Well, praise the Lord.
Hallelujah.
It is our final week for you to preorder this book,
Give Me This Mountain.
You know, one great blessing from this book is that
it is like a journey.
It is an expedition.
We wrote it in such a way that is it is like you're going
for a hiking expedition and every chapter is your base camp.
So from Base Camp 1 all the way to Base Camp 4,
throughout the book, you’ll feel like your faith is building
with every chapter as we study the life of Caleb.
And Caleb is actually one of my favorite Bible characters
because in his old age at 85 years old,
he said to Joshua: “Give me this mountain.”
And he says this:
“I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me.”
as a spy.
That was 45 years ago.
Yet, he was strong today and he stood before Joshua and said:
“Give me this mountain.”
People like Caleb and Joshua are people who are under the law.
They were there when God gave the 10 commandments
and one of it is: “thou shall not lie.”
So you know for a fact that when he says:
“I'm as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me.”
There's no exaggeration.
It is not poetic license.
He is as strong.
What is his secret?
I share the secret in this book and you will feel your faith
being built up.
Just like Joshua and Caleb, you will be among the minority
because they were among the minority,
the 2 out of the 12 spies that would say:
“Give me this mountain. The giants are bread for us.”
And the Lord honored their spirit.
I love what the Lord said about Joshua and Caleb, especially Caleb.
The Lord Himself said this:
“But my servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit.”
“He will enter the land.”
I love that.
He has a different spirit!
And that's what caused me to study on Caleb
and the secret of his faith which I reveal in this book.
So I recommend you this book, highly, because I know it will be a
blessing to you and it will build your faith.
Are you ready for the word?
Praise God.
In the shepherd’s psalm, Psalm 23.
It is a picture of the Lord Jesus.
Psalms 22 is a suffering of Jesus.
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”
Right? It starts with that.
And then we have Psalm 23.
Through the death of Jesus, we are now living, today, in Psalm 23.
Psalm 24.
“Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory will enter.”
That’s the second coming of Jesus Christ.
So we are now in Psalm 23 and in Psalms 23, it says:
“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”
“I shall not lack.”
Notice that as we are going through, what we call, good times,
we say: “He makes me to lie down in green pastures.”
What is that?
"He" is in the third person.
“He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.”
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.”
Can you see it?
It is like we are talking to someone about the Lord.
We are speaking of Him in the third person.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures.”
“He leads me beside the waters of quietness.”
“Waters of menuchah,” the Bible says.
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness.”
“He restores my soul.”
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness.”
By the way, this term: “paths of righteousness”
is very interesting because when you go to Israel and look at
some of the hills and mountains, they have lines around them.
Now, this is not done naturally by the geographical movements
of the earth or the winds.
It is actually done by the sheep and the flock, in fact, for even
thousands of years in Israel, where the sheep will go around
the paths of righteousness.
We have a picture here.
If you look below.
Don't look at the top where the sheep are.
Can you see all these lines here?
So for many years, not only hundreds,
but thousands of years, in the land of Israel,
you have sheep going around it.
And that's how they reach the top.
They cannot go straight up because it's too dangerous for them
to go straight up.
They will get discouraged as well.
So what the shepherd does is this.
The wise shepherd leads them in a circuitous manner.
Like in a circle.
Like a winding stairs.
The word there is “magal” in the Hebrew,
which is literally a circle.
The circle of righteousness.
A circle.
So he moves them in a circuitous motion.
A circuitous route all the way and the sheep doesn’t even know
he's making progress as he trods the path of righteousness.
The more we teach on righteousness—
that is why in this sermon series this time around, I'm actually
bringing you along the paths of righteousness.
Righteousness is not a verb.
Righteousness is a noun.
Righteousness is not something you do.
Righteousness is something that you are.
That God has made you to be.
When Jesus came. Praise the Lord.
And that's how we should teach our children also.
When we tell them to do something, when we tell them:
“This is what you need to do.”
And they look up and they see the end from where they are.
It's like a steep valley.
But the wise father or mother who is spirit-filled,
will know how to lead the child in a circuitous way.
Slowly, just lead them.
But to lead them, it doesn't mean you don't discipline them.
You discipline them.
You make sure that they stay on the paths of righteousness.
But this is how they make progress.
