Stand Firm Sunday Service with Joby Martin

- Well, good morning church. Thanks for coming to church. Can you stand to your feet? We're gonna lift up Jesus. Is that all right? He's good. We're just gonna thank him for his faithfulness, thank him for who he is, what he's done to us. He's always, he never changes the same yesterday, today and forever more. Our God is good. Come on, sing with me. (upbeat music) ♪ And great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh God my Father ♪ ♪ There is no shadow of turning with me ♪ ♪ Thou change his love ♪ ♪ Thy compassion ♪ ♪ They fill now ♪ ♪ As thou has been ♪ ♪ Thou forever will be ♪ Let sing say great. ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Warning thy morning ♪ ♪ New mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed ♪ ♪ That heaven hath provided ♪ ♪ And great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Lord unto me ♪

♪ All are so grateful for your time ♪ ♪ Part in for sin ♪ ♪ And the peace that endure it ♪ ♪ Night on dear presence ♪ ♪ To cheer and to die ♪ ♪ Stray for today ♪ ♪ And I hope for tomorrow ♪ ♪ Blessed is all mine ♪ ♪ With ten thousand beside ♪ ♪ Let's declare say great is your faithful ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ All great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Faithfulness ♪ ♪ Warning thy morning ♪ ♪ New mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed ♪ ♪ That heaven hath provided ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Lord unto me ♪ ♪ Oh we don't deserve it God ♪ ♪ But you've been so good, so good, so good ♪ ♪ And great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh God my faith ♪ ♪ Yeah sing it out, see there is ♪ ♪ There is no shadow of learning ♪ ♪ See never changes ♪ ♪ Thou changes not like compassion ♪ ♪ They fail not as thou has been ♪ ♪ Thou forever will be ♪ ♪ Oh we sing great and greatest ♪

♪ Thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Warning thy morning ♪ ♪ New mercies I see ♪ ♪ All I have needed ♪ ♪ Thy hand hath provided ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Lord unto me ♪ And then you know that today? Our despair, and our doubting, and our depression, and our unmet expectations, they don't change the faithfulness of God. He is who He is. And He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So we can come before Him this morning. And because He is faithful, when we're faithless, I pray that our faith would be stirred up to believe that He can move in supernatural, powerful ways, that He's still with us and for us, and walking with us. And we can echo the writer of limitations, limitations 3.21, it says, "But this I call the mind, in my moment of despair, in my moment walking through the valley, that the steadfast love of the Lord, it never ceases, that His mercy never fails. The new, every morning, great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness." So we're going to declare that His promise still stands, that He is still faithful.

And we're going to be people that have hope, because Jesus is alive. Because the cross has the final word, amen? So Jesus, we continue to believe and trust that you are who you say you are. When life tells us a different narrative, a different story. We trust in the Jesus. Walking around these walls, I thought by now they'd fall, but you never failed. But you have never failed me. Waiting for change to come, knowing the battle's won. For you have never failed me yet. And when we declare His promise then, Your promise still stands, great is your faithfulness. Your faithfulness. I'm still in Your hands. This is my confidence. You've never failed. And you never will, like I cannot fail. I know the night won't last, because Your Word will come to battle. And my heart will sing Your praise again. Oh, we're singing Your praise even from the valley, because Jesus, You're still enough. Keep me within Your love. My heart will sing Your praise again. And again and again, we sing Your promise then.

Your promise still stands, great is Your faithfulness. Your faithfulness. I'm still in Your hands. And this is my confidence. You've never, You promised it. Your promise still stands, great is Your faithfulness. Your faithfulness. I'm still in Your hands. And this is my confidence. You've never, you've never failed. You've never failed. And you won't start today. But we claim every promise. Oh, you remember. Your faith. You're good. You're true. Come on, let your heart be certain today with all the things that God is. All the things that God has done. How far I believe today, give His face a full mouth God. To believe. Come on, let's sing this with faith. I've seen You move. You move the mountains. And I believe. I'll see You do it again. You made a way.

