Psalm 23

Hi everyone, this is a long email but worth the read.

Psalm 23 states,
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO WORRY
Stressbusters -Part 1~ Rick Warren

We begin a new series I'm calling Stressbusters. We're going to look at the seven greatest sources of stress. They are all found in Psalm 23. And the antidotes are also found in Psalm 23. Psalm 23 is the most beloved psalm of the Bible. And it tells us what God is really like. It's a picture of God. The goal for the next six weeks is when we get through with the series you'll know what God is like and you'll know how much He really loves you and how much you matter to Him. The more you understand God, the easier it is to trust Him.

The first cause of stress we'll look at is Worry. We all have pet worries: finances, jobs, relationships, marriage,kids, health... There are three problems with worry. Worry is unhelpful, it's unreasonable and it's unhealthy. It's unhelpful because it never accomplishes anything, it never solves anything. It is stewing without doing.It's like racing your car engine -- you create a lot of smoke and noise but you don't go anywhere. Worry has never solved a problem. Worry cannot change the past if you worry about it. Worry cannot control the future. It only makes us miserable today. It's unhelpful, it doesn't work. To worry about something you can't change is useless. To worry about something you can change is stupid -- change it. Either way, don't worry! It is unhealthy. The old English word for worry is the word "to strangle" or "to choke". That's what worry does -- it strangles the life out of you. But it's not natural. The good news is that if worry is learned it can also be unlearned.

WHAT IS THE ANTIDOTE TO WORRY?
BELIEVE GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF ME
Ps. 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need." If I believe that God is going to take care of me, I'm not going to worry. How does making God my shepherd show the antidote to stress in my life? If I let the Lord be my Shepherd how is that an antidote to worry? You have to know what shepherds do.
1. A shepherd provides. He provides food, shelter, the basic necessities for his sheep.
2. A shepherd protects. He defends against enemies, harm.
3. A shepherd guides.He leads sheep when they're confused and don't know which way to go.
4. A shepherd corrects. Any problem that comes along, he corrects it.
The amazing thing is this: God has promised to do these four things in your life if you'll trust Him, if you'll let Him be your shepherd. He says "I'll provide for you. I will protect you. I will guide you. I will correct the problems in your life for you. If you will let Me be your Shepherd. " Isaiah 40:11 "God takes care of his people like a shepherd." God says, I'll take care of you, I'll guide, protect,correct. I will help you, if you'll let me be your shepherd. He even gets more specific in Phil. 4:19 "My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." This doesn't say, God will meet all of your greed. There's a difference between needs and wants. If God met all of your wants you'd be the biggest spoiled brat in the universe. You'd be spoiled and self-centered. He's not going to give you everything you want. It would be like the Midas touch. Soon you'd be miserable. But He has said, "I will meet all of your needs."God says "I will...". He doesn't say, I might, I'll think about it, possibly. He says I will. That means God's character is on the line. He's either going to do it or He's a liar. When God makes a promise His character is on the line. He's either got to do what He says or He's a liar. God says "I will meet all ..." What does "all" include? Everything. If God has promised to provide all of your needs, to protect you, to guide you when you're confused, and to correct the problems in your life, what does that leave left to worry about? Nothing.
When you have an insurance policy, once you know what's covered in that policy, you don't worry about it anymore. If something happens, whatever is covered, you don't worry about it. In the Bible are over 7,000 promises -- the coverage God puts on your life. When you understand them, what is left to worry about? Worry is not only unhelpful, unreasonable, unhealthy -- it's unnecessary if Jesus Christ is your Shepherd. Any time you worry you're acting like an atheist. In essence you are saying: God is not going to keep His promises; God's not going to take care of my needs. If it's to be, it's up to me. Worry is simply practical atheism. It says, I don't believe God will do what He says He will do. How Do I Make God My Shepherd? God is not the Shepherd of everybody. He's only the Shepherd of those who let Him be the Shepherd. Accept Jesus as my Lord "The Lord is my Shepherd." -- The Lord can't be your Shepherd until the Shepherd is your Lord. The two go together. You can't ask Him to be the Shepherd without allowing Him to be your Lord. I have to stop playing God and let God be God. What does it mean to be Lord? It means to be in control. Lord simply means whoever is in charge. Today we might say boss, manager, CEO, chairman of the board. Lord means under control, the person who is on top, in control, calling the shots.
Jesus Christ is Lord in your life if He's calling the shots in your life. If He's not calling the shots, He's not Lord. And if He's not Lord, He's not Shepherd. Because the Lord is my Shepherd. To accept Jesus as Lord means three things. John 10:14, 27 "Jesus said, `I am the good shepherd... my sheep know me ... they listen to my voice, and they follow me." These three words is what it means to have Jesus as Lord: You know Jesus, you listen to Jesus, you follow Jesus. You put Him in control. All the worry that you're worrying about -- whatever it is -- worry is the control issue. The root behind all of your worry is a fear that you are not in control. Worry is always an attempt to control the uncontrollable. Worry is assuming responsibility God never meant for you to have. Worry is a warning light. Whenever you start to worry the light should go off: Warning!-- you're trying to control too much. That is the root behind all worry. Everytime you start to worry, you're trying to control something that you shouldn't be trying to control in the first place. Who's in control of your life? God gives you the option. He doesn't force Himself on anybody's life. You have two options -- either you can be in control of your life or you can let God be in control of your life. God doesn't co-pilot. You'd crash and He'd get blamed. God is not going to force it on you, but either you can be in control of your life or you can let Him be in control of your life. He made you. He knows what will make you happy more than you do. He has the power to bring those things to pass. But He's still going to give you the option. But if God is running your life and He's your Lord and your Shepherd you know He can control anything so you don't sweat it. I make Jesus the Lord of my life. Begin Praying About Everything Pray about all the stuff you usually worry about. Just talk to God. He wants your friendship, your relationship.You don't have time to pray? Do you have time to worry? If we prayed about all the things we worry about we would have an awfully lot less to worry about. Worry doesn't change anything; prayer does. Prayer gets in touch with God who can change it. Whenever I'm worried I have two options I can panic or I can pray. Phil. 4:6 "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs... if you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand." Everything. Don't just pray about religious things. Most people, when they pray, pray prayers they think God wants to hear. Pray about everything. If it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about. God's ability is greater than your anxiety. "Cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you." I Peter 5:7 Cast means to unload, let it go. The Greek word literally means drop. Unload it. Prayer is an incredible stress reliever. All -- whatever you're stressed out about, upset about, irritated about. Cast it all on Him. Dump it on Him. Unload. The problem is, most of us do the casting like we do in fishing. We cast our worries out and then we real them back in . God has been our rock. It's not that we haven't had stress, it's just that our faith enables us to believe that all things happen in God's timing. It has not been our time to build. We still don't know how it will turn out. By trusting God and not dwelling on our setbacks, we recognize God's hand through most of the experience.Matthew 6:32 "Your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well what are your needs and He will give them to you, if you give Him first place in your life and live as He wants you to." Besides trusting God, another source of stress relief is having fellowship with believers. Since we all experience the same worries, we can help each other during trying times at home and at work. "For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:12. I'm learning that when I focus on trusting God's plan in my life, hope pushes the worry out of my mind. Worry is kind of like a dense fog sometimes. When it comes in, you can't see clearly. Have you ever tried to drive in a fog? You can't see what's ahead. It's an illusion. Worry is like that. Worry and fog create an illusion. That's what worry does -- It expands and exaggerates the problem. There is a third thing you do if you want to deal with worry.
CONSIDER ONE DAY AT A TIME. Focus, concentrate and consider one day at a time. Matthew 6:34 "So don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time." Jesus is saying, Don't open your umbrella until it starts raining. Today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. When you worry you don't do anything about yesterday, you can't control tomorrow, you just mess up today. The future can seem overwhelming. Therefore, God has put it in little bite-size pieces. He just gives it to us in one little 24 hour increment at a time. Live one day at a time. Matthew 6:11 "Give us today our daily bread." Overcoming worry is a day to day choice. There is no pill that will make you stop worrying. There is no seminar, tape, or book that will make you stop worrying. There is no one spiritual experience you can have and you will never worry again. Worry, and the antidote to it, is going to be a daily choice, sometimes hourly, sometimes moment by moment choice in which you say, Am I going to believe the Lord is my Shepherd or am I going to believe I am my own Lord? Who is in control of my life? Who's calling the shots? If I'm in control, I have a lot to worry about. But if God's in control, it's His problem and He can handle it. Psalm 144:1-2 "Blest be the Lord, my strength, my goodness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom in trust." What is it that when you think about it you get the pit in your stomach? I don't know what you're going through right now, but that doesn't matter. God does. God knows exactly what you're going through. Go home and read Ps. 23. You will find that seventeen times in six verses, the words "I", "my" or "me" are used. This is an intensely personal psalm. The word "You" -- talking about God -- is used five times, "He" or "His" is used about 7 or 10 times. This psalm is about a relationship to God. That's the antidote to your stress. Religion will not get rid of your stress. Religion will not help you stop worrying. You need a relationship. You need a Shepherd -- somebody who provides, protects, guides and corrects. God says "That's what I made you for. I didn't make you for religion. I made you to know Me." He knows all about you, He wants you to know Him. That's why He sent Jesus Christ. I invite you to take the first step by opening your life to Jesus Christ if you've never done so. Ask Jesus Christ to become your Lord -- your boss, manager -- and Shepherd, as He's promised to do.


GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO DAMAGED EMOTIONS
Stressbusters - Part 3 ~Rick Warren
"He restores my soul" Ps. 23:3

This is good news; we all need to have our soul restored periodically. We get hurt -- life's tough. We get beat up by discouragement, depression, despair. We have fatigue, failure, frustrations, fears. We all have hidden hurts from our past. We carry wounds, battle scars, emotional garbage. God wants to take away your emotional garbage. He wants to restore your soul. How does He does that? He does that when you allow Him to make three changes in your life:
1. Let God remove my guilt.
2. Let God relieve my grief.
3. Let God replace my grudges.
Guilt, grief, grudges are the three things that keep you in emotional instability.
1. LET GOD REMOVE MY GUILT
Nothing destroys a soul faster than guilt. "Ps. 38:4&6 "My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear... I am bowed down and brought low; all day long I go about mourning."
There are two problems with guilt.
1. We all have plenty reasons to feel guilty. We are all imperfect. We all make mistakes. By nature we carry guilt in our lives.
2. We can't get away from it. It's in our mind. Even if we go to a new location we carry a guilty conscience with us.
Prov. 20:27 "The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience. We cannot hide from ourselves." How do you get rid of guilt? How do you deal with the guilt in your life? There are a lot of options: You can deny it, pretend it doesn't exist. You can bury the past -- but it doesn't work. If it's still alive it resurrects itself. Just about the time you think it's buried, the feeling comes back into your mind at the most inappropriate time. Denying guilt does not relieve guilt. You can minimize it. "It was no big deal, not that big of a sin." Then why do you still remember it? Why can't you forget it? Minimizing it doesn't work. You can compromise it just by lowering your standards. If you feel guilty about something you just say "I don't believe it's wrong anymore. Fortune cookie: Commit a sin twice and it won't seem like a sin anymore." The tenth murder isn't nearly so bad as the first one. It's true. If you keep doing something over and over, your conscience will eventually become seared to it, but that doesn't relieve the guilt. You can rationalize your guilt -- "Everybody does it." In the first place, everybody doesn't do it. Even if they did, justifying it by somebody else's behavior doesn't make it any easier on you. You can always find somebody who is worse that you are. "Rationalize" means "rational lies". Whenever I rationalize my guilt I'm trying to convince my heart about something I know is wrong with my head by saying "it's OK". But your heart always wins out over your head. You can blame other people. In our mind we have a scales between what I do wrong and what you do wrong to me. We balance it -- I feel bad about this so I'll blame you for that. When you're blaming other people it doesn't make it any easier on you.
Most of us beat ourselves up. We self administer punishment. Inside we know that somebody has got to pay for the wrong in my life. Subconsciously we set ourselves up to pay for our sin. Can guilt make you sick? You bet it can. Can guilt cause depression? Absolutely. Can guilt cause you to set yourself up for failure? Without a doubt. How many successful people go along fine and then cave in? Why? There is a little guilty feeling: you don't deserve to succeed. None of these things work. There is only one solution to your guilt. You've got to give it to God. He's the only one who can remove it. Romans 3:23-24 "All of us have sinned... yet God declares us `not guilty' IF we trust in Jesus Christ, who in mercy freely takes away our sins." The most basic truth of Christianity is Jesus Christ has already paid for all of your sins. Everything you've ever done wrong has already been paid for. Everything you've already committed, the stuff you're going to do later, all of the sins, mistakes, regrets in your future have already been paid for. You just need to ask God to forgive you and accept what Jesus Christ did for you on the Cross where He already paid for all of your sins. Just accept it. That's how your guilt will be removed. No other way. No psychologist can remove your guilt; they don't have the power to forgive you. You didn't hurt them. But the Creator of the universe does have the power to forgive you. I don't know what you've done but it doesn't matter because your forgiveness is not based on how bad you've been, but how good God is. What matters is not what you've done, but what Jesus Christ has already done for you.
"If we trust in Jesus Christ". How do you get forgiveness from God? Trust. You don't beg God. You don't bribe God. You don't bargain with God. Just believe. Trust. Accept Jesus Christ's free gift. That's why it's such good news: it's a free gift. I can wipe my slate clean, start over, have a clear conscience. But you've asked God to forgive you many times and you still feel guilty. No matter how many times you ask, you still feel guilty. That means you don't understand how God forgives, how it is immediate, free, complete, unconditional, how it wipes out the guilt the first time you ask. If you keep asking God to forgive something you've already asked Him, you're saying you don't believe He forgave you the first time -- that's sin. If you feel guilty about a sin you've already confessed to God and still feel guilty about it, that guilt is not from God, it's from the devil. He wants you to feel bad, to continue to feel uptight. Before you commit a sin, Satan minimizes the sin -- "It's no big deal". After you commit the sin he says, "This sin is so big, God could never forgive you!" How does God forgive? Col. 2:13-14 "He has forgiven ALL your sins. He has utterly wiped out the evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our hearts, and completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross!" When God forgives, He forgives completely. He takes your sins, throws them in the deepest part of the ocean, puts up a "No fishing" sign and says "forget it!" Some of you confess a sin to God and keep bringing it back to Him. When you get to Heaven, you'll find that it was forgiven the first time you asked. God not only forgives, He forgets. That's one of the most amazing things in the Bible -- that the creator of the universe who made you and me can actually forget. Not that He can, but that He chooses to. He chooses to forget sin that has been confessed and forgiven. He wipes it out. That means never to be brought up again. That means it has been paid for. Jesus, on the Cross, said "It's finished. I've paid for your sins". So what are you worried about? If God forgets confessed sin, shouldn't you? Why keep beating yourself up over something God isn't beating you up over? If you don't really feel forgiven, every time something goes wrong in your life you're going to think, "God's getting even
with me!" He's not. If you've put your faith in Christ, God's not going to get even with you because all of your punishment was taken by Jesus Christ. Why punish you when He's already punished Christ. Jesus voluntarily took it. He paid the penalty so you wouldn't have to. Jesus was nailed to the cross so you can stop nailing yourself to the cross. Let God remove your guilt.

2. LET GOD RELIEVE MY GRIEF
Not all of the things in life that damage us are things I bring upon myself. Sometimes I have grief because of things that are done to me. Sometimes I have grief over seeing other people hurt. The fact is you will be hurt in life, you will experience loneliness in life. This is not heaven, this is earth. It's imperfect down here. Some days you're going to be lonely. Some days your heart will be broken. Some days you're going to feel in despair. Some
days you're going to feel all alone. Some days you'll experience sorrow, loss, grief. If you identify with those emotions I want to say to you today I'm sorry you hurt and I want you to know God knows what you're going through. God hurts with you and He cares about your hurt. Only Jesus Christ can fill that emptiness in your heart. What do you do when your heart is breaking? What do you do when the grief overwhelms you in life? Throw a giant pity party? Play the "if only" game? Withdraw into a shell, hide in a cave, isolate yourself from humanity and say "I'll never let another man hurt me!" Do you just pull back and resign from life and be miserable the rest of your life? There are other options. You can let Jesus restore your soul. David, in the Bible, was very acquainted with grief. He understood how much it damages our soul when we hurt. Psalm 31:9 "Lord, have mercy, because I am in misery. My eyes are weak from so much crying, and my whole being is tired from grief." He is saying he knows how it damages the soul. Sometimes we grieve because of our own stupid actions. We do stupid things and make serious mistakes and get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. We grieve over that. Sometimes we grieve because we see people we love hurting. Sometimes we grieve because of a loss. Sometimes we grieve because we're innocent and somebody has victimized us or hurt us. David, in II Samuel 12, gives us some tips on how to handle grief. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. He carried guilt over that but confessed it to God in Psalm 51. If you're carrying guilt, read Psalm 51 and find restoration. But then he felt grief. Bathsheba bore a child and from that illicit union they had a baby. When the baby was born it was very sick and David grieved over that. He got on his knees, prayed, fasted. He said, "God, this baby hasn't done anything wrong. I'm the one who blew it. I'm the one who made the mistake. I'm the one who's affected everyone else's life in this negative way. Save the baby. He's done nothing wrong." But the baby died anyway. What did David do with his grief then? He did three things. These are the things you need to do if God is going to restore your soul.
1. Accept what cannot be changed.
2 Sam 12:22-23 "Then David got up from the ground... He said, `While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept... But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back to life?" You've been hurt by parents, partners, peers. All of the grieving in the world is not going to change the past. The first step to emotional health, healing, restoring your soul is acceptance. Accept what cannot be changed. I cannot change my background. I cannot change the hurts I've experienced and neither can you. Acceptance is the first step to healing the mind, will, emotions. This is the first key to peace of mind: Accept what cannot be changed.

