Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Take your Bibles tonight and open them to the book of Psalms, the most familiar psalm in all the word of God. And yet these last couple of years, it has become more precious to me.
than it ever has. Psalm 23, would you take your Bibles and turn there? And then stand to your feet for the reading of God's Word if you feel like it, if you can. Psalm 23. How many glad you have a Bible?
Somebody say amen to that. I'm glad we're not sitting here on a Wednesday night reading some Steven Spielberg book or some Oprah magazine. Having some town hall talking about who we're voting for in November, I vote for Jesus. Amen. And I'm glad we're here reading God's Word.
It's not an opinion, it's not my pet peeves, it's not my preference, it's not how we do it in Northern Virginia. It's God's Word, and it works everywhere. And we're thankful for it tonight. Psalm 23, most of us have memorized it. People Put it on the wall, they put it on plaques, they tattoo it on their body, they put it on blankets, they read it at funerals, they use it when they're going through difficult.
People who don't even know the Lord quote this psalm. And it's a shame sometimes that stuff we've learned for so many years, we don't even know what it means. I hope it comes alive to you tonight. Let's say it together. Come on.
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 son.
He leads me in the path 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. Let the church say amen. Our Father, in the name of Jesus, meet with us.
We We are facing too difficult of a life. to come here tonight and waste time. Husbands trying to lead their wives, and wives trying to. mother their children and children trying to stay pure in a godless society, and singles looking for a spouse, and senior citizens finishing the fourth quarter strong, and every single one that's carrying a burden, battling the difficulty of economic challenge and inflation and our world and the cesspool of immorality that Seems to get worse and worse every single day. We just don't have time to sit here tonight and punch the clock.
We need something that when we leave here will help us do better than what we were doing before we came. And so I'm asking you for help. I need your help. And I know you have plenty of it. Cleanse me of sin, empty me of self, and fill me with your spirit.
Help me to be a blessing. Use me. Just about five hours up the road, I pray that you'd watch over my precious wife and my family while I'm gone. Take me back to them tomorrow, just as safe and sound as they were when I left on Sunday. And between now and then, would you do what you do?
Would you bind the devil, put a hedge of protection about this place, and may he in no way hinder the work of the Holy Ghost of God? Would you help us? and change us. for good. We ask these things in the mighty, precious, matchless, wonderful, holy.
worthy name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. You may be seated. Thank you so much for standing. There are more than 500 references to sheep in the Bible.
Sheep represented chief wealth and livelihood of the people. They were. They were animals that provided food to eat, milk to drink, and wool to make cloth, and covering for tents. I'm trying to say that sheep in the Bible times Were very, very valuable. They were used as a medium of exchange and a source of sacrifices.
They were not trivial creatures, they were very important creatures that were used for many different features. They carried value with their life. But as valuable as these sheep were, I want you to know by nature, They're gullible. Isaiah tells us he was oppressed and afflicted. He opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Jeremiah said, I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter, and I know not that they had devised devices against me. You know what Isaiah and Jeremiah are saying? These are valuable animals. I mean you get wool from them.
I mean you get sacrifices out of them. I mean you get covering from tents. For tents, I mean they keep you warm in the winter. These sheep are used for many valuable things, but they're not very bright individuals. They're getting ready to die and don't even know it.
They're defenseless. Michael says he's as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of the sheep, who, if he go through, both tread it down and tea in pieces, and none can deliver. Matthew says, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as dove. Here's what the writer is saying: They're very, very important, they're very, very valuable, they're used for a lot of things, and people need sheep.
But by nature, they're gullible, they're getting ready to die and don't even know it. By nature, they're defenseless, they're under attack, and they cannot defend themselves. They're in constant need of guidance and care. Numbers said, which may go out before them, which may go in before them, which may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation be not as sheep which have no shepherd. Jesus said in Matthew 9, they scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
Please don't miss what the writer is saying. He's saying they're important. They're valuable. They're costly. They're used for exchange.
They're used to keep people warm. People can't do all they need to do without sheep, but as important as they are, they're gullible. They don't know they're getting ready to die. They're defenseless. They can't fight off their enemy.
