South Shore Pentecostal Church

Announcer: Welcome to the Apostolic Truth Radio Program with Pastor Craig Ouellette, a radio ministry of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located in Whitman, Massachusetts. At a time when many Christians do not know what to believe, South Shore Pentecostal is honored to bring you clear biblical teaching on which you can confidently build your faith. Thank you for joining us.

J. Craig Ouellette: We're going to talk about everybody needs a shepherd. Everybody needs a shepherd. Okay. And so we're going to talk about that. Just pray a moment. Just seek the Lord here. Lord God, we thank you. We thank you for this opportunity. We thank you for those that are here. Lord, we're asking you, Lord, to be here in the midst of us. Direct the service, direct our hearts and minds. Help us to focus, help us to hear what we need to hear. Help us, Lord, to try it in the spirit. Lord, let it be confirmed by your words, Lord, and we give you a praise in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'm going to say this, that when we're talking about what we're going to talk about this morning, everybody needs a shepherd. In order to live for God, there has to be a commitment in your life. You can come to God without being fully committed. But if you're going to go the distance, you must make a commitment. Most churches are not asking you to really make a commitment. They just want to see you in the seat. But if you're going to live for God, you've got to make a commitment that goes beyond Sunday and Wednesday services.

You've got to want to find the Lord every day. Just because you found him on Sunday, the trumpet might sound on Tuesday and we've got to be ready to meet the Lord. So it requires a commitment. And the Lord brought that scripture to my mind this morning in 1 Timothy 6:12: "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold onto eternal life." A lot of times we think we're just fighting trying to fight the devil off, fight the devil out. But the only reason you've got to fight through the devil is because he's trying to keep you from grabbing hold of eternal life.

Now he's writing that to somebody who's already saved. He's writing it to Timothy. He's not saying, "Timothy, you need to get saved." He's saying, "Fight the good fight that you may lay hold on eternal life to whereunto you are called." And so we've got to understand that we've got to reach out and commit to God. And often people are experiencing disappointment in going to church and living and trying to live for God because they're not making the commitment. And it's just like I don't become a soldier just because I go down to the enlistment office and sign papers.

I've got to show up at boot camp and I've got to stay in boot camp. And then I've got to go to where I'm deployed. So just because I believe in soldiering and like soldiering and have gone to the soldier's office, might even have a nice uniform to put on, that does not make me a soldier. I've got to make a commitment to God because the minute I become saved, I become involved in a spiritual warfare. A spiritual warfare. There is an enemy of our soul.

Just as real as God, the devil is real. He's not greater than God, he's not greater than you, than what you've got in you if you've got the Holy Ghost, but you've still got to be prepared to fight with what God gives you. And even being prepared to fight, even if I put on the armor but don't take the sword, I might be able to ward off some blows, but I can't win a fight. I've got to have a weapon. So not only do I have to know that I'm a soldier, but I've got to be prepared for the fight that might come and when it does come.

And so God is trying to help us understand today. Don't look at somebody else and say, "Oh, they're making too much of a commitment." You've got to make a commitment if you're going to make it to God. You must make a commitment and make the Lord be Lord of all. Praise God. Amen. Not just you, me too. All of us. A calling does not eliminate your commitment. A calling means you still got a commitment. I've got to keep that commitment within the calling that God has given. Gifts do not mean you don't need a commitment. Many fall because they rely on their gifts and have not made a commitment to God. Hallelujah.

So let's read these scriptures here this morning. Everybody needs a shepherd. Starting with a psalm that I think is probably familiar to everybody here. Probably a lot of you even have it memorized and know it very well. A beautiful psalm. A psalm of promises. Amen. Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. 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 preparest a 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." Those are a lot of great promises, aren't they? Amen. Over in Isaiah 53 and 6, another verse that probably you might have memorized and I'm sure that most of us have heard it. Says, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Matthew 9 and 36: "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and they were scattered abroad as a sheep having no shepherd." And then finally in John chapter 10, verse 11 through 16. Again, I believe scriptures that probably many of you, maybe all of you have heard, read, might even have memorized in your mind. Amen. In John 10:11, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep." Aren't you glad to have a God that's willing to lay down his life that we might have life?

"But he that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known of mine. As my father knoweth me, even so know I the father and lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

Everyone needs a shepherd. Point to yourself and say, "I need a shepherd." Pastors need shepherds, believe it or not. Amen. That's why we're not an independent church. We're part of an organization, so I've got other ministers of like precious faith because just because I'm a pastor doesn't mean I don't need any direction from other people in the church. Amen. We all need a shepherd. So when we look in the Bible, the topic of sheep and shepherding is one of the major topics illustrated throughout the Bible. We could spend a few weeks talking about it.

But when you look at the Bible, from the beginning, Genesis 4 and 2, it mentions Abel as a keeper or a tender of sheep. Many of God's great leaders are shepherds: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David. See, God's trying to tell us something. Amen. He's telling us that shepherding and sheep has a lot to do with living for God. The last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, mentions sheep as an object of trade in Revelation 18 and 13. And in Revelation chapter five, when John is getting a vision of heaven, he sees the lamb slain that's worthy to open the book with the seven seals.

