When Life Falls Apart | Eran Holt

and to spend a couple minutes and study God's word together today. My name is Aaron, one of the guys on the team here, one of the pastors on the team, and glad to have the opportunity to share with our church family this week. Hey, let's take a moment before we go any further, and can you just give a big round of applause to all of our guys at God Behind Bars? We love you guys. We love you guys, we love you guys, and we're so excited that you're joining us. I'm sure that many of you, like me, have done a lot of processing over the last couple weeks, and in particular, one of the things I've been thinking about again and again is the time that we shared together as a church family last week on Saturday. For those of you that were with us up at Victory Family Church for Pastor Jeff's Celebration of Life service, many of you were there, many of you watched online as well, and what a beautiful celebration of our pastor's life and legacy. So many wonderful moments, so many sweet moments, right? I think one of those real, just kind of like touch my dad's heart sweet moments was when Alyssa was sharing, and she talked about how Pastor Jeff

often would leave the boys, and he would go and sit and watch Gilmore Girls with her. I just thought, oh, that's so sweet. I was just, I was like, this kind of grabbed me. And then a couple days later, I'm having one of my moments where I'm doom-scrolling online. How do I do it? Any of you do this? Okay, and I just kind of scroll on, and it pops up on my feed, and this is what it said. It said, Netflix has determined a spike in viewership of Gilmore Girls from the Pittsburgh area. And I just, it shocked me, and the reason it shocked me is because I'm like, I got my DVD set, so, I mean, it was not me. Like, I got all seven seasons, collector's edition right here. So I'm like, who is the guilty party? Like, who is this? And so I don't have any evidence for this, but I think someone should check Pastor Joe's Netflix account, because he's a girl dad. And I just, I don't know, it might be them. I'm not exactly sure, but really, when I heard Alyssa share that, what I really thought was I thought, well, that's what great dads do.

Like, great dads, they not only love their kids, but they also learn to love what their kids love, right? And so Pastor Jeff sitting there on a couch watching Gilmore Girls with Alyssa is the moment when love chooses presence. And that's not only what he was modeling, but it's also what our Heavenly Father does, right? Love always chooses presence. It's what God does for us. He comes with us, he walks with us through every moment of our life, not just the high-peak, mountaintop moments, but even the difficult valley-like moments. This is kind of what David is saying here. It's very much what David is saying here. He's saying that the love of God chooses presence with us. And I reflect back on Psalm 23. I've had so many different times in my life where I've been drawn back to this text, six verses, 109 words, depending on which translation you're reading it in. And I can reflect back on multiple times where I'm like, Psalm 23. Probably for me, the first time was when I was 11 years old and at that time, we were living here in Pittsburgh. My dad was pastoring at Bethel. Somebody got on the north side, just a couple miles from our APC campus on the north side. And so he's pastoring down there. That church at the time

had a small little Christian school connected with it. And so I'm going to school there and our school was doing this competition the one year when I was 11. It was called the Egg Drop Competition. I don't know if any of you know about this but this is one of these competitions that you would take drinking straws and you would take masking tape and you would make some sort of contraption or invention to protect an egg so that when it dropped from a height, if the egg broke, then you lost. If it didn't break, then you win. And I'm 11 and I'm the baby of the family and I am super competitive and I'm like, I gotta win this thing. And so I am in the basement of our little parsonage that the church had for us. It was in the North Hills. And so I am making, in my mind, what is a masterpiece. Like I am a master inventor in this moment and I am using copious amounts of rolls of masking tape. And the rules were very specific about the size and the measurement of the tape you could use. And so my father was doing the work to cut all the tape the right way and then I would use it. And so I would go through so much tape and one night my dad said to me, hey, when you run out of tape tonight, you're done for the night because I'm leaving