When there was no way, and I believe I'm seeing, I've seen you too, I've seen you both, you've moved my mind, and I believe, I've seen you too, it hurt you, you made the way, But there was no way, in time we'd, I'd see you do it again, it's a well, I'll trace your name in the letter to the living, I'll see you do it again. Come on, let's clap, let's wait as long as one more time we sing is promised things, lift your voice to heaven and sing. Here from his still stands, great is... I'm still in your hands, this is my confidence, you never fed me yet. You never fed me yet, you never will, you never fed me yet. Come on, give praise to a God who's faithful, who's true, who's good, who's merciful, who's fresh mercies for today, amen. And I'm so thankful you all are here this morning, thank you for lifting up praise with me, with us together today. Once you greet those around you before you take your seat. I spent 39 years building my own kingdom and just didn't know, and I was embarrassed and broken. And when a good friend of mine just lovingly just reached out and bam gave me that gospel. I truly revealed scales from my eyelids like Paul talks about. When I was in the Marine Corps they taught us to fight as a unit, you never fought alone, you always had your brothers on your left and on your right. When I entered into base camp, I had my brothers with me, I had my friends, my mentors, the people that had poured the living water of the word of God into my life. They were my brothers, they were my family, those are the guys that made the difference when it counted. As men, you know, we've all had experiences that are hurtful and painful and we have suffering and we have this life that we've lived that we can share with other people. And we can't hide and not tell anyone what we've been through because they may have gone through the same thing. And when you plant those seeds, he's the one watering it, he's the one bringing the increase. And all you got to do is be faithful to share what you're learning, what he's teaching you. Church give Jesus the biggest shout of glory you got, he's worthy, yes he is. Thank you Lord, we've had a phenomenal, amazing Holy Spirit weekend as the men of abundant life. So blessed, I'm talking revival among men, not just our church, but many churches from the region. We've traveled clear from Canada this weekend and Belgrade, Montana, I'm telling you, it's wonderful to see what God has done and thankful. Joby Martin's become a very, very dear friend of mine. Few men I admire more than Joby, he pastors 1122 in Jacksonville, Florida, which I describe as a Holy Spirit phenomenon. Can't be explained, it's a gospel freight train. And he has become what I call America's pastor just about everywhere I go, people listen to Joby. And honestly, I can't think of a better voice for people to listen to today as he preaches the Word of God with humility, but without apology. Would you give it up right now for our friend back to abundant life once again? So grateful man, so grateful, appreciate it, appreciate it.

Good morning, good morning, good morning, how we doing church, good? It's so good to see you, it's so good to be back. I love your church so much, I love your pastor so much. Hey, we do have one thing in common, I'm a jaguar, no problem. And you guys are playing the Broncos, we're playing the Colts, we're praying against all the white horses today. Can I get an amen? Only Jesus deserves, He says, He deserves. so we're gonna pray against the other white horses. Hey, listen, how many of you came to the men's conference? They make, oh, let's go, let's go men. Way to go, way to go. Real quick, I talked to the men for hours this weekend. So let me talk to the wives real quick, okay? First of all, thank you, thank you for your prayers, thank you for your support, thank you for sending your man. Now here's the thing, if they have a brain in their skull and a pulse in their body, then when they got home from the men's conference, they're gonna begin to step into some new spaces, okay? And I know you're nervous, you're like, oh boy, here we go again. And they may not have done a great job before, I don't know, I don't live in your house, but just know, if they start leaning in and starting to serve a little more, or if they begin to say, maybe how can I pray for you, then here's what I need, okay? We don't need any nagging. I get it, we don't be like, well, you just fired up from the men's conference,

whoa, whoa, whoa, darling, relax, okay? Here's your posture, okay? See, men are simple, men are like puppies, they repeat what's rewarded. So when your man begins to apologize or serve or pray, even if he hadn't prayed for you, says to Bush administration, okay, here's your job, ready ladies, that's right here. Hercules, Hercules, that's what I need you to do, all right? It'll go well for you. All right, if you got your Bibles, we're gonna very familiar passage. The 23rd Psalm is where we're going. And here's my intention, I'm gonna preach to the gospel, and if you're like, wait a minute, I thought the gospel was in the New Testament, the gospel is on every page of the Bible cover to cover, 'cause the whole thing is about one thing, the whole thing is about Jesus. I'm gonna preach the gospel, and then we are gonna celebrate men and women going public with their faith by getting baptized. People are gonna reject the sins of their past, the ways of this world, anything darker demonic, they've ever been connected to, and pledge their allegiance to Christ in Christ alone, and then in the lobbies right after the service, people are gonna get baptized. The 23rd Psalm, even if you're brand new to Bible study, you've heard this one before.

