Good morning, everybody. It's good the Lord has us here today, isn't it? If you will, begin turning to 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17. This is not my text. My text is a tremendously familiar passage of scripture to you and to a lot of people just walking up and down the street. There's probably been a couple hundred sermons from it, from this pulpit. But I wanted to look at 1 Samuel 17 first. I was afraid Mark got a hold of my notes. He's going to preach my home sermon for me.

But we've had some experiences recently. And my mind has been on sheep, and watchdogs, and shepherds. And the Lord's taught me some things on cold mornings out there busting up ice so sheep have some water to drink of what a shepherd does. And them sheeps is waiting. They can't bust the ice up. A lot of little things like that I dwell on. That's in my mind all day while I'm at work. And I think of how I have to take care of them sheep, same way the Lord takes care of me. Same way. It makes me appreciate Him.

But I want to look today at Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. And I want to look at the names of my shepherd. The names of Jehovah, all the names of Jehovah are there in Psalm 23. And I want to look at those. And I don't have a real clear, you know what it's like, Cody. I mean, I got a clear three-point message. I don't have that. I got a text. And I just want you to see the names of the Lord. His name means something. Our God is God. What's that mean? What's He do? He does things. But David said, and that's why I want the title of it, The Names of My Shepherd. There's a whole lot of people that agree that Christ is the good shepherd, that Christ is the great shepherd, that Christ is the chief shepherd. David said what? Not the Lord is the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I want him to be my shepherd. I want to hear about my shepherd. I want to learn. If I could be taught what he smells like, wouldn't that be wonderful for a day? I want him to be your shepherd. And David said, the Lord's my shepherd. That's Jehovah Rea. The Lord my shepherd. What did David know about shepherds? Well, look here in 1 Samuel 17.

Now, remember there was a Goliath problem that Israel had. Something they couldn't whoop. And they said, what are we going to do? Saul was panicking. And word got back to Saul that this boy David could do something. In verse 31, 1 Samuel 17, verse 31. And when these words were heard, which David spake, they rehearsed, they repeated them before Saul. And he sent for him and said, go get him. And David said to Saul, here's a 16, 17 year old boy talking to the king. And he said, let no man's heart fail because of him, because of Goliath. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Saul said to David, they are not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him, this giant, this man of war. You are youth, and he a man of war from his youth. It's going to be impossible. You're just a little shepherd boy. This is a great big man of war. We thought of that as a movie we watched, and these people were climbing Mount Everest. And the one character in it, he's a mailman. And he said, yeah, I'm a mailman, so I'm going to climb Everest. And I thought, there ain't no mailman can climb Mount Everest. And then I became a mailman, and I started walking about 12 miles a day. I said, you know what? I bet he'd climb up that mountain.

All Saul knew was war. But look here at what David's response is, verse 34. And David said unto Saul, thy servant keepeth his father's sheep. I'm a shepherd. We're talking about war things. Did you know that shepherds know something about war? He's going to tell him about it. David knew what it was to be a shepherd. And there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him and delivered out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and I smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear."

It's spoken as one, but he says, I slew both the lion and the bear. So by one event, the lion was slew and the bear was slew. Both were took care of away from that sheep. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God."

That bear is a picture of the law that was going to kill us. All it could do was condemn. And that line goes seeking about who he may devour. That's the accuser of the brethren. And by one event, in one action, the law was completely fulfilled. And when we were removed from it, we're out from under the law. And that thing seeking to devour us and accuse us is gone. He's put away. His head's been crushed. You see it?

Who gets a glory for that? Does man? Even in this physical act that David said, well, you know, I did a lot of pushups and I practiced with my bow. Verse 37, David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion. And out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. The Lord did it. And Saul said unto David, go, the Lord be with thee. He knew something. In this great event of war, he said, oh, I was a shepherd. I've been doing this my whole life. I'll take care of it. If I can take care of a bear in a line, I can handle this fellow. It ain't no problem. It's just a physical enemy, right?

Psalm 23. That's Jehovah Raya, Lord my shepherd. We see in verse one, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not want. That's lack. And I shall not fail. Same translation. Why? Jehovah Jireh, the Lord provides. We won't want. That means there's provision. That means you're provided for. The Lord said there in Matthew 6, He said, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What you shall eat, what you shall drink, neither for your body, what you're going to put on it, is not the life more than meat and body more than raiment. He said, But hold the fowls of the air. Go outside, watch all them geese flying over. It's gorgeous isn't it? They sow not, they don't reap, nor gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you better than them? Don't be concerned with these things. He said, The Father provides for you. The Father provides for you.

