Text: Psalm 23
Title: God’s Campaign Promises
Introduction
As all of us know this year is a presidential election year and there are several candidates trying to become the One chosen to lead us.
One way every candidate tries to win our vote is with campaign promises…
This is what I promise to do if I’m elected as your leader
-I promise to create more jobs…
-I promise to reduce the deficit…
-I promise to solve the housing crisis
Well Psalm 23 is like a list of campaign promises from God
Here we have a list of things God promises to do for those who allow Him to be their leader/shepherd
***And Unlike most politicians- God always keeps his campaign promises
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside quite waters
He restores my soul
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.
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.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
I count a total of 12 campaign promises from God in Psalm 23
Psalms 23 starts with the campaign promise “I shall not be in want”
Psalm 23 ends with the campaign promise “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
So notice that God’s campaign promises are for both this life and for the life to come
**Because God is not limited to at most 2 terms in office
God is God now and forever!
God’s campaign promises are promises that God makes to everyone…
But only those who…like David …can with confidence say …
“The Lord is my shepherd” can ever hope to experience all 12 of God’s campaign promises.
But the Lord is my shepherd and I’ve yet to experience any of God’s campaign promises…
You need to question if the Lord really is your shepherd.
Because God never breaks any of his campaign promises
The truth is…
We like to give ourselves the job of president and we like to give God the job of vice president.
God can’t fulfill his campaign promises to us if we make him vice president in our lives.
For example look at Campaign promise #1 You shall not be in want
“The lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. (v1)
I shall not be in want if the Lord is my shepherd
Psalm 34:9-10 “For those who fear him lack nothing…those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Psalm 84:11 “No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is
blameless.”
Psalm 107:9 “For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things”
God knows every person in the world wants a better future.
Nobody ever wakes up and says to themselves “I really hope today is no where near as good as yesterday.”
The only way we can be better off today than we ever were yesterday is to let God be in control/be our shepherd.
That’s the only way God can fulfill his 12 campaign promises in our lives.
How are all these campaign promises going to get paid for?
In the world campaign promises are paid for by raising taxes
God pays for his campaign promises by raising Jesus from the dead.
We have been given everything we could want in the resurrected Christ!
God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Phil. 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
But to give us what we want we first must give God what He wants
We have to give over control of our lives to God
Illustration: Problems with the Church computer. Dave can from his office control the mouse and access the computer
And Psalm 23 tells us how God makes his campaign promises happen
**Politicians at best are only guessing
For example God has to first lead us to green pastures and to quite waters.
Definition of green pastures and quite waters = all the different places where we get to know God better
Church is to be for us a green pasture, Sunday school is to be for us a green pasture, small groups is to be for us a green pasture
Christian radio…Christian cds…
Any place or situation where we get to know God better is a green pasture
And we also need the quite waters…
Personal bible study or times of private prayer are like places of quite waters.
God makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside quite waters for a purpose
God wants to restore my soul.
Campaign promise #4 He restores my soul
God restores my soul in the green pastures and places of quite waters.
How does God restore my soul? What is the process like?
Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul.
He restores my soul through the applied word of God
Psalm 1:2-3
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
The word of God not only restores my soul…
It guides me in paths of righteousness for his name sake. (campaign promise #5)
The word is a lamp onto my feet and a light unto my path.
Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil
Why? God’s word says He is with me!
“I will never leave you or forsake you.”
And God’s word comforts me.
Your rod and your staff they comfort me…
The question might be asked
Why do we have to go through the valley of the shadow of death?
Why would God bring it up?
Because God does not want us to think that the Christian life is a life of ease…a life without challenges…
God deals in reality…
The reality is that life is hard
We can’t always be on the mountain top
Life is also full of valleys…
Places and situations we would rather not go through
There are things in our lives that need to die.
But here is our hope…
There are better things in store for us when we get to climb out of the valley
For one
God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies
Secondly
You anoint my head with oil
Thirdly
My cup overflows
These promises are all meant to encourage us to keep trusting in God even when we don’t see Him at work
He works all things out for his good.
So that like David we will look back one day and say
“Surely goodness and love followed me all the days of my life.”
And as we also look forward to
One day dwelling in the house of the Lord in heaven forever
Conclusion
We don’t have to wait till election day to receive the campaign promises of God
We can begin to experience them from today
Prayer: God I want you to lead me. I repent of voting for the opposition. You are the only one who can change my situation.
