Psalm 23

Psalm number 23, book of Psalms, and more precisely Psalm 23. Today we'll be taking two verses, I hope. We may be finishing on one today, but we'll see if we can finish two verses.

So we'll be taking verses four and five from Psalm 23. So, and this is the psalmist saying to all of us. Verse four.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over, and all glory be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Verse three. And verse three says, he restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And we spoke what that meant in depth.

Now, why is he restoring my soul? Why is the Lord, who is my shepherd, leading me to the paths of righteousness for his name's sake? He's doing all that precisely so that verse four is made possible for all of us. And verse four is our topic today. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Why you restore my soul, Lord? Why you lead me to the paths of righteousness for your name's sake? Because when the time comes, and I need to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil.

I think today is just verse four. I can feel it. The Holy Spirit is making me feel that.

When you read the New Testament, you never read, the Lord Jesus ran. The Lord Jesus walked, never ran. Can the Lord Jesus run? Of course he can.

On earth, he was 33 years of age when he left this world. So extremely young in his youthhood. So very strong, an adult, a mature young man.

I'm sure he's got the physics to run, but he never ran. He walked. Why? Because my beloveds, when we run, we miss the signs.

We don't focus on the signs along the way because we're running, meaning we are in a rush. We're hurrying up. We're rushing things.

So when we rush things, we miss out on the sign. We may read part of it, half of it, but even if we read 90% of it, that 10% could lead us to missing the mark in its entirety. But when you walk, you're focused.

And when you walk, you can read everything in that sign and you can follow the sign quite clearly. You won't miss nothing of that sign. So King David uses the word, even though, or yay, though I walk.

He uses the word walk, but this time he is using the word walk in the valley of the shadow of death, not on a highway, not in a lush green land, not in a beautiful place. I'm walking in the depth of hell, but I'm walking. I'm not running.

I am walking. Normally when we are in an ugly place, a scary place, a deserted place, we want to run out of there as quickly as possible. But King David says, no, because he has restored my soul, because he led me to the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Now, what is the valley of the shadow of death? Well, does death have a shadow? Because that's what verse four is saying, the shadow of death, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Does death have a shadow? Well, it looks like it, otherwise it wouldn't have been mentioned in the Holy Bible. Now, what is the shadow of death? Before we come to this, when it is a rainy day, what do we hold in our hands? Umbrella.

Umbrella can be used when it's rainy, and also when it's really hot day, we can use it to protect us from the sun. So when you hold that umbrella, it creates that shade or that shadow for you. Now, the word umbrella derives from the word ambra, ambra, which means literally shade or shadow, same thing.

So it derives from the word ambra, which means shadow. Now, King David here is saying, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow, ambra, of the shadow of death. Now, what is the shadow of death? Hell.

What is the shadow of death? Hell. Why is hell the shadow of death? Because what brought death? Sin. Romans 3, 326, Saint Paul says, the wages of sin is death.

So what brought death upon humanity? Sin. And when death entered through sin, what did death lead us to? Hell. So sin brought death, and death brought hell for every sinful human being that remain in sin, that do not wish to come out of sin.

Their final place is going to be hell if they don't wish to repent and come back from their sinful ways. So sin brought death, and death led us to hell. Therefore, hell is the shadow of death.

In other words, if it is impossible to come out of the dead, then it is a million zillion times more impossible to come out of hell. You see, maybe it's easy for a person to come out of the dead. Well, the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

Lazarus was dead. So it looks like it is possible for a dead person to come back and be alive once again. But once that person ends up in hell, it is impossible for that person to ever come out of hell.

That's what the implication of this verse is all about. King David is trying to get our attention by the power of the Holy Spirit to this very vital and most important point, that when a person ends up in hell, forget it, it is impossible to come back from hell. But maybe, maybe it is possible to come back from death, but from hell, too late.

However, King David says, where he began Psalm 23 with the words, the Lord is my shepherd. Now this Lord who is my shepherd, who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, has restored my soul, has led me to the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Since he is with me, even though, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yea, though I walk through hell, I will fear no evil.