and I don't trust you with a knife. And I was so offended. I'm 11 years old and I was a Royal Ranger. Some of you know what that means. Many of you don't, it's okay. It's probably better if you don't. And so I was so, but just to give everybody. Context like I'm so offended because as an 11 year old here's a picture of how I typically dressed as an 11 year old So now you'll understand that once you see this picture why I'm so offended guys Go ahead and put that up up on the screen for me. Like that's me. Okay, I mean look at that that Wow That evokes so many questions for you about me and actually for me it evokes questions about my parents and what they were thinking I got Navy SEAL aspiration with a flea market budget right there, right? Some kids got nerf guns. I got a mop stick. Like I got a mop handle. That's that's what I had to work with But some of you probably already know where this story is going. So my dad leaves I run out of tape I grabbed the knife and I start doing my stuff and I cut myself I cut my left thumb and I cut it so bad to this day. It's still the worst You know cut type injury I've ever had it involves ER visit a plastic surgeon has to come in too I mean, it's just this crazy scenario but before we even got to the hospital I go running upstairs because I'm I'm shocked and I'm screaming and I'm crying and I'm yelling and my mom's like what's going on and I show her my cut and When she sees it in Tony, it's so bad when she sees it. She almost passes out and My oldest sister her name is Kim She now is with my mom breathing in a paper bag on the on the other side of the house My other sister joy joy Robinson who many of you know is a part of the church joy steps in to help me and I I'm not just the baby the family. We're also PKs pastors kids So if you've ever wondered what PK life is like, here's what I'm yelling at the top of my lungs to my sister joy Read the Bible to me read Psalm 23 read Psalm 23 like like I am beyond myself Like I'm so worried about this

Okay, I still have a pretty good scar on top of my left thumb here's what's kind of crazy so 10 years later I am in Bible College. It's my senior year and Julie and I have just started to date It's both of our senior years. And so one night a couple months into our dating relationship. She's sitting beside me. I'm holding her hand I'm holding her left hand and I notice that she has a scar on the top of her left thumb And I have a scar on top of my left thumb. And so I asked her about it and she's like, oh I never told you about that. I'm like what she was like, oh, I cut my thumb so bad so many years ago I had to have surgery in the whole bit. I'm like And the whole time she's telling a story all I'm thinking is this is my soulmate This is the Lord has brought us together some people have matching tattoos We have matching scars like this is this is it but you know Psalm 23 David here. He writes about a valley Experience right and I I'm sorry. I'm gonna need help here I got to get rid of Gilmore girls because this is distracting me if you could help me. Thank you so much I can't preach well with the girls up here on the stage and be careful. That's very important to me. Just be careful Okay. Thank you. Okay David David writes Psalm 23 at one of the most difficult moments of his life And I found that in my life when going through difficult moments. I was I would be drawn back to these words 11 years ago 2015 My wife and I were on staff as youth pastors at a church in Redding, Pennsylvania We had been there about 14 years at the time on staff and in June of 2015 On a Sunday afternoon my pastor and his wife were involved in a tragic Motorcycle accident our pastor's wife passed away in that accident our pastor sustained life-threatening injuries that took him many many months to recover from and I remember during that season being thrust into grief and thrust into the trauma of that moment and I was drawn back to Psalm 23 in part because earlier that year in January of that same year as a church We had done an in-depth study of all six verses And so I found great comfort in the words of David fast-forward to 2020 pastor Jeff Invites my family and I to come back to Pittsburgh and to base our ministry out of this house one of the greatest honors of our life to be a part of the Allison Park Church family for the last Five and a half almost six years now and in 2022 after being back for two years our family experienced another tragedy

One of our spiritual daughters my wife and I spiritual daughter a young lady that we had spent so many hours and so many years mentoring Committed suicide some of you might remember this and it was during the aftermath of that that When we talked about pastor Jeff and how love chooses presence. I saw that up close and personal he spent hours with me hours with us and Counseled us and prayed with us and shepherded us and Encouraged us to go get professional therapeutic help which which we did for the first time after almost seven years of different grief and trauma that we really had not processed in a healthy way. We finally, because of Pastor Jeff's influence, got the help that we needed. I was with Pastor last month. I was hosting a small event with a bunch of evangelists, a small group of evangelists that I'm friends with, and I had asked Pastor to come in and speak. And when I had the opportunity to introduce him to all of my evangelist friends, one of the things I said in recounting that story from 2022, I said, I believe that Pastor Jeff saved our ministry because of the way he loved us and shepherded us through that season. And during that same time, I was drawn back to Psalm 23. And then two weeks ago, when we all received the shocking news of Pastor Jeff's passing, I found myself right back here in Psalm 23. Some of what I'm gonna say today might be just a reminder to you, because you're familiar with the passage of Scripture. Some of it might be new for you, but I don't think we can really fully understand

