← ArchiveSunday, May 24, 2015DateMay 24, 2015Speaker—TextPsalms 23Passages in this sermonPsalms 230:42Psalms 397:14Psalms 557:53James 5:169:57Job 512:11Romans 1217:21Matthew 520:28Psalms 14721:20Romans 15:1328:281 Thessalonians 329:16John 1629:42TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00amen thank you greg that's probably one of my all-time favorite songs right now i can tell you i i think i'm not going to ask him to sing it every week because he would but that is a tremendous when you really read through those words of that phenomenal song it just absolutely encapsules0:27everything about the christ follower amen it's exciting exciting we're in the sixth of a seven part series of psalms 23 and as each week we've always opened up god's word and today will be no different and i want you to turn with you psalms 23 and let's read along together the entire psalms 23 the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures0:56he leads me beside 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 feared no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my1:20enemies 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 father god let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight today lord i pray father as we unpack your word1:48today over these next few moments i pray that you receive all the praise the glory and the honor i pray father that you radically change people's lives in this place it would be so tragic lord jesus that we come worship you in spirit and truth of musical biblical worship today pray do all what we do in church work today as the body listen to your message today and leave here2:11the same way we came i pray father every man woman and boy every child in this place every person in this room will walk away from this place today differently than when we came and we give you all the praise and all the glory and all the honor in jesus name we pray and the church said amen we focus on one verse2:38psalms 23 verse 5 you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies interesting line is it not you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows the sermon title today is god's antidote for your hurt or god's antidote to your hurt or for your3:05hurt it could be god's prescription for hurting people if i wanted to change it up a bit here's the message truth because we live in an imperfect world you're going to be hurt you will be hurt by accidents by illnesses by deepest the deep but the deepest hurts you will have in your life will come from people relationships are the greatest source of stress in our lives now but that sounds awfully3:34negative does it not that relationships can be the biggest source of our hurts that seems a bit negative but also on the positive side hurts can also be the greatest blessing and the greatest joy of our lives so we can go through the hurting times and we can still be blessed and we can still have joy through that it depends on how you want to take it i want to give you five things not to do when you're4:03hurting and then i want to give you three symbols or illustrations i may that good symbols or illustrations that will help us from to be healed from the hurt so these first five will help us understand what not to do when people relationships people that we know or may not know they hurt us4:24first of all what not to do when you hurt first of all don't ignore it please just don't ignore it sometimes we want to suffer in silence we want to bite the bullet so to speak we we want to pretend it doesn't exist hope it might go away we try to cope with our hurts and our our our our feelings being hurt by4:51pretending that it doesn't exist how does that happen we just flat out deny it sometimes do we not we just say that didn't happen and we're sitting there bleeding all over the carpet we're sitting there with open wounds and we're hurting our person our persons our personal lives have been damaged we're hurting we just flat out deny that it really didn't hurt sometimes we minimize it we say well it5:16didn't hurt that bad you know i was thinking about that you know i i'm uh fairly good with my hands but there are some things that i'm just not good and i had to learn how to drive a nail my grandfather taught me how to drive a nail he said son you put that thing through there and when you try when you pull it pull that hammer back make sure that you move those fingers out of the way you know i don't know if you've ever hit your thumb or your finger with a hammer at a pretty rated hard speed it will hurt a5:44little bit it will knock the nail off of there if you're not careful and then we say well it didn't hurt too bad you know yes it did you see we minimize the hurt so don't ignore that don't flat out deny it some of us procrastinate that it didn't hurt we we think that we postpone it by doing anything about it we want to sweep it under the rug churches have a tendency collectively to do that we we know that6:10there's been hurting situations to broken fellowships or there's a sin in the camp so to speak i know of one church that had massive sin uh immorality amongst some of their faith families some of their church members and they wouldn't deal with it and god removed his glory from that church let me tell you something folks sweeping the hurt underneath the rug will not make it go away calvin coolidge one of our6:35great presidents the united states of america lost a son at an early age he had a simple infection that all they had to do is take him to the doctor and make sure that they got the medicines and to take care of that infection and his son would not have died but they just allowed the infection to creep and it seeped in and septic got into his system and the poison killed that poor boy because they just7:01denied that it was going to be a big deal they minimized the hurt in that boy's life and they pretended or they procrastinated until that young man lost his life psalms 39 verse psalms 39 says if i keep very quiet but i became more upset i became very angry inside and it's always that i thought about it if my anger burned wounds that we have if they're not tended to they will become septic they'll7:29get open and they'll be awful and we need to deal with those our wounds need to be taken care of so don't ignore when you're hurting number two don't run from it if you're hurting get some help