Yea, though I end up in hell, my shepherd, who is the Lord, who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, even out of hell, he can still bring me out. For what is impossible to men is possible to God. God works in the impossible, not the possible.

So even when it's too late, and I end up being in hell, if I really still trust in the Lord, he will bring me out of that hell. Never too late when you have Christ Jesus in your life, never too late. Never too late, my beloved.

Hell is the place of Satan. When you read in Matthew 25, Gospel according to St. Matthew chapter 25, when the Lord talks about the 10 virgins, five wise and five unwise, the unwise came at the end where the door was already shut, closed, and they knocked. And then the Lord says to them, go away from here, from me, all evildoers.

I do not know who you are. Go to hell, a place prepared for Satan and his angels, foul spirits. So hell was made for Satan and the fallen angels that fell with him.

Hell was never intended to be for no human being. God never wants no human being to go to hell. Why? Because God created us all to be his children in the very first place.

Why would God create us to be his children and then throw us in hell? Impossible. God will never do that unless we insist on denying God, unless we are too stubborn about it, and we do not wish to come back from our sinful ways, we will end up in hell our way. It is not God's doing.

It is our doings. And like one of the church fathers said, when people go to hell before getting through the gate of hell, they'll see a sign on top of that gate saying, this is a place where people denied God, not God denied them. They denied him.

So my beloveds, hell is where Satan is, his territory. King David says, even though I walk in the territory of Satan, since the Lord is my shepherd, I will fear no evil. That's the continuation of verse four.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. What is evil here? Satan. In the Lord's prayer, where you find it in Matthew 6, 9, and Luke 11, 3, in the Lord's prayer, what did the Lord teach the disciples on how to pray? Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgave our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from what? The exact word. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Who is evil here? Satan, because it is Satan who tempts humanity to try and make them fall into sin.

So yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i.e. hell, I will fear no Satan evil. The number one enemy to faith is fear. The number one killer of faith is fear.

The moment a person starts fearing, that means their faith has diminished or almost extinct. Because if we had faith, why would we fear? Because faith builds confidence and builds trust in the Lord who is my shepherd. And when you have confidence in the Lord, and when you have trust in the Lord, you will fear nothing.

But the moment that faith is shaken, the moment that faith becomes extremely, extremely weak, the first thing that engulfs a human being is fear. They start fearing to the degree where they begin to fear their own shadow. You walk and you look back, you walk and look behind you to see who is following you, and sometimes you get startled by your own shadow.

Why are you chasing me? Stop chasing me. And you try and step on that shadow with no prevail. So what King David is saying, yea, though I am in the core of Satan's territory, I will not fear him.

Because Jesus Christ is with me. My child, whatever you do, don't ever be afraid of anyone or anything. We become afraid of, I don't know what the future holds for me, for my family, especially my children.

And with all the evil that is happening in the world, I don't know what the future holds for my little angels. I'm afraid I may not have a job tomorrow. Who's going to provide? I'm afraid the illness is going to take me away.

Who's going to look after the family? I'm afraid the business is not going to do so well. I don't know how to manage. I'm afraid if I don't marry Rachel, I might end up killing myself.

It is either Rachel or nothing else. Get a life, my dear friend. There is plenty of other Rachel's awaiting you.

She is not the last, definitely. I'm afraid. Why are you afraid for? King David says, don't ever be afraid of worldly things.

Because I walked in the depth of hell, the shadow of death, the valley of the shadow of death. And even when I walked in the depth of hell, I feared no evil. Then why are you afraid of little things? I didn't fear the impossible.

Why are you being afraid of the possible? I will say be afraid when there is no comeback ever again to Christ and that is hell. But even when I was in hell, I never feared that I will never come back to Christ because I believed that he will get me out of that hell. Then why are you afraid of things that are still possible by the human? The most incredible, I don't want to say feeling because feeling doesn't serve it right.

The most incredible state of being is when you have let go of everything and placed it in the hand of the Lord Jesus. There is no greater being in that situation than when you give, when you have given everything to the one and only Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The moment you let go, and when I say let go, I don't mean you don't care anymore.

