I want to thank Michael and Beverly Osborne for setting up really for this week's message. We're in week number 22 of Not I but Christ, the plan right now, unless the Lord leads otherwise. is to do 52 messages in this series on Not I, but Christ. We have new banners ordered for the foyer. We intend to change our bulletin to the face of it to be Not I, but Christ because it has revolutionized our church. the decisions that we've seen and what transpired in the hearts and minds of you all sitting here this morning. And so if you missed Michael's message on Not I but Christ at Work or Beverly's testimony last week on her life's journey, I would encourage you to go to bigbranchchurch.com when you're vacationing, when you're not here. You can still go, and I never miss a message if I'm out of town. I go to bbc.com, and as long as there's electricity and the internet, you can find the messages and the series that we are in currently and those of the past. I refer people to go listen. to messages from time to time as to what fits their need or helps them during a time in their life. And so you can go there, listen to the podcast, and hear the message. And I would encourage you to do that when you're sick, when you're traveling. When you can't be here because of work, that way you keep up with what's going on. Those teachers that sit in here, I know Alcee and Amanda and some of them that never get to be in the service, but once or twice maybe a month, they listen to the podcast from time to time so that they know what's going on. And a lot does go on around here. CRA, this past week, You don't know what transpires at CRA. You see a car. You hear Michael tell about it a little bit. I told last week, three boys in heaven, young men that either passed away with cancer, one killed in a motorcycle accident. It's not fun and games. Lives are hanging in the balance every time that you're dealing with people at a camp or at VBS. And this week during VBS, you'll see, we hope to see many children saved as a result of what transpired. We're not here just to feed you. your children we're not here just to sing songs and that's a part of it have treats and do crafts we're here to with a mission a means to an end and that's to win those kids to Christ so that they know that heaven's their home whenever they die you say for little children absolutely Christ said forbid them not to come unto me and we're not going to get in the business of that either. And so we present the gospel and it is our goal during VBS. But just a lot going on with everything that's transpiring, the planning of the demolition of the old building, VBS. We'll have good guys at the Columbus State Fairgrounds in a few weeks, and Michael and Beverly, who sang this morning, is singing there. We hope, or Beth, I mean, is singing there this year, and so we're just excited about all the activity that takes place here during the summer months, and we hope that you are, too. Last week, Beverly's testimony was so real. And wow, what an example. If God called you to it, He will see you through it. And Michael's message the week before on not I but Christ at work was just, this morning we're going to do a continuation of their two, you know, Beverly's testimony and Michael's message on not I but Christ our life's journey. Each one of us here have a journey. I listened to Beverly last week and many families come and visit our church from time to time. Folks come and visit and say they'll be back and we never see them again. Some come with an agenda and try to hijack the vision of our church. They want us to be such and such or whatever. Wow, you know, you listen to Beverly and the family and they've just embrace and radiate blessed people, blessed people, and rescue people, rescue people, and save people, serve people. And I just, it's, yet I think about, you know, the pain has not been an interruption to her, but an invitation to a greater relationship. And God, you know, in listening, it's not God, you know, I'm bitter or I'm upset. It's I'm just going to glorify you in the good times and the bad. And so I'll never forget, and I told you last week and I reiterate it because I'll never forget that first time we sat in her living room and, you know, her statement was that You know, if my dad were to get saved as a result of this cancer crap, and that was her exact words, it'll be worth it all. And yet, as I said last week, Mark's sitting here this morning and is saved and on his way to heaven, and what a testimony. But you see, if you will get to the same place, we all want to have down inside Beverly's smile and her testimony during the tough times, but we don't want to get to the place that what brings us and draws us to Christ. We don't want our journey to be what Beverly's journey is. But if you'll get to the place where life where home, where your work, as Michael spoke about a couple weeks ago, you'll get to the place where life, where all of your life's journey, no matter what it encompasses, good times, bad times, tough times, times of suffering, where the times of hurt, the times of sorrow, the times of pain, you realize in everything, that God has allowed that to happen in your life's journey. You say, but I don't understand that. She don't understand it either. She said, so I don't understand it. I wish I could say here, take