this passage unless we understand the context of what's actually happening in David's life. So most scholars will tell you, David did not write Psalm 23 as a little shepherd boy, a little middle schooler with his mandolin on the side of a hill and a flock of sheep. And he's like writing a song for like songwriting fine arts category, right? Like this is not that moment. Most scholars tell you, David most likely wrote Psalm 23 in his early 60s. He has already been the King of Israel for 30 plus years at this point. And most likely, if you're reading through 2 Samuel, when you get to 2 Samuel chapters 15 through 19, those four chapters and the events of that narrative actually coincide with the timing of David writing Psalm 23, whether he wrote it in the middle of those events or whether he wrote it at the conclusion of those events. Here's what happened. In 2 Samuel 15, Absalom, David's oldest son, who was heir to the throne had grown impatient. In his impatience, he decided to sow seeds of discord and division into the kingdom of Israel. And in doing so for several years, he convinced some of David's closest advisors and many of David's soldiers to come to his side and rebel against the King. When he amassed enough strength and influence,

he actually set out to invade and take over all of Israel by capturing the capital city of Jerusalem. David gets wind of this just before Absalom arrives, and so he flees. The reason he flees is because what David has been told is that Absalom doesn't just mean to take the kingdom by force, he means and intends to actually kill his own father in order to do so. So David, 2 Samuel 15 tells us this, David, with a small group of advisors and family member, flees the city in broad daylight, not walking through the city like a king normally would with great entourage and the glitz and the glam and the fanfare and the parade-like status. No, no, no. The text actually tells us in 2 Samuel 15 that David is fleeing the city barefoot with his head covered, which is a sign of a Jewish man in great grief. David runs for his life. David finds himself now hiding in caves and in valleys outside of the city of Jerusalem, most likely some of the same caves and same valleys that he hid in 45 years prior when he was a teenager on the run from King Saul, if you remember this. So full circle moment for David, rejected by his own son, rejected by some of his own advisors.

So deep grief here in this moment. And when you read through the end of 2 Samuel chapter 19, this whole story concludes with the death, not of David, but of his son Absalom. And the text shows us that David's actually deeply disturbed and deeply grieved by the loss of his own son. In fact, the text actually says that David says, I would have rather it be me than him. So David is shook. David feels the valley right now. David feels the shock. David feels the ache in his heart, the ache that goes past the heart all the way into your bones, into like who you really are as a person. David feels the quiet. David feels the unanswered questions. Why? What now? How is this gonna happen? How's this gonna work out? David, with all of that, still has the bold faith to sit down and at some point begin to write the words of Psalm 23, maybe, possibly sitting in a dimly lit cave where he had been in 45 years prior. And he says, the Lord is mine. Shepherd, what do you do when life starts to fall apart on you?

How do you respond? What does a church do when a church looks at a current season of loss and says, what do we do now? How do we move forward? It seems as if everything has fallen apart. How does this work in this moment? I don't think that Psalm 23 is what I would call calm life theology. It's not David writing when everything was peaceful and perfect around him. I would actually say that Psalm 23 is probably more like crisis theology. And when I read through the text and when I study the background of the text, and I study some of the Hebrew words specifically used in the text, what I discover is that there's really four decisions that David makes in this text. These six verses, there's four decisions that he makes that actually teach you and I how we respond to moments in life where it feels like everything is falling apart. Let me walk you through them. Verse number one says this, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Here's the first decision that we have to make. It's not a one-time decision, it's actually an everyday decision. Here's the first decision David models for us. You have to choose your shepherd.

You have to choose your shepherd. Everybody has a shepherd. I don't know if you've ever thought about it this way. Everybody has a shepherd. Everybody has something or someone that they lean on in times of need. Everybody has a shepherd. Everybody has a person or a place or a hobby or something that they go to in time of need that provides some sort of guidance for them, some sort of protection and security for them. Everybody has a shepherd. For some of us, our shepherd is a very significant relationship in our life. And so that relationship provides some kind of guidance or some kind of security or protection. When life is circling and falling apart, I have this person. So some people, your shepherd is a relationship. It provides the primary guidance and leadership in your life. For some of us, our shepherd is like, it's like a job. It's our job, right? I find security, I find comfort, I find a sense of control of my life because of my job, so my shepherd is a job. For some of us, our shepherd, your shepherd, it's a number in your bank account. And some of you are thinking right now, Pastor Aaron, if you saw the number in my bank account, you would know that's just not possible for that

