Psalm 23 (06/03/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord man I'll tell you what I like being at church. You know, I like church.

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I like church. I'm gonna say man. Okay, good I mean, yeah, I learned a lot of stuff at church, man.

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I'll tell you what. I learned a lot of good stuff at church I just like coming to church. I like the kind of folks that go to church. I like the songs we sang at church

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I just just like all the smiling faces Amen, it's good to see y 'all turn with me if you will the

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Psalms chapter 23 familiar passage And I'm gonna ask y 'all to help me this morning because I've got

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Somewhat of a difficult message and and if y 'all help me by just if you if you understand if you're with me Just say amen every now and again.

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That'll help me. It'll keep me from getting stuck on that Y 'all with me. Somebody say amen right there.

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Okay. Hey, that's good practice I mean if I say something good like, you know, Jesus saves We get in there

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I'll tell you what if I say something like you know what I couldn't be lost if I wanted to somebody say Amen.

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Okay, see that helps me because I Oftentimes I can't tell folks are with me or not and I want to I mean

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I know y 'all are I know y 'all are but It'll help me go further progress more readily I'm gonna try to settle that you know when

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I we my mom used to take me places I used to act silly like like this and she used to get on my case

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I'm just having a good time. That's all I'm doing. And so I like to have fun So y 'all just kind of hang in there with me

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Don't give up on me too soon Psalm 23 We're gonna read all six verses The Bible says the

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Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

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He leadeth me beside the still waters he restores my soul He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake

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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for thou art with me

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Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine enemies

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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

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Lord forever Well, let's go ahead on pray Lord.

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Thank you for your word For the truth of it and I just pray that you bless the hearts of your people this morning as you've blessed my heart with this truth,

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I Pray that you just lift us up Lord and I pray that you comfort us and I pray that you give us the strength to Keep on going when we're when we feel like quitting that you'd lift us up when we've fallen down by these words that you

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Inspired Psalmist to write in this 23rd song

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We pray that you'd open our eyes Take the scales off Lord that we might behold wondrous things

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In your word and that our hearts might burn within us as you show your word to us this morning

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Jesus We're familiar, you know

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We're familiar with this passage. So familiar. I dare say there were probably some in here this morning

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But when I announced psalm 23 probably didn't open your Bible. I mean it is one of the most Familiar passages of Scripture and oftentimes as The saying goes familiarity breeds contempt

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Oftentimes when we think we know something we think we got it, but the Bible is infinite in its scope and We oftentimes

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I say we because I'm included in that us we that's not good English. Is it that's okay

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But oftentimes we think we know something just because we know what it says we think we got

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Matter of fact, I remember I preached this message only two times before the last time I preached it My son asked me said, what are you preaching?

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I said the 23rd time. He said what are you preaching on that for? Everybody already knows that But I'm afraid we're all too familiar with the words of this passage of Scripture and In words sometimes unfortunately can be just that just words

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Words are just a conglomeration of symbols that we put together and Then we associate a picture with it because even though the world is going digital

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People are still analog They've got digital voice recorders digital cameras digital video cameras and Just about everything is going digital, but we still think in pictures because when

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I say tree you don't think let me see tree T R E now that's not you picture a tree in your mind, don't you know what?

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And I believe what the psalmist was doing in this passage. He was painting a word picture and As he was painting this word picture,

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I believe we've gotten so familiar with the words on the picture But I believe we've missed the picture

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See if you can see what I'm talking about The Bible says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures

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He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored my soul He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake and they says yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

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I will fear no evil And then I had to ask myself as I was meditating on this one day what is a valley

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What is I mean, you know, we read these words So I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and all we think about is the words, but what is a valley?

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And as I looked it up in the dictionary, it said a valley is a low narrow passageway between two mountains

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And I thought man why as this psalmist is painting this picture Why would he why would he take a beautiful picture that he's painting over here on this side?

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Of a mount beautiful mountain, can y 'all see it? He's got his word paintbrush out and he's and he's painting this picture of this beautiful mountain

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And it's and it's high and it's got rolling hills and it's got green pastures on the side of that mountain Can y 'all see that with me?