2. Play it down and Pray it up
Don't exaggerate it, dedicate it. Give it to God. You're going to be hurt in life. Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. The Bible says, "Blessed are those that mourn," but too long we take our mourning and hold onto it and turn it into moaning. The Bible says, play it down and give it up. Give it to God. Psalm 37, "Commit your way unto the Lord." Instead of saying, "This is devastating to me!" say, "God, help me make it through this situation!" "After he had washed, put on lotions, and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped." He went to church. At church he worshiped God, which gave him a new perspective and the strength to carry on.

3. Focus on what's left not what's lost.
2 Sam. 12:24 "Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon." Some of you are going through some grief right now. God is not finished with your life. He's not through with you. This is not the end. It hurts. But it does not have to devastate you if you'll open your life up to Christ and let Him heal your emotions. Ask God, "Remove my guilt and relieve my grief." If you're still alive, God is not through with you. And the rest of your life can be the best of your life. Isaiah 61:3 "To all who mourn... he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness." You don't have to remain a prisoner of your pain. It's a choice.

3. LET GOD REPLACE MY GRUDGES
Grudges come from what other people do to me. I feel guilty for what I've done to others, but I feel grudges about what others have done to me. You're going to be hurt in life; that's a fact of life. Life isn't fair. People will hurt you. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. Either way, it still hurts. How you handle the resentments of life determine whether you are a bitter person or a better person. The difference between bitter and better is the letter "I". I make the choice. I can choose whether the circumstance will devastate me or direct me on to a new path. Whether it will make me bitter or better. What do I do with all the hurts that have piled up, all the emotional garbage that I still resent, and when those people come to mind it just tightens my stomach up? What do I do? Job 5:2 "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do." Why? Resentment never hurts the other person. It only hurts you. The other person might be totally oblivious that you're even thinking about them. They've gone on with their life. Some of you are continuing to allow people from your past to hurt you now! And that's stupid! Your past is past. They cannot hurt you anymore unless you keep rehearsing it in your mind. Every time you rehearse that resentment they'll hurt you again. They may even be dead and they're still hurting you from the grave. That is dumb! You don't hurt them by resenting. Holding onto a hurt, only hurts you. "You're only hurting yourself with your anger." Job 18:4 What do you do with your grudges? the resentments of people that have hurt you? Romans 12:19 "Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for He has said He will repay those who deserve it." Because of sin in this world, life is unfair. God never said life was fair. This is earth, not heaven where God's will is always done. Sometimes innocent people suffer. And sometimes guilty and evil people prosper. Justice is not always served in this world. This is a sinful world. But God has said one day He is going to settle the score. One day He's going to call it into account, right the wrongs, settle the issues that were left unsettled here -- the crimes, the injustice, the prejudice, the racism, the sexism, the rapes, murders, hurts, abuse. One day God is going to settle the score. In the meantime, the Bible says, don't avenge yourself. It will eat you up. What do you do instead? "Get rid of all bitterness ... forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you." There is a real heaven and a real hell. One day God is going to settle the score. In the meantime He says, get rid of all bitterness, forgive each other as God forgave you. If you've been forgiven, God expects you to be forgiving. You will never have to forgive another person more than God has already forgiven you. One of the greatest things that Martin Luther King said, "Bitterness is blindness." If I allow you and your hurt to make me bitter it blinds me. It blinds me to the truth, to all that's good in the world and all I can see is the bad, evil, prejudice, sin. It blinds me to what God wants to do in my life. God wants to even take the negative, harmful, hurtful and turn it around and use it for good and make me a better person. I can't see that when I'm bitter. You will never be healed from your hurt until you accept God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ and then you offer that same forgiveness to other people. What is it you still feel guilty about?Jesus Christ can remove that guilt and nobody else can. He specializes in new beginnings. It's called being born again. He can wipe the slate clean. There is no reason in the world for you to go on with a guilty conscience when He offers forgiveness. Just accept it. Stop punishing yourself for the past. You don't need a self-help book. You need a Shepherd. You need a Savior. Only a Savior can forgive that guilt. How about your grief? Are you still holding onto it and moaning instead of mourning? Are you looking at what's left instead of what's lost? Are you playing it down and praying it up? Are you letting that grief incapacitate you, keeping you in a prison -- a self imposed prison. Nobody locked the door -- you locked it yourself. Say, "God relieve my grief." How about your grudges? Are you still allowing people in your past to continue to hurt you in the present? Stop! Don't let them hurt you anymore. They cannot hurt you without your permission. The past is past. Give God your grief, guilt, grudges. Psalm 42 David prays, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul. Hope thou in God." Why is my soul cast down? Do you have a cast down soul? David is using a term every shepherd would understand when he talks about being cast down. It is a position sheep get themselves in and they can't get out of. Sheep are built in such a way, that if they fall over on their side and then on over on their back with their legs sticking straight up in the air, they cannot get out of that position themselves. They are helpless to get back up on their feet again. That position is called a cast down sheep. It's frightening when a sheep falls down on its side and then its back. It kicks and flails in the air. It bleats, cries out. It knows it is open to attack. Any animal could come and attack it and it is helpless. It's a very serious condition. When sheep lay on their back, gas begins to collect in their stomach. It hardens the stomach, cuts off the air passage and they suffocate in a matter of hours. Not only that, their legs go numb in that position. On a hot day a sheep in a cast down position can die in just a matter of hours. They can't do anything about it. They need a shepherd who restores their soul.
When a shepherd restores a cast down sheep, it doesn't just happen immediately. It takes time to restore a cast down sheep. First a shepherd will come to the sheep laying on its back with its legs sticking straight up in the air. The first thing the shepherd does is lovingly massage the four legs to get some circulation back up in the four legs. Then he begins to talk in a reassuring tone to the sheep, "You're going to make it." Then he gently turns the sheep over, puts his hand under the sheep's belly and lifts it up because it cannot stand up on its own because of its wobbly feet. He will lift up the sheep and hold it there while the sheep begins to get some equilibrium. The blood begins to flow in the legs again and it begins to get some stability. When the shepherd realizes and can feel that
the sheep can stand on its own feet that it's got it's equilibrium back, then that shepherd will lovingly and gently let the sheep go. What a picture of what God wants to do for you! When you're on your back and flailing around and the grief, guilt, or grudges are overwhelming you and you think you're going to die in that position, the Lord is your Shepherd. He lovingly comes with reassuring words and tender hands, picks up His little lamb, sets him up straight until he can get on his own feet again and carries it until it's got that stability back. Jesus Christ wants to restore your soul. If you've been cast down for any reason, He's the only one who can help you get back up on your feet again. When He restores your soul, He restores your confidence and your joy and peace and strength. We can restore a lot of things -- cars, paintings, sound recordings, buildings -- but only God can restore a soul.

GOD'S ANTIDOTE FOR DARK VALLEYS
Stressbusters Psalm 23:4
4 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.