No, there is a letting go and there is a different letting go. There is one letting go where you lose hope. No, there is a letting go where you have full hope, confidence, trust, faith, and love in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

When you let go, having that faith, that confidence in the Lord, you will be the happiest ever human being to exist. The happiest. Bishop Murray, you're alone.

Bishop Murray, you had a very sore knee for the last five, six weeks. Bishop Murray, you're going to die. Whatever it is, you need to trust the one and only.

His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You need to trust this one.

Let's move on. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Even though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death and hell, I'm still reading the signs because I'm walking.

I'm not running. I'm not rushing to leave. I am taking my time before the Lord Jesus delivers me.

Incredible. You know, when you have this kind of a it will move mountains and mountains here is Satan. By the way, when the Lord says, if you had a faith like a mustard seed, a size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain to be to be plugged and be thrown into the deep.

That mountain is referring is referred to Satan. So even though I'm in that in the depth of that hell, but I'm walking, I'm taking my time. I'm in the most difficult time of my life.

And when I hit rock bottom, I am alone. I am useless, hopeless, disorientated, empty, numb, cold, miserable, you name it. But I am still walking.

Well, guess what? On one side of walking is stopping and on the other side of walking is running. Both of them are wrong and dangerous. Don't ever stop.

You know why? Because if you stop, the Lord Jesus, who is the light of the world, he says it, I am the light of the world. Guess what? The light moves, never stops. The light moves.

So the Lord says, if you want to remain in my light, don't ever stop. And if you want to understand my light, don't ever run. You need to walk just like your master, your Lord, your shepherd.

The Lord is your shepherd, who is the light of the world. He walks, he never runs. If you run, you're going to outrun him.

You're going to be swallowed by Satan before you know it. You cannot walk before the Lord, you need to walk behind him. Because he is the shepherd and you are the sheep.

The sheep can't walk before the shepherd, always follows the shepherd. Otherwise the sheep will lose its orientation. It will lose it.

So we need to walk, my beloved, in order to remain in the light and to read the signs thoroughly and clearly, to understand where we're heading next and what is happening in our life. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, no Satan. Why I will fear no Satan or no evil, for you are with me.

You, my Lord, are always with me. What did the Lord Jesus say as a promise to every faithful, to every follower of the Lord Jesus? He says, I will not leave you orphans. Don't ever say, I'm alone.

Don't ever say, I am forgotten. Don't ever say, I'm left behind. I will leave you, I will not leave you orphans.

I am with you all the days of your life. All means all, not 99.99999 of a percent. No, it is 100% without fail.

Jesus Christ is with you every single day of your life and until the end of all ages, i.e. forever. Do you have faith in this? Do you believe in him? Do you trust him, my beloved? If you do, you will not fear evil, even if you are walking in that hell, because the Lord is with you, for you are with me. You know, when you have someone in your life that you rely on heavily, you feel comfortable, you feel safe and secure, especially a female.

When a female has her man who is her safety net, who is the real provider for her, for whatever she needs and lacks, whenever she feels vulnerable, she runs to him, because she feels safe and secure. He is the protector. He is the one who provides for me.

When she feels that, you see her happy, you see her at ease, at peace, comfortable. But the moment she realizes or even feels she has no one to look after her, you see her frightened, crying, mixed emotions, unsettled, not knowing what to do next, because I feel vulnerable now. I'm open, I'm a prey awaiting that vicious lion to come and devour me.

But when I am safe and sound, no, I am cool, I am calm, I am collected. When the Lord is your safety net, when the Lord is your shield and butler, when the Lord is your fortress, where the Lord is your place of refuge and shelter, then hell matters no more, because what matters is who am I with, not where am I. The place matters not as much as the owner of the place matters. And this is where we see the difference in faith between our father Abraham and his nephew Lut in the book of Genesis.

When we come and see them, you see Abraham gave Lut the first preference to look for a land for him to go with his family and with his flock. And he looked around and he found his eyes fell on this lush green and rivers of water flowing through it. He says, oh this land is going to be beautiful for me, for my family and the flock, because it's a fertile land.

