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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Promises

Well, I thought tonight, since our choir had spent so much time preparing a song about Psalm 23, that I should probably just talk about Psalm 23 tonight.

So let's pray and then we'll just talk about this, what we just heard, what you guys just so beautifully sang.

Father in heaven, thank you this evening for the reminder that you are our shepherd.

And looking out my brother-in-law's back window, you could see the shepherds.

And a couple years ago, I was over in Romania.

And I saw all these lights in the middle of the night in the middle of the field little lights and I Asked my mother-in-law.

She says those are shepherds smoking You see those little lights they never left the sheep They were out there with the sheep.

And then there in Israel, they kind of commercialized a lot of things.

But they have found some caves near Bethlehem where they would keep their sheep and stay in these caves.

And 1 of the highlights of groups that go there is to go into these caves and sing songs about the shepherds.

"'The Lord is my shepherd.' What a wonderful thought.

"'Sheep don't just take care of themselves.

When you say the Lord is my shepherd, you're talking about who your manager is.

It's like saying, look who my teacher is.

How many of you have someone that just helped you through the years that you point back to and say, man it's been a good shepherd.

And there's been people that I've known since I've known anybody that have been good shepherds.

Praise God for that, but praise God especially for Jesus the good shepherd.

Because when he's our shepherd, he says, I shall not want.

A shepherd is so good, that doesn't mean I don't have any needs.

It doesn't mean that I don't have any trials.

It doesn't mean I didn't have issues, but I have a good manager who laid down his life for me.

He bears my burdens and He's satisfied, I'm satisfied with the care I'm receiving.

I'm thankful for my manager, even though I have problems, even though we go through problems together, I'm not looking for another manager.

I'm thankful for Jesus, my shepherd, Amen?

He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

It's obvious that I didn't do this build right, Or this would be up here already.

Conditions that have to be met for you to lay down in green pastures.

We say he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He makes it possible for me to support the cows and support the bees And it's saying it's a place of abundance.

And he talks about leading us, leading his people to the promised land.

I'm making it a place where you can go, you can lie down.

Not stagnant waters, still waters, clean waters, pure waters.

Sheep are made up of 70% water Dehydration causes weakness irritability restless searching for water which leads them to drink polluted water due to impatience.

And so many times the shepherd will get them up before dawn when the dew is still on the grass and they get a lot of their water from the dew.

Some of these places in Egypt and Israel I've been recently, both these countries, it is hot.

I can see why they needed a fire by night and a cloud by day.

But he showed up and did it with an actual cloud and fire.

Many times the shepherds will have the sheep get up and begin grazing long before the sun gets up.

And how many think that we should be grazing long before the sun comes up?

And then after the sun goes down, it's almost like morning and evening worship.

That old song, I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses.

The problem is, people have made up their own water sources and they've rejected the living water and gone for broken cisterns.

And just this last Sabbath I was talking about in Getty.

Getty comes from a spring that has been flowing for thousands of years.

We choose to reject God, the spring of life, the spring of water.

We choose to replace God with man-made cisterns.

Our water source is our way of getting water, just doesn't work, they can't sustain.

Moses led people from a place where they thought they had water all figured out with the Nile and God says no I'll show you that I can bring water from these rocks in the wilderness.

I'm in charge of living water Jesus said to the woman at the well I am the living water and I can give you eternal life.

Believe in me by drinking that living water and it'll be not only for you, but it'll be for others.

And my water and my words are spirit and their life.

So he leads me by the water and restores my soul.

Now in the Bible, I didn't realize this until several years ago when I was studying Psalm 42 for a depression recovery program, And in that Psalm, it says a number of times, why art thou cast down, O my soul?

And that phrase, cast down, is actually a technical term for when a sheep has fallen and can't get up.

It may be when they're pregnant and their weight is out of balance and they roll over and their legs are sticking up in the air and they simply cannot turn over without help.

Nothing they did wrong, but there's something that went wrong.

Sometimes when they get overweight, this can happen as well.

Or when they're overconfident, they think they can lay wherever they want and they lay in a place where it rolls them over and they literally Cannot get up without help sometimes people come to our Clinical programs and they feel embarrassed Why is it that you have to help me get up in the morning?

Why is it that you have to help me get up in the morning?

Why is it that you have to help me know what to eat?

Promises

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