a pill and this will make you understand it. I don't understand it. But what I know is if, if we would, uh, if, if what, let me, let me phrase this correctly. It would be. Your life's journey would be exactly what you would ask for the way it transpires. If you know what God knows, you say, I would ask for the things that are pain. And so if you knew what God does, you would ask for those things because God is molding you through your journey. To a place of relationship, he draws us closer. See if. We live in a corrupt world, folks. I mean, it's been that way since the fall. It's tainted by sin. And I don't have time to go back to Genesis and start from the beginning. And God allows in things that takes place because of the fall of Adam. And we're all an inheritance from that day to this. And the things that take place in our life journey, good or bad, You may not understand it, and it's sometimes hard to accept it. But boy, if you knew what God knows, it would be what you would ask for. Because God sees the end, and we don't see the end. God sees the things that are a crisis of belief that draws us to Himself. God sees the things that are sometimes pain and sorrow that places us on our knees to have that comfort and to seek God's faith to get to a place. And this morning I want to take you to probably apart from Peter. Peter and I relate so much because I'm kind of like Peter. He had a problem with doing things and opening his mouth probably when he shouldn't. But David who was a man after God's own heart, he had a lot of issues in his life journey. And I'm not going to go into all that, but I mean, he wasn't a perfect person, and yet the Bible describes him as a man after God's own heart. And in Psalms 23, David talks about his life journey. See, he starts with, the Lord is my shepherd. and I shall not want." He knew what it was to be a shepherd because David was a shepherd. When the Lord sought him out to be king of Israel through Samuel, he was shepherding sheep. And so he knew when he made this statement in Psalms 23, the Lord is my shepherd, he had a picture of what he was saying. And he said, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, he restores my soul, he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his namesake in the first three verses. And I want you to listen to what he's talking about there because we put that on little cards at funerals and we put that you know on kids literature and we read that to him but we very seldom take time to dissect what David was really saying because he had a picture of what life was like when he said the Lord is my shepherd because he was drawing from what he did as a shepherd you think about it and you read what he said he said my shepherd in other words he's my guide God guides me to make of me to lie down in green pastures. He takes me to place of provision. When a shepherd leads the sheep, when the food runs out in one place, he moves them to another place. He provides for them, and he makes sure that they have food and water and keeps them in a place. He takes them inside the wall. Michael gave me a little book a few years ago, and the shepherd puts the sheep inside of a rock enclosure every evening, and then he stays at the gate with the sheep. So that the wolf can't get in or the wild animals and devour the sheep. And so when he was saying the Lord is my shepherd, he's my guide, he leadeth me. He's thinking to himself, just like I lead the sheep to different places and I provide and I protect. That's what God is to us in our life's journey. He leads us. And then it talks about the path of righteousness for his namesake. But, but when you go back and look at that first part of that verse, he said, I shall not want. That's, that's a mouthful. to say I shall not want and I'm not talking about want obviously I'm not wanting for anything to eat but David was saying I shall not want. In other words, God, he satisfies, as the song was just saying. God is a satisfying to us in our journey. If we look at it from that perspective that David was, he said, I lie down in green pastures. I'm full to the point that I can lie down. I don't have to eat all the time. I'm sleeping. While that I should be eating because I'm full, David was looking at his sheep. I've kept them in a place where I provide for them. I've kept them in a place to where that they don't even have to think about eating whenever there's food around because I'm the one that makes them full. Does God make you full? Are you full? Is your happiness in life about your stuff? Is your happiness about the things that you can possess? Is it about your possessions? Is it about control of your family or your spouse? Is your life all these things that we think life is? Or are you just full? Because, you know, heaven's your home. Christ is your savior. He's going to take care of you. Mark mentioned a few minutes ago, he said, you know, the best part of the service is the time of giving. Do you realize what he said in that one statement? Are you begrudging in your giving because you want to know how you get full in life by giving? I'm not talking about just in an offering plate. I'm talking about giving of your time, giving of your service, giving of your life away to other people, not just to your own self-satisfaction of your own needs. I'm talking about