The Psalmist David says this, the Lord is my shepherd, and if you look closely at your Bibles, you'll see it's a capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. And anytime in the English translations that all the letters are capitalized, then the Hebrew word that's being translated is the covenant name of God, Yahweh. This name was given by God to Moses when he bumps into God in a burning bush. And then the Lord of hosts, Yahweh, the king of the universe tells Moses, I want you to go and tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And Moses eventually gets talked into it, and he says, "But who shall I say sent me?" And God says, "You tell them that I am who I am." Yahweh is my name, and this is the God that's gonna bring 10 plagues to squish all the little G gods of Egypt. This is the God that's gonna rescue his people out of Egypt, they're gonna walk across the Red Sea on dry ground. They are going to establish the nation of Israel. This is the Lord of lords, the king of kings, the God of the universe. And David says, he's my shepherd. Here's the question, is he yours? Is he yours? Because one of the most unbelievable things about the offer of the gospel is that the king of the universe

offers to be your shepherd. And do you know what it takes for him to be your shepherd? You just ask him. There's a verse in the Bible, and Pastor Phil can double check me here, he knows the Bible better than I do, but it's the only prayer in all of the Bible that I can find that gets answered 100% of the time. Romans 10, 13. For all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Not might be saved, not may be saved, not give it a good try and we'll see when you get there. For all who call on the name of the Lord, that did just mean you say the word Lord Lord, but for all who turn their life over to Jesus as Lord, you will be saved. The Lord is my shepherd. And I got some really good news, man. It might be a little scary news. Jesus in John chapter 10 says he is the good shepherd. And if we are to follow after Jesus, every single one of us in the room at some point in our life get to play the role as a shepherd, that we are responsible for some other people. Whether you're a mom or a dad or a teacher or a coach or an employer, whatever it is, we get the opportunity to play the role as a shepherd and we should be the kind of shepherds, like Jesus is a good shepherd who's willing to lay down his life or his sheep.

And here's the problem in our Western American thinking is we got a lot of cowboys and not very many shepherds. Now before I lean on cowboys, I'm not saying anything disparaging about cowboys. Can we be honest? Centers. But can we admit, Rip is the coolest guy who's ever been on television. I mean, when that dude says if you want to fight, fight me, I was like, that ought to be a proverb, man. Cowboys are cool. So I'm not saying negative things about cowboys. I'm just saying that the Bible hasn't called us to be cowboys. The Bible has called us to be shepherds. Something interesting in the New Testament that we're a shepherd and pastor are the same word. And I travel to churches all over the place and speak of all the conferences. And one of the things that makes me nervous about a lot of churches today is we got too many cowboys and not enough shepherds. Because cowboys can't head a cattle. And shepherds take care of their sheep. Cowboys fatten the calves and cattle so they can make more of the market and shepherds feed their sheep. The cowboys get in the back and push cattle to where they don't want to go. And shepherds go first and say, follow me like Paul says. And 1 Corinthians 11, 1, follow me as I follow Christ.

And here's the scariest one of all, cowboys love being cowboys. But shepherds love the sheep. I mean, think about this, cowboys love being cowboys. There are cowboy stores where you can go by cowboy clothes. Do you realize this? I mean, I wear cowboy clothes all the time. I wear cowboy boots. I got a cowboy buckle. I wear a cowboy jacket. I got a cowboy hat right back here. And here's the thing. I don't know a cow. I don't know a cow. You ever seen a shepherd store? There are no shepherd stores here in Missouri. You'd be like, hey, I get like a bathrobe with like a crook and some open-toed sandals. Nobody wants to look like that. And yet what the Bible has called us to be, mom, dad, grandparents, aunt, uncles, teacher, coach, he's called us to love and to care for and to know and to be willing to lay down our life for a sheep. By the way, abundant life, you have one of the best shepherds of this generation in the country. [APPLAUSE] So it says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. That means I shall not be and want. That if you have Jesus, you have everything that you need. That the reason we follow Jesus is not

because he makes our life better. The reason we follow Jesus is because he is better than life. And when you have him, you have everything that you need. And if you don't have him, you don't have anything. So far so good. Verse two, if you're young, this is going to bother you a little bit. He makes me lie down. And you might be like, well, hold on one second. Nobody makes me do anything. This shepherd makes you do things. And if he hadn't made you do something lately, then it might be because you're your own shepherd. He makes you do all kind of things, like confess your sin and repent and offer forgiveness to people that don't even deserve it. And he says, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads to me beside still waters. There's a book by a guy named Philip Keller who is a shepherd. And he writes this book called A Shepherd's Look at Psalm 23. And by the way, church, I don't know if you realize this, but the Bible, one of the primary illustrations for church people that the Bible uses is sheep. It's not a compliment. Now, we think it's a compliment because of the Bible bookstores. And every time you've ever seen a sheep in a Bible bookstore, there's like Jesus, you ever notice the pictures of Jesus? He's Swedish, I don't know how that worked out. He's got blonde hair, straight, no split ends, bathrobe, Miss America Sash, British accent, right?

