“We Lack Nothing” Conclusion
Broadcast #1616
September 24, 2023
Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1616 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text
Phil: I thank God that I, I thank God that I can just believe it when I need it, in that presence tense, and I lack nothing. Wouldn’t that be a good conviction to live with? Have you ever been in a place where you just, you didn’t have what you needed, and God just messed up and forgot all about you? Sometimes he can allow it to feel that way, but we have everything we need if we will look to him from the depths of our heart.
Folks, I’m trusting that everybody here has this relationship with God, and just needs to grow in it. I need to grow, I guarantee you, had to do some growing this morning. You think it’s easy to stand up here and do this? We need the Lord, folks, every single one of us needs the Lord. But oh, what an awesome truth it is that the Lord is right now my personal shepherd. He’s watching over me. And because of that, I lack nothing.
I don’t know what a title would be, “We Have Everything We Need,” that would be a long version of it. Or, “We Lack Nothing.” But I praise God, I pray that God will make this real, so that while we can sit here, and maybe there’s nothing immediate happening right now, that we can go through this week and realize everything that happens that we face, that we feel is a difficult thing, when that now happens, and that’s what’s happening in that now, we can say, “Hey, I got what I need, Lord.”
The Scripture we’ve often used again about the fight of faith, here’s Paul knowing what it takes to serve God in this broken world. And he says to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith.” What does that entail? What follows that expression? Somebody remember the Scripture? “Lay hold, lay hold,” there’s something that I have put there for you. It’s there, you’ve got what you need. You’ve got all the money in the bank you could ever need in this kingdom, the spiritual bank. You know what, understand what I’m talking about. There are untold riches that Paul has talked about, everything that God, he knows we’ll ever need is there, and it belongs to his children. Praise God!
So, okay, he goes through and he talks a little bit about what this entails. And the first part we can all say, “Oh yeah, that sounds great. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. Oh, bring it on, Lord, that sounds idyllic. Oh, sounds like a vacation.” (laughing)
Well, I thank God that that’s true, and there are times when that’s exactly how it is. God just refreshes us and quiets us. We’re not striving, we’re not in the middle of a battle, but we can, (sighing) “Oh. I just need, I just need something. I need you to refresh me, Lord. I need you to help me. And you know what I need, you know exactly what I need.” I thank God that that’s his heart to give us all of that.
But you know, the Lord knows that if that’s all he does, we’re gonna get awful spoiled. And there’s a lot of stuff that he wants to fix in us and change in us. He can’t change when everything is just idyllic, (chuckling) and wonderful.
But here he says, “He guides me along the right paths.” How many of you want to be guided? How many of you believe there is a path that God has, as we’ve said before, laid out before you? Do you believe God has made a plan for your life? Do you want that plan? Are you willing to seek him about that plan?
That’s pretty basic to the Lord being my Shepherd. I can’t really honestly understand him as my Shepherd, and say, “Okay, Lord, see you later. I’ve got, I wanna do this, I wanna do that.” I’ve gotta be willing to let him lead. And I’ve gotta be willing to let him know that I need him.
Again, I think we’ve recently used the verse where he said, “Your ears will hear a voice behind you, a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” How many of you believe the Shepherd wants to lead you? I believe he does, I believe he can lead us in ways that are right.
Another thing that was said this morning was how many times, how many situations present us with challenges, and choices, I guess is the word.? And my choice could easily be if I follow my old nature, I’m gonna go this way. Well, is that the right path? Is it the right path for me to react according to my old nature, and say, “This is the way I’m gonna go, and this is how I’m gonna react to this situation.”
No, God is gonna put us in a place where he’s gonna say, “This is the right path.” It could involve forgiveness, that was emphasized in our meeting this morning. It could involve a lot of things where we’re willing to humble ourselves, and say, “All right, Lord, you are the Shepherd, you know. I’m gonna humble myself unto your hand. You’re the one who not only leads me, but you’re gonna provide what I need, ‘cause I need you, Lord, I don’t have what it takes.”
But you see where David is coming from, and this guiding principle of his life, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even, now here’s this part, “even though I walk through the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death.” Literally, obviously, life is not all about pleasant pastures, and cool streams, is it? There are times when his path — now put that together with the fact that he leads me.
And yet here David finds himself in the darkest valley. What do you draw from that? What conclusion do you draw from that? The Lord led him there. The Lord had a purpose in taking David into a very dark, difficult place, many times, of course. God had a reason, God brought him to that. But what did he learn from that? And how did he react to that? How did he react to the prospect of it?
Obviously, he’s talking about that, even though that happens. David had such a conviction that he was able to say, “I will fear no evil.” Now, does that mean David never experienced fear? Of course not, we all do. But there comes a point where fear is a choice. You understand what I’m saying? I don’t care what it is, it could be a thousand other things that come from this old nature. But it comes to a point where that becomes a choice.