to be the shepherd for me. Okay, I feel you, I feel you there. For some of us, our shepherd is like a talent or a skill. It's an ability that we have that we've kind of wrapped an identity around. And so that becomes our shepherd. For some, let me just keep it real for a second. For some of us, our shepherd is an emotion, a dominant emotion that we live with every day of our life. So for some of us, your shepherd is your anger. You've been through so much in your life, and it's produced so much anger in your life, and it has become the guiding force for you. In fact, if you had moments of life where you weren't angry, you almost wouldn't know what to do with it because you're like, I'm not used to not feeling that. Some of you, your shepherd is offense because you've been so hurt by what people have done and the decisions that others have made. For some of us, even right now, you might say, I think my shepherd right now might actually be grief because it's heavy, and it's loud in my thinking, and it's tending to dominate the way in which I think about life and how I'm interacting with other people. Everybody has a shepherd. Who's yours? This is a choice that you have to make. And David here shows us that in the midst of great difficulty,

in the midst of great loss, he makes a choice. He says, the Lord is my shepherd. Now, just so you understand the weight of this, David, in using the phrase or the words, the Lord, in Hebrew, he's not just referring to some random name that would be used for God. He's actually, in Hebrew, saying Yahweh. Everyone say Yahweh. Yahweh. This is God's covenant name. This is an important distinction. This actually provides a lot of weight to what David is doing here in this choice that he's making. When David says, Yahweh is my shepherd, we have to define what does that name actually mean? There's multiple definitions that we could pull from to understand the name and the significance of God's covenant name, Yahweh. Here's the one that jumps out to me. Yahweh means the God who binds himself to his people. Now, I want you to think about the beauty of that. I also want you to think about the weight and significance of that. David here is saying this. I've lost it all. I've lost the kingdom. I've lost, excuse me, my reputation. I've lost my power. I've lost my influence. I might end up losing my life when this whole thing is done.

I've lost some of my closest advisors. People have rebelled and rejected against me. Ultimately, he does lose his son. So there's significant loss in David's life. but when he says Yahweh is my shepherd he's reminding himself that he's in relationship with a covenant-keeping God. Now just so you understand this, when God chose to have covenant with his people he didn't do that because it was a contract between you and I. There's a difference between contract and covenant. Contract says I'll do these things, you do these things, and if I hold up my end of the deal and you hold up your end of the deal then everything's gonna work out in this working relationship. That's a contract. And if you fall on your side or I on my side then people break contract. When God says I'm your covenant God, I'm the God who binds myself to you, here's what God's saying. God's saying I will be faithful to you even if you're unfaithful to me. I'll be faithful to you even if you go astray. I'll be faithful to you even if you're angry or you have questions or you have doubts or you're grieving and hurting because of loss, I'm still your covenant God. This is what David's saying and when he says Yahweh is my shepherd, he's not reminding God of who God is, he's reminding himself of who his God is and that even though he's walking through the most difficult moment of his life, he serves a faithful God. You gotta choose your shepherd. Who's your shepherd? You know why this is so hard for some of us? We don't even think about it this way. I just want to help kind of like the Holy Spirit to enlighten some stuff in your heart right now. One of the reasons this is hard is because for many of us in the room, if we're gonna be honest and answer the question who's my shepherd, the answer is me. You. You're your own shepherd. You've built your life accordingly because you wanted to be in control. Ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do. I'm being told my own life. That's how I make life work. Control of everything and God says if you'll let me, I'll be the covenant-keeping God who binds myself to you, but you got to surrender that. I got to choose my shepherd. Number two here comes

from verse two. David says this in verse two, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. This is what we would call shepherd language. David's actually referring to very specific skills that shepherds had to develop in order to help their sheep or tend to their sheep correctly. One of the things that shepherds knew instinctively about sheep is that sheep are not only defenseless, but because they're defenseless, they live with a great deal of fear. And so at night in particular, they will not rest unless the shepherd has done all due diligence to provide the right space or place for them to rest. So when it says he makes me lie down, it's not like the shepherd is physically like, you get down here, lay down here, you know, it's not like that. It's more nuanced language. It would sound more like this, the shepherd makes it so that sheep can lie down. So he's driven away all the predators, he's found some safe little, you know, rock enclosure type place for the sheep to kind of feel a sense of safety, and then most importantly, in the middle of the night, the shepherd has positioned himself up above the flock of sheep so he can see them and see around them. And if at any point throughout the course of the night, he senses the sheep growing restless, then a good shepherd would get off of his little high ground and he would walk down and just kind of quietly walk through the herd. And just the sound of the gentle rhythm of the shepherd's footsteps, the sheep would have like this almost visceral reaction where they're like, we're good. Shepherd's here. It's all good. Everyone go back to sleep. It's all good. How can David say that? He's on the run for his life. How can David have any rest? He's got enemies chasing him through the hills and valleys and caves. How is this possible? Here's what David's teaching us. He's teaching us, number two, that we have to choose his peace. And what that says to me is this. Peace is not the absence of my problems. It's the presence of my shepherd. Come on, can I say that to you again? Because you need to receive that. Peace is not the absence of your problems. It's the presence of your shepherd. Peace is not found when everything in my life is perfect. It's not found when all the circumstances play out the way that I want them to play out. Peace is not found because I'm