And he's always got a big fluffy white cotton ball sheep sitting on his lap, and he's petting it, and he's like, hello, I'm Jesus, all right? That is not who the Bible describes whatsoever. If you've ever seen an actual sheep, if you're far enough away, they're cute, but the closer you get, you realize they're gross, they're dingy, they're muddy, they have other things that I'm gonna say all over them, they stink and they're dumb. And God says, that reminds me of some people I know. (congregation laughing) Yeah. That the reason that the shepherd has to make the sheep lie down in green pastures is because a sheep is one of the very few animals on the planet that cannot distinguish between poisonous berries and edible berries. Can you believe that there is a species on the planet that will continuously put poisons in their body? It's hard to get your mind around that, isn't it? And then also the reason that the shepherd has to lead them beside still waters is because a sheep is so dumb and they'll stick their head into drink, and then the wool around their head will get saturated heavy, and it will drag them in, and they'll drown. And if you still think I'm talking about sheep, then you are one. Because we're not smart.

We're not smart. But he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul, abundant life. There's some of you in here right now, and you need your soul to be restored. And there's not a pill you can take. There's not a vacation that you can go on. There's not a amount of money that could restore your soul. Only the one that created your soul can restore your soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. Well, why do we need to be led in paths of righteousness? I feel like this group knows the old hymn, "Come thou found." And there's this great line in there that says, "Prom to wander, Lord, I feel it. "Prom to leave the God I love." Anybody else prone to wander? Like I've been in full-time vocational ministry for 34 years. I've never met the person that wakes up one day and be like, "Today's the day I'm going to ruin my life." I've never had. I've never met the person to be like, "Today's the day I'm going to start the affair, "steal the money, lie on my taxes, whatever." It's just one small step in the wrong direction at a time and we're prone to wander, "Lord, I feel it. "Prom to leave the God I love." And so what we need is we need a good shepherd. In fact, Martin Luther says that the life of the Christian

is that of daily repentance. Every single day we've got to reorient ourselves back to these paths of righteousness. And this is way more than just right over wrong. Every single decision that we make has us on a path one leads to life and one leads to death. This is why Jesus and John chapter 10, when he says, "He is the good shepherd." He says this. He says, "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, "but I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly." He goes on to say, "My sheep hear my voice. "The voice of a stranger they will not listen to." In every single time we hear and heed the voice of the good shepherd and we obey what he says, especially when we don't understand. It leads to abundant life and abundant life is not a prize at the end of getting it right. The abundant life is in the obedience of following after you're a good shepherd. He restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness. So far so good, right? I think a part of the reason this psalm is so popular in America is because so far we're like, man, the Lord is my shepherd. And he's doing all of these wonderful things for me. And if you look through the text, you think he's really into me. Well, here's the thing, look at this next line. The reason that he does all these things is for his name's sake. If you take notes, maybe you just want to jot this down. It ain't about you. It ain't about you.

Now, God is for you. It's just not about you. Anybody that would send his only begotten son to die for you is for you. And the Bible says that God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we still sinners, Christ died for us. So he's for you. It's just not all about you. And the moment you begin to realize that it's not all about you, actually the weight of the world falls off of your shoulders when you realize it's all about him. And listen, I get it, man. The younger you are, the more offensive this is. Because you've been taught your whole life, it's about you. Because your kindergarten teacher told you that you were a snowflake and you were a skittle and your puppy's breath. Well, listen here, skittle. Your kindergarten teacher lied to you. You're a crooked and depraved, wretched, black-hearted sinner in need of a savior. But God, being rich in mercy, came to do for us what none of us deserve because he is a good shepherd. And the reason that he did it was not even for you. You were a means to his, God glorifying him. He does it for his namesake. Now, if you weren't familiar with Psalm 23, you would think, "Well, if the Lord is my shepherd and he's leading me beside still waters and green pastures and he's restoring my soul." You would think the rest of the Psalm would go something like this. So if I just follow him, it'll be Cadillac cotton candy for the rest of my days. But it doesn't go that way. Why? Because David had an actual life.

