A Psalm of David | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6, Psalm 8:1-9, Isaiah 40:28-31, Psalm 14:1-4, Romans 1:18-22, John 10:11, Acts 20:28, Exodus 21:2-6

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--a-psalm-of-david
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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if you have your bibles and return with me today to the 23rd psalm psalms 23 and verse number one and while you're looking for that verse i want to say thank you and praise the lord to everybody that's here in the house of the lord this morning thank you to everyone that comes so faithfully and fills this building up on sunday mornings and we're so we're so very very thankful one of the most delightful sights that i have that absolutely causes my heart to swell is to pull in this parking lot and to see families walking from their automobile into the into the church and uh it's just you just gotta i guess you just gotta be a pastor to understand what a beautiful sight that is that we don't have to cheerlead around here we don't have to hold you by a spider spider's web over hell and condemn you if you don't come to church we don't do that i'm so thankful today that we have a baptism of the want-to's i was glad when they said unto me i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord please remember brother and sister erickson today brother chad and sister fallon erickson today they are in louisiana at a uh sister erickson told me yesterday it's a conference that they're ministering at that they're raising they're raising funds for uh two causes number one the church is raising funds for missions they want to support uh missionaries and then slash this this church is starting a christian school and i'll tell you they couldn't have two finer people with them this morning in monroe louisiana at brother thornton's church they couldn't have two finer people with them today than brother chad and sister fallon erickson and we we miss them today but we know that they are ministering and will bring us a good report amen if you're ready to read say amen the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he restoreth my soul he he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me thou prepare us to table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever put your bibles down today father we love you god these are your people and lord you have sent me here today to tell your people that you love them that you care for them and that you have your eye and your ear upon them you have told me earlier this week that i was to come here on this sunday morning and proclaim that you are a god that wants to restore that you are a god that wants to resurrect you told me earlier this week that i was to tell the people that you were a god of love mercy strength compassion and lord with your help today i'm going to do my best to present you in the best way that i can in jesus name we all pray amen amen somebody clap your hands and go to bragging on jesus this morning come on go to bragging on go to bragging on jesus you you go eat at a good restaurant you'll tell 10 people that it's a great restaurant why don't we get to bragging on jesus for just a moment i'm going to brag on jesus today i'm going to brag i'm going to brag on jesus today you may be seated now i know that i'm nothing and you're nothing but dirt that was created into a man i know that we're all as brother jeff arnold would say we're all just a bunch of dirt bags all right i understand i understand it that's all we are today how privileged we dirt bags are that we can brag on our creator i am was thinking a little story that i heard pastor got up he was really teaching a lesson on we were created from dust you do realize that we were not created from dirt we were created from dust all right and it's a residue dust isn't dirt it's a residue of the dirt all right and so he was just really preaching that we were made from dust and that's all we are and dust and well the little boy was sitting there in sunday school so they went home after church and the little boy got to playing in his bedroom and he got to climbing under the bed and when but a few minutes later that little boy come running to his mama and he said mama come quickly said the preacher said today we come from dust and go back to dust and said somebody under my bed is either coming or going said you need to you need to come quickly you know the 23rd psalm and i'm just going to just i'm just going to brag on jesus just get ready i'm going to brag on him this morning the 23rd psalm is probably considered to be the highlight of all psalms there's 150 psalms and probably today some of you had trouble following along as i did because i can quote it and it's hard to read something that your mind's already three or four words ahead of you that you can quote it but i would say that probably the 23rd psalm is one of the few psalms uh chapters entirety of the chapters that you can quote and um there's anybody that can quote that 119th chapter that's got about 200 and something verses in it you just have at it but i quote that i can quote that uh psalms 23. psalms 23 has probably the all-time favorite psalm to read at a funeral at a funeral i would say that psalms 23 the chapter is printed on more programs at a funeral than any other scripture the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd now i want you to know david is not talking about someone that he doesn't know he personally knows the lord he personally the lord is my shepherd he has a personal knowledge of the lord not a hearsay knowledge not ambiguous it's not something that he has heard of the lord he knows him personally not a hearsay he knows the lord the lord is my shepherd now i want you to know why it is vitally important that you know the lord personally it's good to hear preaching it's good to know somebody that knows the lord but obedience has always been bred by the knowledge of the word of god if you