[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help, you know, God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways. Let's listen in.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Dan, good morning. How are you? Thank you for that. Welcome. It's good to be in the Republic of Texas.
Always good to come back down here. I spent a lot of time in Texas growing up, I think fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade. I lived in East Texas. My dad had a job over here. I'm from Louisiana, so explains a lot right there. But I spent enough time in Texas to get corrected. All right. To learn how to live. Right. So, anyways, I love being back here. Can we just say hello to my wife? We've been married 37 years next month, and she's watching from Colorado. Yep. It's possible to be married for 37 years. Seven years and still like one another.
Anybody out here, Everybody in the room has been Married for over 30 years to one person. We raise your hand out there.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Come on.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: See? It's possible.
Thank the Lord, right? I love that. I love that marriage is still celebrated in the church.
I don't know why I'm off on that tangent, but I just. I get excited talking about Pam. Right. I just think about her, like her and miss her. She's in Colorado where it's. I don't want to tell you the temperature in Colorado right now. Okay. Cause I want you to like me.
You know, God lives there in the summer and he visits here, so it's really, really nice there. I think Pam told me it was 50 degrees when she woke up this morning, so. I know, I know it's coming. It's coming. I promise, around Christmas time. It'll cool off around here, Right?
Yeah. So I want to say something about your pastor, Pastor Tim, and his family.
And I'm not saying this to be polite. I'm saying this. Cause I really mean it. These are good, good people leading your church. You have a great family. Can we honor the Ingrams and what God's doing through them? Glad you got to go on a sabbatical.
I so appreciate. I appreciate good people leading good churches, and I appreciate good friends. And Tim has been a good friend to me. And let me just say, when you find a good friend, that's a gift from the Lord. Isn't that right? And they're hard to find. So I just want to tell you, Pastor Tim, publicly, how much I love you and how much your friendship has meant to me. And I mean that from the depths of my heart. All right, turn to Psalm 23. Okay. Very familiar psalm. Most of you can quote it from start to finish, but I'm gonna show you something about the 23rd Psalm. In fact, I think as we look at the 23rd Psalm, it's a path that most of us are going to live.
Every verse in the 23rd Psalm you're probably going to experience at some point in your life.
And I wanna show this to you, because when David wrote this very pastoral psalm, David was going through a period of his life where he was under attack.
He had been attacked. He was being falsely accused. There were things happening in his life. And when he writes the 23rd Psalm, he maps out the pathway of life for all of us. And the 23rd Psalm starts out like this. Look at these first three verses. The title of the message today is Walking Through a Storm.
Walking through a storm. The 23rd Psalm starts off with some of the most beautiful language in all of the Bible.
The Lord is my shepherd. I mean, isn't that right out. Your blood pressure goes down almost immediately when you begin reading this.
The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. Now, think about springtime of the year, before the bugs come out. You're laying down grass, calm, serene peace.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. There's nothing like the sound of water. If you've been on the beach or near a lake, a river. There's nothing like the sound of water that somehow gets into your soul. He leads me beside quiet waters.
He refreshes my soul. In other words, that's a constant, everyday activity of the Holy Spirit, where he says, I am constantly on time every day, refreshing your soul. He guides me. Listen to this. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. In other words, you're gonna go through a season of your life where every decision is the right one. It just seems like you can't make a mistake.
For some of you that know this, that the church that I pastored for a long time, in the early days, the first 100 days of my time there, we had a gunman come on our campus, opened fire, killed two teenage girls on a Sunday morning. I was the pastor there for 100 days, brand new at the church. And I remember that afternoon, Jack Hayford, the late, legendary Jack Hayford, some of you may know that name. A legend. I mean, just a godly man.
He happened to be a guest speaker for me that day. And he walked over to me. I'll never forget this. He laid hands on me. And I mean, I'm wrecked. The whole church is in chaos. I mean, we just had violence break out on our campus. Bloodshed on our campus. And Jack Hayford lays his hands on me. He's like 6 foot 5.
He's just a big, towering presence. Laid his hands on me and said, brady, you're not going to make a bad decision. For 10 days, it was like a prophetic word over me because he knew that I was gonna have to be. I was about to be thrown into a chaotic moment. And I thought about this passage of Scripture, that he leads us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. There are seasons in your life where you just feel like God's hand is on you, that you see things clearly, things make sense. I was just one of my friends, and my friend said, you know, they're about to go into retirement. He and his wife have planned well for retirement. It looks like they're gonna have a great retirement. His kids live nearby. All of his grandkids live within five miles of their house. And he said, Brady, the first three verses of the 23rd Psalm have finally coming true for me. And listen, some of you are living the first three verses of the 23rd Psalm right now. And don't feel guilty about that. In fact, 10 times a day you should shout back to the Lord. Thank you. There should be a time of gratitude. I'm living in the season of life where things are making sense, where my health is good, my finances are good, my friendships are good, my kids are good. My mother in law has left all of those good things that have happened, all those things that are happening in your life. Listen, if you're in that season, do not feel guilty. Be blessed. Tell the Lord on a regular basis, I am blessed that you are my shepherd. I lack nothing. I'm in green pastures besides still waters. And you are restoring my soul. You're filling me up every single day. That is a good season. In fact, this is the life we all want, right? The first three verses is the life that you're dreaming about. Maybe you're living in it right now.