And the next verse is, "And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." You see, commentators don't know exactly when David wrote this Psalm. I'm in the camp that thinks he wrote it later in life because of the emotion involved. And David walked through some valleys. I mean, Saul, as boss, tried to kill him. He blew up his own life, had an affair with Bathsheba. He'd lost a child, and there's no pain like kid pain. And this one, I'm sorry for how graphic this is, but the Bible, it can be a dangerous book sometimes. At one point, you think you got family issues. One of his sons raped one of his daughters. And then another one of his sons killed the brother that raped the daughter. And then that brother grew up to throw a coup to try to take over the family business, which was being king of Israel. You think you got family issues? David has some serious issues. Some of them were self-inflicted, and some of them were a direct attack of the enemy. You see, when David stood in the valley of Allah against the giant, he faced giants for the rest of his life. And he wrote, "And though I walk through the valley "of the shadow of death," I know this abundant life. Some of you walked in today, and you feel like you're in the valley

of the shadow of death. You had that doctor's appointment, and it's back. You lost the loved one, your marriage is on a rock. You got some serious kid pain, whatever it is. And he says, "And ye, though I walk through the valley "of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. "For you are with me." If you pay close attention to the pronouns in Psalm 23, he went from talking about God to talking to God. Because I don't know if you realize this, but you will never be closer to the Lord when you are on the floor and need Him the most. And he says, "And though I walk through the valley "of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil "because you are with me." The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. The most commanded thing in all of the Bible is this, fear not, be not afraid. In the King James version of the Bible, 366 times, we are commanded to not be afraid. I don't know about you, but every day of my life, including leap year, I need to hear, do not be afraid. Why? Because there's nothing to fear. Oh, there's all kinds of things to fear. I mean, look at our crazy culture that we live in. There's all kinds of things going along around us, but the reason that we are to not be afraid is because you are with us. And by the way, the opposite of faith is not doubt.

If you've got doubts and unanswered questions, I've got really good news. You can make a great disciple. Just pick up your doubts and follow after Jesus. It's all throughout the New Testament. And then one day, if you do that, all of your doubts go away. Not next Tuesday, but when you get to heaven, nobody has any doubts. Nobody's gonna come up to you in heaven and be like, "You really believe in Jesus?" He'd be like, "Uh, just ask Him, that's Him." Right? But the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is fear. Because faith produces action and fear paralyzes. And the difference between faith and fear is this. When you look into the future, who do you think is in control? And if you think you are in control, you will be gripped with fear. But if you realize and remember that He's still got the whole world in His hands, then you can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. Because you know that God is with you. In fact, the Bible says that fear is not a personality type, that fear is a spirit. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 1-7, he says this. Listen to him, God has not given you a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and a sound mind. Scared is fine. If you're scared, scared is feeling. Just do it scared. Because when you're scared and by faith, you march forward in the direction of the good shepherd, that's called courage and we need some more churches in our country that step forward in courage. I'm so glad to hear the announcement about Tuesday in this church, man. Don't be afraid. He says, so yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The rod was for protection. The staff was for direction. That the rod was a stick with a big ball on it and a wolf came up. And when a wolf came up, the shepherd did not pet the wolf. He did not try to train the wolf. He did not tolerate the wolf. give you the right foot of fellowship, okay? Get out of here. But then what he would do with his shepherd's crook is he did not mind making the sheep uncomfortable to get them back on track because he loves us and he takes care of us. And a part of the reason that we don't have to fear our circumstances and we don't have to fear evil is because our God, Yahweh, the Lord who through Jesus Christ is our Father is with us. Listen man, I grew up in a little, little country town, you can tell by the way I talk.