There is an old Arab parable that says: All sunshine and no rain makes a desert." If you never have any down times, dark times, gloomy times in your life you'll be dried up. You'll have no depth to yourself, no maturity. It takes good times and bad times to make a mature person. Life is a mixture of pain and pleasure, of victory and defeat, of success and failure, of mountain tops and valleys. Today we're going to look at God's antidote to the Dark Valleys of life. Even in our darkest valleys, our darkest days, God is there. "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." Psalm 23:4
In Israel there is a real Valley of the Shadow of Death. It's a steep, deep and narrow canyon. The sun only hits the bottom of it when it's directly overhead at high noon. The rest of the time the bottom of the canyon is dark. David probably led his sheep through the valley of the shadow of death as he was growing up. As you look in the Bible, the term "valley" also refers to all kinds of rough times in life. Joshua talks about the Valley of Calamity Psalm 84 talks about the Valley of Weeping, Hosea talks about the Valley of Trouble This verse in Hebrew actually means The Valley of Deep Darkness How do I handle the dark valleys of life? There are five facts about valleys that you need to remember whenever you go through a tough time:

1. VALLEYS ARE INEVITABLE
They are going to happen so you might as well count on them. You have just come out of a valley, or you're in one right now, or you're probably headed toward one. Valleys happen throughout life -- one right after another. After every mountain top there is a valley. Jesus was very realistic about it. In John 16, He says "In the world you will have trouble." It's not a matter of if, it's when. It's going to happen. You're going to have difficulty, disappointment, discouragement in life. There will be times of suffering, sorrow, sickness. There will be times of frustration, failure and fatigue. They are going to happen. They are a normal part of life. Don't be surprised by it.

2. VALLEYS ARE UNPREDICTABLE
You can't plan them, time them, schedule them. Valleys are always unexpected. They usually come at the worst time -- when you don't have time, when you're unprepared. Have you ever had a flat tire at a good time? They just happen. And usually when you least need them and it's most inconvenient. It would be very great if we could schedule our down times in life. You can't plan life like that. Valleys come suddenly. They are unpredictable. Have you noticed how easily a good day can become a bad day? A phone call, a letter, a routine doctor's check-up, a freak accident. Valleys just happen. Jeremiah 4:20 "Disaster follows disaster... In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter falls in a moment."

3. VALLEYS ARE IMPARTIAL
No one is immune to them. No one is insulated from pain and sorrow. No one gets to skate through life problemfree. Everybody has problems -- good people and bad people. Problems, trials, difficulties, disturbances, downtimes, depression doesn't mean you're a bad person. It means you're a person. It doesn't mean you're an evil human being; it means you're a human being. The Bible is very clear that good things happen to bad people and sometimes bad things happen to good people. Valleys are impartial. They don't care how good or bad you are. Matthew 5:45 Jesus said, "It rains on the just and the unjust too." When we go through a difficult time -- a valley in life -- the first reaction is always "Why me?" Yet really you should ask "Why not me?" Do you think you should be exempt from all the problems everybody else has to go through? Do you think you should be the only one in the universe that never has a tragedy, a loss, looses a loved one? Instead of saying "Why me?" just realize it's going to happen because you're a human being. Remember this is not heaven. Things are not perfect here and there are problems and difficulties. They are going to happen in life -- to good people, Christians. Disasters and tragedies happen to all of us.

4. VALLEYS ARE TEMPORARY
They have an end to them. They don't last. They are not a permanent location. David says, "Even though I walk through the valley..." The valley is not something you stay in your entire life. It's something you go through -- a circumstance, a situation that has a season to it. When you're in a valley you often think it's a dead end, but it's not. It's like a tunnel -- there is a beginning and end. You go through the tunnel and eventually you're out of it and
back out in the light again. They don't come into your life to stay. They come to pass. 1 Peter 1:6 "There is a wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here." He admits that sometimes you're going to go through tough times. It's going to be rough. Life is tough. You're going to have it. But it's only for a while. There is wonderful joy ahead. He's talking about Heaven. There are no problems in heaven, no valleys, no dark days. While you may be harassed down here, in heaven you'll have no problems. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, that's where you're going. He says don't get discouraged. Even if you live 80 or 90 years and have a problem your entire life, that is so insignificant compared to the thousands and millions of years in eternity problem free. He says, even if it's your whole life it's just temporary compared in light of eternity. "Our troubles are short lived and there is an eternal glory which outweighs them all." They won't last; they will be short. But he says, there is an eternal glory. This is important. Pain can be productive. There will be a benefit for our problems if we respond in the right way. While we have the temporary hassles there is long term, eternal benefit when you go through a valley and respond to it correctly.

5. VALLEYS ARE PURPOSEFUL
God has a reason for taking you through the valleys. Whether it's doubt, depression, despair, discouragement, defeat -- He's got a reason behind it. 1Peter 1:6-7 "At the present you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials." He says temporary -- they aren't going to last forever. You are temporarily harassed with problems here. And there may be all kinds of trials. There are financial valleys, relational valleys, emotional valleys, all kinds of different trials. "...This is no accident -- it happens to prove your faith..." The valleys are not just a freak of nature. God wants to build your faith in the valleys of life. We love to enjoy the mountain tops, but you don't build faith on the mountain tops. You build faith in the valleys of life. When everything is going fine and great you don't really need God. But when you come face to face with a dark valley, you get on your knees. Faith is strengthened in the valleys. When you don't feel like serving and trusting God, praising God... that's where your faith is tested. Not in the good times of life, but in the valleys.
1. Every problem has a purpose. Even the little tiny ones, the inconsequential ones, the things that seem like mere irritations. They have a purpose. God can teach you character. He wants to change you, mature you.
2. Faith is built in the valleys of life.
God wants to build your character. He is far more interested in your character than He is in your comfort or your convenience. God's goal in life is not to just make life comfortable for you. He wants to build character. He's more interested in your holiness than He is in your happiness. Holiness lasts, happiness doesn't. Happiness comes from holiness anyway. He wants to make you like Jesus Christ. He wants you to develop the character of Christ. If God is going to make you like Christ, He is going to take you through all of the circumstances of life He took Christ through. Was Jesus exempted from suffering? Absolutely not. What makes you think you're going to be exempted? Did Jesus go through times of loneliness? Yes. Will you? Yes. Was Jesus ever tempted to be discouraged? Yes. Will you? Yes. Was Jesus ever misunderstood, maligned, criticized unjustly? Yes. Will you? Absolutely. What makes you think you're any different? You're going to go through valleys. God wants to build character in your life. It's not by accident. Does God cause accidents and tragedies? No. God does not cause accidents and tragedies. God is a good God and He cannot cause evil. He cannot do evil. Can God use accidents and tragedies for good? Absolutely. He can use even the evil done to us by others, turn it around and bring good out of it by building character in us. He definitely uses the tragedies and valleys of life in our lives. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU GO THROUGH DARK VALLEYS? David said, "I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

1. REFUSE TO BE DISCOURAGED
"I will fear no evil." I've always thought Christians should be the ones wearing all of the "No fear" T-shirts. I will fear no evil; I fear nothing. That's what David says as a Christian, who puts his faith in God. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death". It says "I walk" -- not "I run through it" or "I panic and run the other way". To walk means calmly, deliberately make steps through the valley. David says "I'm not going to be
afraid. I will calmly walk through the valley." Refuse to be discouraged. You can't go around the valley. You can't go under the valley. You can't go over the valley. You can only go through the valley. Here he says "I will not fear evil". Will implies a choice. It implies an act of volition, decision. I will not be afraid. If you are discouraged this morning, it's because you're choosing to be discouraged. I don't have to know your problems. You're choosing to be discouraged. Discouragement is always a choice. Always. You don't have to choose to be discouraged, but you're choosing to think discouraging thoughts. You're choosing to look at all the negatives. You're choosing not to look at Christ and all the positive things. You're looking at all of the negatives. That's a choice. You can choose to change, too.That's what God wants you to do -- choose. It's a deliberate act. How do I choose to not be discouraged? By focusing on God's power rather than on your problem. That's how you do it. You can take two people and put them in the identical situation -- a chaos, tragedy, crisis -- one of them will be blown away by it, the other is actually strengthened by it. One of them falls apart, one of them is strengthened through it. The difference is what you're focusing on. You need to focus, not on your circumstance,
but on Christ. Not on the situation, but on the Savior. Not on your problem, but on God's power. Col. 1:11 "God will strengthen you with his own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will be patient."
Human energy runs out. After a trial of a certain length of time, you don't have any energy left. No stamina.Human endurance has an end to it. It runs out. In the valleys of life you need a power source bigger than yourself. If you think you're going to make it through all the valleys of life on your own power -- forget it. You're not going to ,You don't have enough power to handle all the things that are going to hit you in life. You need a power source beyond yourself to key into. Ps. 34:18 "The Lord is close to the broken hearted and He saves those who are crushed in Spirit." Jeremiah 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