know the word you will know the lord examples this moses stands before pharaoh and moses says to pharaoh thus saith the lord let my people go here was pharaoh's response who is the lord that i should obey him i will not let israel go pharaoh basically says you're asking me to be obedient to a lord i do not know and because i do not know him i will not obey him i believe today it's vitally important that we know the lord because when we know the lord we know a little bit about his character the lord is a good lord i said the lord is a good lord oh that's about half of us the lord i mean surely you could say amen the lord is a he's a good lord now uh go ahead that's right that's right come on bragging on jesus this morning i uh he's a good lord he's always up to good things if he's involved in my life it's only because he wants to bless my life he is a good god if something's going on something good is coming out of this when i can't understand him i can always trust him why because the lord is my shepherd i know him i know him he is my shepherd see see there's too many folks going to church that don't know the lord you find this in the bible as a lot of folks were workers for the lord that didn't know the lord they were working for they work for the lord they worked in the name of the lord they worked for the lord but they didn't know the lord they worked for and at the end of time it was very sad because when it came time to inherit everlasting life the lord said to them depart from me i never knew you i never knew you now the reason he never knew them is because they never knew him if you ever know him then you know he knows you and when you know that he is a good god and he knows you then you begin to understand just what a statement that is the lord is my shepherd i know his character i know his ability now you hear this now this is one of the reasons that several years ago satan began an all-out attack on creation trying to poison the minds of men's minds people's minds that we are the product of evolution we are the product of just evolution planets colliding and chants and sails and tadpoles and monkeys and apes and humans and cavemen and here we are today it's called evolution it was a strategy of the enemy because if the enemy can get us to doubt creation then he begins to govern down our ability to believe god for how powerful that he is david not only knew the character of his lord he knew the abilities of his lord he knew that the lord was the creator he knew the lord was the creator of a vast universe why in psalms chapter eight verse number one another psalm david wrote listen to david psalms chapter eight and verse number one another psalm he wrote o lord o lord our lord how excellent that word means to exceed how excellent is thy name in all the earth who has set thy glory above the heavens out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou might is still the enemy and the avenger now listen to david now when i consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visiteth him well thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thine hands and put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen yea and the beast of the field the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas oh lord look at verse 9 oh lord our lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth whoa can i tell you how you can trust in the lord your shepherd is when you realize how powerful that he is david stood out on a night and looked up at the stars and the moon and the sun and what limited knowledge david had of it he knew that it was created he doesn't even use the hand of god the fist of god or the power of god when god used david to explain the the the solar system something that still today baffles the minds of the most learned men and women in our world the bible refers to it as with your finger o god gift with just your finger he goes into creation and the vast of creation brothers and sisters hear me today this is the reason several years ago the onslaught of hell the strategy of hell was to poison the minds of people to doubt creation because all you have to do to the truth all you have to do to the truth is to sow a seed of doubt that's all you have to do to truth is sow a seed of doubt stay away from doubt stay in the bible when it comes to creation stay in the bible god created the heavens and the earth and god said let there be light i'm talking about my shepherd today i'm talking about a god that can create a solar system and why i'm preaching this today is to tell somebody think about this today if god has power to control such vast how much more does god have power to help us as a matter of fact the closest star to us or excuse me there is a star called alpha centeria there are millions of stars do you realize that our star is the smallest one of the smallest stars called the sun see don't just look up at a few stars and a few couple planets and think that's all there is no no no no no it's much more vast than that this star alpha center if you left the earth and could travel at the speed of light that's and eighty thousand miles per minute if you could leave or second thank you for the correction a hundred and eighty thousand miles per second now i don't know about you but my can you see smoke coming out my ears because my computer's just kind of if you could travel if you have the ability to travel 180 000 miles per second to reach alpha centauri would take you four a little over four light years now think about that traveling at 180 000 miles per second four light years as a matter of fact if you could take the most powerful telescope we have in the world and place it on alpha center and point it back to the earth the earth would look like a speck just a speck but just think this god would reach down to that speck and take a handful of dust and have his most prized cherished and loved possessions that's us we are god's most prized cherished poured over loved creation that he made now i don't