my own shepherd and I'm controlling every detail about my life so that I can have peace. No, no, no. David is telling me here that peace begins when I stop trying to be my own shepherd. Peace made available to me when I actually surrender my rights to God and I recognize that peace in my life, it's not a vice. it's not a mood it's not a feeling it's not an emotion peace is a person and it's only found in the person of Jesus Christ so when I get Jesus I get peace and when I got Jesus I get hope and when I got Jesus I get joy in spite of my current suffering I can't control it all I gotta surrender it and then I get peace I get his peace number three third decision I gotta make third verse third decision verse number three says he restores my soul and he guides me along right paths for his name's sake so here's the third decision I have to choose the truth okay now what we're dealing with Shepherd language here again in this verse when it says he restores my soul you can put that verse back up on screen for me guys he restores my soul he guides me along right paths for his name's sake this word restore in the Hebrew actually means to bring back and it's another shepherding skill that every good shepherd had to master here's what shepherds knew sheep will go astray they're not even rebelling they're just going astray they're led astray by their own desires does that sound familiar to you because James actually talks about that in relation to you and I and Isaiah said we all like sheep have gone astray yeah yeah yeah so shepherds know that sheep go astray because of their own desires they hear water they smell fresh grass over the hillside and they go astray and because they are defenseless animals they only have to be separated from the flock by maybe a hundred yards or more and now they're very vulnerable and tragedy can strike very quickly in this moment so good shepherds are always doing two things they're counting the herd this is actually what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 18 verse 12 when he says the Good Shepherd leaves the 99 to follow the the one yeah he's this is shepherding skills here right so the count is off one of my sheep has gone astray or or they look to the sky and if there's birds of prey circling then good

shepherds instinctively know one of my sheep has gone astray I need to find them and so then emergency kicks in and then shepherds are like where's the sheep and they're they're looking and they're discovering and they're finding it and typically when they find a sheep that needs to be restored by the time the shepherd gets there the sheep is wounded or they're exhausted or they're overheated they might not be able to walk and here's what a good shepherd does a good shepherd does not come up to them and rebuke them and say what is wrong with you why do you keep doing this why do you keep going astray this is what I sound like when I'm talking to my dog every day mind you what will you did it again this is ten years in a row right now come on that's not what a good shepherd does a good good shepherd comes to them and and binds their wounds and sits with them sits with them until they're strong enough to stand on their own here's what here's what a good shepherd is doing a good shepherd is not demanding strength he's supplying it can I speak that over your life for a moment in this season as a church family and in your personal life your shepherd is not demanding that you toughen up right now your shepherd is not saying to you come just just just charge the mountain come on chin up charge the mountain let's go big deal it's hard no that's not what your good shepherd is saying your good shepherd is not demanding strength from us he's saying I'll supply the strength through my presence and in doing so he restores our soul but but to what end to what end does he restore our soul go back to the text here because it says this he says he restores my soul and he guides me in right paths so what that tells me is that my restoration is not just healing it's actually realignment what is being realigned right now my feelings and my emotions my feelings and my emotions are terrible navigators especially during a season of grief if you trust your feelings right now if you trust your feelings for instruction they'll probably lead you to destruction and and this David knows this and that's why he's writing about this and he's saying that restoration of my soul involves the presence of my shepherd and when I have the presence of my shepherd it realigns me to the guide of the right path that he wants to guide

me into that's me and you choosing truth this verse right here verse number three actually parallels with a common practice not only in antiquity for Jewish culture but even in present day it's actually called the practice of sitting Shiva Shiva means seven or seven days and still to this day when a Jewish person has lost a loved one they will reserve the next seven days to simply be maybe at times by themself but to simply focus on grieving and remembering and if you're a friend or a family member of that person, you are permitted to come and visit them with two rules in place. Rule number one, you don't show up without food. How many of you are like, I like, that's a good rule right there. That's what Pastor Joe is being, we got popcorn today, it's great, you know? It's awesome, right? So, okay, rule number one, I can't show up without food. Here's rule number two, probably even more important. You're not allowed to talk. It's presence first and talking later. It's the ministry of just grieving with someone. It's making a commitment to the other person that sounds like this. I will sit with you until you are strong enough to stand on your own. That's what we need to be doing for one another right now. Can I just encourage you to learn how to shepherd and care for one another right now in this season? Can I encourage you to watch out for those who wander and go astray? One of the most natural human response to pain

