He Guides Me: 020613

I.                   Read Psalm 23

a.       Over the next few weeks we are going to continue to work through this Psalm as a guide for us on how to survive and thrive in the middle.

b.      That is how to hold onto your faith in God and live in a way that changes you and your world for the better.

II.                Ilus: Guy at NIKO

III.             Reread Psalm 23:3b – “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.”

a.       We find another way that God gives us to survive and thrive in the middle in this verse. 

b.      This one is easy to remember: In order to survive and thrive you have to follow your guide.

IV.             Who Should Be Your Guide?

a.       There are a lot of options out there of who could guide you ,but only one that will guide you correctly: Jesus

V.                Why Can We Trust the Guide?

a.       We can trust Him to be the best guide and the guide we should follow because:

                                                              i.      He leads us in order to bring glory to His name, it is His reputation at stake, so he is going to do his very best to guide us

                                                            ii.      He can see the whole picture, when all we see is a small bit.

VI.             How Do We Know Where the Guide is Leading?

a.       This verse tells us he will guide us down paths of righteousness, or the right way.  So the first part of this answer is that we know he is leading us to doing right thing, not wrong.  If someone or something tells us you to do the wrong thing, it isn’t from God

b.      Second, we can know by reading the Bible, it tells us what is right and what is wrong.

c.       Third, we get to know the character of Jesus, and that will help us know how we are supposed to be.  (loving, holy, kind, just, etc…)

VII.          Benefits of Following the Guide?

a.       Avoid unneeded hardship

b.      The best life possible (not the perfect life)

c.       Contentment

d.      Being near to him brings encouragement

e.       Guides us to our destiny

VIII.       Application

a.       Go back to Guy story

b.      Maybe you have strayed from the path and feel like you have been drifting around and need to get back on the path, following God as your guide.

c.       Tonight I want to be Guy for you, whispering in your ear, do you hear the river, because God is right over there and you can reconnect.

d.      I want to invite you to come up front tonight for a time of prayer if you have strayed from the path

e.       I will play a song and if you come up front I want to invite you to do AAA

                                                              i.      Admit you are wrong

                                                            ii.      Ask for forgiveness

                                                          iii.      Agree to a new direction

f.       Invite leaders to come up, and then students.