know about you but i'm starting to feel my the lord is my shepherd and maybe if he's not your shepherd this morning before i get done here in a few moments you'll say hey i'm not leaving this building until i make him shepherd i'm going to tell you not knocking any brother or not knocking any insurance but we're in better hands with god and i'm going to tell you you can't have a better neighbor i know state farm is good but you can't have a better neighbor than the good samaritan amen i'm thankful for all the hospital plans blue cross blue shield amanda oh you want to rattle on all day long i'm glad you've got eyes you've got dental you've got ears you've got everything if you need a pair of shoes up but i'm going to tell you that all is a dirty rag when it comes to the lord is my shepherd i'm not an ignorant man i'm not an ignorant man but i'm not going to waste a lot of time studying the solar system because the solar system is an evangelist to tell us that there's a god that has the ability that with just a finger he can create universe and galaxies and all that but that wasn't that's that that's not his that's not his ultimate goal his ultimate goal was not to to baffle the minds of the the intellect his ultimate goal was for you and i to realize out of all the vastness of the universe he would take a little bitty speck and just a little bit of dust and from that dust divinity would have a leak a link with dust and through that link he would pour think about this how special angels are but do you know when the angels failed their was not and will never be a plan of redemption for the angels god created the angels he created lucifer he created the demons he created the angels they were one time angels and then they rebelled and they be turned into demons do you know that when they turned into demons do you know that god never set one plan in motion to redeem them but the bible says that god made a man and made him a little lower than the angels and when that man failed what did he fail what did he what did he fail from he fell from understanding that god was his creator you see if somebody could just got into eve's mind that day and said eve don't do it don't do it eve don't don't don't doubt god don't don't don't doubt god god's missed it or god doesn't have all the power don't don't do it eve we understand that man is in the mess that he's in today because satan planted a doubt in eve's mind god doth know that in the day that you eat thereof you should be like him what did satan do he planted a doubt in god's mind that god in adam's and eve's mind he planted a seed of doubt that god could not be trusted that evidently god was holding back that god wasn't all that god claimed to be that there was something better for me on the other side of the fence there's something better for me and satan satan planted that oh if somebody could have been there that day and just said eve trust god trust god god created you with his best god created you for his best eve just simply trust god eve trust god but she didn't isn't it amazing is it amazing that when god made us god made us that god used creation god used creation to tell us of his goodness good food a good garden of eden to be in a good life god created everything good and then god said everything is everything is very good everything is very good it ought to blow our minds today that you're the object of god's grand plan it ought to absolutely cause you today to never suffer again from an inferiority complex if you're so if you're suffering from be feeling inferior it's all because you can't say the first line of psalms 23 the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd have a pity party if you want to but i've had them and i don't like how they end but i sure do like getting in touch with my creator because the lord is my shepherd the lord blows our minds isaiah chapter 40 and verse number 28 i think isaiah was trying to help people that were feeling inferior he says in isaiah chapter 40 verse 28 hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his under have you not heard have you not understood what brother carpenter you don't know you don't know my background i don't need to know your background what i need to do today is to convince you to make the lord your shepherd well you you don't know god you got you you you don't know my setbacks you you don't know things that have happened to me possibly true i don't know but what i do know far trumps and champions over your past the lord is my shepherd the lord have you not heard don't you know about the everlasting god look at verse 29 he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength who falls in that category today he gives power to the faint of don't be ashamed about it if you feel like you're a little feign in spirit i got good news for you today he gives power to the faith he gives power to the faith oh hallelujah he gets power there's nothing wrong there's nothing wrong with going through some times where you feel a little faint but don't faint understand that you have a god be looking for his power if you get to running a little low and things kind of get on you on your nerves and you you start to stumble a little bit don't just think remember that the lord i'm no ordinary man i know there's billions of people on the earth but yet i may be a speck out of the universe but there's something that i've done the lord is my shepherd and that makes all the difference in the world that the lord is my shepherd he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youths i see them over here today shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fail but they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength oh i might be down today but the lord is my shepherd i may be going through a bad season but the lord is my shepherd say brother carpenter i'm in a season right now i don't know when i've seen the light of day i don't know when i'm going to see the light of day that's all right i've been in