Sometimes it feels like they are going round and round,
going nowhere, but they are making progress and upwards.
And finally, they will reach all the green pastures right on top.
For many of the mountains, the green pastures are actually
right on top because it is closer to the winds, dew and rain.
So friend, praise God.
Back to this again.
Notice that as we are going through good times,
we can afford to say “He” in the third person.
But the next verse says:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,”
“I will fear no evil;” Now watch this.
“Yea, though I” It doesn't mean that you
purposely walked in it.
But even if.
“Yea, though I walk through” Thank God that we are
walking through and not walking to stay in the
valley of the shadow of death.
Sometimes, for the Israeli shepherd and his flock, they will go through
valleys where it is dark.
And there could be pitfalls, especially as evening falls
and they're not back home yet.
It's dangerous.
And that's why it's called the shadow of death.
I was just telling my son the other day that the shadow
of a dog never bit anybody.
The shadow of anything bad cannot hurt you.
So it's called the shadow of death.
Why?
Because Jesus conquered death.
So for the flock, it's only a shadow of death in appearance.
But we're going through.
And it is a dark time.
It is not a good time.
It is a dark time and a valley speaks of trials.
Perhaps you're going through a valley right now.
But notice what the shepherd does.
He leads them.
There’s also something else about Israeli shepherding, okay?
When it comes to night time— this is what I learned from
an Israeli shepherd guy.
What happens is that when they lead,
they lead from the front.
They don't lead from the back.
They lead from the front and the sheep follow them.
And the sheep know his voice.
As for the voice of a stranger, like Jesus said, they will not follow.
He will lead and the sheep will follow him.
And the sheep finds security by looking at where he is.
All these principles are going to apply for parenting as well.
Amen.
Set the example. Set the way.
Don't be saying something and expecting your children to be
doing something else.
Don't be speaking in profanities and expect your child to speak well.
So we lead the way and they follow us.
But when it comes to night time, this is what happens.
They say that when it comes to night time,
they don't go by the front.
Neither do they go by the back.
They go in the middle.
So the sheep is around them and it is a very closely knit flock.
When night falls and they are not back home yet,
the shepherd will make sure that he's in the center.
And that's why over here, the psalmist says:
“I will fear no evil for You are with me.”
He comes really close to them.
“You are with me.”
Do you know where the Lord is?
Especially when you're going through a trial?
Closer to you than you think.
And He is there to carry you, to provide for you, to meet you
at the point of your need.
And more than anything else, He is there to love you.
And that's what the shepherd does.
The shepherd makes sure he’s in the middle.
It is more for reassurance for the shepherd to be in the center.
During a dark period, he can't go through the front
because the weaker ones might slack behind him.
When he looks back, it's dark and he cannot see.
So he stays in the center.
So when I go through the valley of the shadow of death,
the psalmist says:
“I will fear no evil for you are with me.”
Notice that during a dark period, He says: “You.”
“You are with me.”
It is no longer referring to the Lord as “He.”
Friend, when you go through a dark season, know that He's
closer than you can imagine.
Don't just run to someone to ask for prayer—
I mean it is okay,
we have live chats that go on all the time and people
asking for prayer and we encourage that.
Take advantage of the anointing, especially on the pastors and all that.
That’s no problem.
But first and foremost, pray.
And have a direct interaction with the Lord.
Have a direct communion with the Lord.
He loves it. He wants to hear your voice.
And then you can ask others to pray as well.
But talk to the Lord.
Notice that when the psalmist is going through good times, he says,
“He makes me lie down.”
“He leads me. He restores me.”
But when it comes to a dark season— maybe you are going through a trial.
It could be a trial of sickness at this time in your life.
Maybe it is a trial of going through a season where there's not enough.
But whatever it is, my friend, He's going to be there
closer than your breath.
And He’s waiting for you to just talk to Him during this time.
You don't have to have perfect prayers and good prayers.
Just talk to Him.
“You are with me.” Just tell Him:
“You are with me, Lord. You are with me, Father.”
“Lord Jesus, you are with me. You are my Shepherd.”
“I will not lack.”
“In the future, there will be no lack.”
“Because You are my Shepherd, I will not lack.”
So notice you are addressing the Lord directly.
“You are with me.”
No longer in the third person, "He", but in the second person, "You."
“You are with me.”