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Trying to get to take y 'all there with me in your mind And he keeps on painting and he paints a little he paints a little pond there on the side of this mountain in that pond

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The water is still there's a shepherd on this mountain and there are sheep on this mountain And it's a beautiful picture you see

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He gets his brush out. He comes over to this side of the canvas and he paints another mountain This mountain is more beautiful than the first one

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Beautiful place higher peaks more greener grass stiller water place of blessing and in the middle of this picture of Beauty this landscape of beauty right in the middle of the picture.

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He paints this dark dismal difficult battle Now why in the world would he go and mess up such a pretty picture?

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Why would he Beautiful, I mean, how many anybody here ever painted a picture of a mountain? Paint a picture of a mountain.

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I mean, you don't want no valleys on your mountain picture But right here in verse 3 he said yea though I walk through the valley

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Of the shadow of death and and I believe this is the picture that the psalmist is wanting us to see Often times in our life, we are on a and I know it's not proper to turn your back

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But you can't see what I'm painting unless I'm painting and oftentimes when you're walking through life you find yourself on this first mountain and When you're on this mountain

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One day the Sun comes up and there's no fog and there's no mist. It's a clear day

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And you look and you see another now And on that other mountain it's more beautiful than the place you're at now and God Shows you that he wants you in your life to go over there

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But here's the message You've got to go through the valley

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To get to the vision God gives you a vision of what your life could be over here

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He gives you a vision of what your family could be while you're over here He gives you a vision of what your church could be while you're over here gives you a vision of what your what your ministry could

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Be while you're over here what your business could be while you're over here what your heritage could be while you're over here

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But I'm telling you this morning. You've got to go through the valley To get to the vision Notice this first mountain this mountain that I'm standing on The Bible says the

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Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want that's a pretty mountain That's a mountain of contentment a place where no one's is we like it when we're on this mountain, don't we?

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How everything's all I mean, there's no wolf at the door. All the bills are paid We got enough food to eat clothes to wear the kids are happy.

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The wife's happy and you know what they say If mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy. I Got some amen right there

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Hey, you say brother man, what are you saying? I'm saying over here on this mountain Everything's content because there's no sickness

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There's no financial burden There's no

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Spiritual difficulty. There's no wayward child. I'm content right here I like it here and you know what when we get on this mountain oftentimes

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We want to stay here because we like hey us folk We like it over here where there's no problems

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Huh? I've never met anybody who when things are going well, you know, they tell them they don't wake up and say, you know

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If I could just have me a problem. Everything will be all right The Lord is my shepherd

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I shall not want we all like it here because it's a place Because he said the

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Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green passion now

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I can't speak for you back speak to me. I like that. I Like it.

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It's comfortable You know, I like everything to be just right when I go to bed and the other night we were sleeping

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I had to get up. I got up to adjust the air conditioner probably four or five times I Just like being

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I like I like it to be just so I like to be cold in the room Where I can breathe a whole lot of cover where I'm not too cold

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I Know about and The Bible says as the psalmist was writing. He says

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I'm on this mountain and and there's and there's no lack I've got enough to eat. I've got enough to drink. Everything's.

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All right. I'm here with the shepherd. I'm protected I'm content and I'm comfortable and if I don't ever go anywhere else, that'd be just fine

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We like we like being comfortable don't we and I'm telling you even though we like it in and though it's it's comfortable to be

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Comfortable sometimes comfort can be our worst enemy can Because the fact is when we get come too comfortable, we don't change

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And we can't grow unless we change it. You ask the average person. Yes the average person What do you what do you want?

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They say I don't know. I know I just don't have it What would you like I'd like things to get better, but I'd like them to stay the same. I just want to Don't know what

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I'm talking about But notice what else he said

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Make it me not like that. He make it me to lie down the Lord's my shepherd. You know what? No, no, you know what?

