JESUS, MORE THAN A SAVIOUR

Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. 4 Yea, 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 runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.


JESUS IS OUR SHEPHERD
A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

God wants us to know that He loves us, not just to know it but to believe it. He wants us to know that Jesus is our shepherd.

The Most frequently used picture of God is that he is our shepherd and his people are the flock.

When you see sheep you often know that the shepherd is not very far away.

Goats are independent and proud, they often go their own way, near the edges of cliffs and they have a tendency to fall off. Sheep are often seen as dumb and needing direction from the shepherd and not being capable of making up their own minds... I would rather be referred to as dumb and have the Lord as my shepherd and never be living in lack all the days of my life than to be proud and smart and fall off a cliff and die smart.

You don’t need to be smart to follow Jesus, you just need to have a desire to serve him, allow him into your life and live life for him and God has all the smartness, all the wisdom, all the intelligence, everything you will ever need to live an abundant life.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want or in other words... the Lord is my shepherd I shall not lack.

There is no quantification in this scripture. It does not say lack in finance, lack in relationships, lack in wisdom... therefore it covers everything.

When you realise the Lord is your shepherd and you are His sheep faith springs forth, you feel a sense of love, being cared for and protected.

JESUS IS OUR COMFORTER
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

1) first thing - God wants you to rest.

2) second thing- God makes you lay down in green pastures

Green pastures to a sheep is top class food. God makes us lie down (rest) but we rest in the abundance and goodness that God has for us

Salvation begins when we rest in the finished work of Jesus

Healing comes when we stop and rest

Blessings begin when we rest

JESUS IS OUR PRINCE OF PEACE
He leads me beside the still waters.


Sometimes the word ‘still’ can come across as meaning stagnant. When water is stagnant it creates a home for mosquitoes or bad musty smells. God certainly doesn’t lead us beside a cess pool of brooding mosquitoes.

The Hebrew word for ‘still’ is Manuka and this word means quietness. The Lord Jesus leads us to a quiet place, a resting place. The Lord leads us beside waters of rest.

If you are ever making a major decision concerning your employment, investing money, direction for your future, remember the Lord leads you beside waters of quietness, waters of peace, waters of rest. If there is any unrest or noticeable noise in your spirit, if there is no peace, then I would seriously question whether the decision you are about to make is inspired by God or not.
If there is waters of quietness... go for it!

JESUS IS OUR LIFE
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.


He restores my soul is the idea of healing or bringing life... the Hebrew word for soul is nafesh and nafesh means life so the scripture is saying the Lord restores our life back to us.

After he restores our life he leads us in the paths of righteousness... its important to realise that righteousness is not something you do, righteousness is a gift, Jesus is the gift giver. You cannot work to achieve righteousness.

Some of us think if we can struggle and strive for perfection and earn God’s favour and earn righteousness but its a free gift for all of us, earned by the nine inch nails through the hands and feet at the cross.

There is nothing we can do to obtain righteousness other than to follow the one who bore the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders at the cross.

It is through this righteousness that we can obtain the life that Jesus promises us... He restores our soul, nafesh, he restores our life and then he leads us in the pathways of righteousness.


JESUS IS OUR FORGIVENESS
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil

Notice it says the Lord doesn’t lead you. ‘Yea, though I walk’ means we choose to go down pathways in life where the Lord doesn’t lead us. We cannot blame God for the tough times we traverse through because Yea though I walk...yea though I choose to walk away from you Lord... yea though I choose to dabble in drugs or alcohol... yea though I choose to mess around in sexual relationships... yea though I choose to flirt with the receptionist at work... the Lord does not lead us to these places... we choose to walk there.

But the good news... even though we walk through those valleys the Lord never leaves us. Even if we were the only one out of a thousand sheep to go astray, he would leave the nine hundred and ninety nine to come and find us.

God loves us so much that he forgives us no matter what and in those valley times when we walk through challenges... the Lord finds us again when we open our hearts and our minds to him.

We may lose God in our lives but God never loses us

JESUS IS OUR PROTECTION
For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

When we go through times of trial we need to talk to the Lord and not about Him. This verse has a change in phrasing. During or after the walk through the valley it’s time to talk directly to the Lord.

One of Jesus favourite expressions is to not be afraid. When he meets the disciples out on the water during the storm and they are thinking he is a ghost, the first thing Jesus says is don’t be afraid.

Jairus daughter had died and the moment Jesus heard the child was dead he turned to Jairus and said do not be afraid. Even in the midst of a storm do not be afraid.

JESUS IS OUR PROVISION
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

God wants us to eat even when our enemies are still present. Build our relationship with God even when you are still stressed, even when you are still not well, even when things don’t look right.

We have a big God who answers us in big ways exceedingly abundantly over and above all we could think or imagine... so think big believe big, hunger for big and when we think big then God will always exceed even that which we think is big.


JESUS IS OUR EVERYTHING
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Not perhaps and not maybe but surely!

The Hebrew meaning for follow is pursue and hunt you down.

Some of us spend the day wondering what the devil is planning to throw at us but how much better would it be to believe that goodness and mercy are devising ways to hunt us down today.

When the shepherd takes his sheep out, the shepherd always goes before his sheep.

Jesus goes before us and then goodness and mercy follows us.

We don’t need to chase down goodness and mercy... we just need to chase down Jesus and surely goodness and mercy will chase us and hunt us down.