David says, “I recognize I could be in that situation.” He could lead me into that situation, how am I gonna handle that? And here’s how I’m gonna handle it, I will, I’m gonna make a choice.
Now how could he make that choice? Was this just bravado? Was this strong character, and all these natural qualities? No, this goes right back to, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all, I lack nothing.” Do you see where that bedrock conviction allows people to go through those times and say, “I will fear no evil,” because we know what the Devil’s gonna try to do. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control.” Every single one of us fights that battle. But wouldn’t it be good to be able to say, “I will.”
Now, how could he make that kind of a choice, like, “Yeah, I will?” How could he make that choice without understanding that God was going to give him what he needed in order to be able to make that choice? Do you see the dependence that is implied in everything that he’s writing here? “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Based upon that, I will not fear. I will fear no evil, why? Again, “For you are with me.” Praise God!
I’ll tell you what, do you need the Lord with you in those times? I do. Has he promised? Does he want us to learn how to lean upon him, and to hold that bedrock conviction, and act accordingly during those times?
You know, sadly, from our point of view, how do we have to learn that? How do we learn such things? Ah, experience. And like I said this morning, it would be so nice if we could learn all this in seminars, and just have it all down. But there’s only one way that I can learn about God’s faithfulness in difficult times, is to go through difficult times and trust him and experience his faithfulness!
We had a message a while back about, “From Test to Testimony.” How do you get a testimony? Say, “I’ve been there, God took me through a dark valley. He didn’t allow me to see any hope, that the Devil was just filling my head with all kinds of nonsense, all kinds of stuff. But somehow there was a measure of faith that he had put in here, that he enabled me to pull on, and to lean on, and to begin to express.
And I called out to him and I looked to him, and I remembered that he is my Savior, he is my Shepherd. And I looked to him and I called on him, and he was, he gave me the strength. He didn’t just make it all go away. but I had found out that I wasn’t alone, that right in that dark time, he was right there. He never let go of my hand. He walked with me through it.”
And, of course, you all know that picture, was it a vision or something that somebody had when they saw their life, and they saw the two sets of footprints in the sand. And then it came a time in that person’s life when everything looked bad, everything looked difficult. And there was only one set of footprints. And he said, “Lord, I don’t understand. That was the time I needed you most, what’s going on? Why, why was I alone?” And he says, “You weren’t alone. There’s only one set of footprints because I was carrying you.”
You think about the heart of this Shepherd. I mean, you got all kinds of shepherds, would-be shepherds in this world, but you think about this Shepherd. We already talked about Jesus saying he was a good Shepherd. He gave his life for the sheep. But the prophecy in Isaiah, I’m not gonna look it up, and I probably won’t remember it all perfectly, but, “He shall feed his flock,” how? Like a shepherd.
He’s gonna carry the lambs in his arms. Do you feel weak and small and unimportant? You might be a child, and you’re wondering how in the world does he care about me? If he needs to do it, he’s gonna carry you in his arms. He’s gonna gently lead those that are young.
You sense the heart of what God wants to communicate to his people. He wants everyone here to know how he thinks about you, and how much he cares about you, and how much he wants to bury this conviction in your heart today, so that you’ll always know, regardless of what happens, he’s there, he’s in the middle of it with you.
There’s a reason he led you that way, and he did it so he could show his power and his glory in your heart and your life. And you are never without something that you need, because he will always give you what you need in the circumstance. Praise God!
This is not real deep theology, but I mean, this is life, folks. Do you see why David was a man after God’s own heart, and how much the Lord was able to express himself through David? You see it in his other Psalms, but what a picture of a worldview, if you will, if you wanna put it that way. This is the way David saw life.
“Even though I walked through the darkest valley, I will, I will,” that’s a choice, “I will fear no evil.” That doesn’t mean he didn’t fear, or feel fear. Everybody does that. The question is not whether we feel fear. The question is what do we do about it? I will not yield to that. I will still claim that God is faithful, that he is with me, his Word is still true. I’m gonna rely on him.
And not only that, I’m gonna rely on him for the ability to rely on him! I mean, think about that. I have everything I need, but it all comes from him, every bit of it. Are you willing to take that place, and realize how dependent you are on him? The more I go, the more I say, “Yes, Lord. You’ve shown me so many ways in my life how desperately I need you. The times I thought I was smart enough, or I was strong enough, or I was this, I was that, and you had to show me that I wasn’t. But in that, you showed me how faithful you are. You showed me that I’m never without the hope of all that you have promised.”
