The Lord is my Shepherd, I will fear no coronavirus (Video)

God sent his son, they called him Jesus, he came to love, he lived and died for them, he prayed with flair to prove my Savior lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. How sweet to hold a newborn baby, but greater still, the calm assurance this child can face uncertain days. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. And then one day, across that river, I'll fight life's finest death. His way to victory, I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know he reigns. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. Amen. Praise God. Thank you to the Boyzins. What a privilege and opportunity to sing with hearts full of assurance because Jesus lives. Amen. Well, we're doing something new here this morning, and doing a live stream with just a very few people in attendance here. And I've never done this before. I've done a lot of different things. I've had the opportunity to preach with interpreters. I've had the opportunity to preach in prisons and on the street corners. But I don't believe I ever shared a message with an empty building, almost. So thank you for those that are here, just a few. And welcome to all those on the live stream and on the phone line. Good morning to you. Good morning. All right. Let's pray. Father, we come in Jesus' name, and we thank you for the blessed assurance that we have in Christ. Thank you, Lord God, that you are seated upon your throne, and you are sovereign master of the universe. And we can trust you in these uncertain days because Jesus lives and is seated at your right hand, interceding for us. What a precious truth. Father, today we just invite you to speak into our hearts your words of life and bring a blessing to each one who is listening in. Oh, Father, we need you, we love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, I have a title on the board here. I don't know if you can see it or not. It's the Lord is my shepherd. I will fear no coronavirus. Meaning, I will fear no evil is what Psalm 23 tells us. But I thought with the whole matter of what we're facing as a nation and as a world, we will take a look at Psalm 23 this morning to encourage our hearts in the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. I will fear no evil coronavirus. Now, that doesn't mean that we take it lightly or we just think like we're on this vacation or this time to just seek my own pleasure, do my own thing. But rather, it's a time for the children and the people of God to seek the Lord. So we'll walk through Psalm 23. Turn there with me if you would. Very familiar scripture. 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 soul. He leadeth 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 forever. The Lord is my shepherd. Who is the Lord in Psalm 24 and verse 7? Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. This is a description of the Lord who is my shepherd. He is the Lord of hosts. He is the strong and mighty one. He is mighty in battle. He is the King of Glory. This Lord is my shepherd. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. What a consolation. We didn't make ourselves. We didn't bring ourselves into this world. We are not our own gods. We are the Lord's people. We are his people, and we are the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100, verse 3. My shepherd, yes, this Lord, King of Glory, is my shepherd. Isaiah 40, 11. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those that are with young. The Lord, he is my shepherd. He tends his flock like a shepherd, and he gathers the lambs in his arms. He carries them in his bosom, close to his heart. They're in his arms, protected from the evil and the disconcerting things around us. Carried in his bosom, and he gently leads those that are with young. This is my shepherd, the Lord, the King of Glory. In John chapter 10, the Lord Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus is our shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. John 10, verse 11. The good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep. Oh, the love of God for his people. That Jesus Christ came from the glories of heaven to lay down his life for us. That we might be the sheep of his pasture. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Matthew 6 and verse 31. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I shall not want. I shall not lack any good thing. God will not withhold any good thing from his people. Philippians 4.19. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, we have the promise from the Lord Almighty God, our shepherd, that we shall not want any good thing because he is with us and he will supply all of our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He makes me to lie down in green pastures and he leadeth me beside the still waters. Oh, what a beautiful picture of rest and tranquility, quietness and peace in the midst of the storms, in the midst of uncertainty. The Lord, my shepherd, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He causes me to lie down in rest. Oh, you who are weary, you who are heavy laden, you who are anxious or worried, come to Jesus, the good shepherd, and cast all your care on him, for he careth for you, and receive his invitation to come unto him, for he is meek and lowly. And he will cause you to lie down in green