So he went to that land and ended up being LGBTQRSTUVYZ and I don't know whatever letters there is behind Z. Sodom and Gomorrah. But Abraham, he looked around and he chose the most desolate, dry, dead land, good for nothing. And he said, this land is going to be perfect for me, for my family and for my flock.

Abraham, what do you mean this land is going to be good for you and your family and the flock? It is dead, dry land. He says, yes I know, but I am not focused on the place. I am focused on the owner of the place.

When the Lord is with me, then that desolate land is an oasis when the Lord is with me. Amen? So I'll feel no evil for you are with me. And then he goes on and he says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Rod. Rod is a piece of wood.

Staff is another piece of wood. There is a difference between the rod and the staff. They are both pieces of wood with a difference.

The rod is used for a disciplinary action. The staff is used when you're to lean on. What does the shepherd hold in his hand? A staff.

That staff is of the shepherds. The rod is used for a disciplinary action. Now, when you want to discipline someone, far from all of you, and you have a piece of stick in your hand, what do you do to that person? You smack him on the head with it lightly, yes, as a disciplinary action.

I'm going to do it to Michael. Am I still on the screen? There you go, Michael. There you go.

So when I want to discipline somebody, I'm going to go in this direction. That is a rod. Now, what is this direction? What do we call this? What is it? There is vertical and there is horizontal.

What is this? So the rod is used in a horizontal way to discipline somebody. The staff is used in a vertical way to comfort somebody. So your rod and your staff, they comfort me, King David says.

He says, when you put your rod this way and you put your staff this way, what do we get? The Holy Cross. So can we read verse four again? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, hell, I will fear no evil, Satan and all his foul spirits and all his powers. I'll fear none of them.

Why? For you, Lord, are with me. And when the Lord is with me, what is the Lord doing for me all along from the moment I'm born till the day I leave this world? What is the Lord doing for me? Two things. He is using the rod and the staff throughout my life's journey on earth.

Why? Because every time I make a mistake, he disciplines me with the rod. And every time I am tired, he comforts me with the staff. So when I'm veering off the road, disciplinary action comes upon me, the rod, horizontal.

And when I am tired and saying, Lord, I'm very heavy burdened, Lord, I can't take it anymore. Please, I beg you, Lord, come to my rescue. I've tried everything under the sun.

It's not working out. I need you desperately, Lord Jesus. You have to come and rescue your little servant because I can't do it anymore.

You see the Lord coming with the staff and saying, lean on me. So when I am naughty, you discipline me. And when I am tired, you comfort me.

And that is your cross, Lord. It is your cross that gave me that confidence that even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even though I walk in the heart and the depth of hell, for as long as the cross is with me, I'll fear nobody because it is the power of this holy cross that crushed the head of the serpent on Calvary. On that cross, Satan is defeated by the illustrious cross.

Amen. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The holy cross comforts me.

Amen. There was a story written in this kid's book. It's a metaphor, but it does allude to what the Lord has done for all of us.

It's for little kids, beautiful, you know, and children are cute, aren't they? So anyway, this little story says the following. God came and created all the animals and everything. And then he created the duck without wings.

So the duck got up and saw that it exists. So tried to walk. The legs are very short.

So the duck looked at the lion flying, at the gazelle even flying faster than the lion. And then he looked at the birds and looked at the elephant so massive, walks faster than the duck. Even the turtle is passing the duck on a Formula One race course.

Even that turtle is passing it. The duck felt so down, so upset, so miserable, so depressed. Went back to God and said, God, you know, please.

Why? Why, God? Why? Why? You know, the Middle Eastern way. Why? Why? Why did you do that, God? Please, I beg you. I'm looking at all around me.

Everybody's enjoying their life. I'm the only miserable one. God, you created me this way.

Short legs. I can't even walk one kilometer an hour. Please come to my rescue.

God said to the duck, don't worry. I've got you. Tomorrow morning you'll wake up.

You will feel much lighter and you will feel much faster. The duck wakes up in the morning. She looks on the shoulders here, two heavy things called wings, one on this side and one on the other side.

