← ArchiveSunday, May 17, 2015DateMay 17, 2015Speaker—TextPsalms 23Passages in this sermonPsalms 230:00Psalms 844:48John 165:33Jeremiah 46:40Matthew 58:241 Peter 19:162 Corinthians 412:091 Peter 1:612:47Psalms 23:414:18Colossians 115:42Psalms 3416:44Jeremiah 2916:50Isaiah 4319:31TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00All right. Good morning again. If you brought your Bible, I hope you did. Turn with me to Psalms 23. Psalms 23. We're going to read the entire text today as we have thus far in this series.0:25Psalms 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. I will fear no evil, I should say, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.0:51You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Father, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight today,1:18Father. I pray as we unpack your word today, I pray, Father, we leave this place completely different than when we came. Father, I pray that today, today will be a turning point for someone. Today, Lord, your word will change someone's life today. God, I pray that we'll be so receptive to hear you that we will hear your word, we will respond accordingly. And God, I pray as we have every1:44one of us in this room, every one of us have gone through these valleys. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that we hear your word and we respond. We give you all the glory. In Jesus' name we pray. And the church said, amen. Today's message title is God's Antidote, or if maybe should change it to the prescription2:08for dark valleys. Today, we're looking at one verse, one verse of scripture. Now, today's sermon is in two parts. It's a two-part sermon that I've tied together because I think it fits together. And I feel like that we needed to press through this particular verse of scripture. And by the way, thank you for many of you that have responded in emails and posted Facebook comments and things like that, social2:34media comments, and sent me messages of the word of encouragement for this series has been an encouragement to you. It has to me, and you've encouraged me to spur on through this. God's antidote for dark valleys. The message is truth. Life is a mixture of pain and pleasure, of victory and defeat, of success and failure, mountaintop experiences, and valleys as well.2:58Even in our darkest valleys or our darkest days, God is there. Now, I started thinking about that. The old proverb verb, there's an old proverb parable that says, all sunshine and no rain makes sense for a desert. Even every one of us have to have down times. We all have to go through the3:21down times, the dark times, the gloomy times in our lives, or you will be dried up. You will dry up like a desert if you don't go through some of these dark, lonely times. You need that to grow. You'll have no depth in yourself, no maturity. It takes the good and the bad times to make a mature person. Now, by the way, in the country of Israel, there is a real valley of the shadow of death. Actually,3:50this is a very steep, steep valley. It has a very steep walls, and it's very deep, and it's a very narrow canyon, if I may. And the only time the sun gets to the bottom of this particular canyon, called the valley of the shadow of death, is at high noon. So, there's always, most all day long, except for high noon, when that moment where the sun pierces down to the bottom, there's always4:18shadows in this canyon, in this valley. Probably, this is where David walked, shepherded, herded his sheep through this particular valley. It's where he wrote this particular psalm. In the Bible, the term valley, quote-unquote, also refers to all kinds of rough times in life. Joshua talks about the valley of calamity. Psalms 84 talks about the valley of weeping. Hosea talks about the valley of trouble.4:48The Hebrew word valley actually means the valley of deep darkness. So, understand, this is a real place, and it's a real happening in our own lives. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Now, before I give5:12you the second part, I want us to examine what to remember when we're in these deep valleys. What to remember when we're in these deep valleys. Number one, valleys are inevitable. There's five things to remember. Valleys are inevitable. They are a part of life in the world. John 16, verse 33. In the world, you will have trouble. They are going to happen. Count on it. Either you're coming out of a valley,5:41or you're about to be in one, or you're in one now. Regardless, you can count on it. It's going to happen. Valleys are an inevitable part of life. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when you're going to be in that. We all go through the difficulties. We all go through disappointments. We all go through discouragements, and it's in life. Every one of us go through some of these emotions.6:06Some of us will go through suffering. Some of us will go through sorrow. Some of us will go through sickness, times of frustration, failure, fatigue. It's going to happen. It's a normal part of everyday life. So count on it. Don't be surprised by it. Valleys are inevitable. Number two, valleys are unpredictable. You cannot plan. You can't put a strategy on when the valley's going to happen.6:33I love what Jeremiah 4 verse 20 says. Disaster follows disaster. In an instant, my tents are destroyed, and my shelter falls in a moment. You and I can never plan on when the valleys are coming our way. We can't schedule them. We can't put them in our day timer. We can't put them on our iPad to give us a ding reminder. They are always unexpected, and they always happen at the most7:02inconvenient time, don't they? They always happen when we least expect it at the worst possible time. Your air conditioning goes out. It doesn't go out in January. Your air conditioning goes out when? In July or August here in Alabama. That's when it's unpredictable. It's unexpected. It's going to happen sooner or later when you don't have the time. You're unprepared. You're financially set back. When we least7:30expect us, it hits us right smack in the kisser every time. Valleys come suddenly. Notice, and a great day can change. A great day. You're just rocking along. It's going good, and you get one phone call, and in that one moment, life changes. In that one moment, a phone call from bad news happens. The doctor calls. A routine office visit, and you find out something is deadly wrong with you. In that moment, bad news7:58happens. A freak accident. Valleys happen. They are unpredictable. They're