2. REMEMBER THAT GOD IS WITH ME
David said, "For You will be with me. You're with me every moment." God not only promises us His power in the valley, He promises His presence. You will never go through a valley in life by yourself. You will never go through a dark day alone. God has said, "I will be with you." Isa. 43:2 "When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will 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 -- the flames will not consume you." -- God says I am with you. He will be with you every step in the valley. God says there is nothing to fear when Jesus is near. God does not set up in heaven, looking down on you saying, "I sure hope they make it!" He's there with you in the valley, walking with you, hand in hand. God says, I will lead you through this. At verse 4 of Psalm 23 there is a strategic change in the language. In the first part of the psalm all of the pronouns are in the 3rd person -- he talks about God: "He leads me beside still waters, He guides me into green pastures, He restores my soul". David is talking about God.
But when he gets in the valley it changes to second person pronouns. He starts talking not about God but to God. "You are with me. Your rod and your staff comfort me." It's the valleys of life that bring us face to face with God. All of a sudden the ultimate becomes the intimate. When I'm going through the valley I don't want to talk about God, I want to talk to God. Religion becomes a relationship. Any mature believer will tell you that the times they have been closest to God were in those face to face encounters that happen only in the valley. When you're in the valley and you're spent, depleted, perplexed, in despair and you're talking directly to God, He becomes real and God says, "I'm with you. You're not in this by yourself." We enjoy the mountaintops but we come face to face with God in the valleys of life. He'll never be closer than when you're in the valley.

3. I RELY ON GOD'S PROTECTION AND GUIDANCE
David reminds himself that God's rod and staff comforts him. The rod and staff were the two basic tools that a shepherd used to protect and guide the sheep. A rod was basically about two foot long, at the end of it was a heavy knot. Shepherds were very skilled at hurling the rod, like a missile, at anything that would attack the sheep. God is saying, "When you go through the valley, I'm defending you. I'm protecting you." The rod of God will protect you. Today's shepherds don't use rods, they use guns. It's interesting that in the Old West a gun is also called a rod. God says "I'm going to defend you, protect you." When you're going through the valley, the dark valley of life, God is not setting in heaven unconcerned and apathetic. The Good Shepherd fights for you. While you're fighting for your life in that depression, God is fighting with you. He's fighting off spiritual forces. He is your defender and protector. That's what the rod represents. "Your staff comforts me." A staff was a long stick with a crock at the end of it. The shepherd uses a staff to guide and comfort. He will use the staff to draw the sheep in close to him. He will use the staff to lift them up when they're down. He brings them in close with their staff. He also uses the staff to guide them. When you go through the valley, you're not going through it alone. God's going with you and He's using His rod and staff to protect and guide. There is hope in Jesus Christ. He can help you grow to a level of strength
that you will be able to say like Paul did in Phil 4:12-13 "I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." When you go through a valley of life the scary parts are the shadows. In the darkness you just see the shadows on the wall of the valley as you're going through that canyon. And you're thinking "How am I going to make it?" David says, "When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" -- he didn't walk through the valley of death, but the valley of the shadow of death. One day, someday, a shadow is going to fall over your life. Count on it. You will experience one of those shadow moments. When those times come you need to remember three important things about shadows:
1. Shadows are always bigger than the reality. Fear is always greater than the actual problem. It's the fear that is enormous.
2. Shadows cannot hurt you. Ever been run over by a shadow? There is a difference between the shadow of a truck and the truck itself. Shadows are image without substance. They cannot hurt you. They can scare you, but they cannot hurt you. They are just shadows.
3. There is no shadow without a light somewhere. When you're going through a dark valley, you think the sun has stopped shining. God is dead. I'm all alone. You can't see at all and you think you're in total darkness. But any time there is a shadow it means there is a light somewhere. When you start to get afraid of the shadow in the dark valleys of life turn your back on the shadow and look directly at the light and the shadow falls behind you.
When you're afraid, don't look at the shadow. Turn in the exact opposite direction and look at the light and the shadow falls behind you. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." When you look at Him you cannot be afraid of all the other shadows around you. They fall behind you. If you look at the world you'll be distressed. If you look within you'll be depressed. If you look at Christ you'll be at rest. It's your choice. It all depends on what you're looking at. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Don't look at the shadows. When you're walking through the valley, look at the light. God's people have family problems. Believers go through valleys just like everybody does. But there is a difference and it's a big difference. The difference is that while 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 you.

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO YOUR HURT
Stressbusters - Psalm 23:5 "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows."

We're continuing in our series called Stressbusters. We're going through Psalm 23 verse by verse. We're looking at God's Antidote to Your Hurt. Because we live in an imperfect world, you're going to be hurt. You'll be hurt by accidents, by illnesses. But the deepest hurts you'll have in your life will come from people. Relationships are the greatest source of stress in our lives. They are also the greatest blessing and the greatest joy. But people do hurt us, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose. The problem is our response to those hurts is usually the wrong thing. Before we can look at God's antidote to the hurts I need to tell you four things to not do when people hurt you. These things mess you up. These things cause problems in your life:
I. WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN YOU HURT