The duck went and complained again to God and said, God, I came and I begged you to make me lighter and faster. Instead of doing that, you've added more weight on me. I can't handle my own weight, let alone more weight.

Now I'm going to sink. I'm going to drown. I'm going to be dead.

God said, no, just be patient. Can you just try and open those wings? Strike them like that. And the duck said, what? He said, just open them and strike them.

And then the duck did that once, twice, three times, 10 times, and it was airborne. Those heavy weights made the duck lighter than the feather. The cross is heavy, but if you allow the Lord to give you his cross, he's giving you two wings of an eagle.

He'll make you so in his heaven. If you let him carry the cross. See, God is merciful in every way.

Even when it's painful, he's merciful because he knows through this pain only you're brought home. He will do it. He will never hesitate.

Why? Because he is all love. The problem is with us, not with God. We never understand him, and we come back and complain and whinge and go against him.

Why are you doing this to me, God? And why are you treating me in this particular way? But God is saying, the wings are for your flight. I was not harsh when I put those wings on you, duck. So don't whinge about the weight.

You need to focus on the result. So even though you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, even though you are walking through some troublesome time, that that valley of shadow, consider it being that tunnel. That tunnel, when we walk through those tunnels, we don't like it because the tunnel is dark.

Yes, and we want to get out of that tunnel ASAP, so we tend to run. And when we run, we fall. And when we fall, we hurt ourselves.

The Lord is saying, don't run. You need to walk. Read Psalm 23 verse 4. So when a dark moment comes your way, and you enter through that dark tunnel, don't panic.

I'm with you. I'm with you. All the way, I'm with you.

You may feel alone. You may feel disappointed. You may feel whatever.

At the end, these are nothing but feelings. I don't want you to follow me with your feelings. I want you to follow me with faith, not feelings.

Faith, not feelings. It's not how you feel. It's what God has done for you on Calvary.

This is how you need to believe in and have faith in. It's not about your feeling. It's about what God has done for you.

So when you're going through that troublesome time, don't panic. Don't run to get out of that place quickly. Don't stop and give up on your life.

Walk. Because walking is a sign of life. Stillness is a sign of death.

Running is a sign of ignorance. But walking, thank you, Lord, I'm walking. And since you're walking, you're not dead.

So who said you're dead? All it is is just dark around you right now, but you're still alive, aren't you? So it's not too late. Nothing is lost. So now I'm walking in that dark tunnel.

It's very difficult. It's frightening. It's scary.

Feels like hell. I lost everyone. I lost everything.

I lost myself. I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know what I want from this life anymore.

I don't even know if I really want to continue with this life anymore. I'm just lost. I'm dead.

But the Lord is saying, I'm with you. Just hang in there and keep on walking. Trust in me because I am God and God works in the impossible, not in the possible.

I do things in the impossible. Why? Because there are many reasons, but for one of these reasons, because I want to prove to you that I exist. You see, when you had a good life, you said you believed in me, but it was just talks and talks are cheap.

I have to make sure that you know what you're saying and you are believing in what you're saying. And to top it more, you are living what you're saying. And the only way I'm going to make you live what you say and believe in what you say is when I put you in that dark tunnel.

When I allow the dark tunnel come your way, then you'll understand that your faith was from me, not from you. Because when you face that challenging moment, you are the weakest of the weakest. But before that, you thought you were the strongest, nothing breaks you.

But when you were cornered in that dark alley, you became the weakest. And you realized then for certainty, only God can help me. You know, when we realize only God can help me, now we've reached the beginning of the road to the truth.

Because this was the truth from the very beginning. When you thought you were strong, when you thought you were managing, when you thought you were building, when you thought you were, you know, doing things and you were successful in them, thinking that it was you. It wasn't.

It was I the Lord. But because you thought it was you, I have to really teach you this lesson. You leave me no choice but to bring you into this dark tunnel to make you realize it is I God all along.

Nothing is of you. Everything is of me. So next time when I bring you out of that dark tunnel, you don't rely on yourself anymore.