pastures. Ezekiel 34 speaks of the prophecy of Messiah, that when he comes, Ezekiel 34, 14, I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. And then he says these amazing words, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. This is a prophecy of Messiah coming. This is a prophecy of when Jesus comes. And Jesus very clearly spoke that he is the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I am knowin' of mine, John 10, 14. Not only does Jesus know us, but we know him. If we are born again by the Spirit of God, and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus knows us. He calls his sheep by name. He goes before his sheep, and he not only is our shepherd, but he says, I have such a shepherd-sheep relationship, that I am knowin' of mine. So we know the good shepherd. We don't follow a stranger, because we don't know his voice, but we know the voice of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, and he leads me beside still waters. The Hebrew there has the meaning of beside waters of rest. Still waters. They're not rushing wildly and madly down a ravine, but they're still waters, where you have quietness and confidence, and where we can drink deeply of our Lord Jesus by those still waters. He restoreth my soul, and he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. He restores my soul. He refreshes me when I'm weary. He renews my strength when I'm tired. He restores me. He renews my vision when it becomes a bit clouded and anxious or fearful. He restores me. He brings me into restoration with him. He restores my soul, and he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Beautiful picture of our shepherd, the Lord Jesus. He leadeth me. Oh, blessed thought. He leadeth me. Psalm 139, verses 7 to 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. What a consolation. What a comfort to the people of God that no matter where we are, even there, God's hand leads me, and his right hand holds me, and no man is able to pluck us out of the Father's hand. Psalm 31, 3. For you are my rock and my fortress, and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me. 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. No matter what we're facing in life, no matter how deep the valley or how dark the night, in the shadow of the valley of death, in the darkest valley, the most difficult trial of your life. You know, we do not know. We do not know how serious this coronavirus might get here among us. We just don't know. But we know our shepherd. We know our God who holds the future. No matter what lies before us, the Lord is my shepherd. Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I need not fear because thou art with me. God is with me. Jesus is with me. The Holy Spirit is within me. I will fear no evil. I fear no danger. I am not afraid because God is with me. My shepherd is with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Psalm 27, verse 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, come upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret of His tapernacle shall He hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thou art with me. The Lord, my shepherd, is with me. Isaiah 43, verse 2. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Nothing can separate us from our Savior. Tribulation, persecution, pestilences, wars, persecutions. Jesus said, not a hair of your head shall perish. That doesn't mean that I won't suffer. That doesn't mean I'm a shepherd, and the love of my Heavenly Father is with me. And when I go through the fire, He didn't say you're not going to go through the fire, but He said when you go through the fire and through the floods, I will be with you. Jesus said do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, but afterward they have no more that they can do. You know? Because we are secure in the love of our Lord Jesus and the Good Shepherd. Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thy rod is my protection. Your staff, you guide me. There I am secure. The Lord is my shepherd. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Thou preparest a table before me. All that we need that pertains to life and godliness, God has provided for us through Jesus Christ. Oh, how abundant is your goodness which you have stored up for those who fear you and work for those who take refuge in you. In the cover of your presence, you hide them from the plots of men. You hide them in your shelter. Thou anointest my head with oil. Beautiful picture of the care of our shepherd. The anointing oil upon my head. Psalm 92.10 But my horn shall thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. I am anointed with fresh oil for your service. Every day let us seek the Lord. Every day a fresh anointing from God. And my cup runneth over. My cup runneth over. It's overflowing. It's super abundant. Not lacking, not wanting, not a stingy supply, but an abundant supply. And my cup runneth over. The Lord is my chosen, the portion and my cup. Psalm 16 verse 5. The Lord is my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places indeed. I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night. Also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand I shall not be shaken. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices and my flesh dwells secure. The Lord is my shepherd. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now I'd like to maybe speak of a few practical encouragements to my dear brothers and sisters. Practical encouragements for a time like this. Can God make all things work together for good for his children? In times like these. You know God is up to something. There is a purpose. There is a plan. Now I want to encourage us to respond in faith and to redeem this time. To seize this moment. For the advancement of the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. Have you ever said or thought I wish I had more time. I wish I had more time to spend with God. I wish I could take a season alone with God. Just draw a side. Or maybe God is giving us some of that time. Governor Wolf has shut down all non-essential businesses that do not pertain to like production of food and grocery stores and such like. And so where I work no work next week. And at this point it looks like two weeks. What will happen at the end of two weeks we don't know. But all non-essential businesses are shut down. So I don't know how many of you are going to be off of work next week. But I want to encourage us in a few practical things. Number one seek ye the Lord. Seek you the Lord. You seek the Lord. Redeem this time. Don't let it slip away. Seize the moment. Get alone with God. Quiet your heart. And listen. Listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. What is the Spirit of God saying to the churches in America? Will the churches in America hear the voice of God and repent? Or will they say I am fat and full and in need of nothing? Brother, sister we need to hear what the Lord is saying to the church. What is the Lord saying to the church at Charity Christian Fellowship? What good things does God want to do in our lives in my life here at Charity Christian Fellowship? I want to encourage us to get alone with God and quiet our hearts and listen. I wish I had more time. Hear what God has to say. Redeem this time. Buy it up. Don't let it slip away. And when you hear His voice don't harden your heart. Don't lie against the truth of what God is speaking. Repent where you need to repent. Embrace the goodness of God because it's the goodness of God that leadeth us to repentance. Repent. Turn around. Change your mind. Change course. And do it in faith believing God. And obey what the Lord has shown you. If I only had more time to read the scriptures I want to encourage you get into the Word of God and let the Word of God get into you and renew your mind. Faith comes by hearing of the Word of God. Let your faith be strengthened. Read the Bible for it is God's Word. Read the Bible. You know it only takes 70 hours and 40 minutes to read the entire Bible. 70 hours and 40 minutes to read the Bible in a comfortable pace. You don't have to be auctioneering to get it done. You just read in a normal pace. 70 hours and 40 minutes to read the entire Bible. 18 hours and 20 minutes to read the entire New Testament. You know it's just some practical encouragement to us. Read the Bible. Get into the Word of God. And saturate yourself with the Word of God. And get a clear vision of your purpose in life. Your calling in life. Number one. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. And cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. Number two. Love and care for people. Invest in the people that you love. Number one. Your spouse. Husband. Love your wife. Wife. Love your husband. Invest in the people nearest you. Daddies and mamas. Love your children. You know Daddy maybe you're home from work this week. Maybe your work continues but for some I know you're home from work this week. I want to encourage you as the head of your home. Examine the state of your flock. You know you're not there many times. You don't see exactly what's happening in the daily operations when you're not there. But I want to encourage you Daddy. Invest in your family. And examine the state of your flock. What is the health of your children? Ask God to expose needs. Wrong attitudes. True nature and state of your flock. Your children. And lead your family in repentance by first of all yourself. Myself be an example of me repenting before God. Lead your family in repentance. Lead them in restoration and forgiveness and healing of relationships that your family may come out strong. Redeem this time. Do not let it slip. Number three. Use tech. Number three. Use tech. Wisely. Exhort. To encourage. How can we connect? Quite a few of us have tech. Where we can connect. We can make a phone call. We can pray for one another and send a text message or a whatsapp or a social media post or whatever and say brother I want you to know I'm praying for you. I am encouraging you and your family. Let me know how I can pray for you. Use tech to connect with the people of God. To exhort the people of God. Well what's the world going to do with the coronavirus and being home? Oh yeah it's time to watch all those movies that I never got to watch. That's what the world is saying. They're saying hey listen if you're isolated in your home and you can't go to work I mean don't just become depressed. Come on we're actually going to make movies available for free so you don't get bored and so you don't become depressed. Come on binge watch. Just watch all the movies you want and turn up the music and be entertained. Oh God has something better for us. Plug