if don't run from it i love what psalms 55 says i wish i had wings like a dove then i'd fly away and rest i would hurry to my place of escape folks let me tell you something running from it escaping it mr7:59chicken retreat somewhere else let's not deal with this right now it's not by accident that public doors are opening on the way out because people want to run out when there's some kind of situation going on when we panic we run away from it sometimes and that's the worst thing to do when we're hurting we need to deal with our hurts drug addiction alcohol perversion of some pornography going on in8:26your life let me tell you something you need to deal with it or it's going to fester and it's going to become a cancer inside your life maybe you've had a failed marriage and you've really not dealt with that let me tell you something folks that will eat at you like a cancer deal with that if you have a failed marriage admitted it admit it and move on in life church let me tell you something8:50it's like a cancer some of us want to go to disney world in life we want to just hang out down there it's a small small world after all i i can still hear that rolling in my mind after 20 plus years of being down there and it just keeps it's annoying is it not as fantastic as disney world i know some of you very highly ultra conservative people say you shouldn't go to disney world that's where all the9:20gay and lesbians go i'm not gonna let them take completely over a wonderful amusement park amen the christians need to go take it back over amen that's for another sermon i'll give it to you some other time but i think we want to go to disney world sometimes we want to run from our problems please don't ignore it don't run from your problems get the help that you need the problem is when you run from it and when you finally return from the escape the hurt is still there so don't ignore it9:47don't run from it and don't hide your hurt james chapter 5 verse 16 confess your faults one to another that you may be healed i am not going to tell anybody i'm going to hide this i'm going to hide the truth i'll wear a mask maybe they won't notice that i'm hurting i'm not a big hunter anymore10:13but i i still like to talk about it i used to my back my brother my brother and my dad and i used to raise bird dogs and my father he was a master trainer of of of bird dogs and and he had two of the he said two of the best bird dogs god ever created at one of his name was senator the other's name was lincoln and both these dogs were amazing dogs in fact of the matter is the only time i ever10:40saw my parents argue about anything my mom gave the bird dogs table scraps during bird season you do not give the dogs table scraps during bird season you don't want to put any weight on them you want them lean and mean hungry and all that kind of stuff so their senses would be heightened and so my dad had these two wonderful bird dogs in fact the matter is when my mom passed away in 98 i was over at my mom's dad's house in trussville at about two o'clock in the morning sitting there having a cup of coffee just11:09talking talking talking about what we're going to do in the service in a couple of days for my mom and my dad says i said well dad how you feeling sad just tell me how is this what's going on dad he said son man's entitled to two good things in life the love of a good woman and a good bird dog and i've had both he never told me which one was the most important in his life but i think it was my mom see folks we don't need to hide our hurts the problem is the hurt's still11:35there so we need to deal with it don't ignore it don't run from it don't hide from your hurt people ask you what's wrong and sometimes we'll say oh no nothing nothing's wrong nothing's wrong you put that camouflage on turkey hunters they put a lot of camouflage on sit real still to call those turkey in we we put on camouflage so don't hide from your hurt don't ignore it don't run from it fourthly don't12:02worry about it don't worry about your hurt job five verse two says to worry yourself to death it with resentment would be foolish senseless thing to do folks let me tell you something bethel church if you're a guest here today bethel baptist church is not a perfect church bethel baptist church is not we're12:26not perfect people we just serve a perfect savior that's all we're striving to do we're not perfect we're imperfect we got hurts we got warts we got blemishes we got situations of our past and all those things just like you do so if you're perfect please don't come here because you're going to become imperfect but if you're imperfect you have come to the right place you know why because this is not12:53a hotel for holiness this is a hospital for hurting people that's what bethel church is all about and so understand we all go through these hurts the bible says us you prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows so don't worry about it worry is an attempt to be in control you're trying to control the uncontrollable when you can't control or the hurt or the13:20issues then you start worrying about it worry is actually playing god's role he wants to deal with that worry never changes the situation it only causes more issues so when you worry about it it causes more issues so don't worry don't ignore it don't run from it don't hide from it it and and13:42finally don't resent it now resentment is a terrible thing resentful people usually are bitter you ever notice those people that are resentful they're usually bitter they're usually angry about things they're very cynical when we are resentful we become all closed up inside self-pity everything is bigger glass is half empty instead of half full you know what i'm talking about bitterness becomes a14:10poison and it will eventually seep into a septic situation and it will end up killing you it will eat you up inside it will penetrate the pores of your life if it continues on it could kill you resentment is a self-defeating attitude it does not work i love what joe chapter 1 verse 4 says you're only hurting14:33yourself with your anger when you look that word up anger it remains resentment when you resent somebody you're angry about that scenario or that situation or that person so don't resent it now that is a five things not to do when you're hurting i want to show you now in closing