You say, I've done it. Yes, I made it. No, my dear friend, it was the Lord who done it in you.

It was the Lord who made it in you. It was the Lord who completed it in you. It was the Lord and it is.

That's the truth. That's the truth. When you do something good, it is the Lord who's done it in you.

Thank him. Don't take the credit for yourself. Don't ever, don't ever steal that glory from Christ.

The glory is not yours. It's the Lord's. It's the Lord's.

Oh, Bishop Murray, you know, you're famous. You're a celebrity. No, no, no, no, no, my dear friend.

It's the Lord. And if he is, if he's allowing me through his grace and mercy to be his donkey, I couldn't ask for anymore. That's the ultimate, the ultimate gift I could receive from the Lord to carry him wherever he wishes to ride this donkey.

That's all I am. It is the Lord who talks. It is the Lord who walks.

It is the Lord who changes. It is the Lord who touches the heart. It is the Lord who brings back from the dead.

It is the Lord who brings back people from hell, worse than death and more difficult than death. It is the Lord. But that's the truth.

I'm not being humble here or I'm not being like, oh yeah, look at him. Oh, that's cute. No, I'm just stating the truth.

I haven't reached humility yet. I haven't even started in humility yet. I'm just stating what the truth is.

It is the Lord. Are you with me? You know, when you allow the Lord to teach you, to learn what this truth is all about, that's it. You're not going to look for anything anymore.

You are now content. You are now fulfilled. There is no more competition.

There is no more proving things. Oh, I need to prove this to so and so. I need to tell them that they are wrong and I'm right.

No, no. Even if I'm right, I won't prove it. You know why? Because it's not me.

It's the Lord who's going to prove it at the appointed time because he is the perfect God. His timing is perfect. His reward is perfect.

Everything about him is perfect. Don't ever try to do it your way and try to prove it your way because you're doing it your way. Satan has already won.

Even if you proved it that you were right and they were wrong, you failed because you did it Satan way, not the Lord's way. I pray the Lord enlightens every heart, enlightens every soul, enlightens every human being to realize that he is it. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

There is no other way. He is not a way. He is the way, meaning there is no other way but him.

He is the truth. There is no other truth but him and he is the life and there is no other life but him. He is it.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth, period. You're in the church. The Lord brought you.

He didn't come. Not your friend, not your brother, not your cousin, not Bishop Murray. It's the Lord.

Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. He shepherds the flock and when the Lord shows up, I'm a sheep, not a shepherd anymore. But now he's placed me here to represent the shepherd.

But when the shepherd comes, I'm one of you guys. I need to follow him. But even though he is, he hasn't come literally, but in his spirit he is dwelling in me.

The day, the day while I'm on earth and the Lord hasn't come in his second return, but his Holy Spirit is dwelling in me. The day that I say I'm the shepherd, the Lord, I'll have his rod on my head. He will smack me and I won't even know what hit me.

He said, hey naughty boy, you think you're the shepherd? You are a shepherd placed in the church by the shepherd. You are not the shepherd. You are a shepherd because there's only one the shepherd who is the head of the church, Christ.

And how many heads is there to the body? Only one. So therefore there's only one good shepherd. There's plenty of shepherds, but there's only one good.

All the others are not because they have sinned, except the good shepherd never sinned. Say, now you need to listen to this one because he's the only one who is the living shepherd. All the other ones are dead.

By the mercy of Christ, receiving life from the source of life. So it doesn't matter you're a Pope. It doesn't matter you're a Patriarch.

It doesn't matter you're a Cardinal or a Bishop. What matters the most, are you a follower of Christ, my dear friend? That's what matters. Because if you follow Christ, you've saved yourself and the flock.

But if you as a Pope, as a Patriarch, as a Cardinal, as a Bishop, not following Christ, you are dead and you have destroyed the flock, my dear friend. Because it is not you who shepherds, it is Christ who shepherds the flock through you, when you allow him to do so. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Do not be afraid of carrying the cross. Do not be hesitant to carry the cross. Do not be afraid of carrying the cross.