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I like best about this place over here. I can remember a time in my life brother when I wasn't

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I can remember a time in my life Raymond where I didn't have enough I Can remember a time in my life where I wasn't comfortable brother

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Charlie I Can remember that it wasn't so long ago that I've forgotten I remember yes,

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I can The Bible says And it's true of my life also the only thing that made it different is

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Hey, I'm telling you the Lord is the only one who can take you from that place where you don't have any contentment

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Well, you don't have any comfort and bring you to a place of comfort Now I didn't say he'd leave us there forever

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I Can remember when I was just a troubled teenager lost Didn't care nothing about God wasn't looking for God, but the

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Lord It's my shepherd. I Shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

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I wasn't looking for no green pastures But the Lord made all the difference notice what else he said.

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He said he restores my soul He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.

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You know, that's a picture of he restored my soul That's a picture of inner peace. I've got peace with God. He leads me in the paths of righteous.

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That's a picture of outer peace I've got peace within I've got peace without not only is this mountain a place of contentment

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Not only is this mountain a place of comfort, but this mountain is also a place of confidence.

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I've got peace with it I've got peace with that. I don't have anything to worry about on this mountain

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Ain't it nice over here don't we like it over here somebody say man y 'all help me now We're gonna be stuck on this mountain all day

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Huh, don't we like it over here man if the psalmist if the psalmist was gonna name this mountain wonder what he called

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He would he name it Mount Rushmore. No, he probably wouldn't name it that that's already 15 Would he name it the

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Rocky Mountains? No Maybe he would name it the

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Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania Or Mount Kilimanjaro of Africa.

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No, that's not what he'd name it. You know what? I believe the psalmist would name this mountain if he was gonna name He'd probably call it the

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Mount just Huh?

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He's got enough water for him. He's got enough contentment for him He's got enough comfort for him.

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He's got enough confidence for him Mount just enough for me And I'll tell you what

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But God says he wakes us up one day and he disturbs us with that vision across the valley that other mountain

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And we begin to see things over there that aren't over here and all of a sudden God puts it in our heart

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He says I want you over there It begins to rustle our nest it begins to lead us down off Mount Justin Notice what he says

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He said yay, though. I walk through the valley of the shadow from death. He To me, that's a funny

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Yeah, I'm walking in the valley no, we don't say that we say hey

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I'm walking through the valley He said yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death this is a different place

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Then it's a different place than that place we just left Huh? I mean, this is a place this valley this narrow low passageway

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Is a place of difficult And I know it's a place of difficulty brother charge You know how I know that because when

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I was up there on that mountain I was laying down But now that I'm down here in the valley, I'm walking

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And sometimes I'm walking because there's no place to lay down Sometimes I'm walking where it's not comfortable to walk.

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I'm gonna step on some stones in the valley I'm gonna step on some some some sticker bushes in the back in the valley.

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I'm gonna get stuck by a cactus in the valley I'm gonna have some wild animals chasing me in the valley I'm down in here in this valley of difficulty and maybe in your life right now.

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You're not over there on Mount Justin up Maybe in your life right now. You're down in the valley the valley of difficulty

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Maybe the difficulty of having some family conflicts. Maybe the difficulty of having some financial conflict.

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Maybe the difficulty of Disease in your physical body, but you come down from that place

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See, you know what I know about folk I know folk have trouble And I know when they have trouble it's hard It's easy laying down No effort to lay down But man, you start walking through that valley

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And you just walk in and you walk in and you walk in mismatch. You don't think you ever gonna get there So you just keep walking

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And you just keep on walking and you keep stepping on those stones and your shoes are why you don't you do you just keep on walking

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Today though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death See the valley is not just a place of difficulty the valley is a place of darkness that shadow

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Painted darkness in the middle of this picture of you painted difficulty in this middle of this picture of comfort

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But I'll tell you what it's a beautiful picture And we see that we've got to come down from this place of comfort And sometimes

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I'm gonna tell you now what I know to be true sometimes when we get down here and this place of difficulty and maybe our children or wayward or somebody in our family sick or we

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Don't have enough money to pay the bills. We get down here that difficulty comes between us and the lights sometimes doesn't

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We can't see it's dark down here. I can't see where I'm at. It's dark Not only am

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I walking through the valley, but sometimes I'm stumbling because I can't see Because it's dark but not only that I can't see where I'm at.

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I can't even see where I just came from Because I could I should go back right back up there, but I can't see it's dark

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Yay, so I walk through the valley of the shadow of death not only is it a valley

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Now what is there I Get down in the valley,

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I'm I'm separated from where I used to be I'm separated from where I'm going I'm separated from all the confidence.