So sheep are involved from Genesis to Revelation and in between. God doesn't make mistakes. God puts things there so we can understand and God puts them there so we can learn. Characteristics of sheep: Sheep have no natural defenses. They're not fast. They don't win marathons. Their eyesight is poor. They often can't see until something's about six feet in front of them. So they can't look off and see, "Hey, there's a lion down there 50 yards away." They don't see that. They don't have sharp teeth or claws.

The enemy gets near them, that beast or whatever's there, they don't have a natural defense to ward off those predators that are coming. They're not cunning, they're not clever or discerning of danger. They're just going about looking for what looks good to them, what looks okay, what is appealing to them. They get distracted and lost easily. Without a shepherd, the whole flock will disperse. We read that verse in Isaiah 53 and 6: "All we like sheep have gone astray." So the reason that's in there is he's trying to say that's what sheep do. If there's no shepherd, the flock just eventually disperses off to wherever.

Some die, some are lost, some might survive a different way. But without a shepherd, sheep disperse. Amen. If you don't have God in your life, if you don't have the good shepherd in your life, amen, the world is going to slowly disperse you. The world's going to slowly stretch you out from God and get you away from what God has got for you. Amen. Because we start to look out and say, "Well, that looks okay. There's no sin with that." Listen, in fields, you've got a green field here and a green field there. There's no sin in this field or that field. It's the same grass that's there, but there might be danger over there.

Hallelujah. Sheep get into situations they cannot get themselves out of. I heard recently that if they fall over when they get scared on their back and their legs are up in the air and they can't turn themselves, they can't right themselves up. They need a shepherd in their lives to protect them and help them. They'll get caught in bushes, they'll get on a ledge there and can't get out of that ledge and they need to be rescued. Amen. So sheep need help. They need a shepherd. Because sheep are defenseless and docile animals, they're also used to convey the idea of innocence.

And now we're bringing in the Bible typology, the Bible idea that God is trying to bring to us. Amen. They convey innocence. Sheep were one of the primary animals offered as a sacrifice under the law of Moses. The deliverance of Israel started with the blood of a lamb. Amen. There's things going on. Again, when you think about the plagues in Egypt, understand they're delivered from some of those plagues. They're shielded by some of the wrath of God and the judgment of God, but they're not free from Egypt until the blood gets applied.

Amen. It's the blood that lets them start to march. It's the blood that gets them going in the direction of the Red Sea. It's the blood that causes Pharaoh to say, "Get out of here, let them go." Amen. Sometimes you can't get rid of the devil because you don't have the blood in your life. But when you've got the blood in your life, you can get rid of the devil. Amen. He's going to have to say, "Get out of there, I don't want that blood," and God will get you moving on the way. Oh, you've got to have the blood.

Amen. So it's the blood of the lamb, amen, not just out in the pigpen or in the sheep pen, not just down the street, but the blood of the lamb on the door. Amen. And so you don't get the wrong idea, it's not on the door proper, but it's on the two side posts and the lintel above it. The blood's got to be there. The blood of the lamb gives you the door to get out of Egypt, which is a type of the world. Amen. You've got people believing, listen, before they ever came out of Egypt, after those plagues, they believed in God.

Yes, amen. So you can't say, "I believe in God and I'm good." They believed but they were still in bondage. Amen. You've got to have a deliverance that brings you out of Egypt. You've got to have something that breaks the world out of your soul. You've got to have something that causes your thinking to change. You've got to have something that says, "I'm going to be able to go above the world because of God in me." Hallelujah. And notice, there's strength for the journey started by eating the flesh of the lamb. See, it's a type of communion.

The death and eating that flesh started their journey to the promised land. God was opening a door. Amen. I need the blood and I need to eat Jesus. Amen. Not in the physical sense, don't get that in your mind. Jesus is the word made manifest. Eat this word. Get that word in you. It'll give you the strength to make the journey. It'll give you what you need to make the next step. Amen. When you can't take another step and you're laying down, you feel like you need to give up, remember that word.

Eat a word and you find strength from God to get up and do what God wants you to do. Hallelujah. Every house had to do it. It's not just some of them, or those ones over there. Every household had to have the blood. Amen. You've got people trying to get around the blood. The real problem, as I said already, you must make a commitment to live for God. A commitment is going to require something out of you. A commitment is going to cause a price to come. A commitment is going to cause you to have to give up some things in order to keep the commitment.

Just like in a marriage, you might have a lot of girlfriends or boyfriends, but when you get married, you make a commitment, they're all gone and I've got this one. You must make a commitment. You must make a commitment. Amen. You might know all about God. You might know all Hebrew, you might have had visitations, you might have been lifted up into the heaven like John. You still got to make a commitment to get saved. Hallelujah. So God made all things. He's the one that made sheep. So you have to think, why did God make sheep so they are innocent, helpless?