You see, the Lord allowed for me to walk through the tunnel. He allowed it. He could have prevented it, but he allowed it.

Why? Because there are certain things the Lord is trying to teach me, and those things I cannot be taught unless I walk through darkness. The light will not teach me those things. So as the light, there are certain things only the light can teach, not darkness.

That's why the Lord allowed you to see the light and the darkness. Because you learn from the light equally from darkness as well. But obviously, darkness is pain, and light is glory, comfort.

Both are needed. Both are needed. The pains are needed, and the comforts are needed.

But if you are comforted, always you're weak. And if you are in pain, always you are lost, hopeless. But when you are in pain and then comforted, in pain and then comforted, the Lord is building you up to bring a warrior out of you.

Because the Lord definitely cannot allow cowards to enter his kingdom. He cannot. He wants real men, even if you're a woman.

And I'm not talking about LGBT, okay? Be careful. He needs warriors. He needs people that will believe in him, trust in him, and walk the distance.

Not run away, fearing for their life, being scared and frightened. No. And the only way you're going to be a warrior when you face death, when you face pain, when you face all the challenges and the tribulations, head on.

Not run away from them. Head on. Cut through them.

And in Jesus' mighty name, you step on them and say, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

This is why it matters not the place. What matters is the honor of the place that is with me. Because when the honor of the place is with me, even that place happens to be hell.

I am in heaven. Because every time I fail, he'll discipline me as a father. And every time I do something good, but I get exhausted because I've put a huge effort into it, he comforts me as the good shepherd.

He says, lean on the staff, lean on me when you're tired. But when you are in the wrong, I need to discipline you so you don't do it again. I need to correct your mistakes.

And through disciplinary action and comforting, he brings me out of the tunnel into the light, which is life. And then he says, come and enjoy the kingdom of your heavenly father that was prepared for you before the creations of the world. Imagine this with me for a moment.

A couple gets married. They get married and they have a child. First baby comes, that baby is placed in their beautiful bed there in that room.

And then the mom comes and put that baby to sleep. And dad comes and they read the Holy Bible or they sing to that baby some nice beautiful lullabies. And then the baby goes to sleep and they try to pick themselves up and walk quiet and hush hush and leave the room.

And as they walk in, the baby is startled and wakes up, realizing mom and dad are walking away from me. World War III erupts. The baby starts crying, loses it, lost, confused.

Tears are gushing, screams are flying everywhere until the father or the mother comes and says, Habibi, Habibi, Habibi, what is wrong with you? My love, my darling, my baby, come here, come here. The moment the baby is picked by the parent, whether it's mom or dad, no difference. The moment the baby is picked by the parent and they are, they realize they are in the bosom of their parent.

They're quiet. They're laughing. They're smiling.

They're at ease. They're at peace. That's it.

When the father picks that baby and the father decides to go out, the baby never questions the father. When the father feeds the baby whatever food the father decides, the baby never questions the father. Wherever the dad goes, it matters not to the baby.

How long he goes for, it matters not to the baby. Whoever he sees and meets, it matters not to the What matters to the baby is one thing. Am I with my dad or not? I don't care where my dad takes me.

I don't care who we are going to meet. I care about one thing. As long as I am in my dad's bosoms, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because what matters is not anything outside of my dad.

As long as I'm with dad, who really gives one penny? Be like a baby. Say, Lord, wherever you go, don't leave me behind. You want to take me to hell with you? As long as you're with me, I'll come to hell.

I don't care. You want to take me with you to heaven? I don't care neither about hell nor heaven. What matters to me is I'm with you, dad.

I don't care about the place, if it's beautiful or ugly, because I don't look at the place when I am with you. I look at your beautiful face that surpasses all beauty and all places. My eyes, I want them to fall on you, Lord.

You are my place. You are my home. You are my kingdom.

You're my everything. I'm your baby, dad. Yes, I'm a grown-up on earth, but I'm your baby.

The baby is going to cry. You need to feed him. The baby is going to get sick.

You need to heal him. The baby is going to get hungry. He's going to get thirsty.