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I had when I was up there laying down by those still waters. I'm down here in the valley I'm separated from all

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I thought I'd knew I'm separated from all I thought I was I'm Separated down here in the valley.

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I feel like I'm gonna die But he didn't say games do I walk him too So I'll fear no evil

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Because God brought him to a place of more maturity when he was down there in the valley See when he was up over there on Mount Justino Did you notice how he talked to me he's over there he did a lot of talking about God over there didn't he said the

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Lord He make it be to lie down in these pastures he

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Needed me beside the still waters he restored my soul But I'm gonna tell you what when you get down here in the valley

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Stop talking about that the Lord and he and I'll stop talking about God you start talking to him He's down there in the valley.

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He said that rod. He said that's that He said they comfort me and I'll fear no evil and I'm telling you

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God sometimes brings us off Mount Just enough down into the valley so we can stop talking about him and start talking

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Interesting picture ain't it? I've seen it looks familiar, but I don't think I've ever seen it before Yeah comes down here in this valley

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Thank God. He didn't say the gate. Oh, I walk the valley of the shadow of death. I'll fear no evil for it How are with me?

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Thank God the door. I'm stepping on stones. He's with me Thank you Lord while I'm while I'm getting stuck by these cactuses.

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You're with me Thank you when the wild animals are chasing me. You're with me I'm not comforted.

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Like I was comforted up there. I'm not comforted by green pastures and still water. I'm comforted by your presence

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Lord I'm done talking about the

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Lord. I'm ready to start talking to you now I want to see what this means

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Oh man, this is the base of that other now I made it through the valley And I can see this other mountain now you see it

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Now prepare us the table before me. Oh if the psalmist was gonna name that valley wonder what he's named

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You know, he'd have to What would you name if this is? Mountain just enough for me.

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What is that? I think that value we'd have to call it Valley Not enough Because we get down there in the valley when

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I get in the valley I feel like there's not enough Don't feel like there's enough time don't feel like there's enough money don't feel like there's enough strength

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Don't feel like there's enough health. Don't feel like there's enough family ties. Don't feel like there's enough friendship Don't feel like there's enough relationship sometimes when

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I'm in the valley. It's a land But I get over here to the base of this mountain he said

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Thou preparest the table before me. Now, you know what I'm glad about? I'm glad I serve a

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God that don't wait till I get there to get it ready. Because this other mountain is a place that is prepared for me.

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And see, the valley is where God brought me to and where God brought me through to get me ready for what he's got ready for me.

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God prepares me in the valley for what he has prepared for me on the other side of the valley.

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Ain't that Bible perfect for it? I like that Bible. Don't you like that Bible? That's a good Bible. You know, oh, don't think you're alone.

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Anybody in the Bible, out of the Bible, who's ever done anything great for God has come down off Mount Justin.

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Gone through the valley, not enough. Y 'all remember a fella named

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Joseph over in the book of Genesis? Y 'all remember him? Oh, man, I'm tellin' you what, you talk about green pastures.

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You talk about still waters, he had a coat. Now, he had 11 brothers. They ain't had no coats.

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And I'm sure Joseph reminded them every chance he got, oh, yeah,

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I know, but you ain't got no coat like my coat. Because Joseph was over here on Mount Justin.

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But God said, I've got something great for you to do, Joseph. And God gave Joseph a vision of that mountain over yonder.

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God said, hey, one of these days, Joseph. Matter of fact, Joseph, I'm gonna give you a dream. Said, I'm gonna give you a dream about these 12 stars and the sun and the moon, and your star's gonna shine brighter than everybody else's star.

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And everybody else's star, your brother's star, they're gonna bow down and worship your star. Your mama's star, her star's gonna bow down and worship the sun, the moon.

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It's your mama, she's gonna bow down and worship you. The sun, your daddy, he's gonna bow down and worship you, Joseph. Joseph woke up the next morning, and he made the mistake of telling somebody his dream.

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He said, Daddy, now you ain't gonna believe what I did. Hey, hey, can you go get Simeon and Levi and Judah and get all the brothers together?