inevitable for every one of us. Number three, valleys are impartial. I mean, there are no respecter person. Listen to what the Bible says in Matthew 5, verse 45. The Living Bible translation says, it rains on the just and the unjust too. So it8:24rains on both of us. It rains on the believer as well as the non-believer. It's impartial. It has, no one is immune to going through the valleys. Good people as well as bad people go through the valleys. They go through the trials, through the tribulations of life. Valleys are impartial to every one of us. Disaster happens to good people, and it happens to bad people. Tragedy happens to each and every8:50one of us. So we know understanding, remembering about valleys helps us get through them, right? That's the key word. Through the valley of the shadow of death. Valleys are inevitable. They're unpredictable. They're unpredictable. They're impartial. Number four, valleys are temporary. They're temporary. Listen to what 1 Peter 1, verse 6 says. There's a wonderful joy ahead,9:16even though going through is rough for a while down here. Valleys are temporary. They have an ending to them. They don't last long. It's not a permanent location. Psalms 23, verse 4, the key word is through. I posted it this week. I found a little, nice little logo thing, and it had the King James version. Yea, though I walk through, and the word through was big print, because that's the whole idea.9:45We're not going to be hanging around in the valley. Students, listen to me. Going through dating situations, you go through it. It's going to get to the end. There's no blocking it off. Valleys like this are impartial. They're unpredictable, but they are temporary. It has a beginning, and it has an end. It's like going through a tunnel. It's eventually you get out on the other side of it. I was thinking10:14about this morning. I know that my birthday is coming next week. You might want to write that down. Saturday is my birthday. Just write that down, if you would, right now. May 23rd is Pastor Dan's birthday. I'm expecting, you know, a new car from some of you. I don't know. You know, maybe that, a new beach home or something like that. I don't know what you're planning on giving me, but I know it might not be anything, because you don't love me. No, you'll give me something. I'm sure,10:40hey, happy birthday is all I really want you to know. Hey, just, I tell you what, instead of spending it on me, give it to missions. Give it to the great day offering. Amen. I'm just, I'm not asking for anything. I'm just saying. But, you know, valleys are temporary, but I started thinking about it. I'll turn 61 this coming Saturday, if Lord lets me live long enough. 61. Now, I know that's not near as old as some of you, Bill. I mean, some of you are old as dirt. I'm telling you, dirt is only11:07older than some of y'all in this room, right? But 61 is kind of old. The students are going, you're an old pastor. I'm telling you, you're old. I started thinking about that. Well, you know, as a Christ follower, we've probably lived 80, 90 years old. That is a lot of people living. We buried one of our close family friends this past week. He was four months shy of his 100th birthday. Four months. I wanted to say, God, could you not give the guy four more months? I mean, come on,11:37God, what's up with that? But the Lord said, it's time. I've got him here 99 years old, almost 100. I'm bringing him home. I got work for him to do. But you think about living 80, 90 years here. That's nothing compared to the millions upon billions of years we will spend eternity. So, yes, we can go through a few valleys here because they are indeed temporary. So, valleys are inevitable. They're12:02unpredictable. They're impartial. They're temporary. I love what the word says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17. Our troubles are short-lived and their outcome is an eternal glory which outweighs them all. Outweighs them all. So, valleys are temporary. Valleys also have purpose. We can't go through them12:24without having some purpose. They always have a purpose to them. God has a reason for taking you through the valley, whether it's doubt, depression, despair, discouragement, defeat. He's got a reason behind each one of them. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 6 and 7 says, at the present, you may be temporary hassled by all kinds of trial. This is no accident. It happens to prove your faith. Every problem has a12:54purpose to it. Faith is not built upon the mountaintop. Faith is built in the valleys. Joy is the mountaintop. But faith is built when we're going through the trials and tribulations of our lives. Faith is built in the valley. He wants us to be more like him. He's created us in his image. He is shaping us and13:17developing our character in his image. And he's got to take us through some of these valleys to sharpen up our character. So these five things help us remember when we are in, not if, but when you are in the valleys. They are inevitable. They're unpredictable. They're impartial. They're temporary. And they have purpose. So now here's the message to what to remember. What do you do when you're in them?13:47Because I believe beyond a shadowed out, Pastor Brad, I believe there's some people in this room that are in valleys right now. I believe some of you are in there. Maybe you see the light at the end of that valley, but you're there. You're inside this particular valley of dark, deep despair. So what do we do?14:06When you look at Psalms 23 4, I want you to notice this particular passage. It says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you, God, are with me. Your rod, your staff, they comfort me. I'm going to give you three things, several verses of scripture,14:35so buckle up. I'm going to talk real fast. Three things. Number one, refuse when you're in the valley, refuse to be discouraged. Refuse to be discouraged. I want you to know something. In my life, I've learned this. Discouragement is a choice. You choose to be discouraged. If you have the presence of God in your14:57life, the radiance of the Holy Spirit in your life, and you choose to be discouraged, that's a choice you've made. God gives you strength to overcome. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. I may be discouraged for a moment, but I don't have to stay there. Refuse to be discouraged15:27by choosing to focus on God's power rather than the problems is the way we get through the valley of the shadow of death. I love what Colossians 1 verse 11 says, God will strengthen you in his own great power so that you will not give up when trouble comes. When trouble comes, but you will be patient15:49through this process. Folks, let me tell you something. I'm not one for wearing Christian apparel. Not that I don't like it. I think it's okay. I've just never have been one to wear Christian apparel. Now, we have t-shirts we print for giveaway to people that go on our trips to Honduras and stuff like that. Short sleeve, long sleeve. We'll go on winter trips, and we get shirts away. It's part of the package deal, and it's got our little logo, and then we got a little saying on the back of it. It's usually the16:19country with a verse on the scripture for the year, and that's kind of what we do, but there was a shirt several years ago. I remember several years ago. It's called the no fear shirt, you know, so I'm dating myself. I know no fear. Folks, I tell you, some of us need to put that, drag that shirt back out of the closet and put that on because we need to refuse to be discouraged. None other than Satan puts the fear in our lives. I love another word, verse of scripture, Psalms 34, verse 18. The Lord is16:44close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit. Jeremiah 29, 11. Many of you committed this to memory. I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you. Stop right there. That's not help and prosperity teaching right there. He wants his children to be prosperous. He has a plan for that. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. So church, listen to17:10me. When you are in the deepest, darkest valleys of your life, refuse to be discouraged because God's got a plan for it. Amen? Refuse to be discouraged. Number two, remember that God's with you. Now, I know this is very elementary teaching. I know that you would think this is going to be a whole lot deeper teaching,17:37but folks, we need to get back to the basics. We need to understand that God has a plan, and don't be discouraged when you're going through the valleys. Don't be discouraged when your kids go awry. Don't be discouraged when things fall apart around you. God's got a plan for it. He knows where you are. As a Christ follower, he says, remember, I am with you. Even though I walk through the valley of the18:02shadow, that I fear no evil. For you, God, are with me. Boy, that ought to make a Presbyterian shout hallelujah. Amen? I'm telling you, folks, God not only promises his power in the valley, but he promises his presence during the trials and the tribulation. Notice the language here. It goes from third person18:26to second person. When you get back up to the first part of the verse, he said, he guides me. He guides me. That's talking about God to the second person pronouns. You are with me. Your rod, your staff is talking to God. So he's talking about him. Now he's talking to him. In the valleys of life where that brings us face to face with God, all of a sudden, the ultimate becomes the intimate. Religion becomes18:56a relationship closer to God when we're facing the toughest of times. I can tell you firsthand, church, I'm closer to God when I'm going through the trials and tribulations of life. And if you're not, you're missing out on the greatest blessing of your life. Remember, God is with you. Refuse to be19:20discouraged. Remember, God is with you. Listen to what Isaiah 43 verse 2 says. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I'll be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fires of oppression, you will not be burned up.19:46The flames will not consume you. They won't consume you. Why? Because God is with us. Refuse to be discouraged. Remember when you're in the deepest, darkest moments of your life. God is with you. And20:07finally, rely, brothers and sisters, rely on his protection and rely on his guidance. Even though I walk through, say that word, through, through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Your rod, your rod, your staff, they comfort me. David is reminding himself that God's rod and his staff20:37comforts him and guides him through the difficulties of life. It's a basic tool of the shepherd is the staff. They were very skillful with his staff. It had a hook that we've seen pictures of. Some of them had more of a hook and on the back end, on the bottom end, had a big knob. The hook was to reach and grab that sheep that21:05got away or is walking off the path or maybe it's stuck in the briars or something. The other has a big knob on the end of it for a weapon. Using that to ward off those evil things that might come. Your rod, your staff, your staff, they comfort me. Gently reminding us that we're sheep, that God's rod and God's staff, God's word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto thy path that I might not sin21:34against him. Church, let me tell you something. We need to rely on God's present protection and his guidance. I started thinking in my quiet time early this morning about shadows. Shadows are always bigger than the reality. Have you ever noticed that? When you were a kid, you'd see this shadow like, I don't think I want to go. It's dark over there. It's real light over here. Shadows usually are larger22:02than they actually really are. Shadows cannot hurt us. And the one that really got me this morning was there's no shadow without light somewhere. There's no shadow that there's not a light beaming behind it creating the shadow. Folks, let me tell you something. God's protection and God's guidance is the light22:27that makes the shadow. So rely on his protection. Rely on his divine guidance in our lives. Remember that he's with us and do not be discouraged when you're in the valley because he's got your attention. You're more closer to him than ever before. The good man, Psalms 34 verse 19 says, the good man does not escape22:53all troubles. He has them too, but the Lord helps him in each and every one. Church, don't be discouraged. Understand that God's with us during this time. And remember that his protection, his rod, his staff, they comfort us. They protect us. They guide us. They nudge us along the way. God protects us23:23and guides us every step of the way. One final statement that I think is going to be on the screen in just a second. Believers and non-believers go through the same valleys of life. The difference for the Christian is not the absence of the shadow, but the presence of the shepherd. God is with us.23:45God bless us. Let's pray.More sermons on Psalms →