1. DON'T IGNORE IT
This is the Clint Eastwood approach to pain. Suffer in silence. Bite the bullet. Macho man. Pretend it doesn't exist. Hope it will go away. We often try to cope with our hurt by pretending it doesn't exist.
There are several ways to do this:
1) Flat out denial -- I don't have a problem; I'm not hurting. We deny how we really do feel.
People hurt us and we say, That didn't hurt.
2) Minimizing it -- It was no big deal. It didn't hurt me that bad.
3) Procrastinate -- We postpone doing anything about it. Sweep it under the carpet. One of these days.... We keep putting it off. We keep postponing it because we always try to postpone the unpleasant. Ignoring your hurt never heals it. The hurt that you're trying to ignore right now won't get any better. People say, "Time heals all wounds" -- sometimes time makes them worse if we keep putting it off. Ps. 39 "I kept very quiet... but I became even more upset. I became very angry inside, and as I thought about it, my anger burned." Procrastination turns minor problems into major ones. It gets worse. It festers. The wounds get infected and spread when we don't deal with them immediately.
2. DON'T RUN FROM IT
This is the Don Knotts approach. Runaway. Escape. Mr. Chicken. Retreat. Run from your problems. Don't face anything. David tried this too. Ps. 55, "I wish I had wings like a dove. Then I'd fly away and rest. I would hurry to my place of escape..." This is human nature. When we face difficulty we run from it. It's not by accident that all doors in public buildings open outward. When people panic, they run. We try to get away from our pain. There are many different ways to escape: movies, television, alcohol, drugs, divorce, Disneyland. The problem is that you will still have the same problems when you return. You can get high but when you come down from the high, get over the hangover, nothing is solved,nothings is changed.
3. DON'T HIDE YOUR HURT
Some people don't run from it or ignore their hurt; they hide it. They keep it to themselves. They don't tell anybody. They wear a mask. Some of you are quite good at camouflaging your pain. You wear nice clothes and have a pleasant smile but the fact is you've been hurt by somebody very deeply. Sometimes we play a game called "Is something wrong?" We always answer, "No, nothing's wrong." We hate to admit it when we're hurt. We'll admit it when we're angry, but not when we're hurt. We don't like to admit that somebody hurt our feelings. So we disguise it. Sometimes people camouflage their pain with materialism They buy nice cars and homes and surround themselves with things and when they hurt they
go shopping. Possessions never compensate for pain. When you hurt all the possessions in the world won't soothe that hurt. "When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. I moaned all day long." Hiding a hurt only intensifies it. It only makes it worse. James 5:16 "Confess your faults one to another that you may be healed." Revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing. When you share your hurt, that's the starting process for getting over it. As long as you hold onto it and hold it in, you hide it in your heart and you can't get well. Some of you are holding onto hurts that happened years and years ago. You can't get well if you're still hiding it. The best place to share is in a small group and that's why we believe in small groups. Everybody has a hurt. It's different for each but everybody has hurts. You're not alone. You're not even the only one with the hurt you've got. You may think you are. You may think you're the only one in the world with the hurt you have. But there are others that have the same hurt you do. If you could somehow get up the courage to share the hurt, you would find relief and you would start on the pathway to healing. You don't heal yourself by ignoring it, running from it or hiding it.You can't control everything. You can't change the world by yourself. All worry does is increase the size of your pain.
4. DON'T RESENT IT
Resentment never helps. Yet we do this when people hurt us. We become bitter, angry, cynical. We get all closed in and self-pitying. Job 18:4 "You are only hurting yourself with your anger." Bitterness hurts you far more than any hurt you will ever receive. No matter what anybody has ever done to you. Rape, rejection, molested, maligned. But there is something worse that. That is bitterness. Bitterness is a poison that will kill you. It eats you up on the inside. What resentment does is it perpetuates the hurt. It takes an event and keeps it going. It just prolongs the pain. Every time you think about it and resent it, it prolongs the pain. Bitterness allows the past to control your present. Bitterness allows people who hurt you in the past to continue to hurt you. We are resentful because we think by being resentful we hurt those who have offended us. But resentment never hurts anybody but you. It doesn't hurt your offender. You can be so upset with them in your mind and so resentful that it keeps you preoccupied with the hurt and they can go on about their merry way. Resentment is a self defeating attitude. It doesn't work. You're only hurting yourself with your anger, you must let go. If none of these approaches will heal my hurt what do I do? Ps. 23:5 The scene changes from a field to a feast. David uses the image of a banquet and he gives us threeillustrations or symbols that illustrates three steps you need to take in order to let God heal your hurt. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows."
These are symbols that represent how to get healed from hurt.
1. LET JESUS SETTLE THE SCORE
Don't try to get even. Don't seek revenge. Don't retaliate against those who hurt you. Trust God to even the odds. Give it to God. Let God settle the score and He will. David says "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." Sheep have many natural enemies -- wolves, cyotees, bears, snakes, ticks... Sheep are very defenseless animals. They cannot defend themselves from anything. They don't have teeth that are sharp that they can bite with. They don't have claws. They can't kick. They can't run fast. They are absolutely the most defenseless animal there is. They don't know how to do anything. They can't be safe unless somebody protects them. The job of a good shepherd is to go find a good table land, a mesa, a field of green grass, and drive out all the enemies. Then he brings the sheep and gives them a safe place to eat. He scouts out the pasture and drives out the enemies. God says, "Let me handle those who've hurt you." Romans 12 "Never pay back evil for evil. ... never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it." God knows the people who've hurt you. He saw it and He cares. He can settle the score. The Bible says one day He will settle the score. There is a heaven, there is a hell, there is a judgement day. He has far more resources to settle the score than you do. He says you cannot recover from your hurt as long as you're seeking revenge. You've got to decide, are you going to get revenge or are you going to get well? You can't do both. Today, revenge is big business. Revenge doesn't work. It always backfires. It keeps the hurt alive. When you retaliate against the hurt all you do is escalate the pain. It doesn't relieve the pain, it escalates it. There's only one way you'll ever get the relief and that's forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn't mean that you say "It's OK that you hurt me." Forgiveness is not saying, "What you did is not a bad deal." Forgiveness is not saying it didn't hurt. Forgiveness is not denying that evil is done in this world. Forgiveness means giving my hurt to God and letting Him settle the score. Just trust God to handle the situation and not try to get even. Let Him prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. Don't try to get even. Why should I forgive?
1) You've been forgiven by God. God's forgiven you and He wants you to forgive others.
2) Resentment makes you miserable.
3) You're going to need more forgiveness in the future yourself. Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Only as I am forgiving to others is God able to forgive me. What you dole out is what you get back. The longer you try to get revenge, the longer you'll hurt.
2. LET JESUS SOOTH MY WOUNDS. "You anoint my head with oil."
Shepherds put oil on the heads of sheep for two reasons: to sooth and to heal. The worst enemy of sheep is flies. They hate flies. They can't shake off the flies either by their hooves or their tail. Summertime means fly time for sheep. The flies get up in their nose and lay eggs. And the larva drives them crazy. Sometimes in the summertime you'll see a sheep banging its head against a rock because he's going crazy from the flies. He can't do anything about it. Isn't it amazing that it's the little things in life that really irritate you? What shepherds do is take olive oil and mix it with sulfur and anoint the head of the sheep and it's like an insect repellant. This represents the shepherd saying, "I'll take care of the irritations. The things that irritate you, I'll take care of them." The other way oil is used is as a salve, an ointment. When a sheep has an open wound the shepherd would use it as an ointment. It would protect them and it was soothing. When David says, "You anoint my head with oil" he is saying God is going to sooth my wounds. This is the same thing Jesus Christ wants to do with the hurts in your life. Ps. 147 "God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." He says, "Not only will I settle the score, but if you'll come to Me and let Me have your hurts, I'll settle the score and then do a little repair work -- a little work on restoring your spirit. I can sooth those hurts. I can bandage them up." Once you've forgiven a person who's hurt you, does that mean all the pain has gone away? No. Even after you've forgiven them, you still hurt. Forgiveness is instant but restoration takes
time. Forgiveness is instant but restoration may take years or months or weeks depending on the hurt. "God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." When you get a small cut you don't need a bandage. The deeper the wound in your life (divorce, rejection by parents, molestation, taken advantage of and a partner stole your business) -- those things don't heal quickly. A deep wound must be bandaged and dressed. Many Christians expect that once they've forgiven a hurt they are immediately well. You're not. You've taken the first step of forgiveness. Now comes the healing where He sooths your soul. It takes time to heal. How does Jesus heal our hurts? What kinds of bandages does Jesus use to heal our emotional wounds when people hurt us?
1) He uses fellowship. When you get together with other Christians, you find support. When you're able to share your hurt, you get emotional support. The first thing you need to do when you've been hurt by somebody is you need to share it with a Christian friend. Don't isolate yourself. You need fellowship. You need to be in a support group.
2) God uses prayer. When you're hurt you need to talk it out. If you don't talk it out to God you'll take it out on your own body. Tell God how you feel. Unload. David, in the Psalms, was very honest about his feelings. He unloaded to God. That is OK. He accepts our prayer.
3) God uses worship. There is healing power in praise. Have you ever come into a church service when you were down, the music started and tears begin. This is emotional healing. God uses praise and His word to build us up and bind up our wounds.
4) God uses ministry. This is helping others who have been hurt too. When you help others who have been hurt it helps you. God set up the universe that way. In our Celebrate Recovery program we take people and share what we've been through. We help them and in doing so we find healing ourselves. We are a hospital for the hurting. The church gives fellowship, prayer, worship and ministry. Those of you who are hurting from a major hurt right now must understand two things:
1) Healing occurs in two phases. You know this physically but it's also emotional. When you are hurt -- surgery or you break a bone -- there are always two phases to the healing. First is the "be still" stage -- you lay in the bed after the surgery. Or they put a cast on your arm so you can't move it. After a while they cut the cast off and tell you to move your body. That's the second stage -- the "get moving" stage. There are people who are trained to do this -- physical therapists. We always get mad at physical therapists because they challenge us and make us do stuff we don't want to do. I know people in this stage who have been going through a healing. You've gone through "the quiet" stage long enough. Now God is starting to prod you and you're getting angry at Him. He wants you to get out in ministry, in service. You're never going to get healed until you get out and start helping other people. There was a time for you to be quiet, to be still and "know that I'm God" but many of you have stayed in this "be still" stage far too long. God is saying you need emotional therapy -- you need to get out in ministry. That's where the healing is going to come from that hurt.
2) Even after you've been totally healed, you're going to have a scar. There are always scars after you've been hurt. When you have a scar you have a choice: every time you look at the scar -- because you're going to see it -- you can either remember your hurt or you can remember your Healer and the healing. That's your alternative. Look at the scar and think of God's grace. When you remember the defeat, the failure, that divorce, that hurt, you think "I am a trophy of God's grace". Instead of focusing on the hurt, focus on the Healer.
3. LET JESUS SATISFY MY NEEDS
"My cup overflows". In the Bible, an overflowing cup, is a symbol for total satisfaction. It means, "I've got everything I need.." In the Middle East, it's mostly desert. When some one gives you a cup that is overflowing, it means they're wasting something -- water or wine. You don't waste water or wine in the desert unless you've got more than you need. When you need to get over a hurt, you need to look to God to meet all your needs. Why is that so important? The major reason we get hurt is we expect other people to meet needs only God can meet. No person can give you absolute security in life. No person can give you all the love you need. No person can make you complete happy. If you expect that from somebody you're going to be bitterly disappointed and you're going to be hurt. God never meant for you to have all your needs met by another human being. You have needs that only God can meet. When you expect other people to meet those needs you're going to get resentful because they can't do it. They can't love you unconditionally 24 hours a day. They can't make you secure 24 hours a day. They can't make you happy 24 hours a day. They can't meet all your needs. They're not God. On the other hand, God can meet all of your needs. He never runs dry. He never has a bad mood. He never lets you down. If you look to Him your cup will overflow. Overflow with what?
1) With Hope
Romans 15:13 "God will help you overflow with hope in him through the Holy Spirit's power within you." You never run out of hope because you know He's never going to let you down.
2) With love
"May the Lord make your love to grow and overflow." I Thes. 3:12
3) With joy
"Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and your cup of joy will overflow." John 16:24

