Calvary Chapel Staten Island

Guest (Female): Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone.

Levi Lusco: Hey, it's the Luscos.

Jenny Lusco: Join pastors and bestselling authors Levi and Jenny Lusco on "Hey, it's the Luscos" for honest conversations about faith, marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected moments in between.

Levi Lusco: You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season.

Jenny Lusco: It will always come back to Jesus in the end.

Levi Lusco: That's right. Tune in to "Hey, it's the Luscos" with Levi and Jenny Lusco, available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest (Female): Hello and welcome to "God in Our City," the daily edition. Your host and Bible teacher is Pastor Dave Watson. Pastor Dave has been the pastor of Calvary Chapel on Staten Island for 35 years. In addition, he is the co-founder and president of the New York Institute for Biblical Studies.

To receive a special downloadable gift from Pastor Dave, please go to CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. That's CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. Now here is Pastor Dave and our show.

Pastor Dave Watson: Hello again everybody. Welcome to "God in Our City," the daily edition. It's Friday. I trust you're well. I trust you're planning on attending church this weekend. I trust that at the end of this week, you're giving thanks to God for another week. I know some of you are going through tough times, difficult times, but you know the Lord is in control. You know that he's going to get you through, so you're resting in Him.

That is our hope. That is our prayer. If you're just joining us for the first time, we study portions of Scripture. Usually, I talk for the whole time about a text. we study it with some depth. We're doing a little something different right now. We're actually digging into Psalm 23, but we're going to the pulpit of Calvary Chapel, the church that I have the privilege of pastoring.

We're listening to the message. We broke each message down into three parts. We talked about Psalm 23 for five weeks this summer. So each message has been broken down into three parts, and we're digging in. I hope that's a blessing. We're beginning today the first part of that fourth sermon. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. My cup runs over." We're going to dig into that thought and work through it.

We have study guides to help you along the way. We're on now study guide number four. We're making quick progress here, and you can get it at CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. Also, it's just really another week to order the free book by Phillip Keller, "A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm." It is about his experience as a shepherd. We want to give you the book free. You can register online to get it. We pay the postage and handling. Or you can simply call us at 718-720-5390.

If you're at that particular site, CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC, if you want to consider making a donation to "God in Our City." You may wonder how "God in Our City" is on the air. We're primarily a local church, Calvary Chapel, sponsored program. But we have a number of listeners who've taken up our cause and donate to us monthly. Every gift is appreciated, every gift makes a difference, and every gift is tax-deductible. You're really not giving to a person or to even a ministry; you're giving to the Lord. So as He leads, please give and please share if you're being blessed by this teaching.

We're touching by the grace of God our whole community here on Staten Island, the Mariners Harbor community, the North Shore community, the entire borough of Staten Island, and God willing, all five boroughs of New York City and the metro area with this particular broadcast. It's just an incredible privilege that we have. If you're able to partner with us, it makes all the difference in the world.

This is a great part of the Psalm, a neglected part of the Psalm. So please listen closely. I take you now to the pulpit at Calvary Chapel on Staten Island for a message I preached just a couple of days ago. Eventually, it'll happen, right? So from Psalm 23, Raul, are you ready?

Raul: Ready.

Pastor Dave Watson: Well, then whatever you have to do, do.

Raul: I'll be reading in Tagalog, Psalm 23. Si Yahweh ang aking pastol, hindi ako magkukulang. Pinapahimlay niya ako sa luntiang pastulan at inaakay niya sa tahimik na batis. Pinapanumbalik ang aking kalakasan at pinapatnubayan niya sa tamang daan upang aking parangalan ang kanyang pangalan.

Dumaan man ako sa madilim na libis ng kamatayan, wala akong katatakutan pagkat ikaw ay aking kaagapay. Ang tungkod mo at pamalo aking gabay at sanggalang. Ipinaghahanda mo ako ng salusalo na nakikita ng mga kalaban ko. Sa aking ulo langis ay ibinubuhos, sa aking saro pagpapala'y lubos-lubos.

Kabutihan at pag-ibig mo sa aki'y di magkukulang, siyang makakasama ko habang ako'y nabubuhay at mananahan sa bahay ni Yahweh kailanman. Amen.

Pastor Dave Watson: So here it is from the Amplified version. You have to read with me, okay? Here we go. The Lord is my shepherd to feed, guide, and shield me. I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures. He leads me beside the still and restful waters. He refreshes and restores my life, myself. He leads me in the path of righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with Him, not for my earning it, but for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the deep, sunless valley, the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me. Your rod to protect and Your staff to guide, they comfort and console me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My brimming cup runs over. Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days, the house of the Lord and His presence shall be my dwelling place. Amen.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we come before You today in need. Lord, we are always in need. We come before You, Lord, bringing our requests before You, bringing ourselves before You. Lord, we pray for the families in Guyana after this incredibly horrible ferry accident and the deaths that so many people are mourning. May Your church be a comfort to them.

