The Lord Is My Shepherd | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church

Let's go to the word of God. I'm gonna just share a quick thought, very quick thought, and then we're gonna have a beautiful time of worship ministry. This is anointing Sunday. What that means is for those of you who would like to receive prayer, we're gonna anoint you with oil. We're gonna ask God to bless this coming year and bless your life, bless your family. We believe that as God anoints you today, we're gonna anoint you, but as David said, God anoints my head with oil. So we're gonna anoint you with oil as a point of contact, but really, it's the Lord, we believe, that's gonna do the work, amen? And so it's gonna be a powerful time. I want you to open your heart to that. If that totally freaks you out, you don't want anyone to pray for you, don't worry, you don't have to. But I wanna say this. Maybe the anointing with oil thing is weird to you. I just wanna say, it's only weird if it doesn't work. Amen. Amen. Yo, if it works, I'll take, I'll do whatever. And the anointing of oil is a Bible principle and we'll look at it today. This is the anointing of David

as he is leaving being a shepherd and he's becoming king. There is a prophet, a priest named Samuel, who is being called now to replace Saul with David as king. And the Lord said to Samuel, you've mourned long enough for Saul. I've rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I've selected one of his sons to be king. And when he arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab. So he's now looking at the sons and he looks at the firstborn Eliab and he thought, surely this is the Lord's anointed. The Lord said to Samuel, don't judge by his appearance or height, for I've rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. That one little phrase is all you need today. That will help you all year. The Lord doesn't see things the way I see them. I don't, don't, don't go natural, go spiritual. God, God sees things different than I do. People judge outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel, but Samuel said, this is not the one the Lord has chosen. Jesse summoned Shimea. Samuel said, neither is this the one the Lord has chosen. In the same way, all seven.

Lord didn't choose any of these. Samuel asked, are these all the sons you have? I know I heard from God. There is still the youngest, Jesse replied, but he's out in the fields watching the sheep and the goats. Send for him at once, Samuel said. We will not sit down to eat until he arrives. So Jesse sent for him. Now notice what Samuel notices here. He looks different than his brothers. He's dark and he's handsome. He has beautiful eyes. He doesn't look like the first seven brothers. We'll unpack that in a moment. This is the first episode of the Real Housewives of Jerusalem right there, amen. Samuel said, huh, something ain't tracking here. The Lord said, this is the one, anoint him. So David stood there among his brothers, among the people who hated him, in front of his father. Samuel took the flask of olive oil, anointed David. The spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. Verse 14 is interesting, so I think it's important for us to realize. Now the spirit of the Lord left Saul and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit filled with depression and fear.

I just want you to notice when you reject God and you reject the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, another spirit will fill that void. God said this to Israel in Deuteronomy. He said, if you reject me as God, you're just gonna get other gods and they will not be kind. So anytime we reject God, there's no such thing as an atheist because whether you believe in him or not, accept him or not, another spirit will begin to influence your life. And this is why surrender to God is so important. Because we are spirits. Don't let this flesh and blood fool you. You're a spirit. We are spiritual people being influenced by the supernatural. And this is why we want to invite the Holy Spirit into our life, amen? I want to talk about the Lord is my shepherd today. The Lord is my shepherd. High five three people, preferably a stranger, and tell them the Lord is my shepherd. Come on, tell them the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Shepherd. Online, the Lord is my shepherd. David said that the very David that we just read about wrote towards the end of his life, the Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need, or as the King James says, I shall not want. In other words, because of who my shepherd is, every need will be taken care of. Now we read in the English language, the Lord is my shepherd, but David

wrote this in the Hebrew language, and the Hebrew phrase that he wrote is Jehovah-Rohi, the one who sees me, the Lord who sees. David at the end of his life writes Psalm 23, possibly now under the attack of one of his sons, Absalom. His life is going through a lot. There's a lot of issues going on. He's coming towards the end of his rule and reign, but he declares over his life, God saw me and God sees me. He is the God who sees. That even when I can't see God, God sees me. And even when I can't hear God, God sees me and hears me. And even when I can't trace God, I can trust God because God sees me. I want to remind you that it is much more important that God sees you than you see God. He is our good shepherd, like the shepherd that's looking out over the sheep, looking for the wolves, looking for the lions, looking for the bears, looking for the enemies, bringing the sheep back into the fold. This is what God does. He is our shepherd, and we will have everything that we need because he is the God who sees us. Everybody say, the Lord is my shepherd. Come on, one more time. Put a little smile on your face. The Lord is my shepherd. He sees us. He knows us. He loves us. He protects us. He guides us. He is our shepherd. He is a good shepherd. He is a faithful shepherd. He is Jehovah-Rohi, the God who sees. And I want to give you three little thoughts as we are about to enter a time of prayer. The first is that God saw me. God saw me. That before I knew God and before I saw God, God saw me. That while many things were unplanned and many people did not know what the next move was, God was already 10 steps ahead. God saw me. Let me prove it to you. Samuel's worried, who will the next king be? But God tells Samuel, Samuel, don't even worry. Acts 13, 22. I've already found a man. I've already found David. A man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. I have found. Which reminds me that God is always looking, searching, and finding those he can use in their generation. Now, I'm calling him a man. Don't get it twisted. He's just a teenager. But to me, he's a man. To his father, he's a kid. But I see him as a king. To his brothers, he's a boy. But to me, he's a man. I already see him in his future. And I already see what he's going to become. And God, God saw me. God saw you. David, the least likely to lead. David, the forgotten son. David, the one born in controversy. Samuel sees David and he goes, you don't look like the first seven brothers. His skin is dark. He's got a different face than his brothers. His eyes are different. What's up with this, Jesse? And Jesse says, I don't want to talk about it. This is why David would write, I was born in sin. What did he mean by that? This was not a theological statement David was making. David was saying, I come from a different