I grew up in a little country town in South Carolina called Dylan, South Carolina. All right? Nobody's ever heard of it or been there. If you go, make sure your tetanus shot is up to date, okay, because it'll get on you. It's just a little stop on the way to Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach is like the Redneck Riviera, okay? And that's where I grew up. And every Saturday of my life, well, we would get up and we would go fishing in this little two-man Johnboat that my dad and his dad made. And when I was six, seven, eight years old and we would go fishing on Saturday, what do you think I was worried about? Nothing. Why? Because my dad was with me. Was I worried about setting an alarm? No way. Daddy was going to wake us up. Was I worried about how we were going to get there? No chance. We would get in our 73 Chevy with three on the column and we'd pile in and we would go and we'd listen to a Johnny Cash 8-trap, Google 8-trap, you're going to love it, all right? We'd listen to Ring of Fire with that one little speaker on the dashboard, you know? I'll fill into a burning ring of fire. My daddy would smoke like a freight train. We had that one little triangle window that we would crack open so we could get some oxygen and die of asphyxiation. But we weren't worried about it. Were we worried about safety? No, we weren't worried about safety.

My little brother, who's now a police officer, would stand in the middle on the bench seat. But daddy didn't need a seat belt. He had that power arm, you know that move right there? In fact, one time I dropped an Allen later and it got stuck in the seats and I was looking for it and I found the seat belt. I didn't know what it was. I pulled it up. I said, "Daddy, what's this?" And he was like, "Son, tuck that thing back in there and fly around and hurt somebody, all right?" Was I worried about official license? I'm not convinced he was either, but I wasn't worried about it. I wasn't worried about bait. I wasn't worried about where we were going to fish. He had everything under control and every single day we would do the same thing, man. I wasn't worried about lunch, you know why? My daddy would bring a can of vine-a-sausages. You might know what a vine-a-sausages is. I was sharing this story at our church and somebody from Pontevidra came up and says, "Pasta is Viana." I was like, "I sound like I say Viana, it's Viana, that's how I say it." And I'd be like, "Daddy, what's for lunch?" And he cracked that can open and looked on there to be this little undisclosed content on the top and he'd chum it a little bit, flick it out there into the water, and then every week, he'd look at it and he'd go, "Boy, you know what these are made out of?" I can't even tell the answer, I'll never get invited back. It was lips and another body part that is inappropriate to say and he'd go, "You know what these are made out of?" And he'd go, "Let me say it." And I'd be like, "Oh, I'm so gross."

So he'd be like, "You want one of them, I got to do them, oh, and I'd eat them up." Here's the thing, man. If my dad, who is not perfect, can take care of me when I was a little kid, how much more will your heavenly Father give to you everything you need through the blood of his son Jesus Christ? And yeah, though, I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're Rod and your staff, they come for me, check this next part out, verse 5, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." So I'm going to look at that and I'm like, "God, why don't you just prepare to take out my enemies?" And yet what he does is he prepares in the worst circumstances that you find yourself, he prepares a table in the presence. This is reminiscent of Revelation 3, 20, where Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, I will come in and sit down at the table and eat with him and he with me." And so you know when you're sitting at the table with someone, you don't have to make an appointment with them. And when the Prince of Peace sits down at your table, peace sits down at your table. Now one of the mistakes that we make as believers is we keep inviting the enemy to the table. And the reason that you can cast all your cares upon him and he cares for you is 'cause he's sitting at the table with you and you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Now oil in the Old Testament would represent the Spirit of God. In the New Testament, one of the representations of the Holy Spirit in you is what we're about

to do when you get baptized. You see, he says his cup overflows. Do you know why at Abundant Life we baptized by immersion? 'Cause that's what the word means. The word is "baptizo." And every single time in the Bible, somebody got baptized, it was after they confessed, Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. And he didn't just sprinkle just enough little Holy Spirit on you so that you could get into heaven. The Bible says this, John says, "Oh, what manner of love the Father has lavished upon me "that I could be called a child of God." And so when you get baptized and you were in that water, it is a picture when you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior that you have died to yourself. Now listen to me, there's nothing magical about that water. The same water that fills up those baptisms fills up all the other things to get filled up here in this church. It's not the water that saves you, it's the blood of Jesus, faith in the finished work of Christ that saves you. You're saved before you get in the water. But what you're doing is you were telling the whole world that I am dying to myself, I'm being buried with Christ, the blood of Jesus represented by this water in the baptismal, washes away my sin, and then I am resurrected to a newness of life.

And I don't just have barely enough of the grace to get me into heaven, but my cup overflows with the grace of God in my life. So if you've never been baptized as a believer, you should. And if you're like, well, I got baptized as a kid, no problem, let me just tell you, you're not rejecting what your parents did for you, you're ratifying it. That if you were sprinkled as a baby, or christened, or whatever it is, do you know what your parents were praying then? They were hoping, praying to God, that you would be raised in such a way where this act that happened to you would become personal, that you would know Jesus for yourself, and that you would be dead buried with him and resurrected to newness of life. So you're not rejecting what your parents did, they were just doing what they knew to do in the tradition they grew up in, and you're not rejecting it, you're actually confirming it, and you should get baptized. He says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, my cup overflows, and then this is how he ends, I love it so much. He says, surely goodness and mercy. She'll follow me all the days of my life. Well, what does that mean?