They need a shepherd. No claws. He could have put at least one set of sharp teeth on them. Didn't put anything. Make them fast so they can outrun. God doesn't give them anything. He makes a creature to illustrate what we need in our life. We need a shepherd. We need a shepherd. Sheep illustrate people. Again, we had that scripture we read: "All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way." That's the book of Judges. Book of Judges is full of problems because there's no king and everybody does that which is right in his own eyes. Amen.

They represent our Savior also, because he's a lamb that takes away the sin of the world. So when John the Baptist stood up one day and he pointed to Jesus, he pointed from his disciples, he pointed out Jesus, and he said, "Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Now notice in your Bible, there's no big explanation. What did John mean? That's not a lamb. What is he talking about the lamb? How is that man taking away all our sins? He's not a lamb.

What he was saying there is they understood a lamb started their deliverance out of Egypt. They understood every morning and every evening a lamb was offered up, the morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice. They understood every year they celebrated Passover by having a lamb for each family. They understood those lambs were being slain as a type of offering for their sin. So when John points and says, "Behold the lamb of God," they understood that this is talking about the Messiah that's going to give them a deliverance from their sin.

He's going to do something. He's going to do something for them that no lamb could ever do. He's going to do something that all the lambs, millions of lambs slain up to that point, could not fulfill because he's going to be the sinless Savior, the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Amen. And Paul in the book of Corinthians calls Jesus Christ our Passover. So Paul understood what was going on. God's people are often referred to as sheep. Hebrews 13 and 20 refers to Jesus as the great shepherd of the sheep.

1 Peter 2:25 refers to the church as sheep we're going astray. It says, "For you were sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls." He's talking about before you were saved, you were a sheep going astray. Again, you want to get something from God, you must make a commitment. Listen, a lot of Christian people have got the same mindset that the world's got. You've got people living together that want the benefits of marriage without getting married.

You've got the same idea they're coming to church and they want the benefits of God without getting married to the Lord, without getting committed to God. It's the same mindset. The same way of thinking. That means the world's thinking has crept into the church when people are thinking that way. Amen. If people think it's okay, now you have people they say, "Well, yeah, you know, they're living together." You hear about it all the time. "Oh, my girlfriend and boyfriend, my daughter's boyfriend, they're going away on a vacation."

That means they don't believe in the commitment of marriage. That means they don't understand that there's a difference between being involved sexually with somebody that you're not married and being married. That is sin. That's wrong. And now it's in the church where people think if I just go to church, I'm going to get what God's got for me. Amen. You must make a commitment to God. You must let him be God. You've got to give up your rights and let him be God. You've got to realize you don't have a breath unless he gives it to you.

You don't have a thing, a problem, you've got no resources, you won't have anything unless God lets you have it. No friends, no ability, no money, no chance, unless God gives it to you. Hallelujah. And people have the nerve to come into church and sit there and be angry with God. You know what you're saying? You're saying you know all things as much as God. You're saying you know why God did it the way he did, when you have no idea, no clue.

You're saying that you think God should have done it this way. Maybe you wanted him to do it that way. That's one thing. But to say God should have done it that way, amen, you are making yourself God. You better find an altar and repent. God might strike you dead. And the Bible says one day Jesus looked upon the multitude and was moved with compassion because they appeared as sheep without a shepherd. This is interesting about sheep. The nature of sheep requires them to have a shepherd to be fruitful.

Wild sheep don't grow their wool to the point where they can be shaved and harvested. But domesticated sheep, they grow their wool and they can be harvested. So to be fruitful, they may survive in the wilderness, but they're not going to be fruitful. So if you want to be fruitful, you've got to have a shepherd. Amen. You've got to have a shepherd. Again, same thing, people that jump from church to church, you don't have a shepherd. If you're jumping from church to church, you do not have a shepherd. Amen.

If you're not sure that you should stay at that church, you better find a church that God wants you to be in. Amen. But you know, a lot of times people come to the place where God wants them to be, but they're not willing to make a commitment, so they leave. They're not willing to come under the authority of God, so they go some other place. These programs are easier, this schedule is easier, their music is better, they got more classes and options and stuff. And all that's good. But that's not the point.

The point is not what they have. The point is, is that where God wants you? So domestic sheep that are shepherded produce wool and more offspring that survive. Jesus is called the great and good shepherd. As we read in John, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd that lays down his life for his sheep." Jesus as a shepherd wants to gather all his people into his flock, Jews and Gentiles. We read that. He says, "Other sheep I have and we're going to be one flock." Well, that's before the resurrection and the crucifixion and the Holy Ghost.

So he's talking about Jews in the flock, but he's letting us understand there's going to be a point where the Gentiles come in. It's going to be one body. One body God's going to have. He doesn't have a church for the Jews and another church for the Gentiles. Although God is still dealing with Israel as a nation. There's too many prophecies in the Old Testament that are not fulfilled yet that God is going to have that nation and fulfill those. But if you want to be saved today, you must be born again.

