Good morning, all. It's a delight
to be here. I remember when I was a kid,
my dad was always big on family reunions. He wouldn't miss a
one. I didn't pick that up. I'm not
big on it. But we went to everybody that
was ever related ever, I guess. And it was just good to get together
and meet folks and greet folks and then renew acquaintances.
And that's like coming here. It's family. And Henry used to
say, this is who we're going to spend eternity with. We're
going to like one another, and we do. And we're encouraging,
and we're helpful to one another, and we're thankful for one another.
And it's just a delight. You all always welcome us with
open arms. We have a little grandson, our
youngest. We've got nine grandchildren,
and the youngest one of all is Ben, and he's six now. The last
year when he was in kindergarten, About this time of year, the
teacher passed out a paper that had on it, what am I thankful
for? And these little fellows, they drew a picture and they'd
write something, what they were thankful for. And we've taken
that one and we framed it and it's right beside our door where
we leave the back door. And I look at it every day. And
little Ben, he put on their house. He said, I'm thankful for my
house, H-O-U-S. I'm thankful for my house. They
had a crude picture of a house. And beside it was a very crude
picture of a dog, and he said, I'm thankful for my dog. And
then he drew a stick figure, very flattering, very thin, tall
stick figure. And he said, I'm thankful for
my people. And I think when I look at that,
I think, oh my goodness, what have we got to be thankful for?
What have we got to be thankful for? I graduated from high school. 51 years ago, 52 years ago, and
I was just like everybody else. I just had two hands and a strong
back and a weak mind. And Armco Steel was hiring, and
I went to work at Armco Steel, and I worked there 40 years.
Missed four days of work. Gov put that steel mill there.
He put it there for me. He put it there for H.B. Thompson
and Earl Wooten and Cecil Thornberry, men like that. Jeff Thornberry,
Jeff Thornberry worked there his whole life. First elder at
13th Street Church, way back there in 1956. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful for that. And I've
been retired 12 years and they send them checks every month,
first of the month. There it is, just lo and behold,
it just pops up there in the accounts, you know. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for my family. Me
and Jackie's been together, Fifty-three years, soon to be fifty-three
years. I'm thankful. The Lord blessed us with four
children and nine grandchildren, and we all hover there together
in Simpson Valley, and didn't plan any of it. We're just there.
I'm thankful. I've got much to be thankful
for. Much to be thankful for. Friends, neighbors, brothers
and sisters in Christ, I'm thankful. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
this nation. We've lived in a place like no
other that's ever been on the face of the earth. We lived four
miles out of town. When I was a kid, we didn't have
no baseball out there. I loved baseball. And my mom
and dad let me ride my bicycle. I was 10 years old, riding my
bicycle four miles into town to play little league baseball.
Can you imagine putting a 10-year-old on a bicycle and letting him
go out of sight now? Nobody ever worried about it.
It was a safe time. But I am thankful for this nation. It's
fallen on shabby times, but I'm thankful. Never have any fear
of any retribution for preaching the gospel in this place. Doors
won't fly open and come in here and haul you all out or your
pastor out. I'm thankful. But all these things I've named,
they're all temporary. And they're all going to flee
away. What am I thankful for? What am I thankful for? Turn
to Psalm 23, a passage everybody can quote, even the little children
can quote. And we're just going to look
at the first five words of Psalm 23. What am I thankful for? Here
it is. I'm thankful that the Lord is
my shepherd. Thank God that the Lord is my shepherd. Who is it
that's my shepherd? Who is it? It's the Lord. It's
the Lord Himself that's my shepherd. He who created the heavens and
the earth. He who stretched it out just according to His perfect
plan. He who maintains it and sustains
it provides for everything in His creation. We drove over here
yesterday evening and come across 460 and just spectacular beauty. But all you can see are those
big mountains and all you can see are those beautiful trees.