into God. Connect with your heavenly Father. Connect with your Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. Connect with your family. With your children. With your spouse. And connect with your neighbor. Connect with that person who's afraid of the coronavirus and they're afraid they might die. This is an opportunity brother sister to share the love of Christ Jesus. This is an opportunity for the gospel to make advance. I heard some testimonies of some people who met folks at the store and oh they were they were sort of scared and anxious and worried and you know the Christian is just secure and at rest in Christ Jesus and smiling and joyful in the midst of trials and testings and you can share the gospel. You can share the love of Christ and you can share why aren't you afraid? Oh it's because I have a shepherd. I have a Savior. I have an almighty God who holds the world in his hands and he's way bigger than coronavirus. He's way bigger than anything I could ever face and I am secure in him. So I give us an admonition. Avoid the false comforters. Don't let that robber, that thief steal the moment. You know what it is for you. What do you turn to when you need some encouragement or some stimulation? Getting bored? Look this up. Look that up. Watch that. Hear that. Do this. I urge us don't waste this time. And I'm talking to myself as well. What false comforters do you turn to? Where will you turn with extra time on your hands? Where will you turn? What will you do with that time? What will I do with that time? Where will I turn? To what will I turn? A lot of people are glued to the tube with all the news of the coronavirus. How it's gaining here. Now there's new cases here. And I'm not saying we should be totally in the dark about those things. But I tell myself Aaron don't waste your time on the news. Be very conscious about it. I started at this time to check out the news on the coronavirus or world events. What's happening in Israel, in Iran, in Lesbos and wherever, the refugee crisis. News for a right purpose. But don't waste your time. Set yourself a timer. Do it intentionally. We need to be intentional or it will just tend to or could slip away. One of the things that most of us shared or a lot of us shared, probably not, I don't know what the percentage was but it was pretty high. In our men's retreat was an area of need is that I tend to waste time on my tech. Maybe I'm not into porn or anything evil and wicked but just a time waster. It just sort of, you know, the curiosity to see what's going on and look at this funny thing and look at that funny thing. And you know right now things are pretty calm here. Things don't really look that serious. But you and I don't know. Will Charity Christian Fellowship have a funeral out of this coronavirus? I don't know. Could be my funeral. Could be me. It could be you. Right now the people are just sort of in a party mode. Vacation. Hey, it's wonderful. Got off work. You know, haha. Well, might not be laughing in a month from now or two weeks from now. I don't know. I'm not here to try to scare anyone because my life is secure in the Lord. And if you're saved you have nothing to fear. But if you're unsaved I urge you seek the Lord. Turn to God. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd. I will fear no evil coronavirus. Clothing thought. You know, the coronavirus is a major event across the global world. And a lot of attention is being put on it. But I do want to tell you this morning there's something else we should fear more than the coronavirus. And that is sin in my life. The coronavirus can kill people. But sin can destroy you and take you to hell. So dear brother, sister be not afraid. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is my shepherd. Father, I pray for this congregation. I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus for your blessing and your anointing to be upon my dear brothers and sisters. I ask that you shelter us under your mighty hand and arm from every evil. Father, that we may be of those who have our robes washed and white in the precious blood of the Lamb. That when you call us into your presence, unto yourself, we are prepared. We love you, Lord. I pray peace, comfort, and blessing upon each family, each home, each person, in the precious lovely name of Jesus. Amen. Well, thank you brothers and sisters for being with us today via live streaming on the telephone. And we have a treat for the children. We have a children's lesson. Brother Mike, come on. Good morning everybody. It's a beautiful Sunday morning. And so I brought some of my things here so I can just have a peaceful Sunday morning sit down and fellowship. I brought my one of my favorite drinks and a glass glass jar for water and just a little fancy little table for my fancy little table for my stuff. There we go. Kind of like the kind of like the the modern industrial look. So I thought I'd set that up just for fun and relaxing. I got my something to put in my drink just to help me relax. This is a vitamin C. A little bit of that in there. And of course my CBD oil. This helps my something. Shake it up a bit. Okay. Let's get into the lesson here. All set up. All right. It's been a stressful week. I'm sure you all have felt it. Things get a little tense in times like this so I thought we would relax a little bit. Some of you might call