So humans are like sheep. Sheep don't know there's danger away from the shepherd and the flock. Sheep see something that's appealing to them, whether it's food or water, comfortable, a comfortable field, and they go in that direction. In fact, they just kind of wander from this bush to that bush or this plot of grass to that plot. And remember they can't see far. They can only see about six feet, seven feet. So after 12 or 20 feet down the road, I can't see too much behind me.

So if there's a wolf or a bear out there 40 feet away, unless I smell it, I can't see it. And I'm just going by what looks good. And again, there are many people. Bible says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." He's not talking about people don't know God. He's talking about people that are supposed to know God. But you got people that are in the church and they go, "Well, I don't see why I shouldn't go over there. I don't see anything wrong with that."

You got to talk to the shepherd. You got to find out what the Bible says about it. Amen. You got to find out that sometimes just because it looks okay doesn't mean it is okay. Amen. And so we've got to find out. So sheep, they'll go wherever, whatever direction. And without a shepherd, sheep get lost. They get left behind. The whole flock moves on and they're all tied up in this grass. They're enjoying that grass and eating that grass there. Amen.

They're stuck in bushes, can't get themselves out. They're trapped on ledges or killed by beasts of prey. Our problem as humans, we think we're the same way. We think, "I can go there. I know how to handle that. I was in that field last year." Yeah, you were, but the Lord let you go in there because he'd gotten all the beasts out of there and it was okay. So we do the same thing. We do the same thing in our lives. So we go to a certain direction because it looks good.

And this applies to all kinds of things. It applies to my daily life, it applies to my family life, it applies to my friends, applies to my vacations, applies to my recreation. Amen. Just because I don't see a danger with it does not mean it's okay to do it. Just because the pastor didn't say it's okay to do, didn't say it wasn't wrong, doesn't mean it's okay. You need to talk to God. Amen. You need to have a relationship with the Lord that something in your spirit says, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute." Hallelujah.

We get stuck in our situations. How do we get? We end up in situations. I heard about a man recently. He's got all these problems in different kinds of things, and he's talking about these different problems to different people. And I thought if he had just done what the Bible said, he wouldn't have these problems. And we're not talking about weird things. we're talking about relationships. If he had just done what the Bible said, he wouldn't have many of the problems that he's got. And the same thing happens to us.

So we get stuck. We're stuck in our situation because we thought it was okay to go wherever we wanted. And so we're surviving and we're not really being productive. You got again, you got Christians coming to church and they're surviving, but they're not really being productive. Oh, they don't really have a consistent victory in their life. They're just clawing their way to the next day. Amen. They're thinking about am I going to give up? Amen. When you get in God's place, you can have a consistency of victory.

And I'm not saying there's never any struggles or dark nights or stormy seasons. That's part of life. But when you get with God, you get where the shepherd wants you to go. Storm clouds are going to rise, but you're coming through that valley. Amen. Winds are going to blow, but you're going to make it through that. Hallelujah. Because God knows the way you're going. Hallelujah. Amen. If there's no consistency of victory in your life, there's something that you need to do in your relationship with God. You need to let go of some things, and you need to make the commitment that God is asking you to make.

Again, many times people they run out of water. We're like the ten virgins with the lamps. Five of them got full lamps, five of them don't have extra oil. Okay, that's a type of the church, isn't it? The virgins represent people in the church. The oil is the Holy Ghost. Okay, the night the groom coming is the second coming of the Lord. He's the groom. And it comes in the night season. And the Bible's letting us understand that when he comes, we hear the call, we don't have time to go to church to get oil for our lamp.

We've got to have the oil right then. Amen. So they hear the cry. They're waiting, they're watching. Five of them got what they need for the night season, five of them don't. They had not prepared. Amen. And so they hear the cry. That's the sound of the trumpet. The Lord's coming down. Amen. Those that are ready are going up to meet him. They're going into that great banquet there with the Lord and when they're in there, the door is shut. The door is shut.

So we live lives as Christians that way a lot of times. We didn't pray to get oil in our lamp. We didn't have a relationship so I got oil. Last time we got oil is when we had a special service. Amen. You're going to the next service waiting for God to put some oil. If you get a relationship with God, you get committed to God, God will put some oil in your lamp in between the special services. You'll have oil for Monday, you'll have oil for Tuesday, you'll have oil for Wednesday, you'll have oil for Thursday and Friday and Saturday.

Amen. And you'll still have something burning when you come to Sunday the next week. Amen. The reason you don't have what you need, the reason you're waiting for a special speaker, you're looking for them to give you something, you need to make a commitment to God. Amen. He says if we seek him with a whole heart, we will find him. Not might. Not most of the time. We will find him. God wants us to be productive in the spirit. Amen.

God wants us to be productive in the spirit. Amen. But when, in order to be productive, I've got to make the commitment. I've got to go where the shepherd says. So that brings us to Psalm 23 that we read. It illustrates if you take a little time to just look at it from a higher view, maybe 10,000 feet up, it talks about sheep's life and how it's fruitful when the Lord is our shepherd. That's the message. How God takes care of his sheep.