But clustered in among all that is millions and millions and
millions of things that are alive that our God provides for. Our
God provides for every one of them. They don't have to work,
and they don't have to plan, and they don't have to purpose,
and they don't have to go to school. God provides for them,
and He'll provide for us too. He's my shepherd. The Lord is
my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Just
turn to a couple of scriptures here in Isaiah chapter 43. This describes who He is. This
describes what He does, what He's capable of doing, and what
He will do if He so purposes to do. Psalm 43, Isaiah 43, verse
1. Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not. Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. I've redeemed
thee. I've called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou
passest through the waters, isn't this a comfort? When thou passest
through the waters. It's not if. It's not maybe. It's a definite, we will. When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God. That's who He is. He's the Lord our God. The Holy
One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Saba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy lot. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
Give up, and to the south, Keep not back. Bring my sons from
far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, every one
that is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him, yea, I have made him. That is who
our Shepherd is. It is the Lord Himself. God Almighty
in human flesh. He is our Shepherd. Just turn
over one page to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, verse 5. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the
sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I'm the Lord. There's none else. I form the
light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. What are we thankful for? I'm
thankful. These five words may be as most encouraging and comforting
words as there is to ever fall off a man's lips. The Lord Himself
is my shepherd. Turn to Psalm 46. Psalm 46. And verse 8, who is our shepherd? The Lord Himself. Verse 8, Come, behold the works
of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He
maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh
the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot
into fire. Be still, O be still, and know
that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts, the Lord of
hosts is with us. He's with us, the God of Jacob.
He is our refuge. Pause and think about that. The
Lord is my shepherd. Who's my shepherd? The Lord,
the Lord himself. Now, the next question that would
logically be asked, Dale, how is it that you got in his fold?
How is it that somebody like you ended up in the Lord's fold? Well, first of all, let it be
known far and wide, it's not because of any goodness in me.
The Lord's my shepherd, not because of any goodness in me, not because
He saw any promising potential in me. He said, all of sin comes short
of the glory of God. We used to go to church with
an old fellow. He lived nearly to be a hundred, and anytime
Paul Morton would read that word, he'd turn and he'd say, what
part of all don't you understand? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All. The Lord's my shepherd,
and I'm in His fold, not because of any goodness in me. I'm a
sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm undone, and
I'm worthy of death. I'm not in His fold because of
any goodness in me. It says, Scripture says, from
the sole of my foot even to the head. There's no soundness in
me. No soundness. None. None. None whatsoever. The soul that's sinner? Does
anybody in here know anything about that? Has God made us aware
that we're sinners? Has He made us aware that there's
no goodness in us? No soundness in us? That we deserve
judgment and eternal punishment? All is sin. come short of the
glory of God. And the soul that sinneth shall
surely die. So first and foremost, the Lord
is my Shepherd. He is. He's my Shepherd. Well,
how is it that I got into His fold? Not because of any goodness
in me. Well, how did I get in? How did
I get in? It's because He loved me. He
loved me in eternity past. He said there in Jeremiah, He
said, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness, I've drawn you, you, each and every individual
one that He loved in eternity past, that He came and died for
and shed His life's blood for, took away their shame and their
sin and their guilt, and gave them perfect righteousness before
the justice of Almighty God. The Lord is my Shepherd. Why
is the Lord my Shepherd? Because He chose to make me one
of His sheep. He did. Not because I chose Him. Not
because I exercised my free will. I live, and I'm glad, I've lived,
other than just a few years of my life, I've lived right next
door to a cemetery. And my sister's buried up there,
and my brother-in-law's buried up there, and I can get on my
four-wheeler and in about 45 seconds I can be parked right
beside their grave. And I walk up there and I look
at all those gravestones, and I think, what does people think
that man's got a free will? What, does people never go to
the cemetery? Does people never go to the cemetery? Go out there
to your loved ones and say, won't you come out of there? Won't
you make a decision to come out of there? Won't you step forward
and make the first step? Won't you walk the aisle and
shake the preacher's hand? Won't you do some of these things?
Dead men don't do anything. And what happened in the garden
is we died. Oh, we didn't die physically, but we died spiritually.
We died spiritually. And we're going to remain that
way. We're going to remain in that state of death unless the
Lord God Almighty comes and does something for us. Unless He speaks
to us and calls us and quickens our heart and gives us life,
we're going to remain in that condition. The Lord's my shepherd.
The Lord Himself is my shepherd. Not for any goodness in me, but
because He chose to have a people. He chose to have a people in
that great covenant of grace before the foundation of the
world. God Almighty and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, clasped
hands. And the Lord said, I'll do everything
for those that you gave Me. I'll love them with an everlasting
love. I'll go down there and die for them. And I'll take their
sin on Me. And in their room instead, you punish Me for their
sin. And I'll give them that perfect
robe of righteousness. Oh, the Lord is my Shepherd.