He said, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added to you. Just like Goliath, that physical man there. If the Lord can put away my sin and he can satisfy the Father and make atonement, I think he can get my car note paid for. I think he's going to keep me from starving to death in the wilderness. He can handle this. He asked him later on in Luke 22. He said, I sent you out. He said, when I sent you without purse and without script and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they had one word response, nothing. Nothing. That's carnally.

I enjoy sailboats. I'm just fascinated by them. I'd love to have a sailboat and live down in the Caribbean or something. And that ain't possible. But you know what? I have lacked nothing. I got to go to Hawaii and drive a 30-foot sailboat for a whole day. And I thought, I like nothing. Nothing. The Lord's provided everything for me, and a good time, and friends to do it with, and joy, and you know what else He's provided me? Chastening. I don't ask for that. I did once like a fool. I'll never do it again. That's good for me. He's provided those good times, and those hard times.

And why again that you don't think so? When you have to remember, somebody remind us, the Lord's with us. He sent this. This is His hand doing it. Thy God reigneth. And then you look back on it years later and you're like, boy, that's good. I'm thankful the Lord did it that way. I needed that.

That's not wanting. It's not just not wanting carnal things. In chasing and learning and growing in grace, too. And we're not wanting that day of judgment. We will not be found in our own righteousness lacking Found in want. He's provided that. That's Jehovah Jireh. The Lord provides. He's the good shepherd.

There in John 10, he said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd does something. Do you know that? Those sheep were given to him. We have sheep. And those sheep given to him, they're bought with a price. I didn't just show up to the house one day and sheep showed up on my front door. I said, well, I guess I'm a shepherd now. I bought them. They're mine. And I do something. I don't just wear a name tag that says shepherd. Kimberly does all the work. I got these sheep and she's the shepherdess. I go to work every day and she's down there moving them and feeding them. But she don't just wear a shirt that says shepherdess. She does something.

The Lord said, I'm the good shepherd. I give my life for the sheep. He lays down his life for the sheep. That's a good shepherd. It says in Hebrews 13, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, what does he do? Through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. Through that act that he laid down his life, we're justified. We've been given the righteousness of God in him. in every good work to do his will, working in you that which was well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. He's the good shepherd that laid down his life. He's the great shepherd that justifies his people, makes them righteous, and he's the chief shepherd.

Peter said in 1 Peter 5, the elders which are among you I exhort, whom I am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory. That should be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which is among you. Tell them about him. Take oversight, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a readied mind, neither being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd, he's going to do something, shall appear, he's coming again. Our Shepherd's coming. He's rolling and raining and protecting us and providing for us right now. And we're going to be with Him. He's coming. When He shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. He's coming. That ought to grab our ears. Not, I'm going to get a crown of glory. What's our crown of glory? Him. Him. Not our glory, it's His glory. We're just sheep. You think of Philip and that eunuch reading Isaiah 53, and all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him, that good shepherd, that great shepherd, that chief shepherd, the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shears is done, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, Who shall declare his generation? He was cut off in the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Look here in verse one again. The Lord is my shepherd, Jehovah-Raya. I shall not want Jehovah-Jireh. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He makes me to lie down. That literal translation is to recline. I thought, I enjoy a recliner. What do you do in a recliner? Rest. Rest is what you do. That's Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our rest. Well, I don't feel like resting. He'll make you. He'll make you. You'll rest in him. Green pastures is where we'll make you rest. Sheep eat grass. That's the Word. Did you know that? Before you become a good keeper of sheep, you need to be a good farmer of grass. Paul told Timothy that. Be ready in season, out of season. What we're feeding on is the Word of God. And it's Christ the Word. It's to give us our daily bread. Christ said, I'm that bread. Give me Christ today. Isn't that a good prayer? He told us to pray that way. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's our very food. He's our rest.

Verse 3, He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in passive righteousness for His namesake. He restores the soul. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thee. The Lord said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. That's what we lost in the garden. We was with the Lord. Now every man goes his own way. It says that throughout scripture many times, Judas went his way and he went his way. The Lord said, I'm the way. We lost truth. The lie, the first thing ever told was coming out of that garden after we've animated the fruit, wasn't it? Been lying ever since, lying to ourselves, lying to God, lying to other people. He is truth. I'm just telling the truth and the lie. Man spiritually died right then and at him. He's been dead ever since. He is lie. And he's the one that heals us, Jehovah Raphael, restores my soul.

The Lord, our shepherd, leads his sheep in paths of righteousness. He's the way, he's the path of righteousness. Jehovah Sikindu, the Lord, our righteousness. And that's our surname. And Jeremiah says, here's the name whereby he shall be called Jehovah Sikindu, the Lord, our righteousness. And then a couple of chapters later, it said, hereby the name she shall be called. Jehovah Sikhinu, the Lord Our Righteousness. Can you believe that? When we got married, Kimberly became a thacker. When Christ said, I'll be a surety, I became Kevin, the Lord Our Righteousness. I took his name and glad to do so.