is the desire to isolate. And so this becomes a very dangerous moment for all of us in the church because in the midst of heavy pain and grief, it's easy to just say, I just need to be by myself, I just need to isolate, and we make ourselves vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. And David here, he's giving us the answer. He's saying, I have to choose truth. I have to find a way to, once again, align my feelings with the truth of who God is. Because it says this, it says, he guides me in right paths for his name's sake. What does that mean? It means that God is guiding me based on who he is, not who I am or how I feel. Practically speaking, here's what David is saying. God, your shepherd, is not intimidated by your feelings. He's not intimidated by your questions. He's not intimidated by your doubts. He's not intimidated by your grief. He welcomes all of it because he wants to restore you and realign you and put you on a path of truth for his name's sake. Okay, one last decision here. One last decision here. Verses four, five, and six, it says this. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will feel no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Everyone say comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Okay, this is really the center of the psalm here, and I want you to notice how David's language related to God changes in this moment. In verses two and three, what does David sound like? He makes me lie down. He leads me to still waters. He restores my soul. He puts me on paths of truth, paths of righteousness, and then we get to verse four, and now what's David saying? You, you are with me. Verse five, you prepare a table before me. You know, they actually did that. You can go back and read in 2 Samuel chapter 17. A group of people that wanted to provide care for David and his family in the midst of their grieving, even in the wilderness, showed up, and they found a field somewhere in the middle of the hills outside of Jerusalem, and they held a massive feast in order to provide comfort for David. David's talking about this.

You prepare a table. You anoint my head with oil. I want you to notice what David never says in Psalm 23, what he never says in 2 Samuel 15 through 19. He never says, God, now I understand why I'm going through this. God, thank you for answering my questions. God, thank you for making it make sense. Never says that. I shared with the staff that the Tuesday after Pastor Jeff had passed, we were together, and Pastor Joe asked me if I just would share a couple of thoughts, and one of the things I shared with the staff, and I just felt led, I wanted to share with the whole community here, the whole body. I said to the staff, you know, there will be multiple mysteries and questions that God will leave unanswered on this side of eternity. And I don't always understand why God does that. I got a whole list. I do. I got a whole list of stuff that, you know, like in my head, I'm thinking when I get to heaven, we'll have a little one-on-one here. I'm sure when I get to heaven, I'm not gonna care at that point. But one of the things I said to the staff is resist the urge to demand that God gives you answers for all your questions before you're willing to move on.

And here's what God actually does do for us. When God chooses in His own divine wisdom to not answer the questions that you and I have, He actually gives us something better than the answer we desire. You know what he gives you? He gives you himself. He's the God who binds himself to his people. And this is what David is saying here. David's saying, even 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. So David is telling us God is not just with us in the valley, he's actually brought some valley provisions to help us make it through the valley. What did he bring? David mentions the rod. Okay, so the rod was like the little club about this high that the shepherd would use as a defense tool to defend against predators. Scholars tell us that the rod is symbolic of the role of the word of God in our life. Where the rod would protect the sheep and would be like the rule of truth over the sheep. That's what the word of God is for us. It's our protection, it's our hope, it's our foundation. Shepherds also had the staff, the long stick with the little hook at the top of it. And they would use that staff,

they'd come up behind a sheep at times and they'd tap it on either side of the shoulder to provide direction. Or sometimes they would take the hook side and they would just gently pull a sheep back into alignment. Scholars would tell us that the staff is symbolic of the role of the Holy Spirit in your life and my life. The Holy Spirit is guiding me. The Holy Spirit is with me. The Holy Spirit is helping me navigate. And the Holy Spirit is pulling me back into alignment as I need it when I go astray. So David says, you don't just have the shepherd with you. You have provision of God's word and God's presence with you. And those two things will provide comfort for you. What does he say? Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Okay, now if you're really gonna understand the depth of what David's saying here, you cannot define the word comfort through an American lens because as Americans, we would typically define comfort like this. All of the pain is gone and now I have comfort. That's actually not what the word comfort means in the Hebrew. Look at this. This is how in Hebrew, the word comfort is defined. To enable someone to endure what they are facing.