the three things15:02or three illustrations or i would say symbols that will help us get healed from the hurt now notice with me in this passage of scripture that we've been studying psalms 23 psalms 23 the scene changes from a field to a feast go back with me in psalms 23 verse 1 the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down here it is green pastures he leads me beside still waters he restores my soul15:32he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name say even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of dead i fear no evil for you are with me your rod your staff they comfort me then he moves us to this feast he gets us out of that mesa that field and he takes us to this beautiful table of enrichment he says you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with15:59oil you my cup overflow david uses this beautiful image of a banquet table he gives us three illustrations or three symbols that help us and illustrates these three steps that we must take in order to receive god's healing in our lives you prepare you anoint my head my cup16:25overflows number one let jesus settle the score i want y'all to let that just sink in just for a second because we have a tendency when we're hurt brad brad i believe i'm right on this we have a tendency when we're hurt we want to retaliate16:52amen i'm going to get that guy i'm going to get that girl i am going to make their life miserable i've been hurt so i'm going to put a hurting on them right that's not what the word says the bible says let jesus settle the score listen to what romans chapter 12 says never pay back evil for evil never avenge yourselves leave that to god17:21for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it those are strong words paul writing to the church at rome in chapter 12 he says i'm going to take care of this deal if you will get your hands off of it let me settle the score of someone hurting one of my children folks let me tell you something let17:46jesus settle the score don't try to get even don't seek revenge don't retaliate against those who have hurt you i don't care if you're in the same household with them let jesus settle the score trust god to settle the score because he will do it david says you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies the sheep they have many many many needs and they got many many enemies as well fox fox art18:13sheeps wolves coyotes bears snakes the only good snakes a dead snake amen and i don't know you i don't even like dead ones i mean i just don't like them i don't know why i guess god just put that on me to keep my antennas up well watch out for them right he's going to take care of that sheep snake are bad for sheep18:39ticks you think ticks yeah they get down inside the wool sheep have very defenseless animals they have real short legs i mean they kind of just screw around you know they move around they're dumber than a box of rocks they bumping their heads into things they're falling off cliffs all the time they can't fight they need a protector they need somebody to help them they need somebody to guide them the shepherd's job19:09is to take them to the table of the fields of the mesa of the green pastures that's what the shepherd's job is is to guide them along the way and he has the rod and the staff to guide them and to protect them take them to green pastures to drive out all of the enemies so let god the shepherd of all shepherds19:32settle the score that's his job quit taking god's job away from him let him forgiveness means giving my hurts to god and letting him settle the score so why should i forgive somebody why should i well first of all you've been forgiven by god are you better than them absolutely not you better than god absolutely20:01not but we've all been forgiven by god so why should we not forgive them and let god settle the score resentment makes you miserable when you're resenting someone you got that pit in your stomach you got that resentment in your life you're frustrated resentment makes you miserable and by the way you're going to need more forgiveness in the future so you might as well forgive them amen matthew 5 verse 7 on20:28wednesday nights let me plug greg's plug inquire let me plug what i do on wednesday night for a second i teach in the fellowship hall give you cake and pie or some dessert that we cook up for you and free coffee and soft drinks and you come and we have prayer time and and we have uh studying the word and and i'll just finish the whole beatitudes on wednesday nights at 6 30 and man it's been fantastic the speaker's suspect but the missed message and the material is great and we studied this particular20:58passage matthew 5 verse 7 blessed are the merciful for they shall will be shown mercy folks let me tell you something you've been forgiven so you should forgive by the way you're going to be forgiven again so let jesus settle the score number two let jesus soothe my wounds psalms 147 god heals the broken hearted and21:20bandages bandages their wounds deep wounds need big bandages deep wounds need big dressing on them and that's what jesus is you anointed my head did it say a portion of the head it said no you anoint my21:44head that means every portion of the head let me tell you something folks our shepherd has ample supply ample oil on the heads of the sheep for two reasons he put it on the shepherd put it on two reasons to soothe and to heal that's exactly what he does for the christ follower he has plenty of oil in his bag22:08let him soothe your wounds only once you and i have forgiven someone or have been forgiven that means it it's the process of the healing that's when it starts but it takes time for the restoration how does jesus heal our hurts first of all he heals it through fellowship fellowship with other believers22:34he heals it through prayer he uses worship he uses ministry he wants us to be still and know that he's there after surgery they always say please lie still do they not tell you that when you have surgery they say sit still no matter what they've cut on or what they've taken out or put in they want you to lie still and then shortly thereafter they want you to get up and get moving don't they i had a uh an23:00accident in 2004 maybe you've seen this i wear long sleeves all the time most of the time but you know golf shirts and stuff you see it i had