Well, who do you think goodness and mercy are? It's not like two little kids dressed up like Halloween characters are like, oh, there's goodness and mercy, no. The personification of goodness and mercy is Jesus, the Son of God. Surely goodness and mercy follows me all the days of my life. Listen to me, abundant life. Many of you have been following Jesus for many years. Praise God. Did you ever realize he's been following you from before the foundation of time? In fact, if you don't know Christ, that God worked out every detail in your life, whether you're watching online, if you're at one of the church houses, if you're at one of the campuses, if you're right here, that Jesus have followed you into this very place, and here's why, he wants you. In Mark chapter three, the Bible says that Jesus calls all to himself whom he desires. That's right, goodness and mercy has been following you because he wants you. And you say, are you sure about me? I promise you he wants you. How do I know that? See the cross. The God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten son so that he could come and rescue you.

And if you were to save me, yeah, but pastor, you don't know what I've done. And I would say, then you don't know what he has done for you because there is more grace in Jesus than sin in you. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. And then the way David ends this is, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Like what does that mean? This is the Hebrew way of saying, I'm gonna be with God in heaven forever and ever and ever. It can't be the temple. Nobody can dwell in any house forever. The temple doesn't even exist. It was knocked down in 70 A.D. "I'm going to heaven." And if you were to say to David, well, David, how are you going to heaven? Is it because you're good? And David would say, no, I'm not good. I mean, Psalm 51 says that I was born in iniquity. Did you not hear my rap sheet earlier? There is a long list of things that would keep me out of heaven. The only way I am going to heaven is because I have received the free gift of grace offered to me by Jesus Christ on the cross. Years ago at my church, there was this guy, he went to be with the Lord.

I miss him so much. We called him Amen Frank. Every church needs a good Amen Frank. And he had this big baritone voice and he would say, amen, like real loud. And in all the right times too, even today while I'm preaching at my church, I'll say something awesome. And I know it's awesome. The Lord knows it's awesome. Frank knows it's awesome, but he's in heaven. And nobody will Amen. And I'll say, man, I miss Amen Frank. And so Amen Frank sent me this YouTube clip of a preacher. And it's the best sermon I've ever heard, maybe in my entire life, okay? And it's by a pastor named Alistair Begg. All right, good, you know him. Well, Alistair Begg is a Scottish Presbyterian that preaches in the United States. And so he's got a Scottish accent. So if you listen to him, he sounds about 50 IQ points higher, 'cause it's like Braveheart is sharing the gospel with you. It's so great. I know when you hear my accent, you deduct some IQ points 'cause, you know, that's just how I sound. And so in fact, I was telling our church, hey, you need to listen to this sermon by Alistair Begg.

I said it about four times. And people came up to me in the lobby and like, I didn't even know the Japanese guy was a Christian. I was like, no, not Alex Trebek. Alistair Begg. So when you get home, if you need more preaching, just go to YouTube, type in Alistair Begg, the man on the middle cross. And here's what Alistair says. He says, we have to constantly preach the gospel to ourselves. We have to constantly preach the gospel to ourselves, 'cause if we're not careful, we think that the reason that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever is because of us. And he boils it down to this. He says, if somebody were to ask you that spring break question, if you were to die tonight and you were standing before God and he said, why should I let you in my heaven? How do you respond? And if you began to answer that in the first person, you've gotten it wrong. If you begin to say because I, because I prayed, because I went to church, because I'm a good person, then you don't understand the gospel. You have to answer in the third person, because of what you did for me, because you died on the cross, because you paid dependability for my sin.