it chilling. I've heard that being called when you just kind of relax and enjoy things. And so let's get into the lesson a little bit here. We're gonna talk today about one of the greatest motivators that are out there. A motivator is something that makes you do stuff. That makes you feel. Actually the kind of motivator I'm talking about is a feeling motivator. Something that you feel that gets you to do something. Can any of you think of a motivator that you feel? Joy. Yep. Joy is one of them. You know the Bible talks about jumping, leaping for joy, like jumping. And there's other ones. Excitement. When you get excited you're like man let's do this, let's do this. Any others? Can you think of any others? Sadness. Sadness can be a motivator. Sadness you might be motivated to do something nice for somebody else who's sad. You might be motivated to not be motivated. If you're sad there's disgust when you feel like oh. And then there's one big one that you're missing. You haven't said the big one that I am thinking about. Anybody know a big one? Yep. Punishment when you do evil? I wasn't thinking of that one. I was thinking of fear. Fear can be such a motivator. Right? Now is fear a good thing or a bad thing? Anybody? Think about it. Is it good or bad? It's good, right? Fear is a good thing. Fear is good, right? So let's talk a little bit about fear and how it motivates and what it does. First of all why don't you all say it. Fear is good. Fear is good, right? Because it motivates you. It keeps you from danger, right? It's a good thing. Okay? Let me give you a little example. Have you ever heard one of these go beep, beep, beep? The fear should go up inside of you. Because it's backing up and you can't see very well. You've got to get out of there. You've got to get away. The fear of getting hit or I've seen this thing. You know how this can dig and it comes around like that? I've seen it slap somebody. That's a pretty hard slap. You need to fear these things, right? So it's a good thing. What else can we fear? What are other things that we should fear? There's many things, right? Let's see. The big thing about... Did you hear something? Did you see something? I thought I heard something. Are you doing something? Okay. So, fear can be really aggravating. It can really start... Let's talk about how fear can't... How fear can get into you and really mess with you. Did you see something? Okay. So, we want to... Turn it off. Turn it off. I think I'm gonna go... Take my stuff and go. Hey, who is that? It's me! Did you do that? Did you guys at home do that? Come out. That was scary. I could not think straight. That was pretty fearful. Okay. How did I do there? How did I do with that? Not very good, did I? I didn't do so good. So, fear it kind of got to me, right? So, the thing about fear, yes, it is good. It's a good thing. It's a great motivator. But if you fear the wrong thing, the wrong things, then something's gonna break. Or, if you fear in a wrong way, or you go through something all by yourself. You just do it yourself. You don't care. You just... You don't pray. You don't use God's wisdom. And you just become afraid. And sometimes God says to you, Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. And we get scared like this. And something breaks. So when you're afraid, you can break something. You can break your nerves. You can break your heart. You can break relationships with your friends. A lot of things can break if you don't handle fear the right way, right? You want to fear God. I also thought of the verse... The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And if the Lord is in the picture, then stuff won't break. You can be afraid and respond rightly, but if you don't have God in the picture, things break and just go crazy and there's pieces laying all around and bad things happen. Let God handle your unknowns. If there are things that are unknown, bring God into the picture and help you with it. The fear of the Lord is clean. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. Come children, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. So, I hope this was a good picture of you to not let fear overtake you and to fear the right things. Because if you fear the wrong things, stuff breaks. Or if you fear in a wrong way or fear something way too much. So, I hope this is a good picture for you to handle your fear properly. Let's pray together. God, we pray your blessing on these children. Thank you for them. I pray that fear would be a good motivator for them as they go through their lives. You would guide and direct them. Thank you for your blessing on them and please Lord, guide us. Be our shepherd. Thank you. Amen. Alright children, wasn't that a great lesson? Thank you Mike for giving us that lesson this morning. And I think we're just about ready to bring this to a close. Let me see if anyone gave me an announcement for today. I asked my fellow ministers and deacons if they have any announcement, they should send it to me. So, let's see. I don't know if there is anyone. Okay. Yeah, I don't see anything. And I guess if there is one that I somehow would have missed, we could always send it on our hotline or the WhatsApp group for the church. Okay, very good. The Lord bless you. Thank you all for joining us today. And this is the conclusion of this service. Amen. Go in peace.