And they're in constant need of care. If you don't show sheep where to go, they're bound to get lost. Right. Sure. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to our own way, and the Lord have laid on him the iniquity of us all, prone to wander how I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. In reference to a sheep, this is what the writer is saying. He's not saying that sheep aren't important. He's not saying that sheep aren't valuable. He's not saying that people weren't glad they had sheep.
He's just saying that by nature, these animals are gullible. They're defenseless. They're in constant need of guidance and care. He's saying they must be led. They must be defended.
They must be sheltered. They must be looked out for. They must be watched. They must be guided. Hear me now.
They need. A shepherd. Yeah. And when the Bible is open to us, And you read Psalm 23 like I do every month, reading five Psalms every day.
So I get through Psalm 23 every single month, and I read this Psalm and I hear this man referring to sheep, and I hear this man referring to a shepherd, and then I realize who the man is talking about sheep and a shepherd. It's not just any man in the Bible, it's David who happened to be a shepherd. And when David picked up his pen under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost of God and wrote about sheep and wrote about a shepherd, he understood these animals that he watched every day. They were gullible. He understood these animals he watched every day.
They were defenseless. He said to Saul, the bear came after my sheep. The lion came after my sheep. They didn't fight the bear. I fought the bear.
They didn't kill the lion. I killed the lion. Sheep don't defend their enemy. Shepherds defend their sheep. They need me.
He understood he had to lead them. He knew what it was to have a wandering sheep that left the pack. He knew what it was to have a drifting sheep that wasn't where he should be. He knew that that sheep needed a shepherd because by nature it's gullible. It's defenseless.
It's constantly in need of care. He knew He had to feed the sheep. He knew he had to lead the sheep. He knew he had to guide the sheep. He knew he had to nourish the sheep.
He knew he had to nurture the sheep because that's what shepherds do. And sheep without a shepherd are in trouble. And he knew them sheep weren't in trouble because they had a shepherd and his name was David. But when David in Psalm 23 wrote this psalm, he wasn't just writing about his sheep that needed a shepherd. He was writing about himself as a sheep who needed a shepherd.
And he said, as gullible as they are, as defenseless as they are, as in need of care as they are, as unintelligent as they are, as much as those sheep need me as their shepherd. You know what David's saying? I'm gullible. I'm defenseless. I'm in constant need.
They need guidance. I need guidance. They need care. I need care. They're dumb.
I'm dumb. They wonder. I wonder. They're lost without me, and I'm lost without a shepherd.
So when you read Psalm 23, don't you read it like it's a little Dr. Seuss poem. Don't you read it like it's something Maya Angelou wrote. Don't you read it like it's something that you say before you go to bed. Don't you read it like it's something you crack open and read in a fortune cookie.
Read it like you're listening to a man writing about sheep that needed him, but a man writing about himself as a sheep that needed a shepherd. And in Psalm 23, he didn't say my shepherd is the president. He didn't say my shepherd is my daddy. He didn't say my shepherd is my preacher. He didn't say my shepherd is my friend.
He didn't say I am my own shepherd. He said the Lord is my shepherd. My shepherd. And I come to you tonight to tell you in 2024 We sit here in a church building on a Wednesday night and we better quit playing games with our halos like we have it all together. And we're here on Wednesday night and we're the elite of Christians because we come to church three times when most people don't even come one time.
Guess what? With your three time coming to church self, you need a shepherd. Listen to me now. With my preaching self, I need a shepherd. We are prone to wonder.
We are unintelligent. We are under attack by the devil and don't even know it. We're in constant need of guidance and care. We're living out in this crazy world full of multiple decisions that we can make just one blunder with and destroy our lives and everybody around us. And there's a bunch of people out there trying to wing it, trying to guess at it, trying to hypothesize at it, trying to experiment it.
And they're going from wrong decision to wrong decision to wrong decision and wondering how they can make right decisions. It's not in college. It's not in humanism. It's not in religion. It's not in self-help.
It's not in therapy. The only way to make it out there and do the right thing is get in line.
Somebody who knows where he's going, and I've come tonight on a Wednesday night to tell you: the Lord is my shepherd. Aren't you glad he's yours tonight? Tonight I want the psalm to come alive to you. And to remind all of us on Wednesday night, of what we've read, what we've memorized, what we've quoted. what we've claimed and what we've often perhaps never Really understood.