those seasons too i've been in seasons that didn't go over just because the choir shouted out of the off the platform i've been in seasons it didn't go away just because i got a few goofs bumps on a sunday night i've been in some seasons that i've had to say lord how long but in the midst of my dark season i'm able to step out and see that tomorrow may be no different than today but brother yates the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd oh brother carpenter i've got all kinds of visions and i've got all kinds of dreams but i wasn't born with the right last name i wasn't born with the breaks that somebody else gets your greatest break is on this sunday morning hearing me tell you that the lord is my shepherd oh the lord is my you can't get a better break in life now if that don't light your fire your woods wet if you don't ring your bell your clapper's broke i want you to know something today if this can't help you right here you can't be helped you'll live the rest of your life in misery but somehow if you could understand that i am loved if you could understand that i am the loved of god god can help you today they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as the eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint can i tell you i want to straddle evolution today and i want to i want to work on it today i want to take my fist and beat evolution into the ground because evolution is attack on the lord our creator evolution is an attack on the lord our creator and all we need to know about creation is given in a few chapters in the book of the bible well i've got this new book over here and i got this new book they brought i've got this new i i you have your new book if you want to but i'm satisfied with the first two chapters in my bible and i want you to know you listened to me today if god would have wanted us to know more about creation he could have put it in them two chapters right there so all i need to know about creation is in these two chapters god said let there be light and there was light god said let the waters be divided and they were divided god said let the earth bring forth and it brought forth what a mighty god we serve today and why wouldn't you want to say the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd i'm going to tell you what in the morning sister selena when you get up if the sky is clear over tennessee we ought to get up and look up at the s-u-n and throw our hands up and say s-o-n i praise you today oh i praise you today when the rain begins to fall i praise you for the rain oh yes the lord i wish somebody shouted the lord is my shepherd psalms chapter 14 verse number one psalms chapter 14 verse number one the fool has said in his heart there is no god see here's a problem with not believing in god it affects your behavior all this education that's supposed to be so much more grand than the bible has sure got these folks acting a fool let me say it again one reason that sets in when you don't believe in god it affects your behavior just like believing in god affects your behavior the fool has said in his heart there is no god they are corrupt who are who's that they there the fools they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none to do it good look at that corrupt abominations none that doeth good the lord looking down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there be any that did understand and seek god there are gonna they are all gone aside they are all together become filthy there is none that doeth good no not one see i really want to work on evolution today because if they can get our kids in these colleges around here and poison their minds they'll start doubting what we've poured into them and dedicated them as babies and taking them to youth camps and have christian schools and everything else you see verse 4 have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge who eat up my people oh wait a minute they ain't content in just living like the devil and that's a good saying because that's the doctrine the devil gave the doctrine of evolution so why shouldn't they begin to live like him but watch this they can't be content that they're just heathens they can't be content that they can't tell their left hand from their right hand they can't be content that they just believe anything is acceptable you know i heard someone say the all the revolutions that we've had the american revolution changed us the industrial revolution changed america right but you know what the most powerful revolution that's changed us is the sexual revolution when they came along in the uh 60s with this free love business they didn't know the cost of that free love but you see these these fools they can't be content with just being corrupt and nothing's wrong and i i listened to a very well known um i believe i believe john macarthur and i may be mistaken maybe a baptist preacher but he's was very he's very educated in in a lot of a lot of things such as this but i listened to him yesterday john macarthur and he said that recently in australia a sex change surgery was done on a five-year-old child of which i agree with what he said i believe the parents need to be put in jail along with the surgeon science science dna will tell you you're one or the other science will tell you you're one of the other your dna will tell you if you can't tell for yourself science will tell you we won't accept we only we only want to accept science when it proves our simple ways then we want we want to accept it but see that they can't be content they will not be content and i've got scripture verse four have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the lord they can't be content they just won't live like that they got to turn back and look at us and say you're not going to live like that either we're going to boycott you we're going to take business away from you it's going on right now folks all around us we can be the frog in the in the in the kettle and they're