The Lord is my Shepherd. And how is it? He called me,
He loved me, He chose me. How is it that He was able to
bring me? A wretch, filthy, unlovely, undone,
ugly, evil and awful. How is He able to bring me into
that fold of perfection and beauty? How is it that He is able to
do that? How can the shepherd do that? Because He came and
He done everything for me. There was a time when He was
born into this world. And there was a time when he
grew up. And at 30 years of age, he entered his public ministry
and went forth proclaiming the beauty of the Kingdom of God.
And he said, I have had only one way, by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you. Learn of me. I'm meek and lowly.
You'll find rest to your soul. He came and did it all. He came
and did it all. He paid the price that we could
never pay. Eternity must be so long because not one sin can
ever be put away in eternity. It takes the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
takes away all our shame and guilt. The Lord is my shepherd.
Not because of any goodness in me, but because He chose me.
Because He loved me. And because He came and He did
everything that God's justice required. Everything to take
away my ugliness and my awfulness. and my guilt." Well, how is it? The next logical
question. How is it that you, being dead
in trespasses and sin, how is it that you were able to respond
to the sovereign call of the Lord Himself? Well, that's a
good question. That's a good question. And one
of my favorite pictures in the Old Testament, back there in
Ezekiel chapter 16, you're all familiar with it. I read a book years ago, and
it was on the life of Mao Zedong. He was a dictator in China, as
ruthless as any man that ever lived. In his 40 years of ruling
China with an iron fist, they said he exterminated 50 million
people. 50 million people. Well, after he got the population
where he wanted it, all these enemies and everything put away,
then they determined that they wanted primarily male children
in the nation of China. As gruesome as this is, this
is a true story. And so the word spread out. This
is a dictator. This is an absolute dictator
with ruthless authority. And if you had a girl child born
to you, they would throw that child out, just like here in
Ezekiel chapter 16. They would kill that child because
they didn't want girl children born. They wanted men children
born. Well, that's what's going on
there in Ezekiel chapter 16. This child, this brand new baby,
this baby girl is thrown out into an open field. None of those
things that are done to a brand new baby. She wasn't swaddled.
She wasn't diapered. She wasn't washed. Her navel
wasn't fixed and prepared. None of those things. And she
was thrown out there to the loathing of a person. There she lay. And
she's going to die. And there's no hope. And there's
no help. Won't you just do something for
the Lord? She can't do anything. She can't
do anything. And that's her condition. And
that's our condition, naturally. That's how everybody that's born
into this world, that's how we appear before God Almighty. We're
without hope and without help. And we can never do anything
for ourselves and no one else except the Lord Himself. And
the Lord said, I pass by. I pass by. Has He passed by you?
Has He passed by in His mercy and His tender love? Has He spoken
sweetly to your heart? Has He convicted you of your
sin and your shame and your guilt? And He said, come unto Me. As
He said, come unto Me, I passed by and I saw you polluted in
your blood. And it was a time of love. And
I said unto you, when you were in your blood, what did He say?
Live. Live. Live. How is it that you were able
to respond? He gave you life. He done a work of grace in your
heart. He quickened you. He quickens you. The Lord's my
shepherd. The Lord himself is my shepherd.
He who created the heavens and the earth and maintains and sustains
everything. I'm an awful grumbler. I'm a
complainer. I'm a worrier. I don't worry about the condition
of our nation. I don't worry about it for me
and Jackie, for me and her sake. Our life's basically over. Three
score and ten, it's eleven thirty. P.M., not A.M. It's 1130 P.M.,
we've got our pajamas on, and we're ready to go to that long
haul. We're ready to go to bed. But I do grieve for the children
and for the grandchildren. I grieve. I grieve about it. I worry about it, and I'm concerned
about it. Don't be. Don't be like me. Everything's
right on schedule. Everything's right on schedule.
It's so easy to get caught up in the political arena. I do
too. I do too. I used to work with an old fellow.