just giving away your life. I mean, those men that went to C.R.A. give away a 52nd of their life this year. Some of them give away six months in preparation for what you've seen. But I'm talking about give away of their life so that one young man can trust Christ as his savior. You think about that. Giving away. Are you giving? Are you a person that your life is about giving to others? Loving others by this show, all men know that you are my disciples. Why? Because you love people. You care about people. You give to people. And David said that my life is full. I lie in green pastures. I can sleep beside the still waters. Restoration, he restores me. And he was thinking about his life. Now, that's all kind of cushy. When you look at God from from that perspective, it's all easy street. There's no pain, no sorrow in those first three verses. There's no suffering. And the fact of the matter is we would all choose if we could. Our life to be, he leadeth me beside still waters. The creek's not running out of its bank. It's not washing my stuff away. I'm not in any crisis. He's got me to where I can lie down in a green pasture and I don't have to worry about any provisions. I wouldn't have to get up and go to work tomorrow because God's going to just pour it all in. And everything's great in life. It's all easy street. It's all luxurious. It's all daisies and flowers and rainbows. That's what we'd pick our life to be like if we could. And that's the way David started out. But then he makes his next statement. He says, But then paths of righteousness, he leadeth me in paths of righteousness. Now that can be tough. His path is not always our path when it comes to these paths of our journey. He's talking about full journey here. He's talking about life. He said, but God leads us in paths of righteousness. What's that? He leads us in a path that draws us closer to him so that the Holy Spirit can transform our minds to make us righteous. Now, I can tell you the path that my mom took when I was a child that was a path of righteousness was not always beside the still waters. It was not always the path of lying down in green pastures. We didn't have much when I was a kid, but the path of righteousness was sometimes tough. We spent a lot of time, my brother and I, who's here this morning, at my grandparents. We went and stayed because my mom's life wasn't the grandiose that people would think. And in turn, we stayed with our grandparents in the summertime just to have a place to stay and somebody provide for us. I've said it before. The path of righteousness included sometimes a cut off piece of garden hose for doing things I shouldn't be doing in a barn. Like smoking around the hay. Or it meant a switch. Sometimes God's path of righteousness. Includes a switch. He chastises us to bring us back close because we've wandered off somewhere. We've went to a place that we should not be. And that path can be tough. And it's definitely not the path that we always choose. And when he takes us to that place, he's building us and molding us. My mom used to make a statement I still disagree with. She said, this hurts me more than it hurts you. And I'm like, that is not and cannot be true. There's paths that God takes us to build and mold. And create a relationship when we start wandering off. David, the shepherd, was thinking about that because when he goes on to the next verse, he says, yay. 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. See, we look at punishment, we look at that verse as punishment. When we read that, because we're thinking, oh, it was all plush and green and cushy and easy and luxurious. And then he goes to this place where he says paths of righteousness, which includes things that sometimes we just can't understand and don't like. And then he goes right into the valley of the shadow of death. We look at that as punishment. Deep, dark valley in the shadow of death. It's awful. And we think, I've got to figure my way back to God because I've wandered off in this place. But it says, and I want you to notice, I'll fear no evil. What's the number one thing that we as Christians have in our lives that bother us most? Fear. Fear. I don't know anyone that most of the time there's a fear of what's going to happen next. There's this fear of death because of uncertainty. And David said, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I've known people, it's been Christians for years, and they come close to drawing near, you find them in a hospital, and there's fear. Because they know they're dying. You know, we know when that's coming. And yet David said, I fear no evil. on these paths of righteousness. I'll fear no evil in the valley of the shadow of death. I'm not going to be afraid. Why, David? Why would you say that? He answers the question. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I don't know if you've ever seen a shepherd's rod and a staff, but a staff is a long and a rod that he carries two. One is just a big long stick. And the other one has a hook on the end of it. And we look at those as tools of punishment. Come back here, I'm going to beat you sheep. Or where do you think you're going? And get a hook and pull us in. And we look at God from that perspective that God always has this big stick and he's going to punish us and beat us with it. Or God has this hook that he's always coming and getting us and dragging us back. And yet David's perspective of this from his viewpoint was. It's because I care. And God is close enough that the short staff and the rod can reach me where I'm at. That's how close God was to David when he's writing this God's hook is not punishment, it's protection. Don't get too far away. Come back over here, little sheep. Christ alluded to it because he knew what it was to be a shepherd, he said, if one wanders off, you're going to go look for the one instead of the ninety nine. Why? Because he cares. And he's close. And when you're in the valley of the shadow of death, God is not far away. He is not punishing you. He's using a protective rod and a staff to draw you and take care of you and punch you or prod you to get back with the fold and be in a place of closeness in relationship. I'll fear no evil because I know he's close. That rang through her testimony last week, just how close God is to me. During this time, I will fear no evil. You know the enemy wants you to fear? Fear is not something that comes from the Lord. Fear comes from the enemy. And most of us, we can't determine who the enemy is. We think the enemy is the person sitting beside us. We think the enemy is the person at work. We think the enemy is the person in line at McDonald's because they won't get up, they're reading their phone, won't move forward when they're supposed to bend forward. We think the enemy is the person that cut us off, you know, driving down the road. We think it's our parents. Sometimes we think it's the other, uh, young people that, uh, young adults or young people that were in school with that took our boyfriends and our girlfriends. And, and we have all these enemies when in fact, the enemy is the enemy. Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy your happiness. Now you think about that, kill, steal and destroy. And what's he want us to do? He wants us to fear. He wants us to be fearful, fighting conditions and circumstances all the time that we cannot change. You realize that our journey is made up of things that we just cannot change. We can't change our life's journey from time to time. We could make better decisions, maybe, and our journey wouldn't go in places that it goes. But some of the things befall us, we have no control over. And I don't know about you, I get paranoid over situations I don't have control over. Now, you may find that strange, but I do. And so with that said. The enemy wants us fearful of these things. He wants us to be constantly in turmoil and fighting and all these things that we cannot change on our journey. He wants us fighting with relationships and fearful of things that's happening at church. He wants us fearful and fighting over relationships at home. He wants us fearful and fighting over relationships at our work. He wants to keep you and always in a panic, always in turmoil, always upset. And the fact of the matter is he wants your life to be an uproar. He wants your life to be just unrest, no still waters and no green pastures. He don't want you to have peace. He don't want you to Be rid of an addiction. He don't want you to be rid of anger. He don't want you to be rid of fighting at home. He don't want you to be rid of that problem at work. He don't want you to be rid of those things that keep you fearful and your life in turmoil and your life in unrest. He don't want you to be in a church where you can sit comfortably and come on a Sunday morning and all will be going well. Because He's the author of turmoil. See, David who had more trouble We think we have problems. David had a son that molested a daughter. David had a son that tried to kill him and take over his throne. I could go through the situations that David went through when he would, after he had written this song, he had committed adultery and had the lady's husband killed. Now you think about that much bushel of junk in your life. You just think about those three instances. And I can go on and on and on about instances that David had in his life. But we just take those three things and redirect most people where they could never be happy again. And definitely can't go to church because all those bunch of hypocrites and Pharisees there don't want me there if they had that kind of junk in our life. But you just think about what David had in his life, and then for him to pin and say, I mean, the stress that he had there, the sin that was there, most of his stuff was more than most of us, if you put it all together, have. I fear no evil. Two places in the scripture, it says he was a man after God's own heart. After all of that. And then he makes a statement, thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now, how's that a comfort? Instead of a punishment. Because he knew Dave, he knew how close God was. He knew that God was watching over him on his journey and that he was tapping him with a rod to say, come back over here, or hooking him around whenever he started to wander off and do something he shouldn't do. He knew God was close during everything in his journey. And when he made that statement, It wasn't discipline of the rod and the staff. It wasn't a beating. It wasn't a choking. It was comfort for God to be that close and to care that much. See, we think bad things come because we