turning up the heat ever so slowly it's going on right around us so what do you think we need to do pastor i think we need to get a better revelation that the lord is my i will not fear what man can do to me the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd as time went on romans 1 and 18 for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness because that which may be known of god is manifest in them for god has showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead so that they are without excuse because that when they knew god they glorified him not as god neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise i'm bringing this all the way back around professing themselves to be wise what happened what did satan say to eve it is a tree to make you what wise what did it what did it what did it do in eve's life it made her a fool and it wasn't long as sin began as sin began to multiply you had people worshiping rocks you had people worshiping birds they saw a grandeur of a cliff they saw the blue and the yellows of minerals in the side of the hill and they began to worship the side of the hill they saw a bird and they began to worship the bird they saw beasts and they began to worship beasts do you know today in a lot of third world countries there is not a food shortage there's fat cattle walking down the street but you can't kill it because they believe in reincarnation you may be eating papa or mama or somebody else and you can't eat that they'll go in and they'll find rats climbing on their bags of wheat but they won't set any traps out for them they won't try to keep the rats away because they believe that that's some kind of descendant that's a kind of like a little boy somebody's coming or going here you know some somebody this reincarnation and and they will they will mutilate their mutate their bodies they will they will do all kind of things to themselves trying to get the attention of their god and it's all because they have failed to recognize the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd now excuse me today excuse me why i have a little conversation and maybe it went like this maybe it didn't but maybe it did the angel says to god god what will you do if they eat from the tree is it over for them god will they become like the third angels will they be forever lost do you have any other plan god is it over for them of which god says no i have one more plan what is it god i will go down and i will take me on a body that's like theirs i will live 33 and a half years with sinless blood pulsating through my veins then i will go to a cross and i will allow them to crucify me and when they crucify me i will create a blood path and a plan that they can be saved if they're not going to be believe creation and we fail the test folks our only hope to not today is the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd can i introduce him to you in john chapter 10 verse number 11. john chapter 10 and verse number 11 jesus says these words i am the good shepherd if you want to know who david's talking about this is who david's talking about i am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep the only plan god had after creation the only way you and i have to get out of here is to accept believe and obey the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ it is the best good news you will ever hear it is the best good news you will ever hear i don't care how addicted you are i don't care how perverted you are i don't care how messed up you are the greatest word you'll ever hear is repent repent why the good shepherd the good shepherd the god that you smacked in the face the god that you turned around and said i don't believe that you created this world the god that you begin to worship rocks and rats and animals that god robed himself in flesh and walked out and that god that god says this is the plan hear me today he is the good shepherd his name is jesus and he says all you got to do is have a change of mind you just got to begin to repent i've went the wrong way i've done the wrong thing i've said the wrong thing i've done the wrong thing i've acted the wrong thing and the good shepherd says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest come on give him some praise right now come on give him some praise right now i feel like there's a binding right now i feel like there's an enemy trying to to come in and try to mess up what god's wanting to do right now the lord come on help me to help me today church the enemy is trying to fight this preaching a little bit this morning but i come against it in the name of the lord jesus today you may not want it but somebody in this room right now wants it repent and be baptized every one of you philip keller you may be seated philip keller in his awesome book written the 23rd psalm philip keller tells about sister carpenter philip keller talks about during the great depression during the great depression he became fond of sheep he became very fond of sheep and philip keller in the in the in the great depression philip keller heard that a man was selling 30 u land and philip keller worked day and night philip keller sweated worked long hours day and night for some time during the great depression he worked hard long sweat and toil sometimes he worked as much as 18 to 20 hours a day because he wanted to buy those 30 you sheep and the day came that he got just enough money to go down to the man and say to a man that wanted to sell out a man that wasn't interested in planting green pastures and tending to sheep a man that had lost his love for sheep and saw sheep as nothing but for the slaughterhouse philip keller goes down and pays the price to buy all 30 of the u lambs philip keller later wrote he said i have a greater appreciation today when i understand that we the church were purchased we were purchased maybe if we can get you to understand the lord as your shepherd you'll know how valuable you are by how much he paid for you by what he