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I wanna tell y 'all about this dream I had last night. And Joseph began to tell them. They got all excited, everybody gathered around.

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Joseph started telling them their dream, and they were saying, I don't wanna know nothing about that kind of, what kind of dream is that?

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And I believe when they were out there in the field, and their father sent Joseph to go take them some food and see how they were doing,

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Joseph got out there. They said, uh -oh, here comes Brother Bright's star. Yeah, this dreamer, we got him covered.

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And they said, I know what we'll do. Why don't we just kill him? He thinks his star's gonna shine so bright.

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We'll just kill him, and we'll kill his dream with him. He had to go through the valet, because his brothers took that coat that represented the father's favoritism.

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They took it from him, they tore it up, and they put animal blood on it. Told Dad that he got killed by a wild beast.

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Threw him down in the pit, said, no, we can't leave him here. Let's sell him as a slave. Boy, they don't know how bright they were making his star shine, did they?

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When they sold him into slavery. And Joseph went down into the valet when he was in the pit. He went down into Egypt, into Potiphar's house.

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He went down even further in the valet when he was in the prison. Because God was preparing him for what

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God had already prepared for him. Joseph had to do that.

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Everybody, everybody got to do it. David had to do it. You just start thinking about people. Moses had to do it. Moses said, I'll show you.

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You ain't gonna be beating one of my Israelite brothers. He was over here, and he thought he was gonna be, since he was on Mount Justin up, he thought he was gonna deliver the

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Israelites by himself. And he had to go through the valet to get to the pit. But, you get over here and it's a place that's prepared.

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You know what? I'm glad that God has a place prepared for me.

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Oh, yeah, in the next life, but God has a place prepared for me right here in this life, for you too. God has something that he's made you to do here.

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That's why you're still here. If you're still here, you ain't all the way up on top of this next mountain yet.

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Oh, but did you notice? Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my name. Now, you know what anointing is for?

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The anointing was to give somebody their purpose. When David got anointed king, it showed him his new purpose.

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When Saul got anointed king, it showed him his new purpose. And when we get over here, God's bringing us through the valley of not enough to bring us to a place that's prepared and a place where we will fulfill our purpose.

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But before we can ever fulfill that purpose, we've got to go through the valley to get to the vision.

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Y 'all with me? Thou anointest my head with oil. Man, I like this next part.

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Place of preparedness, place of purpose, but watch this. Thou anointest my head with oil. I like it when my cup runs over.

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I like it when my cup runs over. I like what B .R. Lakin used to say. He said, I'd like to see a fellow get a blessing.

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Like to see his cup run over. When brother cup runs over, brother saucer gets a little bit, amen? It's a place of plenty.

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That place over there was the land of justice. Now there's a place of comfort. There's a place of happiness. There's a place of comfort. And I tell you what, this place over here, this place right here, look at all these blessings over here.

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Head running down with oil, table prepared, cup running over.

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I wonder, hey, David, what would you call this mountain over here? This beautiful mountain, so much more beautiful than the mountain over here with its rolling hills and paths of righteousness and still this place where the table's prepared, where your head is anointed is a place of more.

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And I believe in all of our lives, God brings us from the place of just enough for me through the place of not enough for me so we can get to the place of more than enough for me because God doesn't want to bless me just so I can walk around being blessed.

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God doesn't want to just supply my needs so my needs will be supplied. God wants to bless me so I can be a blessing to somebody else.

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He wants to bring me from a place where there's just enough for me through the place where there's not enough for me to get me to the place where there's more than enough for me so that when

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I get that more than enough for me, I can be a blessing. There's a logical, it's not the logical, but it's a biblical progression of being just blessed for me and having not enough for me.

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Did you notice what he said after that? This mountain over here is a positive place.

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Now, that valley, that was negative. All that difficult, all that darkness, all that death down there in that valley.

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But over here, this is a place of positivity. He said, surely, I ain't worried about nothing over here.

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Surely, goodness and mercy. Now, Father, all days of my life,

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I don't feel like that. Now, try to see that in analog with me if you will. Just walking down the road, just trying to be a blessing because God's blessing you and you're trying to be a blessing to other people.