wander off the path. And we think bad things come because it happens to us as punishment. or consequences for bad decisions we make or mistakes. And yet sometimes it's just a result of the fall of man and we live in a fall of world and it has nothing to do with anything. And I'm not saying in every instance, but it's sometimes it's just, it's our journey. I mean, I can go around and shake your hands. And you got a cold, I get your cold. It's not because of sin in my life. It's the journey. That's sanitize. But things happen to us. And it's not always consequences of things we've done or stuff that we do. But listen to what David says. And maybe you are here this morning and you've gone through that verse four moment when I'm in the valley of the shadow of death. Listen to what he said. So what was the purpose of this journey? And when you go back and you think about that and you look at verse three and four, maybe God leads us into the valley of the shadow of death. Maybe God takes us to that place. And if he leads us through it and he walks with us to it and through it, then it's a different perspective that we have on it. If he's the one that's leading us to it and walking with us through it, then what's the purpose of the journey in those kind of situations? Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemy. Thou anoints my head with oil, my cup runneth o'er. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Now you think about that and you are on the battlefield, you're going through the valley of the shadow of death, all hell has broke loose and you are in the presence of the enemy and pain and sorrow and suffering and depression and divorce and addiction and darkness and alcoholism. You've lost a job. You're about to get a, you know, you're separated from your family. You've got a bad relationship with someone that maybe you're dating. The stress, the turmoil, the sickness. I could go on and on and on about what befalls us on our journey. And yet he says, let's take time to sit down and die. It's like God saying, before we fight this battle and go through it together, let's go to a fine restaurant. Sit down a little bit. In my case, it would be, you know, let's have some Vienna sausages and some crackers. Let's stop right here in the valley. And have a little conversation and get close. Before I put a can of whoop on this one, let's just stop and eat. Let's take a minute and break. Let's me and you spend some time together. That's what David was saying. See, God is making you, when you go through these times, he's making you into a weapon to fight the enemy. He is forging you into something dangerous, an adversary of the enemy. And your enemy is not what has you in the valley. Your enemy is a spiritual warfare against you to kill, steal, and destroy. It's one that doesn't want you to live a life of abundant life, a life of joyous living, a life of happiness. It's the enemy. It's Satan himself that is out to kill, steal and destroy the lion that we talked about that is so, you know, so stalking you. And God is making you dangerous to the enemy whenever he stops and says, let's spend a few minutes together and you realize that I'm with you during this time. Let's let's you say, well, well, how so preacher? Because you're not afraid. When you're not afraid, you're dangerous to the enemy. When you're not fearful, you're dangerous to the enemy. And when you're not afraid of death anymore, and you're not afraid of the journey you're on, and when your cup is realizing is running over, and you're blessed, and you're going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and let me tell you, that is not speaking about an eternal heaven that's in the future. That is a daily walk in the presence of God from the time you get saved on. When you realize that no matter what's on your journey, when you realize that you're in the valley of the shadow of death, and you're not going to be fearful there, and you're not afraid of what befalls you, because you know that there's a God that's in control, and that there's a God that's walking with you, and if He's taking you to it, He's going to see you through it, and the end result may not be what you think it's going to be, but it's God's in control. You become a weapon. When you realize it's about a relationship, your cup runs over and you dwell in God's presence forever, day in and day out. It's talking about a relationship. If I could get everyone in this room to realize that God wants to have a personal relationship with you. David had a relationship with the God. He could picture God as a shepherd because he knew what a shepherd was. He seen how close he was when he said he's got a rod and he's got a staff. I'm that close to him. He's thinking relationship and no matter what or or whether it is beside the still waters or or in the valley of the shadow of death. Why? Because he is with you and he is close. See, the enemy wants you to live a recluse. He wants to steal your joy. He wants to cause you to be bitter at someone or mad at God. But when you have no fear, you are dangerous to the enemy. And look at the apostle Paul. Let's just many of us know Paul's story. And if not, it's very easy. He lived a life of constant turmoil after he got saved. He took part in murdering a deacon. He held the coats for those that stoned