It's like the image of like a knee brace on a sprained knee. I couldn't walk without it, but now that I have it, I can endure and I can move forward. Then when you take that word comfort and you move from Hebrew into English, the reason we have the word comfort, it comes from two old Latin words. The first being the word come or just C-O-M in Latin. And then the second part being the word fortis, F-O-R-T-I-S. From that word fortis, we get the word fort or fortress. The definition would be this, come to be together with one another, fort, strength. What's David saying here? When you go through the valley and your shepherd is with you and you have the word as your authority and you have the presence of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you and you are together, you are then together strong. You have strength together. Your strength comes from his word and from his presence and from being together. Okay, so let me just be a pastoral voice in your life right now. Can I encourage you to do those three things during this season? Be in his word more often. If that's different for you, if that's not normal for you, then start with Psalm 23

and read and pray Psalm 23 over your life every day for the next seven days. That's not a very hard task. It's only 109 words. Second thing I'd encourage you to do, be in God's presence on your own. You know, replace like whatever you typically listen to on your commute to work, replace it with like worship or something. You know, find some extra time in the evening or, you know, in the morning, right? You know, like stop binging on Gilmore Girls and let's just get into, you know, his presence, okay? Whatever that means for you, okay? And number three, be together. We're together strong. So commit to being at church every weekend, whatever service you normally come to. Commit to eating all of the food that Pastor Joe is gonna provide for you. Like make that commitment. Commit to getting into a life group right now because it's when we are together that we find our strength. One last thought, one last thought. David says this. He says, even though I walk to the valley. Oh wait, is that what he said? Did he say I walk to the valley? Oh wait, what was that word?

I'm sorry, what was that word? Oh, he says through the valley. Oh, that's different, isn't it? Oh, that's really different, isn't it? He's not telling you and I that Jesus drops you off at the valley. He's not saying that Jesus takes you to the valley and abandons you. He's not saying that you're on your own when you get to the valley. He's the God of taking us through the valley. I think that the word through is probably one of God's favorite words in all the Bible. Because when I read it cover to cover, I see a God that took the people of Israel through the Red Sea and through the Jordan River. I see a God who took the three Hebrew boys through the fiery furnace, who took Daniel through the den of lions. I see a God who takes us through our valleys, through our suffering, through our pain, through our grief. If he takes us to it, he takes us through it. He's the God of through. About two days after Pastor Jeff passed away, the Holy Spirit gave my son this beautiful song that I'm gonna have him sing for you. And when I heard it, when he sent it to me, I knew in my heart, this is a song for the house, the ABC house during this season.

And I'm gonna step away. I'm gonna ask him to sing the song. There's gonna be lyrics on the screen. You can stay seated. You don't have to try to sing along if you don't want to. I just want you to allow him to minister these words over you during this season. I think this song is prophetic in certain ways about what we're going through and how God is with us in this moment. I'll come back as soon as he's done and I'll close this out in prayer. ♪♪♪ ♪ Even here in the valley I will walk through ♪ ♪ Even now when the darkness closes in ♪ ♪ I will remember your promises ♪ ♪ I will remember the words you said ♪ ♪ Cause you are my shepherd ♪ ♪ Even here in the middle of the night ♪ ♪ And even now when I've lost the strength to fight ♪ ♪ I won't forget what you've brought me through ♪ ♪ I won't forget what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Cause you are my comfort ♪ ♪ You are my hope, you are my rest ♪ ♪ When flesh may fail, my God you never will ♪ ♪ You are my peace, you are my everything ♪ ♪ My everything ♪ ♪ You are my hope, you are my rest ♪ ♪ When flesh may fail, my God you never will ♪ ♪ You are my peace, you are my everything ♪

♪ My everything ♪ ♪ In the night, in the waiting ♪ ♪ In the pain, in the breaking ♪ ♪ You are close to me, you're so close to me ♪ ♪ In the grief, in the weeping ♪ ♪ In the hurt, in the crushing ♪ ♪ You are close to me, you will never leave ♪ ♪ In the night, in the waiting ♪ ♪ In the pain, in the breaking ♪ ♪ You are close to me, you're so close to me ♪ ♪ In the grief, in the weeping, in the hurt, in the crushing ♪ ♪ You are close to me and you will never leave ♪ ♪ You are my hope and you are my rest ♪ ♪ When flesh may fail, my God, you never will ♪ ♪ You are my peace, you are my everything, my everything ♪ ♪ You are my strength, you are my joy, highs and lows ♪ ♪ My God is always close, you are my hope and you will never leave ♪ ♪ You are my rock, you are all I need, all I need ♪ Amen. Beautiful, would you stand? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bow your heads, close your eyes. I just wanna have a moment here to extend an invitation to some people here in the room. Psalm 23, 109 words, six verses.