And then Alistair Begg goes on to say, when I get to heaven, I really wanna track down that thief on the cross that Jesus promised surely today he will be with me in paradise. Because this guy did nothing to deserve it. He is on the cross. There's one thief that begins to rail at Jesus saying, if you are who you say you are, save yourself and us with you. By the way, this is how a lot of people come to church. God, if you are God, then here's how you better prove yourself to me and then maybe I will consider following you. But the other man simply asked for a favor. This is a man, if you're saved, it's 'cause God did you a favor. And he simply asked, will you remember me this day in heaven? In Jesus, anybody in the New Testament makes it heaven. We know this brother made it heaven, 'cause Jesus says, truly, surely I say, I know you, today you will be with me in paradise. And so Alistair Begg just kind of speculates a little bit, and he says, I wonder what it was like when he got there. I mean, one second, he's on the cross, breathing his last. The next, he's standing at the pearly gates, and none of us know exactly how it goes down. But Alistair Begg says,

maybe there's like a big reception desk, like when you're checking into a hotel, and there's the person, the check-in person, some lower angel, and then all of a sudden, here's the thief on the cross, and he walks up. And the guy, the angel behind the desk, is, well, hi, sir, how are you? What are you doing here? To which the man would be like, I don't know. And he goes, well, you know, this is heaven, and so do you expect to get in? And the thief on the cross is like, I'm not really sure. And so they're just standing. archangel and so he goes in he gets his manager and then here comes the real expert and says sir this is a really big deal to enter into the glory of God and only those who have been redeemed or allowed to enter into the glory of God so let me just ask you a couple of questions could you please explain to me justification through the atoning redemption of the blood of the lamb and guys like do what okay well could we talk about the doctrine of salvation and election and the man would say I'm not sure what you're talking about I mean this man's never been to church this man's never been to Sunday school never been to a Bible study at no point has anybody explained all the doctrine and doctrine matters but he's standing on nothing to which the archangel would say then by what means do you suppose to enter into paradise to which the man would simply reply the man on the middle cross said I could come that's it the man on the middle cross said I could come and surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever listen the only paperwork that matters in eternity is not your resume and not your birth certificate it's your RSVP to the invitation to say the Lord is my shepherd how do you do that it's not easy to be a Christian but it's

simple to become it's as simple as a B C a I admit it I'm a sinner in need of a savior I'm not a bad person that just needs to do better but I am a sinner in need of a savior and I can't say myself that's what the A is the B is I believe or I trust that when Jesus Christ pushed upon His nail pierced feet and He says it is finished that somehow by trusting that that you know that that counted for me even if you can't explain it with all the theological terminology that you believe you trust that when Jesus died on the cross his debt payment counted for me in the sea it's Romans 10 13 for all who call on the name of the Lord will be safe you've never done that I want to give you the opportunity to call on the name of the Lord this morning not because of anything that you have done but because goodness and mercy has been following you all the days of your life and the king of the universe is inviting you to turn your life over to him and then when we get finished responding we are going to go celebrate some men some women some students who are ready to go public with their faith and to declare to the whole world in everybody watching Jesus is my Lord and Savior would you bow your heads would you close your eyes and if this morning for the very first time you've never put your faith in Christ you thought you had to be good or do good you thought you had to pass a theology exam but today for the very first time in a way maybe that you can't describe you just can't deny you know that the good shepherd is calling to you to surrender your life to him to admit it I'm a sinner I need a Savior to believe on Christ in his finished work on the cross for your salvation and today for the very first time if you are ready to call on the name of the Lord I want you to lift your hand as high as you can and you don't have to repeat after me but you say whatever your words you want but here are some good ones Lord Jesus saved me and that is a prayer that gets answered one hundred percent of the time our good and gracious heavenly Father God I thank you for your grace I thank you that you are the good shepherd God I thank you that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we can fear no evil because you are with us and God I thank you that you set your son Jesus and you have been following us all the days of

our life and for anybody that surrenders their life to you God that we will dwell with you forever and ever and ever we pray this in Jesus name amen thank you Church come on would you stand would you stand with me right now we're gonna declare that the goodness and mercy of God is gonna follow us all the days of our life in Christ amen we declare this together today sing with me You're good news is running after, it's running after me. With my life laid down, I'm surrendering now, I give you everything you see. You're good news is running after, it's running after me, sing it again. You're good news is running after, it's running after me. You're good news is running after, it's running after me. With my life laid down, I'm surrendering now, I give you everything. You're good news is running after, it's running after me. 'Cause all my life you have will say, and all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, who I will say, of the goodness. Come on, sing it one more time, all my life. 'Cause all my life you have been faithful, you see how God, and all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath, with every breath that I am able, who I will say. Of the goodness, I will, who I will say. Of the goodness, I will, who I will say. Of the goodness, I will, who I will say. Of the goodness, I will, who I will say.