Psalm 23

v3 – the Lord restores my soul

Restore means two things:

(1) IT SPEAKS OF MENDING, REPAIRING AND STICTHING TOGETHER

-this verse refers to a sheep (believer) falling no matter what the reason is

-the Lord is present to help and repair the believer

-A Cast Sheep – they fall over and cannot get back up for various reasons

-they will die if they are not helped quickly

-we need to restore the cast sheep as Jesus restores the cast sheep – Gal 6:1-3

(2) IT SPEAKS OF MAKING SOMETHING NEW

The Lord can make all things new…..

HE LEADS ME IN THE PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

-Follow jesus and walk on His path and in His tracks

paths – means tracks

3 Things About the Lords’ Tracks or Paths

(1) It is easy to see the Lord’s path

-we have to make a decision to walk in the path of the Lord…

(2) The righteous path can be a hard path

-there are hard decisions to make to walk on the Lord’s path

(3) THE LORD’S PATH AND TRACKS ARE RIGHTEOUS

The path of Jesus is holy, godly and righteous…

THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH – v4

This refers to all of the dark and bitter experiences one of which is death – ADVERSITY…

(1) THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE LORD THE MORE ADVERSITY WILL OCCUR

-the great shepherd wants to take the sheep to higher ground from the lowlands…

(2) MAKE A DECISION TODAY TO GO TO HIGHER GROUND

-not everyone will go

-there are many kinds of adversities in going to the higher ground

      How can we go to higher ground?

1. Jesus the Great Shepherd is always with us – “For you are with me”

-Jesus never leaves our side

-even at death He is with us

2. Jesus the Great Shepherd fights all of our battles

“I will fear no evil.”

-Jesus battles all of our enemies and issues and problems and so we always win