We are like sheep needing a shepherd, and Jesus is our shepherd.
Jesus provides us with rest and assurance, taking away fear and tension.
We can find stillness and quench our thirst in devotion and prayer.
Jesus restores our soul, helping us when we're downcast and out of place.
baptistchurch.com devotional time. Today we're in Psalms 23. I love this Psalms. I think it says a lot what Christ does for us. So let's pray and we'll get started. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much Lord for this Psalms. Lord, we just thank you so much Lord for all the Psalms and not the whole entire Bible. Lord, we just ask you, Lord, please forgive me of my sins and my shortcomings, Lord. Lord, I just ask you, Lord, to bless our listeners today, Lord, and help them, Lord, in all the ways that they need, Lord. I know we ask you, Lord, for all the prayer requests, Lord, that we get, Lord. I know that John Burke needs a house and I know that there's others that's needing prayer for health. And I just ask you, Lord, just to please bless them and please give them health. And I ask you, Lord, to provide that you always provided for us, Lord. And we just thank you, Lord, for that, Lord. And I ask you, Lord, to just bless our time together, Lord, and BrighterDayBaptistChurch.com, Lord. And we just thank you for that, Lord. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. So if you have your Bibles today, we're going to be in Psalms chapter 23. And let's bear with me, my glasses fogged up. So let me go ahead and get this and get it going here. So verse 1, it says, The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me in all the days of my life And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever Now that says a lot in so many little verses Let's look. I did prepare sort of a small devotional here. We're going to do a little bit of both. So I'm going to go ahead and start the presentation. Just bear with me. Let me go ahead and get that up. It says, I put up a picture up here for, are we not like sheep looking for our shepherd? You know, sometimes we want a lot of stuff, you know. And take us, because the Bible teaches about this, we're like sheep. And in the first verse it says, the Lord is what? my shepherd and it says I shall not want and we look at sheep as ourselves we always are needy we're always wanting and we don't put the emphasis on the Lord you know it says the Lord is my shepherd and it says I shall not want but let's go ahead and go to the next clip here. And this is what we've already read. I went through that. And then we'll just click back and go to the next one here. It says, He makes me lie down in green pastures. Gives us a picture. This gives us a picture of rest and assurance. Sheep will not lay down if they are afraid. If their comfort among other sheep are bothered by insects and pestilets or if they are hungry. Since we are his spiritual sheep, Jesus is our shepherd, can take away from us fear and tension between amongst each other. the aggression of things that bug us. And he can safely, the hunger that we have for heavenly things it is then we become free to lie down in green pastures So let's go ahead and go to the next one here. We find that sheep prefer still water of the stream. The shepherd will often damp up the fast-moving water of a creek to form a quiet, still pool. Sometimes, however, the sheep may go for days without water. Their only source of water is dew found on the grass in the early morning. Many times it is in the stillness of the early morning in which we find the quenching of our thirst as we open our hearts to God in devotion and in prayer. And then number five, it is another, it's in another Psalms we find the words be still and know that I am God. God is found in the still waters. The words, He restores my soul, indicates that even in the wonderful care of our shepherd, the still water and the green pastures, there are times when we need to be restored, repaired, and renewed. There is an exact parallel found in the world of sheep. Sometimes a sheep, because of certainty of gravity, will turn over on its back and be unable to get up by itself. In England, the shepherd's term for this condition is casting. A cast sheep will lie for days and even sometimes die on its back if it doesn't get help. We can get in that condition also. Maybe the word downcast describes our despair discouragement and our helplessness as we wander away from God and get into serious trouble I can see Jesus coming to us as the good shepherd, turning us right side up and placing us on our feet. He restores our soul. She are creatures of habit with a tendency to go to the same way into the pastures until the pastures are worn out, leaving nothing to eat. We have that same tendency. we can be assured, however, that our shepherd will lead us in the right path. Well, that's that. That is so, so true that our shepherd, our Jesus Christ, is always beside our side to get us, to help us to be restored, to help us when we're down and outcast and to let us have a better day. You know, sometimes we don't stop. Sometimes when we get upset and sometimes when we get downcast, we don't take the time and pray and ask God to help us. We just grumble and complain what we're going through. Hey, ask yourself, you know, I would say stop and thank when you're going through those times. And just take a couple of minutes and bow your head and ask the Lord to help you get through that day. It's been an honor and it's been a pleasure putting up these devotionals for you. I hope it's been a blessing to you. Leave a comment. That would be great. But we're going to end in prayer here. And thank you for joining us. dear heavenly father just thank you so much for this time lord thank you for all that you're doing with brighterdaybaptistchurch.com we ask you lord for i know that our sermon is coming up lord on mother's day lord just help us prepare for that and lord just uh thank you for this great day that you have made in christ's name we pray amen
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