So when Jesus is my shepherd, the first thing, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. If I'm really letting him lead me, he's going to be I'm going to be in a place where he can see what I need and give it to me. Amen? That's if he's my shepherd. Not if he's my acquaintance, not if he's an experience, not if he's just a belief, but if he's my shepherd, I shall not want. Now want and need are two different things, aren't they? Right. Hallelujah. All right. So that means he's going to give us some things that we don't even need. He's going to make sure we got all that we have to have and then some. Amen. Because he's going to take care of us.

Then it says, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures." That means Jesus will make sure we're in a place that is safe and provides both proper nourishment and also rest. Now notice, you got people claiming Psalm 23 and they're wondering why it doesn't work and where God is, and they're getting discouraged, but they didn't let God lead them to the pasture he wanted them to lie down. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. It doesn't say he gives me an array of ones and says, "Pick one and you can go there."

It says, "He makes me." Since he's the shepherd, he's going where he wants me to go, and he's going to pick the field he wants me to lie down, and he says, "Lie down here." Not run around. "Lie down here. This field here." Amen. I can't claim him as shepherd if I don't let him lead me to the field he wants me to be in. Amen. You are fooling yourself. You're believing the devil if you can go wherever you think you want to go and you're not letting God have a commandment in your life.

He's my shepherd, he gets to pick the field. I don't pick the field. I can say, "God, it looks better over there. There's more shade, more grass. Amen. It seems more comfortable." That's not the discussion. He makes me. He makes me. He makes me. He'll make you. Amen. He'll make you to lie down in green pastures there for his name's sake. He's going to put you where he wants you. And if you're sitting in church and God has never got you to do anything you didn't want to do, it's debatable that he's your shepherd. Come on.

He leadeth me beside the still waters. Sheep won't drink from running waters from my understanding. And I've heard different stories about how they do it. Sometimes they make just like a little path off the stream and make a pool there. But sheep will die of thirst if the water's just running. They won't drink from that. He leads me beside the still waters. He knows where to take me to get a drink for my soul. He knows where the good water is. Hallelujah.

Some still water's polluted, some still water's poisonous, but the good shepherd knows where the good still water is. He's got water that when I drink it, it's going to sustain me. When I drink it, it's going to make me alive again. When I drink it, it's going to lift me up again. Hallelujah. He's the good shepherd, but I've got to let him lead me. Amen. People dying of spiritual thirst because they won't let God lead them. Listen, if God's leading you, you're going to have a prayer life. Amen.

If you don't have a prayer life, I'm going to say God is not leading you. You're not letting God lead you because God wants to talk to you and you need to talk to God. Amen. If you don't have the commitment to read your Bible, it's debatable if the shepherd's leading you, because he's going to speak to you through the word of God. He's going to give you what you need to have. Amen. The Bible says it's the bread of life. Amen. It's the word of God. It's a living word.

It'll give you life. It'll break your chains. It'll make you new. It'll resurrect you. It'll set you free. It'll do a number on the enemy. It'll give you what you need to be restored. Hallelujah. Oh, let's give him praise. Lord, we thank you. Lord God, we praise you, Lord God. We magnify you, Lord God. We give you praise. Hallelujah. Amen. It goes on to say, "He restoreth my soul." Again, a lot of times we're sick spiritually, we're weak spiritually, because we didn't let him lead us to the pasture we need to be in and we didn't let him lead us beside the still waters.

Amen. Listen, sometimes your soul is in turmoil and you need to go pray. And it's not in the morning, it's in the middle of the day. Or it's later on in the day. Or you need to read your Bible. You need to open that up. Again, as I've said so many times before, it is good to memorize scripture. But I have found time and again that even scriptures what I've memorized, God will put them in my mind and I'm searching God to get some direction in something or a touch from God or some kind of thing.

And when I open my Bible to read what I've got memorized, God speaks, God moves. I'm not saying don't memorize it. Because if I hadn't memorized it, I wouldn't even know it was God speaking. But because when I've got it memorized and I hear it, I know that's God because it's in his word. And you open your Bible and God starts to minister. Sometimes you can have heaviness on you, you open that Bible, get to the verse God gives you, the heaviness lifts.

It's like the clouds being blown away and the sun shines. Just like that. Amen. That happens because you were listening to God and when God spoke to you, you opened your Bible. Yeah, prayer life's part of it, but I've got to respond to the word of God. Amen. Sometimes opening that word of God. Now if you can't read, God understands that. But if you can read, you we are all reading our Facebook and Instagram, let's read our Bible. Amen.

And sometimes that's why we're troubled. We got more Facebook and Instagram and X in our spirit than we got Bible in our spirit. And we got all those reels that are going by. Amen. All that stuff going by. You go to pray and all those reels are going by in your mind. Amen. And you got to push that all out of the way before you can concentrate on God. And I'm not saying don't do that, but I'm saying maybe we spend too much time doing that. And maybe you shouldn't be looking at some of the reels you're looking at.