Why does he do such things? Why would the Lord just Say, these are my sheep. I'm going to lay down my life for these sheep. I'm going to provide everything for these sheep. I'm going to heal these sheep. I'm going to be their righteousness. If it was something in me that made him do that, I'm in trouble. He'll change his mind. I'll ruin it. I'll sour it and spoil it and everything else. It says right there, he restored my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. For his namesake. 30 times in the scripture it says, he says, I did it for my namesake. What a reason to do something. Lord said, I did this for Christ, for His name's sake, for His glory. And He said everything He was going to do. This seems so simple. It's amazing if the Lord reveals it to us. He said everything He's going to do, and then He did it. And He told us He's coming again, and what He's going to do, and that Christ is going to get all the glory. And don't it make you happy that that's what's going to happen?

Verse 4, 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. We're in a valley of the shadow of death right now, ain't we? We're in this world. We're in this body, and it's a good thing to be way down in a valley. It's good. Brother Don said one time, he goes, you know what grows way up high, up 14, 15,000 feet on top of a mountain? Nothing. Nothing grows up there. You just get lightheaded and dizzy. That's the truth. You do. Worse things grow. Where's the soul good? It all comes down low. Low. That's where that green pasture is, right next to that water. Down in the valley, isn't it? That's all this life is. It's just a place the Lord's provided for us. If we know Him, that's okay.

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. We can fear not, because our Shepherd is with us. Thou art with me. You know, that's His name, too. Jehovah Shema, the Lord's present. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. His guidance, his hedging about with that staff and his rod of chastening. Those sons that the Lord loves, he chastens. He does.

What about Jehovah Nissi, the Lord, our banner? Something's got to be evident. Something's got to be a guide on that's proclaimed and on display, right? And this struck me this morning. Look at verse five. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Just imagine being in a war and there's enemies all around. Like whenever David went to Goliath and it's about to start, like war is imminent. And then the Lord says, here's a huge table. I want you to sit down and eat. There's something wonderful to feast on right in the heat of battle. Sit down, get you two or three different things to drink and get you to roll and some butter and put on it. Take your time. Eat dessert when you get done.

What good things do we have to feast on in the midst of battle? The Lord said, this is my body which is broken for you, take and eat. He said, this is my blood which is shed for you, drink. Take, drink. Real simple words. Take it. Drink it. We have Him to feast on. The person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what He's done, but it's who did it. That's preeminent. Who did it? That table set before us, whether it's sun shining or it's cold outside or we're surrounded by enemies. The Lord set a table for me. He makes us remember Him.

In a translation of the Bible, one of the translations for the Lord's Watchman on the walls of Jerusalem is the Lord's Remembrancers. Remembrancers. That's all I do, remember? He said, remember what he said? Remember what he said back here? He makes us remember that, remember him and his body. That's enough daily bread for us. If we get a crumb from the master's table, but he's laid out a feast for us. And our heads are anointed with oil. The shepherd does that. He says, thou anointest my head with oil. The Lord was telling Moses how to mix and make this anointing oil that he was going to put on things in the tabernacle. And he said, whenever you take that oil and you put it on what I tell you to put it on, as soon as it touches it, it's mine. It's sanctified. It's holy. You say, well that's just a candlestick. That's the Lord's candlestick. It's holy. It is. It's for His use.

The Lord sanctifies His people. And I don't have to have an opinion on this. It's His word. Jehovah-im-kadesh. The Lord that sanctifies you. How am I going to do this? You ain't going to do nothing. If you're going to be sanctified, that's His name.

People talk about taking the Lord's name in vain, and we ought not to do that. His name is holy, reverend. But all of His names, if we take it upon ourselves to do it, it's vanity. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. Well, I'll do this. I'll get me a job. You know you won't unless the Lord gives it. Well, you know, I got some remedies, and I can fast or work out, and I can fight cancer, Jehovah-wraith of the Lord that heals. We rely on Him. Well, I've made peace with God. No, you haven't. You're at war with it. Jehovah-shalom God our peace. He makes peace. He's the peacemaker. He's the shepherd.

Goats don't want a shepherd. Did you know that? They'll do anything they can to get away from one. We walk out in the field, them sheep come run to us. They want a treat. They want to eat more grass. Jehovah M. Kadesh, the Lord that sanctifies you. Somebody's trying to sanctify themselves. They're taking His name. And it's vanity. It's vanity. He's the one that does it. He anoints His people with oil.

How are our heads anointed with oil throughout our days? We consider things above. We're called into remembrance. You know, that's not common. To be going about your day and cooking your lunch or being at work and thanking on the Lord. That's not a common thing throughout this world. To know him is a rare thing and it's precious.

Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. My cup runneth over. How does a cup run over? I thought of that song. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows. Loving a savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it would I embrace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. This is my shepherd. These are his names. It's precious to me. I want to hear about it. I want to tell somebody about it. I haven't had the opportunity yet.

Jehovah's Witnesses ain't showed up at my house, but I'm itching. That's probably why not. I'm itching to find one. I say, I'm a Jehovah's Witness. I go, really? I'll witness Jehovah to you. Here's what his word says about him, not what you think. This is who he is and I love him. I pray they do too. Somebody preach to them.

But knowing the Lord my shepherd. Not a shepherd, not the shepherd, Lord my shepherd. Is he your shepherd? I'm fully persuaded of something. Luke verse six. Surely, absolutely positively. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me. all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Spurgeon said this, and I thought it was beautiful. He said, goodness and mercy, those are the Lord's watchdogs. Goodness rides in front of us and provides all things according to the will of our great shepherd looking out for us. And mercy rides close behind, blotting out all sin and all transgression. So we're just with him and no evidence of us anywhere in it and precious. That's my shepherd. Those are his names. I pray everybody loves them, but I'd like to end something about sheep because a shepherd has sheep, right? That's us. I've studied a lot about this and I had a whole bunch of knowledge and the Lord gave me some understanding. One thing, you can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't understand what you're talking about, you don't know. And I've learned some things about sheep.

People say, well, sheep are just dumb, and they're trying everything they can to die. Not our sheep. They trick us. We got to keep them away from the dog food. They don't want to eat the dog food. So we'll go out and feed the dogs, and we'll take them treats. And one of them will turn its head, plump sideways like this, and just look so cute. And you go, hey, little buddy, what are you doing? And two of them sneak back behind you and go eat that dog food. They'll team up on you. They're smart. They eat grass all day. And they eat alfalfa just right out of your hand, and they can get aggressive with it when they're hungry. They need that grass. They want it.

Difficult. Scott Richard used to say, you know, if you had chickens and you give that feed to them, throw it at them, they'll scatter, but if you just put it real easy, they'll come up to you. I've owned a bunch of chickens, and I don't want to go against Scott, but you can, if chickens are hungry, you can throw chicken feed at them, and they'll eat it. They don't care one bit. They'll be tickled, they'll ruffle their feathers a little bit, and they'll keep on eating. Them sheep do, too. They can't get enough of it.

But there's a difference between sheep and goats. Inwardly, they're different. They have a different number of chromosomes. They're not the same species. But outwardly, they look real similar sometimes. And you can't hardly tell them apart, but there's some sure differences between sheep and goats. You spot them first off, I do, by their tails. A sheep's tail hangs down low, and a goat's tail sticks straight up. Proud and strutting around. Look what I know.

And the covering of them on the outside, they're coats. Sheep have wool or fleece, like ours do, and it lasts a long time. And hitting doors, I went up and checked on them a couple days ago in that cold snap. Them sheep come up, run to me, smiling, happy, completely covered, nice. You think they'd be miserable. They're happy. Sheep, goat don't have that. Goats have hair. And they're covering. It goes away just as fast as it comes in. It's falling out as fast as it can grow.

Horns. Goats have sharp, narrow horns, and they can be dangerous to everybody around them, even if they're not being mean. They can poke you. And if the sheep have horns, they're real wide, and they're kind of smooth, and they're not hardly as aggressive. What they eat. A sheep, they like tender plants close to the ground, down low. They enjoy clover and grass that's remained there. Kentucky 31 is what I've been feeding mine this whole time we've had them. But goats like variety. They're real picky. People say goats eat anything. We had goats years ago. Those are the pickiest eaters we ever had. I thought they'd eat Pepsi cans or anything. No, they won't.

Where do they eat? Sheep like to eat down low. Goats like to eat up high. They'll get under high on legs. Stand and get those lofty, high doctrines, won't they? And smell. Goats smell worse than sheep. If you've been around them, they both stink. It ain't no difference to the goats and ain't no difference to the sheep, but the shepherd can tell. I like heirs that don't smell as bad.

I'll save this one for last. Maintenance. To keep up sheep and goats. You know, sheep need protection. And they need care. And they need a regular shearing from a regular skilled shepherd. They do. Or their coat will weigh them down and they'll die. They'll get trapped up in mud and die.

And goats don't require the touch of a shepherd. And really, they prefer not to have one around anyway. So they can go eat and do what they want.

I want my shepherd. I want my shepherd. Not the shepherd of my imagination, not the shepherd of what this world says is. Right here of who he says he is. And all of his names, that's who I want. That's who I want. And if I do, I got him. And I'll be with him forever. And I'll need him forever.

And I want, if I could, I'd have everybody in this commonwealth love him and want him and desire him. And I pray you do too. He's the one thing needful in it.

Let's pray together.