an accident i fell uh one of my hobbies in life other than playing golf and eating banana pudding um is is i used to referee high school and college basketball for 25 years i was a division one high school i was a high school basketball official and a division one and23:26division one double a uh college basketball official i think basketball is one of the greatest sports on the planet and i just love the game and i i got into it early in my in my life and i i 25 years i did 25 years and i became a trainer for the birmingham basketball association training new officials and i was training some new officials on what not to do in officiating and i'd work jacksonville state and23:52guff south conference and all of those small division two college division one colleges and enjoyed basketball never made it to the big leagues but that is okay i enjoyed what i got to work and so i was training some basketball officials of what not to do and one of the things is you don't back up when the play comes to you if the play starts coming to you and you got these 10 basketball players who are a lot faster stronger bigger jump out of the gym can play i can run like deer they're coming24:17at you do not back up or they're going to run over you because you can't back you can't run back backwards faster than you could turn and run forwards and so i was backing up and i just happened to be doing a training session against chockville high school clay chockville and this little school called leeds high school and leeds had this great ball player that was play that went on to play for the uh i can't remember his name but he's a fine young man a phenomenal basketball player went on to play for connecticut just a great great basketball player and they they had a fast break and that team24:47started coming to me and i started backing up brad and what did i do i got my feet all tangled up instead of just falling and sliding on this padding that i had back here just slide down the floor and then gather myself and run i tried to back up to get out of their way and i tripped and stumbled instead of just falling i put my hand down right here and when i did all x number of pounds of this body fell25:11on top of that wrist and broke the wrist and crushed the joint and they had to put i've got a titanium plate screws in there and i'm saying i'm telling you this dumb story for one reason if you're refereeing basketball don't run backwards no you go through the process of surgery then if you've had surgery like this or a some joint or a broken bone what do they put you in therapy i think we could solve25:38all the wars on the planet by sending the physical therapist to fight they are terrorist they really are i mean they are the meanest people i had this little physical therapist about five foot tall about a hundred pounds and i'm telling you she was meanest person i'd ever been in my life she called herself a christ follower but i couldn't see jesus in her because she was hurting me26:04she would take my hand and she'd bid it back i said stop she said do you want to use that hand ever again i said yes she said then we got to do this motion thing and i said but it hurts she said praise god it's hurting you because if there's no pain there will be no gain in that i say that for a reason we have got to be still to let jesus put the oil on then we got to get moving so that we can26:28show his grace and his mercy we will have the scars we will go through that but we got to get moving so that we can show the world his grace and his mercy i am a trophy of god's grace instead of focusing focusing on the hurt i focus on the healer so let jesus settle the score number two let jesus soothe my26:56wounds and number three and i'm done let jesus satisfy my needs we need to get over our hurts at some point we need to look to god to meet our needs when we expect people to meet our needs they will fail us every time jesus will not a person can give you some of what you might need they might give you27:24some of the love you may need but jesus can give you all the need a person may give can give you some of the security that you might need but jesus can give you all that you might need no person can make you happy all the time but jesus can people will fail you time and time again they don't mean to you don't mean to fail people but it's going to happen but jesus never fails us that's why he says27:53my cup overflows when you look at that phrase he's taken us through the valley of the shadow of death he's taken us to the mesa to the still waters he has pointed us back to the first two words he is satisfying our needs he says my cup overflows overflows mean it's an abundance abundance with what28:19overflows with what it overflows with hope romans chapter 15 verse 13 says god will help you overflow with hope in him through the holy spirit's power within you if you are a christ follower in this room today you have the power the indwelling power of the holy spirit in your life your cup can overflow28:48when you're hurting he says i my spirit is living in you i want to let you experience hope because of overflowing anointing anointing anointing on your life overflow with what with hope number two overflow with love first thessalonians 3 verse 13 verse 12 says my may the lord make your love to grow and overflow29:16you see when we realize that he can satisfy my soul he can satisfy every aspect of my life he can help me through the hurt i have the overflowing power of the holy spirit understanding do hope in him john 16 verse 24 ask using my name and you will receive and your cup of joy will overflow29:42when you ask for his satisfaction ask to satisfy your needs if you're hurting he will give it to you if you're hurting jesus invites you to this wonderful banquet table he has prepared this banquet table before30:11you in the presence right in the presence right in the presence of your enemies he will anoint your head with the oil of his love he will fill your cup until it overflows that's good news that's a deal that's a deal we can't refuse let jesus settle the score let jesus soothe soothe you soothe your wounds and let jesus satisfy30:42your needs that's the beautiful illustration and symbols in chapter 23 verse 5 verse 5 you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil31:05my cup overflows let's pray you31:35youMore sermons on Psalms →