father than my brothers. For whatever reason, Mrs. David, I don't know what happened. I don't know if it was a lonely, cold night in Jerusalem. I don't know what happened, but she ended up hanging out with somebody different. And the eighth son is born and the nurse cries out, it's a boy. And Jesse looks over and he has dark skin and he has different eyes. And from that day, Jesse began to reject David. This is why David would write in Psalm 27, though my father and mother reject me, the Lord brings me in. This is why Jesse would take the youngest son and throw him out into the fields. Because every time he saw David, he felt the betrayal and the embarrassment of what was, but God saw him. Jesse didn't love him, but Jehovah-Rohi loved him. Jesse didn't accept him but Jehovah Rohi accepted him. I want to remind you that man's rejection is often God's direction and God's protection. Can I get a witness on a Sunday that just because they didn't love you, you are not bound to one person, you are not bound to one person's approval, one person's acceptance, one person's word over your life. God is protecting me, God is directing me, oh to be found by God, to be loved by God, to be seen by God. I serve Jehovah Rohi, he is my shepherd. See while Saul, the Bible says, was head and shoulders above the rest, at least seven foot tall, David was hidden with God. While his brothers were the obvious choice, David was hidden with God. While Jesse assumed it would have been one of the other brothers, David was hidden with God. David on the backside of the hill country, singing, worshipping, honoring God. No man saw David, no man heard David, but Jehovah Rohi saw him. Oh to be hidden with God, oh to abide in the vine, oh to know Jesus. God saw me, God saw your devotion, God saw your rejection, God saw your misunderstandings, God saw your desire to stay pure, God saw your childhood, God saw the pain, God saw the curses that were spoken over you, but God found you. And like a good shepherd, he's been pushing back wolves, and he's been pushing back lions, and he's been pushing back bears, and he's been pushing back Goliath, protecting you for this moment, Jehovah Rohi. Can we give that God praise today? Come on, the Lord is my shepherd. Hallelujah. God saw me. Three different times in 2025, I was out preaching and the preacher was trying to introduce me to come up to preach, and three different preachers kind of had the same introduction. You know, they kind of

put their foot in their mouth, and they went, you know, we just, we kind of just can't believe that what's happened with Jabin. Like we remember him when he was younger, and oh my God, like this is crazy. Thanks, you know. Like it's church, and he's traveling all over the world. We just didn't, we just never thought it. I'm like, thank God you're not God. They couldn't see it, but I serve a God named Jehovah Rohi. We don't come from money. We don't come from ministry. We both come, my wife and I come from trailer parks. We're from a town of 1,700, two trailer parks. We were from them. Come on, somebody. But there is a God named Jehovah Rohi, and he saw our prayers, and he saw our faithfulness, and he saw our forgiveness, and he saw us do everything we could in our 20s to honor God, and I am telling you, that good shepherd will look out on you, and he will protect you, and he will anoint you, and he will raise you up in a generation to do something awesome for God. You are not forgotten. Jehovah Rohi sees you. Somebody shout, the Lord is my shepherd. Come on, shout it out. Be seated. You're scaring the new people. Number two. Hallelujah. Number two. Man, I feel the Holy Ghost on me right now. Number two. God sees me. Not only did God, not only God saw me, but God sees me. God sees you. Right here, right now. When God anointed David, when God found David, God knew everything about David and who David would become. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And there was a lot of that. If you're interested in David, read 1st and 2nd Samuel. He was, David, David was never just even. He was always a zero or a ten. I mean, he was either, he was either God's man or he was a mess. And yet, God called all of that. See, when God calls you, he knows everything about you. He calls all of it. And when you surrender your strength to him, that's called humility. When you surrender your sin to him, that's called repentance. But all of it has to be surrendered. Because unsurrendered strength is pride. Unsurrendered sin is rebellion. And I have to give God every part of me, not just the bad part. Not just the good, every part. I have to give Him my heart. And God already knows that about us. See, we're so shocked by our mistakes. We're so shocked when we do something bad or good, but God is not surprised.