him. And yet his life from there on becomes a preacher of the gospel. He becomes the author of 13 or 14 books of the New Testament. He goes on and on and on. And yet during all of that, there's nothing but turmoil in his life. And it's this constant upset and put me in prison. And Paul says, that's all right, I'll just win the soldier to Christ. Give me shipwreck. I'm going to drown, battered off at sea. That's all right. I'll witness to the whole crew once we get on dry land. I'll get snake bit. That's all right. I'll show you how God can heal me. Beat me. I'll tell you about Jesus and more people will get saved. You're going to kill me and make a martyr out of me. That's all right. For 2000 years, I'll talk about my life and more and more people get saved. When we have that attitude that no matter what befalls us, it's part of our journey and God's in control, and if he leads us to it, then he's going to lead us through it and he's going to be close to us during the whole time. And it becomes not I, but Christ. And my life's journey. Wow. You see, we, by nature, are fearful of the journey. We, by nature, are like Chicken Little. The sky's always falling. The sky's not falling in your life. God is with you. If you're a Christian in this room this morning, if you're saved and on your way to heaven, God is there. He's close enough that he can touch you with a staff and peck you back in line, touch you on your shoulder with the rod and say, I'm right here. Are you lost sight of that? He can take all things, good and bad, and work it together for good if you'll allow it. Well, I'm going through this and this and this. That's okay. He'll work out that problem. He can mold you into something that is a dangerous weapon against the enemy. However, we have to have a dose of reality sometimes. This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. And everything that happens is just one small step on a journey. And no matter what happens, God's with us. And I watch people like Beverly give her testimony last week. And you know what it does? It teaches me to run to the roar, run toward the enemy, because greater is my God than anything the enemy can do to me. Greater is what God has for us in store than we can only imagine. And everything that the enemy does to try to kill, steal, and destroy is no match for our God. Make me a martyr, Paul said. That's okay. More people get saved. You can't threaten me with heaven. I visited Melvin this week. And that was his words, you can't threaten me with heaven. How you doing, Melvin? You can't threaten me with heaven. If we choose grief instead of grace, or if we choose fear instead of fearlessness, On our journey. We make the cross to no avail, people, because the greatest symbol of injustice that should have been grief and was to the disciples. Was not grief, it was the greatest event in history that give victory. The greatest event in history that give victory and the fact of the matter is life journey is not always easy and life's journey is not always plush and life's journey is for all of us is never the same. But not I but Christ in my journey. It's so much easier. It's it's so much more acceptable When we realize God is near. And he's with us. There is no acceptance to many of our situations apart from Christ. We can't understand why certain things befall us or other people. And all the enemy has to offer during our worst times of suffering is bitterness, depression, fear. His only medicine is grief and drugs and alcohol. But Christ gives hope. Christ gives life. Christ gives happiness. Christ gives a hand. Christ gives a rod. Christ gives a staff in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death. Christ is there. Are you building a relationship? Or are you mired in religion? Because religion Does not teach relationship and religion is not there during the grief and the storm. But relationship is if you know he's near. Is church a drudgery to you? Obviously, it is to a bunch of people. But if church is a drudgery. I'm guessing your relationship's not what it should be. It should be a time of refueling. Of coming in and saying, yeah, yes. And going back out to face the journey. It should be a time to where that, you know, I hear people all the time, I can't read my Bible, it's boring. It ought to be a time whenever you're getting spoken to by something that refuels you to face the journey. Life's journey has to be about a relationship. The songwriter got it right when he said, he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there. If you don't understand that right there, you're missing it. He walks with me and he talks with me. I don't care where your journey's at. If you don't understand that, you're missing it. Because if your joy is about a phone call from someone or about a friend to pick you up or your joy is about whatever it takes from someone else and it's not about Christ, you're missing it. He walks with me and He talks with me. So I've never heard Him talk to me. I'd be scared to death if I heard Him talk. I would too if it was audible and out loud. It'd shock me. But that still small voice that speaks to you through the Word of God, speaks to you through the song, speaks to you through your inner being, the Holy Spirit of God, is what makes the difference on the journey of relationship. Let's stand.