It really matters to have the Lord as your shepherd. Say the first words with me: The Lord is my shepherd. Come on, say it one more time: The Lord. What does that mean? That means, number one, complete satisfaction.
I shall not want. Listen to me, nobody satisfies like Jesus. Maybe you're wanting tonight because you're looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. The shepherd has inherent sensitivity, he knows what the sheep need without them having to tell him. He not only has inherent sensitivity, but he's their infinite source.
I shall not want. Here's what David says: he gives me what I need because he knows what I need. And not only does he know what I need, he has what I need. I wish somebody say amen on a Wednesday night that Jesus not only knows what you need, he has what you need. He's complete satisfaction.
Number two, he's a controlled person. Supply. Look at verse number two. He maketh me, he maketh me to lie down, to lie down, to lie down. He's a controlled supply in my life.
The shepherd gives divine placement. He maketh me to lie down. Look, look, look, sometimes we're too busy, we're too restless, we're too active, we're too hyper. Listen to me.
Sometimes it takes the shepherd to tell us, lie down somewhere. He maketh me to lie down. I wonder sometimes if God didn't give me what he gave me four years ago because he knew I needed to lie down somewhere. He maketh me to lie down, but he doesn't just make me lie down. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
Aren't you glad he doesn't have you take a nap where there ain't no food? Come on now. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Amen. Green pastures to a sheep is like ribs to me.
Amen. He maketh me, listen, listen, don't ever complain to God when he has you lie down. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Watch this now. The stops of a good man are ordered by the Lord, too.
He maketh me to lie. Maybe God, the shepherd, has got you stalled somewhere because he knows you need some green pastures and you might not graze if you don't lie down. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, a proper diet, a purposeful downtime. He gives me divine placement. Notice the scripture.
He gives me directed pleasure. He leadeth me beside the what? Talk to me. He leadeth me beside the what? Still, not the rapid waters, not the raging waters, not the rumbling waters, not the loud waters, not the booming waters, but the still waters.
You know what? Still waters are a picture of peace. We put a pool in the house a couple years ago, and we're in the second year of opening the pool, and I hadn't even put my feet in it yet. You say, why? I'm too stressed out paying for it.
No, I'm just, but you know, honestly, I enjoy the kids getting in. People come to my house and get in. But you know what? The most fun thing about me and that poo is going out in the evening and sitting in one of those chairs and just listening to the waters. I'm talking about the still, there's some peace about it.
Sometimes we have to get away from the hustle and bustle of life, from the demands and the stress of trying to keep up with everything that's going on and the foolishness and the nonsense and all of the godliness that's out there. And sometimes you're about to lose. Come on, raise your hand if you're about to lose your mind sometimes. And sometimes you're about to lose your mind and you're trying to find peace in all the wrong places. And then you get to the shepherd and the shepherd says, follow me, follow me.
I got a spot where I can take you, where nothing that the world tries to offer you can compare to what I give you.
Somebody say amen for the still waters tonight. When we used to go out of town and together and preach, we'd get to. town the very first night.
Well, my wife would, after the service, say, We need to go to Walmart. Why? Because that's just what we do when we come in town.
Now she says, I don't go to Walmart, I go to Target. Target's an experience. But we'd go to Walmart and she'd have this list and all these things we need to get since we just got in town. And she'd be about ready to get out the car. And I say, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You can't go in there, honey. See, if your wife goes in Walmart, she'll never come back out. You know what I'm saying? See, she's got five things on the list, but there are 25 that will catch her eye because Walmart is a one-stop shop. Everything she went in there for groceries, she came out with clothes.
She went in there for clothes, she came out with toiletries. She went in there for toiletries, she came out with jewelry. She went in there with jewelry, she came out with a blender. She went in there for the blender, she came out with a six-piece chicken nugget. See, I mean, it's just, it's just because Walmart has it.
Listen, in all the years that my wife came out of Walmart with more stuff than I ever thought she was going in for, she never one time came out of Walmart with peace. They don't sell it. Yeah. Amazon comes to my house every day. I'm serious.
There's a cart in front of the house with snacks on it and a note telling them we love you and take what you need. This is, I mean, hey, Mrs. Baldwin, how y'all know my wife's name? I got a problem with this. But anyway.