See, when God called David, He saw the worship and the adultery. He saw the offerings and the murder. He saw the amazing way He would lead a nation and the terrible way He would lead a family. But He called all that. He anointed all of that. He redeemed all of that. He baptized all of that in the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God never calls the qualified. He qualifies the called. And if you've been called, God can do something with every part of who you are. And by the way, He calls every part of who you are. And every part of you needs to be given to God. Say, Amen. God sees you. Where are you with God right now? Are you being honest about it? If you feel like you're walking with the Lord right now, wonderful. Stay close. Stay close. Stay close. If you feel like you've walked away from Him, it's time to come home, friend. Not as a January New Year's resolution, but for the rest of your life. This is not an experiment. Christianity is not a January, Easter, Christmas experiment. Christianity is a death to your old life and a resurrection into something radically new. Come on. Say yes to Jesus. If you feel like you've been walking with the Lord, I want to remind you, Hebrews 6, God is not unjust. As to forget your work, God does not forget your work or your love. Your work or your love. Which you've shown. God's seen the work you've put in. God saw that fast. He saw that fast. He saw you hungry with that migraine. I talked to a brother today. He came up to me. He said, every day I'd get home from work, I'd just go to my room. He said, I couldn't be around food. I couldn't be in the kitchen. I couldn't be social. I'd just go to my room and read. I said, God, God saw your work. God saw your love. God sees every tithe. God sees every tear you cried, every prayer you prayed. God saw the fasting. God sees your devotion. God sees you parking in that ridiculous dirt lot.

God saw you get stuck in the dirt. Amen. I didn't tell you to park there, by the way, but you did that. And so don't ask me to pay for the AAA. But listen, God saw it. God saw it. Amen. God sees. God saw you forgive your spouse. God saw you pray over your child. God saw you trust him in financial famine. God sees it. God sees the work and the love. Don't give up. He is Jehovah-Rohi. And he sees your faith. But maybe you feel far from God. I want to tell you, God sees you too. And that prodigal son, he comes to his senses. He says, I got to get home. I got to get back to my father. And as he returned home to his father, while he was still a long way off, his father saw. That's Jehovah-Rohi. That's the Good Shepherd. Waiting. Calling. Waiting for him. And look at the emotion of your shepherd. Not where have you been. Not you idiot. Not you did it again. Filled with love and compassion. He ran to his son. A massive social faux pas in the Hebrew culture. Men did not run. It was a sign of weakness. It was a sign of panic. It was something that you would not do publicly. But the Father Jehovah-Rohi runs. The Good Shepherd runs. The Father runs. And he embraces him. And he kisses him. This is the God that you serve. Who is God? He is the God of love and compassion. Who is God? He is the God who embraces you and kisses you. Who is God? He is the God who is looking to bring you home. And I can hear somebody in the room. But isn't he holy? He is. He sure is. Isn't he just? He sure is. But let me remind you of 1 John 1.9. He is faithful and just to forgive you. Just to do it. God is justified in forgiving the sinner. It's not mercy. It's justice to forgive you. Why? Because of what Jesus endured on the cross. God is just to love you. Just to forgive you. Just to embrace you.

to kiss you. Grace is not some weak, mercy is not some weak thing. It's His justice. Because of what Jesus endured for us and as us and because of us, God can now justifiably love us and bring us in. It's His holiness that forgives us. Because He's honoring a covenant that His Son made on the cross. That's not in my notes. Number three. Every time I preach about mercy, people get weird. Talk about grace, people get weird. Don't get weird about grace. We all need it. Number three, worship team, please come. God sets me. God sets me. God sets you into place. God anoints you. God positions you. God does this. David stood there among his brothers, among the men who hated him, among the father who rejected him. God anoints him. God gives him the approval that he never got from man. That is such a powerful truth about following God. And notice, Samuel anoints him, but the Spirit of God came upon him. When you are anointed, you never have to force your way into anything. Because God promotes. God aligns. God lifts up. When I'm anointed, God makes a way even in my mistakes. When I'm anointed, I never miss the opportunity of a lifetime. When I'm anointed, I never have to be in a hurry. When I'm anointed, there's a weird way that somehow God keeps lifting me up. Why? Because I'm not forcing my way into something. I'm allowing God to exalt me. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princess, placing them in seats. God does that. You could try to do that. It's going to be a really bad life. But all the earth is the Lord's and he has set the world in order. When I surrender my life to God, I let God promote in his time and it's filled with so much peace. So David is towards the end of his life and he's remembering his life and he grabs a pen and paper and he writes, you anoint my head with oil. Wait, but we just read 1 Samuel 16. Samuel anointed him. No, God did it. Like today, we're going to anoint you with oil in the name of Jesus. We're going to bless your year, but God's going to anoint your head with oil. See, Samuel put the oil on him, but the spirit of God came upon him powerfully. That's going to happen today. The spirit of God is going to come upon you today. People are going to be healed today. People are going to be filled with the Holy Spirit today. People are going to be set free from addictions today. People are going to receive breakthroughs today. Fear is going to leave you today. Why? Because David was smart enough at the end of his life to go, God did this. God anointed me, King. God did this. God anointed me. I didn't do this. I didn't wheel my way into this. God did this. You anoint me. This word means to smear. Simba. That's all it means. Relax.

