somebody declare forever. Anybody know forever is a long time? He's saying I'm gonna have a relationship with my God, with his love, with his favor in my life, not just for life on this side of the grave, but all the way into heaven. I'm gonna spend eternity with the God who is worthy of glory and who loves me with all great affection in Christ. And sometimes I think we get confused about what a relationship with God is all about. I know I drift into this. You ever drift into kind of making God out to just being a blessing machine? Like I just do stuff to try to get stuff from God? And we tell ourselves these things, oh you know what God, I'm gonna give more to the offering because maybe if I give more then you're gonna give me the spouse that I'm praying for. Oh God, I'm gonna serve you more. I'm gonna serve at church. I'm not gonna hoard my gifts to myself. I'm gonna say I want to bless my church body, but God, maybe if I serve more you give me the promotion I'm looking for. Father, I'm not gonna be just a sporadic church attendee who shows up on Christmas, Easter, and a couple other days. No, I'm

gonna be at church regularly, but it'd be real nice if you give me my dream job, God, because I'm gonna be there a lot. And we end up turning God into this blessing machine, this vending machine of just doing favors for us. Friends, I need to speak over your life today. Your greatest need is not for God's blessing. Your greatest need is for God's presence. Your greatest need is to have a relationship with him. That God is just not an abstract figure at a distance but Rather, you are relating to him as your father, and his love fills your life and fills your heart. Listen, there's nothing that will satisfy your soul like a relationship with Jesus Christ. Money will not satisfy you. Job accomplishments will not satisfy you. It's like those, you see dogs running a dog track, and the prize is right before them all the way. You ever see that on TV, right? You see the dogs, they never get, that's what many of us are like. If I just get to the prize, then I, if I get to that level, if I get to the, then I'll be, you're not gonna be happy because money in this world will not satisfy your soul. Finding the perfect spouse will not satisfy your soul. Having 16 kids will not satisfy your soul. I drive you crazy, actually, I don't know. The only thing that will satisfy your soul is a relationship with the God who loves you, a relationship with the God who made you, a relationship with the God who calls you even right now, according to his purpose. This is why the psalmist would say,

"'My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord. "'My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.'" And I love this, he says, "'Better is one day.'" Somebody shout out, "'Better is one day.'" Better is one day. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Better is one day in the presence of the Lord than having limitless amounts of money or fame or friends. Better is one day in the courts of the Lord. And because God knew this was our greatest need, he went to the greatest lengths to meet it. Ephesians chapter two, verse 12, says, remember, everybody shout out, remember. Remember, you are separate from Christ, without hope and without God in the world. But now, this is a good but now, everybody say, but now. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus Christ. I wonder if there's anybody who's grateful for being brought near to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Brought near to a relationship with a God who loves you and made through Jesus Christ. Listen, God loves you so much that he looks at the one thing that could get in between you and a relationship with a God who loves you, and that is sin. And God says, I will send my son, Jesus Christ, to the cross that he would take the penalty for your sin and mine on the cross.

And in exchange, when you trust him, you receive all of the rewards for Jesus' perfect life. He forgives your sin, he makes you a new person. And from that point on, you have the hope for the rest of eternity that you walk with God and that he is your chief shepherd. This is the hope Jesus is putting. And friends, you don't need to do anything to work for it. You can't do anything to earn it. Christianity is not, I'm just trying harder to be a better person. I know that gets misunderstood a lot. Christianity is not about what you do. It is about what Jesus Christ has done. And if you're here today and you haven't yet given your life to Jesus, the reason why you're here is because God wants you to take that step and to become his child. And I know some of you, you've been following Jesus for a while. And I just need to remind you of the very same truth, better is one day in the courts of the Lord. We Christians are absolutely, absolutely not able to fully avoid being entranced by some of the glittery things in the world. And as good as all that stuff looks, I wanna remind you, those who know and love Jesus today, there is nothing better than being in the presence of the Lord. No shiny thing, no fat bank account,