Have you ever wondered when you go to somebody's house how long you're supposed to stay and when you're supposed to leave? Or have you had someone come to your house and you didn't know how to tell them to "get lost". There is a custom in the Middle East that everyone knew that had to do with filling the cup. If you came to somebody's house, even if you were a total stranger (in the desert strangers take care of strangers), the first thing you do is offer them a cup of water or wine ... They drink the cup and you refill it. They drink that cup and you refill it. ... As long as the cup kept being refilled it meant you were welcome to stay. If you came to somebody's house and after several refills, they left the cup empty, it meant your time was up -- it was time to leave. If the host decided he really liked the person and wanted him to stay a long time, they would take the cup and fill it -- not only to the rim but they would let it overflow. You don't waste water or wine in the desert. But when an overflowing cup was shown it was a symbol that you can stay as long as you want. It meant you are special. When God says to you, "I'm going to fill your cup to overflowing" it means you matter to God and you're special to Him. If you're hurting because somebody has hurt you badly, Jesus invites you to a banquet. He says "I'll prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. I'll anoint your head with oil. Your cup will overflow." He will settle the score, sooth your wounds, satisfy every one of your needs. It's a deal you can't refuse. It's a banquet of wholeness, help, salvation.

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO FEARING THE FUTURE
Stressbusters - Psalm 23:6 - 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Today we're going to conclude our series on Psalm 23 called Stressbusters. We're going to look at God's antidote to Fearing the Future. A lot of people spend their lives worrying about tomorrow. They never enjoy today because they're worrying about tomorrow. Why? Because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Yet David, as he concludes this Psalm, is not worried. Psalm 23:6 "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
No anxiety, fear of the future, worry about tomorrow. He's confident -- "surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life."
Where do you get that kind of confidence? If you're a believer, there are three reasons why you don't need to fear the future:
1. Because God is watching over me.
2. Because God's grace is working in me.
3. Because heaven is waiting for me.
"Surely goodness will follow me all the days of my life." Because God is good I can expect His protection and provision. I can expect that no matter what happens to me, God will bring good out of it somehow. It will always either be for my own good, for the good of other people, or for the good of His kingdom. God is a good God. Psalm 145 "The Lord watches over all who love him..." God cares about the details of your life. Like a father, He will provide for you in the future. We don't know what the future holds but we do know Who holds it. We know God is in control and God loves you and wants to help you. He says, I will be like a Father and will watch over you.
"Surely goodness will follow..." What does he mean by that? Obviously David had disappointments in life. Not everything good happened to him. He's not saying, Surely, only good things are going to happen to me. That's not true. Bad things happen to good people. He's not saying only good things are going to happen. He's saying only goodness will follow. Good things will always come out of whatever happens even the bad, the evil, the difficult. God will insure that good will come out -- it will follow whatever happens to David.
The great promise that God has given to believers: Romans 8:28, "We know that all that happens to us is working for our good! IF we love God and are fitting into his plans." This is not a promise for everybody. All things do not work together for good for everybody in the world. Things work together for bad for people who are not trying to go the way God wants them to go, who are not following his path. But if you're a believer, the Bible says all things are working together for good -- not all things are good -- but working together for good. That's what it means "goodness will follow me". There is no difficulty, dilemma, defeat, disaster in the life of a Christian that ultimately God won't bring good out of. Eventually, He'll bring good out of it. Somehow. Often it's difficult to see God's goodness when you're going through a tragedy. There are times when you don't feel like God is good. You don't feel His mercy. Sometimes you feel like God's goodness is hidden. God, Why?" We go through those experiences sometimes in life -- Why? And we
don't see goodness in the situation. It's only later, looking back, that we see God's goodness and how He was working for good. This does not mean only good things will happen to you, because bad thing does happen to you, but God will bring good out of them. Paul was put falsely in prison in Rome. Was that good? No. He was kept as a prisoner in Rome. While he was there, he wrote some books that we now call the New Testament. Goodness followed after his imprisonment. Today we're benefiting from Paul's problem, pain, difficulty. Goodness follows. God says, I will watch over you. How does God watch over believers? Ps. 91, "God orders his angels to protect you wherever you go." God uses angels to watch over you. Angels are real. They are invisible helpers. The Bible
says one of the reasons God has created them is to watch over and protect believers. You don't talk to them or see them, but they are there working on your behalf all the time. Just because we have a guardian angel doesn't mean that we're exempt from bad things happening to us. Sometimes bad things do happen. David had angels guarding him and bad things happened to him. The apostle Paul had angels guarding him, but bad things happened to him. One thing you can count on: God will always be with you through adversity. He doesn't exempt you from adversity but walks with you through the adversity. Not only that, God can bring good out of evil. That's exciting.