So when God anoints you, he takes the Holy Spirit of God and he smears the power and the presence and the protection of God over you. The anointing is his power, his presence, and his protection. Everybody say power, presence, protection. That's what happened. When God anoints you, he puts his power on you. Acts 10 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. So the shepherds, again, we're going back to the shepherds. David is King, but he was a shepherd. He remembers how as a shepherd, he would anoint the sheep with oil. There was three reasons that a shepherd would anoint with oil. Number one, you would anoint the wounds. So the sheep would get cut. The sheep would get wounded. The sheep would get bit. Whatever it was, the sheep would get caught in the fence. Whatever it was and where the wound was, the shepherds would pour the anointing oil into the wound to heal the wound. It's not that we don't get cut, it's that we can heal. So many of us get mad when we get cut. And we're like shocked that we get cut. Life is life, y'all. And life be lifin'. But what do you do with it? You need to ask God to anoint you with oil, to heal you. Once you're healed, you still have the scar, but you no longer bleed. Remember Jesus, raised from the dead? What did he do? He showed them his scars. In his hands, and in his side, and in his feet. He still had the marks, but he no longer bled. God can so heal you. Oh, you still have the marks. You still remember the pain. You still remember what you went through. You still remember the divorce. You still remember the recession. You still remember the bankruptcy.

You still remember the death. You still remember the betrayal. You still remember your upbringing, but God has so anointed you that you're now healed of it. And now your scars are no longer your trauma, they're actually your testimony. Look how God put me back together. You anoint me with oil. Come on, does anybody know who I'm talking about? He's a healer! He's a healer! Hallelujah. Why do you yell so much? I'll ask you that the next time I go to a Knights game with you. Why do you yell so much? Be seated, be seated. I'm not done. I'm not in a hurry. It heals. Number two, watch this. You anoint with oil. You anoint the forehead of the sheep with oil because sheep fight. You know, you stick around anywhere long enough, you're going to fight. You come to church, first three to six months, this place is heaven on earth. It's perfect. I've never been to a church like this. This is amazing. That pastor is a man of God. Until I tick you off. And then you're going to need the anointing. Can you believe that pastor?

Oh my God, can you? Can you believe he said that? Or can you believe he didn't say that? Can you believe that? You're going to need the anointing. Because not all friction should be the end of a relationship. You could go join a kid's team and you don't like how Candace does the snacks. Relax. Get anointed. You join the host team. I don't like how Gabe puts down the chairs and I wish him. Easy. You get married. Eventually, you're going to need the anointing of God on your marriage. What'd you say? What'd you say? You want to have a marriage counseling session right now? He's perfect. Well, wait a little while. You're going to need the anointing. You know what I'm saying? We never fight. You're going to need the anointing. And by the way, it's worth it because spiritual family is worth it. It's worth it. It's worth it. The third reason you anoint with oil, the shepherds would grab the ears of the sheep. Tilt them over. And they would take anointing oil and they would pour it into the ears of the sheep. Because the flies would go get in the ears of the sheep and lay their eggs in the ears of the sheep and in their ear canal.

And what would happen is it would itch so bad that the sheep would begin to lose their mind. And they'd begin to ram rocks and ram hard things because it would itch and they couldn't get to it. And they would literally go crazy. The sheep would go crazy because of the flies. But when the shepherd would anoint the ears, it would keep the flies out. Everybody say, keep the flies out. Keep the flies out. So we get to the New Testament and they call Satan Beelzebub, the lord of the flies. But when God anoints my head with oil. Hallelujah. Everybody feel this right now. Everybody feel that in your spirit right now. When God anoints me with oil, he keeps Beelzebub out. He keeps the lies out. He keeps the hate out. He keeps the love. Now somebody can stand. He keeps the anger out. He keeps the frustration out. He keeps the offense out. He anoints my ears with oil, my eyes with oil, my mouth with oil. So that the deceiver can't come in and lay his eggs, sow his seed of discord on the inside of me. So God anoints me with oil to protect me. Everybody stand.