You need to quench their thirst. The baby needs to be changed. You need to cleanse them with your precious blood.

Clean me with your blood, because I dirty myself with my sins and wrongdoings and foolishnesses. Cleanse me, my Lord, with your precious blood. Look after me, because I only have one dad.

I don't have anyone else but you. When I face the world, in Jesus' mighty name, I fear nobody and I fear nothing. I lived once and I will die once.

I'll live for Christ. I'll die for Christ. I love everyone, but if there is something happening that is of evil origin, I'll call it out, even if it's a government and even if it's a church.

The church needs to come back to Christ, because the church has walked away from Christ. And when I say church, I mean first the leaders, then the followers, but first the leaders. They need to come back to Christ and be humbled for him.

Enough chasing materialism. Enough chasing worldly things. Enough chasing thrones and high places and red carpets.

Enough. You need to walk like your master, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and your Lord was a beggar for love on earth. He had no place to rest his head on.

And you're living in mansions and you call yourself a follower of Christ. You're a liar. You're a liar.

I just want to know, why does a church leader need to be rich? This I can't fathom. And especially in the apostolic churches, they're not married, so you don't have a family. Why do you need to be rich? Rich for what? Your richness, your wealth is the flock.

When you take him to Christ with you, that's your wealth. When you bring souls to Christ, this is your treasure, my dear church leader. Not the mansion, not the limousine, not the millions and the billions of dollars in the bank account and the luxurious lifestyle.

What do you need it for? Why? Why do you need it? Stop sitting in a Mercedes Benz. Stop sitting in a limo. How about you walk? How about you sit on the back of a donkey? Imitate the Lord.

And I don't mean it, I mean it literally and metaphorically as well. Stop living in a prideful way. Humble yourself and remember, my dear church leader, we are all the same, hey? That's why I'm saying it, because I'm a church leader as well.

I'm reminding myself and reminding you, my dear friend, all of us, we were in the pig's field swimming in filth and stinking sin. It was the shepherd, the good shepherd, that brought us out of there and cleansed us with his precious blood and made us church leaders in his holy house. Don't ever forget where all of us were before.

Without the Lord, we're nothing and we're lost and we're dead. We need the Lord Jesus. Be boastful of him and him alone.

And I'll say this, Saint Paul says it so beautifully, my beloved, and where is Saint Paul? I love this man. I love this holy man of God. I love this wonderful, wonderful disciple of the Lord Jesus.

Look at him. Where is it? I've written it somewhere. I'm a bit excited at the moment and I'm trying to look for it.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The cross, the holy cross, look what Saint Paul is saying about the cross. Amazing! In Galatians 6.14, Galatians 6.14, Saint Paul says, but God forbid, but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm not going to be boastful about nothing but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. This every church leader needs to pay attention to Galatians 6.14. I'll read it again for every church leader. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Do you understand what Saint Paul is saying? By whom the cross, the world is crucified to me and I crucify to the world. What is crucifixion? Death. What he's saying, my pride is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Therefore, when I am carrying the cross and when I'm making the cross the crown of my glory, therefore the world to me is crucified, i.e. the world to me is dead. And same thing, I am dead to the world. In other words, because I am following the living Messiah, I am dead to the world, meaning I'm not chasing the world and its pleasures and treasures.

Because when I found Christ, I was dead to the world. I followed the Messiah, no longer the world. I am dead to it.

And so as the world is dead to me, it means nothing. See, when I followed the Lord, the world said to me, you're dead. See, before I was with the world, they loved me.

But when I left the world and followed Jesus, they said, oh, you're a traitor. You have denied the world. Thank you.

I am glad when you call me, I am dead to the world. Because the world, my friend, is dead to me as well. Because I found the living one and I chose to follow him.

That's it. Come on. Come on, one more time.

Shout to the Lord Jesus. Come on, put your hands together for the Lord. And now let us stand for the finale prayer, please.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. Oh, divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Amen. May the Lord Jesus bless you, guide you and protect you all the days of your life. Now and forevermore.

Amen. Go in peace. The peace of Christ be with you always, my beloved.

Amen. God bless.