Lord, we thank You that You can wrap Your arms around them, so please do so. We pray, Lord, for the families in Caracas, Venezuela, and the surrounding area as they continue to deal with the earthquake and all the fallout from it. Please help them, God. Please help them. Lord, we pray for the end of the Iran war, the protection of our troops involved in it. We pray You'll bring this to an end quickly, Lord.

We pray for the salvation of the Iranian people. Help the Gospel to be proclaimed there. Lord, we want to pray as well for the protection of the Jewish people and Israel. Lord, we bring before You the end and ask for the end of the Ukraine-Russian war. Lord, we want to pray today for our dear sister Vadney, who's not feeling well. We pray for Your hand on her, Your ministry to her. Lord, we just pray for her right now, even now, that You will bring healing to her from all that's going on in her heart and life.

We pray for our brother Wayne. We pray for Your hand on Wayne. Pray You'll help Wayne to feel better. We pray, Lord, that his visit to the ER was quick and had nothing more needed for it. We pray for William Hernandez. We pray for Your ministry in his life, Your healing, Lord, of what needs to be healed with him in the hospital. We pray for his mom, Martha, for a full recovery. We pray for our dear brother young Chris, that Your hand will be upon Chris and You'll get him out of the hospital quick. His health will return, Lord. Help him as he manages his health.

Help our sister Jewel to have strength and bring full healing to her. Help her to recover. Lord, we pray for Maria. We just bring her to You. You know this is Camille's sister, and she's got a tough diagnosis. Please help her through this time. Thank You that Eli Saburnick had his appendix out and is okay. Please give him and his parents Your peace.

Lord, as we come before You today, we need You. We need to hear from You. Lord, there are people in our midst grieving and hurting. We pray that You'll undertake for them. Lord, wherever the sound of this message is heard, please bring people to Yourself. We pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. You may be seated.

I don't know what your most fatiguing day felt like, but I am sure that you had a day where you felt like you really couldn't do anything more, that the day was too much, that you felt hot, you felt sweaty, you were smelly. It was a hard day, and you wished that somehow things would get better. The thought of going home, the thought of being home and having to make a meal or do anything just made you think, "I can't do that. I can't do any of that."

There's a crazy passage of Scripture, 2 Samuel 17:27-29. David is running away from his son, Absalom. Absalom has taken the throne from him, and David has run into a particular area. I just want to read the text to you because it's so real about what he needed and what God gave him. When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir, the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai, the Gileadite from Rogelim—they got their names in the Bible, don't make fun of them—note what happens.

They brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, parched grain, beans and lentils, honey and curd, and sheep and cheese from the herd for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness." Wow. We all need friends like this, no? Exhausted, and they bring carryout. Bring carryout to help you.

I think David is referencing this experience in Psalm 23. This past Wednesday, I'm the Protestant chaplain at Sea View, and folks who work in nursing homes, they get worn down. The job is very hard. It's continual. You're in charge of taking care of somebody. If you work on the memory-challenged wing of the place, it's even more difficult because people cry out and cry out and cry out. It's very wearing.

So they had the employee barbecue, but they went crazy with it. Look what they did with it. They had spa kits for everybody. They had a photo booth. They had a DJ. They had goody bags. They had raffle prizes. And the second most important thing they had was a massage station. The masseuse, I think his hands are still hurting today. He did almost a hundred people, all to give these folks a little bit of rest, just a respite.

But the best booth they had, by far, the best booth they had by far was the s'mores bar. I know because I ran the s'mores bar. I'll never forget the look in the eyes of one of the—how many people here like s'mores? When one of the people, I was talking to somebody, said, "I got to go back and run the s'mores bar," and one of the employees, their eyes went, "We have s'mores? Yes, s'mores! A s'mores bar!"

Now, we didn't have flame. We had those little—what do they call those things you put Sternos? We had a Sterno. We had a bunch of Sternos we lit and you warmed your marshmallow over the Sterno. But you know, as long as you put Hershey's chocolate on it and a couple of good graham crackers, it's fine. But it was all really to refresh these individuals who work so hard. I submit to you that all of us at one point in another need this sense that someone else is absolutely taking care of us and everything we really need.

Before I dig deeply into the Psalm, I just want to remind you of the flow of the Psalm, because it's a little strange. It begins with the Psalmist, David. Remember, he's writing a song. He's writing in his journal. He's not trying to write a theological treatise. He's writing something in his journal. It's a song he's trying to put together. But it kind of starts with him describing the Lord, right? "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul." Right?

What else does he do? He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. And then the Psalm takes a turn. It's a very specific turn. The Psalmist then says, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," what does he say? "The Lord is with me"? He doesn't say it that way. He turns and he says, "You are with me. I shall not fear. Why? You are with me." He moves his conversation to him and the Lord. It moves from "this is who the Lord is" to "You're the Lord, You're mine, You're with me."