He restoreth my soul. See, where I'm when I'm following the shepherd, he's got revival for me at the right time. When I'm following the shepherd, he's got spiritual healing for me at the right time. When I'm following the Lord, he'll even have physical deliverance at the right time. Amen. Yes, God can heal, but sometimes what we are going through is the result of God trying to deal with us. It brings out an attitude, a way of thinking, a way of acting that's all kind of hidden and tapped down by manners and moving among other people.

But all of a sudden, under pressure it pops out. And God's trying to help us understand that's something you need to give to me. Amen. That's something you need to let me deal with. That's something you need to admit that's a problem to you and ask me to deliver you from it. Amen. So sometimes what we're going through is God trying to get us to realize we need him. I need to change. I need to be his way, not my way. Not 98% his way, 100% his way.

I need to yield to God. We need to yield to God. But when I yield to God, I got a promise. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I'm going to have a green pasture. I'm going to find the still waters. My soul will be restored. Not might. Will be restored. Hallelujah. Praise God. You're all thinking what kind of fun day is this? "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." See, Jesus will lead us into a proper path for life. Us as humans, we don't know. We do not know the path of righteousness.

We might have a little bit of an inkling or understanding, but we really don't know all the things that we need to do. Proverbs 14 and 12 says, "There is a way that's which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." What he's talking about, what the writer's trying to say to us is we in our own human mind think we can do it, we can handle it. I know what to do. I can go this way. I can make it through all of these things. And this path seems like it's going to be okay for me.

And the Bible's telling us that we don't know and we'll often choose a path that is going to be destructive to us in the end. Amen. That's why I've got to have the Lord. I mean, people do it all the time in church. They get into relationships. Amen. They're in church, they get in a relationship with a person that's outside of church. And they think, "Oh, I'm going to win them." Amen. And they get on a path that's going to destroy them. A path that's going to lead to death.

I've seen it again and again and again. Because we are positive people, and even when we are Christians, we're more positive and optimistic than a lot of other people, we see the good in people that are not right. And we know what God can do. But I've got to look at the whole picture and I must listen to the shepherd. The field might look good. There might seem to be water there. But I need to go where God says me to go.

I can't get in a field that God has not given me to. Amen. And so if I'm in that field, I want to make sure that the shepherd led me there. Amen. And when the shepherd leads me there, I'm going to be at ease in the field. I'm going to be at rest in the field. Amen. When I get to the field, even though the food might be good, the grass might be good, the leaves might be good, but something in my spirit won't be right if it's not the field that God's got. So he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Now notice again, you get people that get a revelation from God. They get an experience with God. They get convicted, they repent of their sins and they get gung-ho for God. And they go out trying to go in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. But I can't get on that path until I've let him take me to the field, the still waters, restore my soul. Now he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. See, I can't really be the witness God wants me to be unless I let the Lord be my shepherd.

Because I'll be in the wrong field. If I'm in the wrong field, I'm not witnessing to the people I'm supposed to be witnessing to. I need to be where God wants me to be. You understand it's not about us making a choice where we want to be. It's about being where God wants us to be. Again, God when a person gets saved, God's not looking around to see where can I fit them into the church? Before you were ever conceived, God had a plan for you in the church. He already knows where you need to be. He just needs you to acknowledge it and get into it. So then eventually he leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

And finally it says, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Again, sheep are easily afraid, they're easily disturbed, made afraid, made fearful. So there's places that God is going to try to get us to go. So when you become a sheep of the Lord and you learn to follow him, there's going to be times where he's going to say, "Follow me here," and you're going to go, "I don't want to go there. I don't like that. I don't think I can deal with that."

That's what happens when you're living for God. Once he's once he's put you in the field and given you the still water and restored your souls, lead you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, you're learning to follow him. Now I've learned that he cares. Now I've learned he provides all that I need. Now now I know he's a good shepherd. So even though I don't want to go into that valley, if I want to keep contact with the shepherd, I must follow the shepherd into the valley where the shadow of death is.

Now the shadow death mean it doesn't say where I'm going to die. Но it means there is danger there. Danger that's close enough to cast a shadow in my path. So it's like lions on cliffs above you, things around you close enough. Amen. Makes me think of the highway holiness in Isaiah 35. There is a highway holiness where the righteous will run. No evil beast will be on there. They're on the sides, they're roaring, but they can't get on the path of holiness. If you get on God's path of holiness, you get on God's path that he want for you, the devil will roar. He'll be right there.

He'll he'll make like he's going to jump, but he can't get on the path of righteousness. No evil beast will get in there. Read Isaiah 35, it's in there. But the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there, it says. And so God raises us as a sheep so we get to the place where I'll go through the valley of the shadow of death. I'll fear no evil. Why? "Because thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." So a shepherd's rod. Two ends, one of the ways I've understood it, you might have heard different ways.