no beautiful person, no great style, compares to simply knowing and loving Jesus Christ, amen? Let's worship him, let's worship him. And so I wanna pray. I'm gonna simply pray right now that our good shepherd Jesus Christ meets us in whatever place of need we find ourselves. Father, today, some of us come into church weary and we're just tired. And Father, I pray that we would be willing to listen to your voice where you say, we will be led to still waters. And even now I pray, would you Holy Spirit bring rest on the weary ones? Would they experience your comfort? Would they experience your refreshment? I pray for the one who's in a dark valley right now of suffering. I pray for the one right now who's hurting and I pray they would stay close to your paths through the word of God, that they might experience your comfort. Even in the midst of that dark valley, Father, would you breathe strength? Would you bring peace? Would you breathe hope? You might not pluck. them out of that dark valley, but you will walk with them through it. Would they feel your presence even right now? For some today are dealing with opposition. Some of my brothers and sisters have some very real enemies. They may not be people,

some other kind of opposition, health opposition. I pray they would have a spirit of perseverance. I pray they would not give up, and as they are faithful to you, as they walk with you, Jesus, would they experience your blessing and favor? Would you pour out their cup of their lives to overflowing? Would you set a table for them even in the midst of opposition? And over all of these things, God, as good as your blessings are, would you just give us more of yourself? Jesus, would we just walk closer to you? Would you fill our hearts in a way that nothing in this world can possibly approach? As we would stay close to you, Lord Jesus. Now, staying in this place of prayer, I have no doubt that the reason why God brought some of you today to church is because he wants you to start a relationship with him. You do not have a relationship with him if you just attend church services. You do not have a relationship with him if you are baptized when you're a baby or your parents are Christian. You have a relationship with God when you come to a place you recognize you're a sinner who needs the forgiveness Jesus paid for on the cross. You have a relationship with God when you put your trust in Jesus Christ. You choose to ask him for forgiveness of your sins, and you choose to follow him for the rest of your life. God wants some of you to come home today. And so in just a moment, I'm gonna count to three. And when I say three, I'm just gonna ask you to put your hand in the air. If today's the day you want to give your life to Jesus, I'm not gonna call you out, I'm not gonna embarrass you, but I am gonna ask you with raised hand in a moment to declare that today's the day you want to give your life to Christ. You want to ask God to forgive your sins that you could begin following him from this point forward. God's gonna make you new. And so one, I want you to know God loves you so much that he gave his son Jesus to die on a cross for your sins. Two, that same Jesus who would die on a cross was raised to life three days later, so that as you would put your trust in him, you too could be raised to new life. And three, if today is the day you want to give your life to Jesus, could you put that hand up in the air right now as a way of saying before God, today, God, is the day I am coming home. I see you in the back. God bless you. Who

else is here saying, today is the day I need to become a brand new creation of Christ? I see you back there. Good job. I see you over there. Awesome. Who else today is saying, I need to come home. I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to quit running from him and invite him to forgive my sins. Declare before God with a raised hand, this is me. I see you right in the middle, sir. Good job. I'm gonna pray right now. You can put your hands down if you had a moment, but I want to ask you to agree with this prayer in your own heart. And so Father, I just say, thank you for the invitation to experience forgiveness. I put my trust in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for me. Beginning right now, Jesus, I choose to follow you. Would you be my shepherd? Would you guide me along your best paths? I will follow you now and join you someday in eternity. I pray it in Jesus' strong name. And all God's people said, amen. Let's celebrate new life in the house today, church. So good. So good. And listen, if you just gave your life to Jesus, then I want to encourage you. This team standing in the aisles, they've got a Bible and they've got a book. It's all for free for you. And I want to encourage you, as they're in the aisles, just wave to them if you had your hand up a minute ago. They're gonna send a Bible and a book down the road for you. And it's gonna help you get started in your relationship with Christ. So don't be hesitant. Just give a little little bit of a hand wave there. And there's a card that's part of that packet. I want to ask you to fill out that card because that lets me be able to reach out to you this week. I just want to text you and congratulate you and say good job. So let's stand to our feet right now, church. And we're gonna end this day by lifting up the name of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your name. Name above all names. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your grace. Everlasting grace. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your name. Name above all names.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your grace. Everlasting grace. He reigns. He rose. He reigns. He never knew. His power is insane. His resurrection saves. He reigns. He reigns. Defeated, damned, and free. His power is insane. His resurrection saves. He reigns.