And the rest of the Psalm is—he's not worried about the shepherd theme. He's worried about just talking to his Lord because he doesn't talk about sheep stuff. He says, "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." How many of you have ever seen sheep sit at a table, have dinner? Doesn't happen, right? He said, "You anoint my head with oil." It's possible he's talking about sheep there, but more than likely, he's talking about his relationship with the Lord that refreshes him.

And then he says, "My cup runs over." So picture a sheep with its hoofs with a cup. No, he's moving away from that to this incredible relationship he has with his God. He moves from describing God to talking with God and talking to God about his relationship with Him. A little bit of review here for us. Remember the basis for this Psalm? "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." That's the basis. From that, the whole Psalm is built.

The covenant-making God, Yahweh, is the Hebrew name. He's my shepherding one. He's my shepherding one. And please note the flock is not in view, but the individual sheep—me and the shepherd, me and the Lord. Sometimes we think of God in terms of He's got His whole flock, but this particular Psalm is me and my shepherd. The shepherd dwells with his sheep. The shepherd's job is 24/7. But because he dwells with his sheep, he knows the sheep individually and he cares for the sheep extensively.

He makes an effort for every single sheep. And "I shall not want." I won't suffer of the necessities of life. I'll have no lack for my need, maybe not for my greed, but not for my need. And then he lays out the blessings of the Psalm. He gives me rest for His name's sake. "Makes me lie down in green pastures." He gives me refreshment for His name's sake. "He leads me beside the still waters." He gives me restoration for His name's sake. "He restores my soul."

He brings me back after I've made a mistake, or two, or three, or four. Please do not say God is the God of the second chance, because He's the God of another chance, because you're going to mess up more than twice. Do I have a witness? Some of you both hands, please. And He gives me righteousness. "He leads me in the path of righteousness," what? For His name's sake.

And then He gives me reassurance. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear how much evil? No evil." Why? "For You are with me." Everybody turn like you're talking to the Lord and say, "For You are with me." For You are with me, the presence of the shepherd. Because He is with me, thus the protection of the Lord.

"Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." You remember, we talked last week about the rod, the Hebrew "shebet," a wooden stick to ward off predators. As the Psalmist, as the sheep sees his shepherd, he's reminded the shepherd is carrying a stick to protect him. I'll fear no evil. You are with me, you, the guy with the stick and the staff, the shepherd's staff for rescuing. They, the rod and the staff, are taken together to fully equip the shepherd, and this brings comfort to the sheep. There is nothing, nothing, nothing...

I hope you enjoyed that. I hope it motivated you. I hope it touched your heart. I hope all of this is speaking to you. It's bringing you closer to the Lord. It's helping you to understand His Word in a more comprehensive way. We do our best here at Calvary when we share the Word to share it in context. We do our best to open our own hearts first so that we're applying what the Word of God says to our life. And then hopefully, prayerfully, it makes a difference in your life as well, in your life as well.

It's a beautiful thing that God's rod and staff comfort us. It's even a more beautiful thing that in the presence of our enemies, because we're victorious, because we're victorious in the presence of our enemies, he prepares a table before us. And the other thought is so beautiful that he anoints our head with oil. He helps us to be well. And we say with the Psalmist, "My cup, my cup overflows. I'm such, such a blessed person."

Just a reminder to get those study guides. I say that because pretty soon, next week, they're gone and you won't have them. You'll want them, but you won't have them. Order the book. It's a free book, no strings attached. We just want you to have it. And it'll be a blessing to you. It'll help you in your walk with the Lord. And we would love to have you make a donation to "God in Our City." Every gift makes a difference.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, Your Word is so strong, it's so powerful, it's so life-changing. Help us, Lord, to embrace what it says to us. Lord, if there's someone listening that's never opened their heart to Jesus Christ, help them, Lord, even in this moment, even in this time together, to say yes to Jesus. Help them, Lord, simply to say, "Jesus, I need You. I need You as my shepherd. Come into my life, Lord Jesus. Be my Lord and Savior from this day forward."

Amen. Hey, if those words were spoken by you, prayed by you, please let us know. 718-720-5390. We want to send you some important literature. Thanks for joining us. Please join us again Monday for another edition of the daily edition of "God in Our City." God bless everybody.

Guest (Female): Thanks for listening to "God in Our City" with your host, Pastor Dave Watson. We hope the show was a blessing to you. Again, to receive a downloadable gift from Pastor Dave, go to CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. That's CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. Please check out Pastor Dave's blog at NYCShepherd.com. That's NYCShepherd.com. Please invite a friend and join us every weekday for another edition of "God in Our City."

Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone. Hey, it's the Luscos. Join pastors and bestselling authors Levi and Jenny Lusco on "Hey, it's the Luscos" for honest conversations about faith, marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected moments in between. You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season. It will always come back to Jesus in the end. That's right. Tune in to "Hey, it's the Luscos" with Levi and Jenny Lusco, available now wherever you get your podcasts.