There's a crook on one end or kind of a hook. And the other end is you know used for sometimes sharpened. One end's used to help the sheep, defend them, they're caught, pull them out. On a ledge, pull them out. Pull them back, restrain them. The other end, spear, sword, the evil beast come, the shepherd uses that. The rod, the staff is the word of God. The word of God. When you're following the Lord, God will send his word into your heart. When the enemy attacks your mind, the enemy attacks your spirit, when the enemy wants you to give up, when the enemy wants you to roll over and just lay out and say, "Let him eat you up," the word of God will be your defense.

Amen. When you feel like I can't do it, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. Amen. Again, sometimes we feel like we're being defeated because we feel we can't stand up and give him a knockout punch. But the Bible says we're like sheep killed all the day long. Amen. Но nevertheless in all these things we are more than conquerors. Sometimes you got to let the enemy seem to have a victory and trust in God. Sometimes you're trying to win the fight through your own understanding and your own ability and you've got to stand back like it says in the psalms: "Be still and know that I am God."

The winds raging, "be still and know that I'm God." A train's coming, "be still and know that I'm God." Amen. It's getting overwhelming, "be still and know that I am God." God, I don't know where you're at. "Be still and know that I am God." Amen. You've got to hear the voice of God. The word of God will give you victory in the night season. Amen. So the shepherd will lead us sheep to different pastures based on the season and the need. So sometimes we've got to go through a valley to get to that next field.

He doesn't lead us through the valley of the shadow of death just to test us or scare us. Maybe test us, but not to scare us. But he's trying to get us to the field we need to go to. Hallelujah. The good shepherd will bring his sheep through the valley and we can follow Jesus knowing that Jesus cares for us. He said, "I am come that you might have life and life more abundantly." He's not trying to kill us, he's trying to help us stay alive. So Psalm 23 aspects so many different or presents so many different aspects of the of of a sheep and how we have to let God be our guide.

Again, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." If you follow the Lord, there'll be times where he'll say, "Sit down. I'm going to bless you." And the enemy's raging all around you. And the enemy can't do a thing to touch you. God says, "Here you go. Have a Holy Ghost blessing. Here you go. Have a blessing from me. Here you go. Get lifted up." Amen. And all of a sudden you are lifted up in God, you are excited in God, you see the victory, you know that God is there.

Amen. You're receiving things from God, you're receiving testimonies and different things God has given. But I had to go to the field to the still water, I had to let him restore my soul, I had to go in the path he wanted me to go in, I had to go through the valley of the shadow of death and follow his word and believe his word to get to the place where he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Amen. "Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over."

So the oil's used for healing. The shepherd would have oil in a horn and a lot of times sheep will get bugs in their nose and get little things that'll irritate them and drive them crazy and their their mind will go crazy and he'll put oil on the nose. Keeps the bugs. Oh, the oil of the Holy Ghost will keep you from going crazy in your mind. Amen. The oil of the Holy Ghost will bring you into your right mind and right thinking. Hallelujah. Amen. Sometimes if our thinking is so out of whack we got to touch God. Got to get into the presence of the Holy Ghost.

Let that oil of the word and the oil of the spirit get on your mind. And all of a sudden, one moment you feel like I'm going to go crazy, I'm going to break, I can't take another second of this, and all of a sudden you feel like Samson and you're carrying away the devil's gates. Amen. And you're running up the hill and getting the victory because God has anointed that oil on you. Amen. And he's taking care of all those thoughts and he's given the Holy Ghost and you've got power with God. Amen.

So the Lord will anoint us with his spirit. Но you got to make a commitment. You see the commitment? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. How does he know? He let them lead them to the pasture that God wanted. He let them lead to the still waters. He let them restore his soul. He let them lead him in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. In other words, that sheep learned to let God say, "Go over here," and they went. "Go over here," they went. "Stay here," they stayed.

They learned that when God speaks, if I'll do what God says, if I'll do what God says, he's going to restore my soul. And now if he wants me to go through the valley, I know he's going to take care of me. Hallelujah. So surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. When Jesus is our shepherd, there's going to be goodness and mercy in our lives. And we also have a promise of the Lord's presence in our lives. Let's stand here this morning.

Claiming the promises of Psalm 23. Again, you hear people stating the psalm, praying the psalm, singing the psalm, claiming it, but they're saying it doesn't seem to work. In order to claim the promises, I must let Jesus become my shepherd. Now, becoming his shepherd doesn't mean I do what I want when I feel like it. Even if it's not bad. It means I let God lead me. How do I know if God's leading me? You start with the word of God. If God says you should have a prayer life and you don't have one, you're not letting God lead you.

You you're saying, "God, what's the purpose for my life? Show me why you want me to do this." Start with what the things the things that God reveals. If I can't do what God has revealed, God's not going to reveal things to me other things to do. You want to know God? Repent. You want to know God? Get baptized in Jesus' name and seek the Holy Ghost. And you get those things in your life and you continue to do that and start to do what God says. If God says watch your mouth, but I don't watch my mouth, God's not going to show say, "Okay, I'm sending you over to this place or that place to witness for me."