II. GRACE IS WORKING IN YOU
Not only goodness will follow you but "...mercy will follow me all the days of my life."
Isaiah 60:10 "I will have mercy on you through my grace." What is grace? Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense. GRACE. It's all God's able to do for us because of Christ. Grace is the fact that God gives you what you need, not what you deserve. Aren't you glad God doesn't give you what you deserve? The Bible says, God is gracious and gives us what we need, not what we deserve. What is mercy? Mercy is grace in action. Why do we
need mercy? Because we're imperfect. We stumble and fall, blow it, make mistakes. In the future you're going to sin! So in the future, you need not only God's goodness, you need His mercy. You need His forgiveness, pardon, healing. When you really understand God's grace and mercy, that God isn't out there trying to get even with you, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ, Jesus has taken the penalty for everything you've ever done wrong or will do wrong, on the cross. He paid for it, you don't. So when a bad thing happens you don't have to think God's getting even with you. God doesn't "get even" for things that have already been paid for on the cross. That's grace, mercy. When you understand God's grace and mercy then you have no need to fear the future. Ps. 103 "I will... not forget the glorious things God does for me. He forgives all my sins. He heals me. He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness... He fills my life with good things ... He is merciful and tender toward those who don't deserve it; He is slow to get angry... He never bears a grudge ... He has not punished us as we deserve for our sins for His mercy is as great as the height of the heavens. ... He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him." When you understand mercy, that God is not only being good to you, but He's being merciful to you in handling your mistakes, your sins, your faults, then you don't have any reason to fear the future. Mercy means that when I'm going through a tough time, a valley, a difficulty -- even one that I've brought on myself -- God is there to help me out. "...we can come before God's throne where we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it." God has a 24 hour drop in service where we can go to God asking for help. In His mercy, He can help because of what Jesus has done. Mercy, like goodness, follows us in life. Picture a parent following a little child around picking up after them. God is constantly picking up your messes. Things that you blow, things that you make a mistake, things you get out of order and then you blithely go on to the next thing. God is behind you, picking it all up, putting it back together, working it all out, taking care of the messes. That's mercy. He's picking up behind you, cleaning up your messes. "Mercy will follow all the days of my life" -- not some of the days, but all the days. God doesn't turn His goodness and His mercy on and off. He doesn't treat you nice one day and the next day treat you badly. All the days of my life, I'll have God's goodness and God's mercy. You're going to experience many different kinds of days in life. Happy, sad, sick, depressing, lonely, difficult -- that's why we fear the future -- we don't know what's going to happen. But you will never face a day without God's goodness and mercy with you if you've given your life to Jesus Christ. He will be with you all the time. Some days you won't feel it, some days you won't see God's mercy and grace and it may be hard to determine. But surely, certainly, without a doubt God's goodness and mercy are going to be there even in the tough times in the future. Those of you who are married, one day one of you will die. The other will have to face life without your mate. But surely, goodness and mercy will be with you. God will be with you. God's goodness will take care of the good days, God's mercy takes care of the bad days -- all of the seasons of life. How can you be sure? Because God does not lie. He cannot tell an untruth or be inconsistent. He never changes. He never breaks a promise. If He says, "surely goodness and mercy will be with you all the days of your life", they will! We get so worked up and worried about the future because we start "what if"-ing -- "just suppose..." There is no supposing in the Bible. It says surely! Christians go to the future not with a question mark but with an exclamation point. Stop supposing and start reposing. Relax, trust. God will be with you no matter what happens. He will help you out. God's goodness will provide and protect. God's mercy will pardon and forgive. God's goodness will supply. God's mercy will sooth. God's goodness will help me. God's mercy will heal me. Goodness is the fact that God gives us good things in life that we don't deserve. Mercy is that God holds back the condemnation that we do deserve. You need them both in life. This is a psalm about shepherding -- "The Lord is my shepherd". You lead sheep, but you drive cattle. The difference is that sheep are led from the front. The shepherd is in front of the flock. He leads and they follow. Cows are driven from behind to keep them moving. If you were to go to the Middle East and see a shepherd
leading a flock of sheep, you'll see a shepherd at the front and one or two sheep dogs at the rear, keeping them in line. Goodness and mercy are like divine sheep dogs in life. They are following behind, nipping at your tail, keeping you in line, keeping you safe so you won't get lost. Once you're in the flock you don't get out of it because those sheep dogs keep you in it. Goodness and mercy keep you in the flock. When you have goodness and mercy
in your life you don't have need to fear anything.
III. HEAVEN IS WAITING FOR ME
"... and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." That's one of the most important little connections we see in the Bible. It connects yesterday and today with tomorrow. God says, "I've got this great life planned for you and surely goodness and mercy will follow you through it, BUT that's not the end! I've got something else at the end!" He builds it to a crescendo. David ends this Psalm by saying "We're going to heaven!" Jesus saves the best until last. With God it just keeps getting better and better. The best is yet to come. 2 Cor. 5:1 "We know that our body will be destroyed. But when that happens,God will have a house for us. It will not be a house made by human hands; instead, it will be a home in heaven that will last forever." How long is forever going to last? Forever! Someday your body is going to die, but you aren't. Your body is going to end but that's not going to be the end of you. You're going to live forever in one of two places -- heaven or hell. They are both real places. You will spend eternity in heaven or hell. Your body is going to die but you're not going to die. We were made to last forever. Why are Christians the most confident people about the future? "We look forward with confidence to our heavenly bodies. And we are not afraid, but are quite content to die, for then we will be at home with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5:6,8. Death, for Christians, is a transfer, a promotion. It's on to better things. No more problems. You're not ready to live until you're ready to die. You don't know how to live until you're ready to die. Only a fool would go all through life, totally unprepared for something that everybody knows is invitable. You're going to die. Someday. If we have accepted Christ we're going to go to heaven. What is heaven going to be like?
You're going to be rewarded for your faithfulness to God and your obedience to Jesus Christ. We're going to be reunited with loved ones who know the Lord. We're going to be reassigned work to do that we like to do in heaven -- it will be something you really enjoy doing based on your SHAPE. Some people think when you get to heaven, you'll be given this white sheet and set around all day on a cloud, strumming a harp -- to me, that's hell! I can't think of anything more boring than setting around on a cloud strumming a harp. You're not going to be an angel in heaven. God's going to give you stuff to do and it's going to be stuff you like to do. Look at how much stuff there is to do on earth, and it's imperfect. Can you imagine what heaven is going to be like? The God who created wind surfing and snow boarding, you're going to get to heaven and it will be that with no sprained ankles. You think of all the things you can do here on earth that are cool -- just wait until you get to heaven. You won't have your back go out, and things like that. We're going to be released from pain, from sorrow, from suffering, from depression, from fear. Rev. 21:4 "He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever." Doesn't that make you a little homesick for heaven? Who is heaven made for? It's not made for everybody. It's made for people who say, "God, I want to be a child of God. I want to follow You." I Peter 1:4-6 "God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life..." Everybody is created by God but not everybody is a child of God. You only become a child of God when you ask Him to put you in His family. You're born into His family. "...the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely ..." It's not up to me to make sure I get there safely. Once I've committed my life to Christ, He makes sure I get there safely to receive it because I'm trusting Him. "...So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here." The going is rough for a while down here. But it's just as true that one day we're going to be with the Lord. Heaven was made for Christians, believers, for those who love Jesus. If you didn't love Jesus, why would you want to go be with Him for eternity? Earth is the warm up act. This isn't the big deal. You're going to spend 60, 70, 80 maybe 90 years here on earth. But you'll spend thousands, millions of years in eternity -- heaven or hell. This is the appetizer, the preschool.
This isn't the big show. This is the opening act you're in right now. The problem is that even most Christians act like that all there is to life is going on here and now. That's all that matters. No! This is just preparation for the big event where you're going to spend all of eternity. "You are only visitors here...your real home is in heaven..." So act like it! Don't act as if everything that matters is what is here and now. People get so involved in materialism. Why? You're not going to keep any of that. It's not going with you into eternity. It's only temporary. We use it 60, 70, 80 years. So what? But we spend all of our lives acquiring, accumulating, getting. We spend our lives as if making money is the most important thing in life and you have to get a whole lot. One day you're going to die and you won't have it any more. You're missing the point. Don't invest your life for things. Getting things is not the goal of life. Getting prepared for heaven is. How do you do it? By building character. Growing in Christ. That's what you're taking with you. You're not taking any of your money, your cars, stereos, homes.... Don't buy into the world's system. Don't live on a superficial level. Live in light of eternity. Realize you're not going to be here forever. You're going to be in eternity forever. Don't waste your whole life trying to get a bunch of things for right now that you're not going to keep anyway. It's all on loan; you don't really own anything. You just get to use it while you're here on earth. And then you give it up. You don't really own anything. Live in light of eternity. Does everybody go to heaven? Absolutely not! Everybody does not go to Heaven. If God let Hitler and axe murderers and genocidal dictators into heaven He'd have to apologize to everybody else. If God let everybody into Heaven, it wouldn't be heaven. It'd be hell and I'm not sure I'd want to go there. He's not going to let everybody into heaven. He lets those into heaven who want to be with Him because they loved Him during their time here on earth. How do I know I'm going to heaven? If you were to die tonight are you sure you would go to heaven? I don't have an ounce of doubt in my mind that I would. Not that I deserve it but because I've done what the Bible says to get ready. John 10 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." How do I know I'm going to heaven? Two things: Jesus says, "My sheep listen to me and they follow me." Are you doing that? Are you listening to what God says to do with your life? Are you following Jesus Christ? Is He your Shepherd and your Savior? If you say, Yes, I'm listening to God and I'm trying to let Him lead my life, letting Jesus Christ be my Savior; I know I'd never get to heaven on my own and I'm trusting Him. Then you can say with absolute confidence, Surely I know I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I will dwell. Not I might or I wonder. I know I'm going to heaven, because I've
done what the Bible says. What if I sin after I commit my life to Christ? What do you mean if? You're going to sin after you become a Christian. When you give your life to Christ -- when you put your hand in His hand -- God holds onto it. He grasps it. There are times in life when you're going to want to let go of that hand. You're going to want a relationship that you know is wrong, read material that you know is bad, make an unethical decision, do things that God says not to do. You're going to want to let go of God's hand. But He's never going to let go of yours. He says you are in His hand and no man can snatch you away from Him. I will not perish -- not because of me. I don't have to keep myself safe; God's goodness and God's mercy keep me safe. It's not up to me. I just do the trusting, He does the keeping. And He won't let go of me. When you face the future, what do you see? Do you look at it with eyes of doubt? With eyes of cynicism? With eyes of expecting the worse? You have two choices in life: You can either face the future as a cynic, a doubter, with negative thoughts, expecting the worse. Or you can face the future expecting God to be with you and His goodness and His mercy to follow you all the days of your life. It is amazing how much better life gets when you start to actively look for God's goodness and God's mercy in every experience. It'll change your life. We're concluding Psalm 23 today. In Psalm 23 we have seen how much God loves you. We've seen how much God cares for you, how He says "I want to be your shepherd." What's the bottom line of these seven weeks? What have we learned? If I summed it up in one sentence it's this: Jesus is all you need. You don't need anything else. As I looked at the psalm I summarized it like this: If I know the shepherd, I don't have to fear anything. I don't need to fear poverty because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need. I don't need to fear loneliness, for He is with me. I don't need to fear mistakes, for He guides me on the right path. I don't need to fear failure, for He restores my soul. I don't need to fear the future, because goodness and mercy are going to follow me all the days of my life. I don't even need to fear death, because I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. God is beneath me in green pastures. He is beside me in still waters. He is with me in the valley. He is around me in the presence of my enemies. He's upon me anointing my head with oil. He is before me leading me in the right paths. He is behind me, surely goodness and mercy will follow me. He's even beyond me in heaven. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What more could you want? That covers it all.
Jesus is all you need. The good shepherd provides protection, provision, peace, providence, companionship (His presence), and paradise. That wraps it all up!