He was old school. Frank West was his name. Worked
for the old center plant there at the Arm Co. And old Frank,
he'd get on them political. Man, he'd get himself in a sniff. He'd get himself wound up. Well,
Frank, what would you do if you could? He said, I'd go there
and shoot every one of them. He said, I'd shoot them all. Well, I've
never thought that. But I do get concerned. But don't
be. Don't be concerned. It's all
on schedule. It's all on schedule. Everything's on schedule. And
He's still calling out His people. One by one, He's calling them
out. And I promise you, I promise you on the authority of God's
Word, there's nothing going to happen contrary to the will of
our God. And when the last one's called
out, He'll return in all of His glory and power and gather His
bride to Himself to be with Him for all eternity. Just rest in
the Lord. Just rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. How was it that I was able to
respond? Because He called me by His grace. He broke my heart.
He made me willing in the day of His power. All right. Final question. It's a good question. It's a logical question. How
is it that you have a good hope that you're going to remain in
that fold until the Lord removes you? You ever ask yourself that? We'd run if we could. We'd run
away if we could. That's what sheep do. They're
dumb. Are you dumb? I am. I'm dumb as a rock. And
I can be led astray and I can be turned. My head could be turned.
What hope do I have that I'm not going to leave this fold
until the Lord returns for me? Because of who it is. Because
of who it is. It's the Lord. It's the Lord
Himself. Years ago, I was reading Spurgeon's Treasury of David
commentary on Psalm 23. And somewhere down in there,
and I should have looked it up, but I didn't, but there was a
fellow named J.L. Porter. This was in 1866, way long time
ago, 150 years ago. And the pastoral type of life
over there in this area of the world where Psalm 23 was written,
where they were shepherds, and that's what they did, and they
had massive folds, and that's all they did all their life was
be the shepherd of the flock. And J.L. Porter, this was beginning
to change over there in that area, and he said, I want to
see it before it changes. 1866, J.L. Porter, he traveled
by boat and went over there to that land to see this firsthand. And he talked to some people
and they recommended how he could see what goes on. Well, the shepherds
would bring the sheep into a massive fold at night, and thousands
and thousands and thousands of sheep, thousands of sheep, And
so the next morning, old J.L. Porter, he found a prominent
place up on a hill where he could look down and see this massive
sheepfold. And there, just about daylight,
here come the shepherds. And he said, this one shepherd
in particular is who he put his attention on. And he said the
shepherd went up there to the fold, and the keeper of the fold,
he opened the doors, and then thousands of sheep, they all
run out. Thousands and thousands of them. And he said, I watched
this one shepherd particularly. And he said he made a peculiar
call. He said it almost sounded like a yodel. And he kept making
this call. And he said in this massive collection
of sheep, he said you began to see them wave and wave back and
forth. And he said a thin ribbon of
sheep started leaving following that shepherd as he was making
this call. We know something about that.
And he said he walked right on out of town. And he said this
line of sheep, not all of them, they all weren't his, but his
followed him. Because they heard his voice.
They heard the voice of the shepherd. And he said they followed him
right on out of town. And he said he led his sheep.
And he said, you know, I had always thought, he said, I had
always thought, you know, what does it take to be a shepherd?
Well, he said, you've got to kind of be lazy. You've got to be
a sleepy head. You know, you go up there and
find you a nice shade tree and you lean up against it with a
stick of straw sticking out of your mouth and maybe take a nap
and just lay there and kind of occasionally look down. He said,
no, no, no, no, no. He said this shepherd, he looked
like he was going to battle. He said he had some kind of leather
garments on his legs to protect his legs. And he said he had
a leather helmet on his head. And he said he had a gun slung
over his shoulder. And he said in one hand he had a staff. And
he said it had a big hook on it. And he said in the other
hand he had an axe. And he said he was leading the sheep. And
he said, but you know the most amazing thing that I saw? He
said, was his eyes. He said he never missed anything.
He said he was looking behind every building, every rock, every
bush, every tree, every shrub. He said it was the most amazing
thing I ever saw. He said he never missed anything because
he was protecting his sheep. Dale, what hope you got that
you're going to finish this race? Because the Lord's my shepherd.
And He called me because of His goodness and grace. And He came
and done everything for me. He died for me. He took away
my sin and shame and gave me His perfect robe of righteousness.
He gathered me into His fold. And He called me by His grace.
Through the preaching of the Gospel, He called me by His grace. He said, Live! And He gave me
faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. What good hope have I
got that I'm going to continue this race? Because He's my Shepherd. He's my Shepherd. And whatever
He purposes to do, He'll do. And He's going to bring us all
one day to that fair haven. May the Lord bless you.