paid for you philip keller said i understood as philip keller looked at the 30 you lambs he said i became personally involved because i bought them he said i took better care of them because i bought them he said i made sure they were free from all kinds of ticks and all kinds of cardio coyotes and dogs he said because i bought them when the other sheep farmer didn't care he was just headed to the slaughterhouse he said i cared because i bought them they were his sheep through an inheritance of a family but they're my sheep because i bought them made me want to read acts chapter 20 and verse number 28 take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the holy ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of god which he hath with his own blood come on he purchased it with his own blood can i tell you that if you're not going to trust him as your say i'm about to make a statement might blow your mind but if you're never going to trust him as your savior if you're never going to trust him as the purchaser you're never going to do that you have no intention of doing that it would be better for you to get up right now and go leave here and go enjoy every pleasurable thing this world's got to offer because that's all you're ever going to have but if he came the bible says i am the good shepherd i gave my life for the sheep i came that you might have life and that you might have life more abundantly can i tell you today i wish you'd edge out to the edge of your pew today and think my god i'm drowning in depression i'm drowning in self-pity i'm drowning in jealousy and hatred i'm drowning and being bored in life and why don't you step out and say wait a minute god is my shepherd what an exciting life this can be because god is my philip keller in his book the 23rd psalm said it was on that day that i sat there on the railing of the fence looking at the 30 u sheep when a man handed me what is referred to is the killing knife he said philip here's the killing knife you know what you must do now philip keller writes in the book he said i absolutely know what i should do. he said because every shepherd that purchases a sheep takes the killing knife and a block of wood and grabs the sheep it's a painful thing philip keller says for both sheep and shepherd he grabs the sheep he holds the wood and he takes the killing knife and he notches the ear of the sheep he notches the ear of the sheep until that shepherd can look out over the field and by the ear he can say that one's mine that one's not mine that one's mine that one's mine that one's mine because of a painful thing of the notching of the ear it made me go back to exodus chapter 21 where if you bought a slave you could only keep him for six years if he came in all by himself six years he served in six years he could walk away all by himself if you bought a slave and he came in and he married in your house when he got ready to leave he couldn't take his wife with him when he got ready to leave if he'd had children he couldn't take him his children with him but exodus 21 says that that servant can walk out that door but he can choose to say this i love my master i love my family i do not want to leave it was at that moment that the owner took him to the door facing of the house he took a sharp instrument that looks like a a 16-penny nail and he put that man's ear to that door post and he drove that nail disfiguring his ear that man turned around and went back to the fields but everyone in that field could look and say you're here serving your time you've got two more years left you've got another year left but when you looked and saw that man with that disfigured ear you knew that he was a love slave you knew he wanted to be in that field can i tell you as being god's sheep there have come times when god has marked our ear it's not all a bed of roses there are some times in this journey that we don't understand roxanne mcknight we don't understand why if 24 hours ago you could have called roxanne and said by sundown your husband will be at the funeral home but you see along this journey sister roxanne mcknight told me this morning she said in between sobbing she said god is good god is good when we got ready to hang up and i got ready to come to church she said brother carpenter's her last words brother or she said praise somebody through to the holy ghost today she said have church how in the world how in the world i tell you how in the world the lord is my shepherd i shall not want there's a sister colleen wood that goes to church here oh how she's had her ear how she's had her ear mark as a there's a uh brother victor and sister josephine that go here oh how they've had their ear marked losing a son to cancer 20 some odd-year-old son to cancer there's a sister dawn here today that's had her ear marked had a husband to be murdered there's a glass family here today probably one of the hardest things i've ever asked to do life was going good gary and sandy got in the church the three beautiful children justin garrett bailey hey come on good in the church gary went to work for ken and laurie little did we know that day when gary got ready to leave the office and come to school and pick up his kids he had a tumor that would fragment and go through his body and i may not have the exact days down but it seems to be eight days later he laid in a coma for eight days finally he passed and we stood around that bed with a widow and three beautiful children bailey just a little girl looked up at me and said pastor i want to kiss my daddy i'm going to tell you my knees buckled knowing that i had to keep my composure i reached down and i picked up that little girl and i leaned her over the body of her daddy and she planned to kiss on his face as soon as i could let her down and get my composure i went out he cried like a baby but the lord was their shepherd the lord was the shepherd life went on the glass kept coming to church bailey they kept coming to church years went by fellas showed up