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You're trying to bless them with the gifts that God has given you. You're trying to bless them in such a way that you've been blessed because God's given you more than enough for you.

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And I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about life. I'm talking about encouragement. I'm talking about joy.

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I'm talking about strength. God's given you more than enough for you. And you're walking and all of a sudden, you hear footsteps behind you.

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You turn to him and say, what is your name? He said, oh, my name is Jesus. And you hear somebody else and you turn around and say, no, what is your name?

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He said, my name's Mercy. And the Bible says, when you get over there on Mount More Than Enough for me, goodness will follow you all the days of your life.

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Mercy will follow you all the days of your life. And you'll dwell in the house of the

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Lord forever. I thank God for this dark, dismal, difficult valley that this psalmist painted in the middle of these two beautiful mountains.

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Because as human beings, we learn by time. If all I ever had was that mountain, and then

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I could take an airplane from that mountain or a helicopter and come over here to this mountain, and I never had to go through the valley,

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I wouldn't appreciate it. It wouldn't mean near as much to me. I couldn't understand it, not unless I'd ever been cold.

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I couldn't really understand being blessed unless I've ever come through a place where I felt like I was cursed.

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Couldn't understand plenteousness unless I came through a place. Couldn't really appreciate it unless I came through a place.

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And I'm telling you, so many people, God begins to rustle their nest and God begins to stir up their, give their vision and give them a vision for what could be.

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In this church, what you're gonna have is you're gonna have some people standing over here and they're gonna see what's over there. You're gonna have some people over here, they can't see what's over here.

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They can only see what's over here. And the ones that can see what's over there say, hey, let's go down through this valley.

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The ones who can only see what's over here, they're gonna say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I like it, it's meaningful. No way. What God wants to do,

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God wants to give us that natural progression where we go from mountain to the valley.

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Hey, I've got a question. If Jesus had to leave the mount just enough when he was up there in heaven before he came to earth, oh, he had no lack.

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He and the Father were in perfect fellowship and he had to leave Mount Just Enough. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself a new reputation, took upon him the form of a servant.

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Uh -oh, here he is down here in the valley now. He's made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man.

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He humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Sounds like the valley to me. Even the death of the cross.

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You know what it says right next to that? It says, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, giving him a name that is above every name, that is the name of Jesus, every nation, thou, and every country.

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That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus left the Mount Just Enough, came through the land of not enough.

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Now, he's in a place where his grace is more than enough. All those who have believed on this earth are now in a place of more,

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I hope. From now on, when we look at this 23rd

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Psalm, we won't just say, oh yeah, there it is again, the 23rd Psalm, learn that when I was five years old. The Lord is my shepherd,

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I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.

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He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

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I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of my enemy.

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My cup runneth over. 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

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Lord forever. I guess the purpose of this message is to say, for those of us who are on this

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Mount Just Enough in whatever area of our lives, let us be willing to come down. I say to those of us who are in the middle of the valley, not enough.

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Let us endure and go through so that we can get to a place of more than enough, a place where we are blessed.

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My father, I thank you for your word. Thank you for the power your word has.

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I thank you for the magnitude and the simplicity of your word. Magnitude, complexity.

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I pray that you'd help our hearts.

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I pray that you'd help us to not lay down and die in the valley, to not plant our feet so deep on that first mountain.

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To never get to the vision, the purpose for which you created. Help us,

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Lord, not to live our lives and only to have, live a life.

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Take a bow and eyes closed. Let's say, by the way, I know I'm saved. I've trusted Christ, that one who came down from heaven, not on Calvary.

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I know I'm saved because I've trusted him. That's your testimony. Can I say, brother, my name?

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I'm not sure I can say it. I'm sure we'd like to hear you say it.

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Can you say it? Can you say, brother, my name? My name is

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Seth. I pray that you'd bless us during this brief time of invitation.

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We cast our cares over you, but you know it. Let's bow and eyes closed.

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Stand with me if you will, please. We're gonna have a brief time of invitation.

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If the Spirit of God has spoken to your heart to encourage you, to challenge you, to comfort you,

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I'm gonna give you an opportunity to come and cast your care on the Lord. The anvil plays.