Can you sense in David’s words that he’s saying these same things? “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Now obviously, in order for that to be true, you gotta have some enemies around that are threatening you. So again, God is taking David into a place that from every earthly point of view looks like a bad place to be. It looks like a place of danger. And yet God was giving him a provision for that situation.
Does that sound like something we need? To be able to see the Lord, not just in this theoretical way, but I mean to see him right in that particular moment, say, “Lord, I need some food here, and you’ve promised to lay that table before me.” Again, that’s that situation where you’re in darkness, but there’s light that’s coming through, and God is feeding your soul with something that’s true. Folks, I wanna be one of those that just believes his Word, in the face of whatever comes.
“You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.” But here is the conviction about this. He’s talking, first of all, about all the circumstances of life. Some of them are pleasant, some of them are not. But God’s always with me. I always have what I need. So where are we going with all this?
All right, surely, that’s an awesome word to begin that verse 6 with, isn’t it? “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, all the days of my life,” every single one of them, every single one of them, even when you can’t see it or feel it, “your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell….” Boy, that’s a pretty strong, clear statement.
But do you see the basis on which he could make that? There was a relationship with a God who had made himself known, and basically said, “I want a relationship with you, but this is how it’s gonna be. You’re just a sheep, you don’t know. You can’t really provide for yourself. You don’t know what your purpose is here, and I do. And you need me to guide your steps and tell you where to go to give you what you need. And that’s what I want.
“And I’m doing it, not because I wanna be somebody, some big shot, and it’s all about ego. This is because my nature is to love you and to care about you. You could be the smallest and weakest sheep, but I care. And not only that, I’m not gonna lose you.”
You think the Lord’s gonna forget about one of his? You think we’re gonna be lost in the shuffle? A God who can track every hair on my head, and the ones that have fallen out, knows about every one of them, he can handle it. He can keep up with me. I need him to keep up with me, I need him every hour. Praise God!
“Surely,” now he’s looking forward to the things that will happen in the rest of his life, and based on everything that he said so far, and his conviction about about the Lord being his Shepherd, and lacking nothing, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” And it doesn’t end there, does it? “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Praise God!
Is that the conviction that is resident in your heart and your life today, wherever you’re at in your life? I pray that God will just burn that deep in my heart, and yours as well. This is what he wants. And if you haven’t come to that, you have every right to reach out to him. “He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently or earnestly seek him.” I’ll tell you, God will never turn away an honest -seeking heart. You have every right to come to him, and lay your cards on the table and say, “Lord, I need you. I can’t run my own life, I just need you. I need this relationship.”
He wants it more than you do. Do you understand that? I thank God that he’s so merciful, because we’re just like the sheep, sometimes we wander in our own way, we get into briers, we do all kinds of stupid stuff.
But anyway, I’m so thankful, and there’s nothing revolutionary here, but I just felt like the Lord wanted to remind us of something that’s pretty important, don’t you think? Talk about living in a scary world, an unpredictable one, but I’m not alone. The One who made this world is my Shepherd, and he has foreseen everything that I could ever possibly need. And he’s made it available, and he made it available through the death of his Son. (sighing) I can trust somebody like that.
Does that define your life? I hope it does. But right now you have every reason to have a heart of joy, and thankfulness, and expectation, and that light, I can put the future in his hands. That’s his job, to work that out, to mark my path out and take me through it, because I know when the, like I say, when we get on the train, we’ll have the ticket.
But he also wants me to be able to leave that past, and live in the is, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” There’s something that’s very present. It’s also a very positive statement though, the is. That’s the other thing, it’s not just a time thing. This is a positive statement, “The Lord is,” this is positive, this is real. This is not just some fantasy that I’ve come up with. The Lord really is, right now, he is my Shepherd. He is the one to whom I look, and I lack nothing.
What do you lack this morning? And maybe we need to look up, maybe this needs to be a little more real so that we’re able to say, “Lord, you know what I need right now, and I’m looking to you in confidence because I know I don’t deserve anything.” I don’t, I can’t come and say, “Lord, I deserve this.” We’re gonna have to come on the ground of what Jesus did, but we can go to that throne and find mercy.
Anybody here need mercy? Yeah, but we can find that there, can’t we? You go right past all the courts of the world. I don’t care what it is, every human institution, we go right past that to the throne that rules the universe, and find mercy and grace, to do what? Help us, when? In our time of need. Thank God!
You think he’s gonna run outta strength? You read the last part of Isaiah 40, he’s got all the strength that he needs, and he’s more than willing to share it. I’m just so thankful to have a Shepherd this morning, aren’t you? I’m just to be able to, I’m so thankful to be able to leave the past in his hands, and leave the future in his hands, and just say, “Thank you, Lord. You are what I need right now, and I have everything that I need, and I’m trusting in you.” To your name be glory!