around here and he looks gruff he he looks gruff mitchell hyde looks group you see me go burly he's the biggest baby i pastor he'll cry at the drop of a hat he's an old softy god brought him into sandy's sister sandy's life and although bailey loved your biological father bailey will tell you to this day i love mitchell like a father i love him like a father so if you're getting to think that the lord your shepherd is your check always is on time and your kids never get a fever and nobody got coveted at your house you're sadly mistaken but what it does mean it means if god does allow death to come the lord is my shepherd it means if things don't turn around you see we've got this all wrong and musicians would come and i have asked sister lauren to sing a song for me today the lord is my shepherd what's the rest of it say it would you please can i ask you a series of questions all of us have been told to come and take up the cross that cross means a mark i want to ask you a series of questions i want you to listen real real close ask yourself this do i really belong to him do i really belong to him once you ask yourself out loud that question do i do i really recognize he is right to me he has a right to me if i belong to him he has a right to do whatever you would really submit yourself to that god i know his character i know his character do i really recognize his right over me do i respond to his authority and acknowledge his ownership do i find freedom and complete fulfillment fulfillment in this arrangement do i sense a purpose and a deep contentment because i am under his direction do i know rest and believe and have a sense of exciting adventure belonging to him philip keller tells in his book that he had one beautiful you lamb he says in his book as far as her size she was perfect her breastplate her length her height the amount of wool that she would give was absolutely perfect you could not have asked for a better ulam but philip keller says in the book that this one you lamb had a tremendous flaw she could never be content she could never be content it didn't matter how green the grass was here she was always walking the fence lines looking to the other side didn't matter how much i cared for them combed their wool put salve on their wounds when they would get bit said you could always find her she was always brushing the front fence line said so much that the hired hands begin to call her the fence climber but said there's a problem when sheep are walking the fence he said they're looking for a way to get out and said i don't know how many times i had to go looking and finally philip keller says in the book my name for her was mrs gat about i'd have to go over the fence go out in the woods listen to barking dogs i would pick up mrs gat about throw over my shoulder and bring her back he said there come a day when mrs gattabout started getting a following he said it was no longer her following the fence line it was no longer just her but it was her little ones that were following and her little ones were starting to do just like she was doing and he said i knew i had to do something and i got my killing knife out and i knew for the betterment of the whole flock i had to butcher her and send her on can i tell you today don't be a mrs gad about to a young person sitting here today that's been told not to have sex till you get married don't you dare listen to the world don't you dare watch the filtheth on television and think it's all a disney good old time it's not a disney good old time your true contentment needs to be right here in this house to the businessman today that you just got to make just a little bit more money you better realize you got some little use following you and one of these days you're going to turn around to them and say your marriage needs to be in the church and they may look at you and say daddy i'm just following what you did we need to kill some things today and be content the lord is my shepherd i shall not won't say brother carpenter there are wants that i have the once you have is all because you've not recognized the contentment you should have i've seen people filthy rich some of the most discontented people in all the world i've seen people dirt poor some of the happiest people in all the world just want you to know there's no one they'll ever treat you the way that jesus will the lord is my shepherd i shall would you stand with me right now if my heart if you want to come and make him your shepherd today why don't you come down come on come on make him your shepherd today if you've not been thankful for a while if he's done a lot of things for you and you've not been thankful come on down right now got healthy kids get down to this altar this morning and no one never cared like jesus you're lost get down to the altar today get down to the altar today get down to the altar today god loves you god loves you god loves you the lord is my shepherd right now come on look at what god has given you today do what god has given you today the lord is my shepherd let this be there if you were everything too lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd the lord is my shepherd brother's over here i need to be thankful this morning come on lord you're my shepherd today lord you're my shepherd today lord i love you today lord i love you today is oh yes god the lord is my shepherd mighty oh mighty god would you give me some oil please oh god come on let's pray church let's pray right now church let's break through right now there's a breakthrough here this morning there's a breakthrough here this morning oh god there's a breakthrough here this morning of jesus christ oh cheese like jesus a choice like jesus thank you lord sister lord just keep on singing i'm not going to prolong the service but i do not believe god is finished here today and i need my prayer warriors i need those that are sensitive to god right now to help me break and help me break through today god wants to break through upon us