They've never, we're prime members. They've never brought peace to the house. YouTube got a video on everything. See if you can video on YouTube how to have peace. See, you can't find peace on YouTube.
You can't find peace at Walmart. You can't get peace delivered by Amazon. You can't watch an episode on Oprah about peace. You can't get a prescription from Dr. Phil on peace.
But here, watch now. You get in line behind the shepherd, he'll give you peace. He gives me contributed strength. He restoreth my soul. To bring back to existence, to bring back to use, to bring back to original.
condition. He restoreth my soul. What is my soul? My mind, my emotions, and my will. You know what David's saying?
Sometimes my mind, emotions, and will, they get off track, off beat, off rhythm, out of kilter, and I can't get them back together, but the shepherd can. I said, but the shepherd can. That's why you better not pick a church based on the coffee shop, and you better pick a church based on the shepherd. Because when the caffeine wears out, the shepherd's still in place. He restoreth my soul.
I can't think about restoring a soul, Brother Tim, without thinking about the heart. that gets off rhythm. You've experienced it. I talked to my brother about it. When you get into that afib and you're trying to do all the stuff that you do in life, but you're in a rhythm that has you feel off.
And I've never experienced it, but my brother talks about being in afib for weeks. And you just feel like you're in a danger zone the whole time. That something can go. And the doctors don't want you to stay in it. See, there's a way your heart's supposed to beat, but unfortunately, even though there's a way it's supposed to beat, you can't make it beat the right way.
Sometimes you have to go to a cardiologist and he has to give you something called a cardioversion, where he shocks the heart and gets it back on beat so it's beating like it should. And it's amazing how when you get out of V fib or Afib into the right kind of rhythm, you feel so much better. I wonder how many Christians are trying to serve God with their heart out of rhythm. They're sitting in the church service. They're singing the songs.
They're teaching the Sunday school class. They're working on the bus route, but there's something that's not beating right. They don't sing like they used to. They don't pray like they used to. They don't give like they used to.
They don't grow like they used to. They don't shout like they used to. They don't have love. They think they can just go to more services. They think they can just raise their hand a little bit louder.
They think the choir can sing a little bit longer. And the preachers think if we make the service go an hour longer, that's going to get people's hearts. And can't no preacher, can't no song, can't no organ, can't no drum beat, can't no boom shock a lock upside your head. Get your heart beating. But David said, I know a shepherd.
Anybody need a restored soul tonight? Are you weary? Are you heavy laden? Tell it to Jesus. This is what they're singing about.
You think David's writing those songs so we can come to church on a Wednesday night and just feel soothed, like we're in a massage parlor and we're just all drifting off and lean our seats back and say, Thank you for that nap.
Now I'm ready. No, no, no, no. They're telling us about a God that when nobody understands, when nobody can figure it out, when nobody can get you what you need, David says, He restores my soul. He gives me capable supervision. He leadeth me.
Wow. in the path of righteousness. Raise your hand if you struggle sometime doing right.
Okay, and the rest of you raise your hand if you struggle telling the truth, all right? Everybody in this building struggles doing right. And listen, we try to tell ourselves, like Paul said, the things I would do, I don't do. The things I wish I didn't do, I do. Oh, wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me?
Listen, here's what he's saying: I find myself trying to get myself to do the right thing. And the world has all kinds of mechanisms and classes and self-helps to get you to succeed in life. Listen to me: in your flesh dwelleth no good thing. Good Christians are not people who have mastered the art of doing right. Good Christians are people who have mastered the art of following the shepherd.
And he leads us in the path of righteousness. Here's what David said: I have found something out about my shepherd. When I follow him, I do right. He leads me on a righteous path. Who you been following lately?
Too many families trying to keep up with the Joneses instead of keeping up with Jesus. He leadeth me on a righteous path. He leadeth me on a righteous path for a rightful purpose. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness. Finish the verse.