Promise after promise, he will lead you, he will guide you, he'll provide for you, he'll be with you in the valley, chase you down with his goodness and his mercy. The promise of all eternity living in the house of the Lord. Promise after promise, but none of those promises matter if you and I don't get the first two words right. The Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. I'm not my own shepherd. My wife is not my shepherd, my friends, my relationship, my job, that's not my shepherd. My dominant emotions, those can never be my shepherd. Those can never provide for me what my God can provide as my shepherd. In the Old Testament, it was often the sheep who laid down their life, the shedding of blood that would bring about forgiveness for the sins of the shepherd in the Old Testament sacrificial system. In the New Testament, it's the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. It's Jesus, the perfect lamb of God who lays down his life so that he's earned the right to extend the invitation to you and I to be our shepherd. Edge of God, eyes are closed. You're here in the room today, you're watching online and you would like to end this time by simply declaring, Jesus, I need you, I want you and I invite you to be my shepherd. I will no longer lean on any other thing or any other person or any other place as my shepherd.

It's you and you alone. Today, Jesus, I wanna invite you to be the Lord and the leader of my life. I wanna invite you to be my savior. I want you to recognize that you gave your life on a cross, you shed your blood for the forgiveness of my sin. Edge of God, eyes are closed. Very simply, you're here and you say, I wanna make that choice today. Maybe for some, it's the very first time you're doing this. Maybe for some, it's a deep moment of coming back to God, restoring the soul to bring back. So for some of you, he's bringing you back right now. On the count of three, you say, I wanna make that choice, I wanna make that decision. I just want you to raise a hand up and hold it up for just a moment. You say, I'm giving my life to Jesus today. One, two, three, just raise it up, raise it up, wherever you're at, raise it up, raise it up. Yeah, right up here, I see you, right up. Yeah, anyone else, anyone else? Yeah, there's a couple of hands up. Yeah, I see you, I see you, amazing. Okay, now everybody repeat this prayer after me, not just those of you that raised your hands, but everybody repeat this prayer after me. Say it nice and loud, dear Jesus, thank you for giving your life on a cross to forgive me of my sin.

Today, I choose you to be my shepherd. I put my faith in you. I put my trust in you. Thank you for receiving me. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for the gift of salvation. Thank you for being my shepherd. In your name I pray. Everyone said amen. Come on, just applaud for just a moment. Decisions that were made, hands that were lifted. I believe that maybe some of you, maybe you didn't even raise your hand, but in your own heart you just said, I made that decision today. This is a new day for me. And so if that's you, in a moment, I would love you, when you dismiss, I would love for you to dismiss. miss very specifically through these doors right over here. Pastor Sean is actually over here waving at me right now. And so Pastor Sean and his team, we would love to meet you, greet you, provide a Bible for you, celebrate this choice and decision that you've made, especially if it's your first time. We even have an Eaton Park smiley face cookie for you. Right, and that's what the body of Christ does. We come around one another and we celebrate these kinds of moments.

So as you're being dismissed, if you made that choice and decision, I want you to sneak out that way and see Pastor Sean and the team there. For everyone else, before you go, I just wanna invite you to engage in a quick moment of prayer with the person that is standing beside you. Right, and so I wanna invite everyone, even right now, would you just turn and would you just pray with one another, right? And it might be a real short prayer, it might be a long prayer, that's okay. Caleb will do a little bit more worship for us, but you go ahead and pray together. When you're done praying, you can stay in worship if you want. If you wanna dismiss yourself, you can do that. Those of you that raised your hands, would you go ahead even right now while everyone else is praying and just kind of slip out of your seat and aisle and just head right back there to Pastor Sean. God bless you, it's been an amazing day. Psalm 23, every day for the next seven days. Love you. You're such an awesome person. You're such an awesome person. You're such an awesome person. You're such an awesome person.

You're such an awesome person. You're such an awesome person. You're such an awesome person. You're such an awesome God. You're so mighty. So holy. So wonderful. You're such an awesome God. You're so selfless. So generous. So faithful you are. You're such an awesome God. You're so mighty. So holy. So wonderful. You're such an awesome God. You're so selfless. So generous. So faithful you are. You're such an awesome God.