I'm not I've God's I'm not doing the things that God says to do that are obvious. If God says gather together as the manner of some is, you know as the man not as the manner some is, but don't forsake the gathering together of your come to church. If I don't come to church when I have an opportunity, how can I expect God to give more in my life? I mean, I don't need a PhD to see that I ought to be in church. I don't need to have a theology doctorate to know that I ought to follow the commandments. Right?

I don't need a PhD in some degree or some amount of time in the church to know that there's certain ways I shouldn't be thinking, or things I shouldn't be looking at, or things I shouldn't be doing. And if I'm not doing the things that God has already given, he's not going to reveal to you deeper things. So you're going to claim the promises. You got to let Jesus become the shepherd. Not talk about him being the shepherd, let him become the shepherd. Just believing in Jesus, saying his name, praying to Jesus, doesn't make him your shepherd.

The way you find out he's your shepherd is when he wants to go and you don't and you go. He wants you to stay and you don't want to stay and you stay. He wants you to pray and you don't want to pray and you pray. He wants you to fast and you don't want to fast and you fast. He wants you to read and you don't read, don't feel like reading, but you do read. That's how you start to know that he's your shepherd. Because if I can't do the things that are revealed, why should God reveal any more to me?

So when Jesus is your shepherd, he's in charge of your life. And that starts with the new birth process. Amen. Again, you got to be born again. You can't really be your shepherd until you're born again. You must repent of your sins. You must be born again. You got to be baptized in Jesus' name. Baptism Father, Son, Holy Ghost is not the baptism of the Bible. The command is to baptize in a name. The command is not to baptize using titles Father, Son, Holy Ghost. He says, "Baptizing them in the name."

The command is to find a name. Not names, a name. And the only way the apostles ever baptized in the Bible is using the name of Jesus. Well, that makes sense because Jesus is the only saving name. And if I'm going to be saved, I must be baptized. And I need the Holy Ghost. That's why Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost with the keys. Keys of the kingdom. Remember Jesus gave him the keys. He stands up on the day of Pentecost with the keys of the kingdom and the keys are repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Is the Lord your shepherd today? Is the Lord your shepherd? This altar's open here. Amen. If he's your shepherd, maybe you just want to come and thank him. You just want to thank him for being your shepherd. Amen. If he's calling you to be your shepherd, that's another reason to thank him. Hallelujah. Oh, come on, let him be the shepherd. You're not going to be disappointed. I've never met a person that let the Lord be the shepherd and they walked away disappointed. Let God be your shepherd. Amen. When you let him be your shepherd, he'll start to talk to you. He'll start to direct your life. He'll start to give you what you need. He'll give you peace that passes understanding. Hallelujah.

Come on, there's got to be a commitment in a person's life to receive what God has got for them. And he wants us all to have it. Come on, he's here to give us a full cup. Remember, my cup runneth over. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. Let him be your shepherd today. Your cup will run over. Come on, your cup will run over. If you'll let him be your shepherd today, you will leave this place with your cup running over. Hallelujah. Come on, seek him, seek him, seek him. Ask him, "Lord, is there something I'm supposed to be doing I'm not doing? Lord, do I have an attitude that I shouldn't have? Lord, have I been arguing with you about the way you're doing things?

Lord, am I not letting you be God? Lord, help me to change my thinking to be like you. Lord, am I in the field that you want me to be? Am I in the place that you're asking me to be?" Hallelujah. Come on, he's here right now. Come on, you can get the Holy Ghost, you can get filled again, you can get delivered, you can get healed here today if you'll just yield to God. You'll yield to God. Come on, you yield to God. Hallelujah. You'll let God have his way. Hallelujah. Let go of your pride, let go of your ideas, let God have his way. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Just start to praise him. Come on, call onto him. If you can't think of anything else to say, say "Thank you, Jesus. I need you, Jesus. Lord, I want to love you, Jesus. Lord, I want you to speak into my life. Lord, I need you to help me. Lord, I want to be one of your sheep, Lord God. Oh, make sure, Lord. Make sure my feet are being directed by you, that I'm on the path that you've got for me, Lord God."

Announcer: Thank you for joining us today as we have studied the word on Apostolic Truth Radio. My name is Tina Ouellette, wife of Pastor Craig Ouellette of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located in 58 West Street in Whitman, Massachusetts. If you love praise and worship, you will love services at South Shore Pentecostal Church and we invite you to come and worship with us. Sunday school for all ages begins at 10 AM and our Sunday evening service begins at 6 PM. Adult Bible study and children's church is held on Wednesdays at 7 PM. You can learn more about our church on our website at southshorepentecostal.com or you may call us at 781-447-1668. If you have been blessed by this radio ministry, you can help support Apostolic Truth Radio via online giving through Venmo at SSPCWhitman. Write us today and request a free copy of today's message and join us for another broadcast of Apostolic Truth.