He leadeth me in the path of righteousness. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. No, no, no, no. We think he leadeth me on the paths of righteousness so I can post it on Twitter. He leads me in the paths of righteousness so I can let people know how good I am.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so I can sign somebody's Bible. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so you invite me to come to your church to speak. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so I can walk around and look down as a Pharisee at everybody else who doesn't do right like I. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so I can be an internet influencer. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so I can think I'm better than everybody else.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so the preacher will read my name from the pulpit. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness so the cute girl will go out on a date. No, no, no. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his watch this nobody looks at a flock of sheep going in the right direction and stops the sheep and says, Y'all so smart, I'm so proud to see y'all going. No, no, no, no.
See, when the sheep are doing what they're supposed to do, you don't compliment the sheep, you compliment the shepherd.
Now I want to ask you a question. When's the last time you looked, your shepherd looked good? Because you were doing right. He's got capable supervisor. I don't I don't mind people.
who drive and don't always know where they're going. What I do mind is people who don't know where they're going but get in front and take the lead. See, if you didn't know where the restaurant was, why did you pull out first? Don't say follow me if you don't know where you're going. Don't you hate getting behind somebody who's putting his blinker on at every light.
He keeps going to the left and going to the right. He's driving 25 and a 45 mile an hour. And clearly you have gotten behind the wrong person. Listen to me.
You know what the problem is? We got a lot of people that want to lead that don't know where they're going.
Somebody ought to say amen tonight that the shepherd knows where he's going. Amen. They used this word a minute ago in the song, solace.
Solace. He's not only giving me capable supervision, but he's a calming solace. Wow. Yea though, say those two words with me. Yea though.
This is David the shepherd remembering the times. leading the sheep. When they left that that mountaintop where the sun was shining. and then found themselves going lower and lower into a valley where It was harder to see. And I'm sure David could remember those sheep going down in that valley with some hesitation because their footing wasn't as sure and their path wasn't as clear and their outcome wasn't as predictable.
And perhaps the sheep hesitated going down in the valley because they looked as if they were stepping into a domain that wasn't safe.
Somebody raise your hand tonight if life's taken you there before. Yeah, he's on. Yeah. When the lights go out. When the doctor comes in with a bad diagnosis, when the child that was once in church becomes a prodigal, when the marriage that was once safe starts falling apart, when the job and the finances that were intact go crumbling and withering apart, when your emotions find themselves, when what you used to condemn in others emotionally now you're living yourself, when the depression that you used to tell people didn't exist now exists inside of you, and you find yourself in a valley and you never thought you'd be there and you don't know how you're going to get out and the footing isn't clear and the sun's not shining and your outcome is not determined and you find yourself in a fearful plight.
David said, I had a fearless persuasion in my fearful plight because I have a faithful presence. He said, the shepherd says, I don't have to fear. The sheep doesn't fear, not because the sheep is brave. The sheep doesn't fear because the shepherd is with them. Aren't you glad the shepherd's with us tonight?
We have to teach our young people how to follow the shepherd. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that we have spent years telling our young people how long to wear a skirt, how high to wear a shirt, how long to wear their hair, how much makeup to put on. I'm not belittling standards. I'm telling you, but long after the fad has changed and the trend has shifted, and what used to be out is back in and what used to be in has gone out, when all of those things are different 20 years later, they better have learned somewhere in the midst of all that mess how to follow the shepherd.
I'm so glad my mom and daddy taught me. It ain't just about your hair. It ain't just about your clothes. It ain't just about your music. It ain't just about your friends.
You better get up and follow the shepherd. When you go to college, follow the shepherd. When you're on the job, follow the shepherd. When you're on that smartphone by yourself, follow the shepherd. When you find yourself in another country, follow the shepherd.
When the military deploys you to a war zone, follow the shepherd. When there's nobody that you look up to around, when you get out of Christian school, when it's summer and you're not required to read your Bible, when you're not in the choir law and you're not directed by a song that's gospel, you better follow the shepherd. I'm glad tonight that when I get to the valley of the shadow of death, when I lay in a hospital and my wife couldn't come, and the doctor stood far back, and the nurses didn't want to stay in there long, and people were dying on the television, and this virus was sweeping through, ravaging my body when nobody could come into the hospital because they wouldn't allow them. I'm glad that Jesus broke through the mellow detectors and passed. all of the restrictions The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ.
It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this to-day? Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory.
or to get to heaven. Because of that sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life for the through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God.
But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour.
Romans 10.9 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior? There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Saviour? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Crowin Baptist Church. Dot com.
or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