However, there's a verse four to most of our lives, in fact, you can be sailing along with no problems and no cares in the world. The first three verses make plenty sense to you. And suddenly Verse four happens when you're experiencing that season, you should rejoice and be extremely grateful because life can change quickly. And I want you to notice the abrupt change in the language from Psalm 23. Still waters, quiet souls, green pastures. And then suddenly, verse four. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Wait just a minute. Stop.
What happened to green pastures?
What happened to still waters? What happened to afternoon naps?
I'm suddenly in the dark valley of death, the death valley. What happened? This is how suddenly your life can change, how quickly the reversal of fortune can happen.
And so we, for the last year, my wife and I have been walking through this valley. I mean, we were in the first three verses of the 23rd Psalm for about 15 years.
A good season. Everything was growing, everything was multiplying. Our kids had graduated college and paying their own bills. Thank the Lord, somebody say amen to that. It's like getting a raise when your kids graduate college and go to work. It's amazing. And so Pam and I were empty nesters with three cats. I mean, we were living besides the cats. We were living the first three verses of the 23rd Psalm. And suddenly verse four breaks into our lives.
And a lot of you have gone through that. Some of you are in the valley right now. You walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil. Listen, this past year, I'm not in verse four anymore, but I know what it feels like.
I know exactly the heaviness and the weightiness. You feel like you're never going to leave. You feel like that this place is going to forever define you. But I've come this morning to give you a word.
We walk through the valley, but it is not our home, not your place. It's not going to forever define you. It's not always going to be verse four in your life. And if you staggered in here this morning, if you stumbled into this room this morning, I have good news for you.
It will not always be verse four for you.
Verse five is coming.
The good news is coming. In fact, I want to this. A friend of mine came over and sat probably the first three or four months. When I was walking through the darkest part of the valley, a friend came over to me one day and was sitting on my back porch. And really good guy, real smart guy. He's a guy that reads. Well, he's just a godly, sage advisor to me.
And he looked at me and he said, brady, I Got good news for you. You've already survived the three worst days of your life.
Now, I want you to think about everybody in this room. You've already survived the three worst. Whatever that was.
A bad phone call, a diagnosis, an accident, whatever it was.
You've already survived the three worst days of your life. You're here this morning.
You're among people that love you.
You're here today. The presence of God is in the room with you. Today. You're gonna have. You probably ate breakfast. You're probably gonna eat at least one more meal today, maybe two.
And you're gonna be surrounded by people that care about you, that are gonna check on you, that are gonna love you. Listen, you have survived.
What makes you think the valley is gonna be your home this time?
You've already proven the Lord. Listen, the Lord has already proven to you in the past that he is faithful. What makes you think he's going to stop being faithful at this moment?
He was faithful yesterday. He'll be faithful today, and he's going to be faithful tomorrow. The valley is not your home.
I came all the way from Colorado to tell you that. That verse four will not forever define you.
Let's go to verse five, because this is where it picks up. Now notice green pastures, dark valleys, and then go back to verse five.
This is the rhythm of life. None of us are getting out of life without going through verse four. You will find yourself in verse four one day. But look at verse five. This is where I'm living today, is in verse five.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Let me just stop here. This is what he's saying.
He said, in the presence of the people that accused you, I am going to bless you.
I am going to confound. I am going to confuse your enemies by blessing you unexpectedly. They did not expect you to be blessed. And the Lord's going to bless you while your enemies have to witness your blessings.
Those who accused you, those who betrayed you, those who abandoned you, those who falsely said evil things about you are gonna stand back in amazement and watch God restore what was taken from you.
This is what this is about right now. And listen.
There is a special pain that comes from betrayal of close friends.
Anyone else in the room ever been betrayed by someone that said they loved you? Someone that said they were with you? Someone that put a ring on your finger and said it's forever and always? And now you're sitting here today and they walked away. They betrayed, he said. This is what verse five says.
In the presence of the people who betrayed you, the Lord is going to prove himself faithful to you.
In the presence of people who betrayed you, the Lord is going to show himself faithful. Faithful to you. If you believe that, would you say, amen? This morning he said, you anoint my head with oil. Now, King David remembers a time when he was just a boy, just a young boy. He was out in the pastures tending the sheep of his father, and a prophet showed up. A prophet went out looking for a lost mule and bumped into David, right? He found the king and he anointed him with oil. David remembers that divine moment of the oil being poured on his head. The anointing oil on King David's head, pouring down over him. Something happened in the spiritual realm. The spirit of God came upon David. The anointing to be king came upon David. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. And listen to verse six. And I speak this over you today. Surely your goodness and love will follow me. This is about. This is the language, like a pursuit. Think of a dog chasing a deer, a dog chasing a rabbit. He said, this is the hound of Heaven coming after you, pursuing you, chasing you down.
Fight until you're found. He says, your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He's talking about eternity here. He's talking about heaven. I want you to think about how your life is. All of you that are over 40 years old know exactly what I'm saying.
You have seasons of green pastures.
You have seasons of walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And then you have seasons of looking back and seeing the faithfulness of the Lord all the days of your life. Listen, I've come today to remind you that the valley is not your home, that green pastures are coming back, and that in the presence of your enemies, he is going to bless you and restore back to you everything that was taken.
Now, I want you to go now to a story. Go to Matthew chapter eight with me. I have 15 minutes and 37 seconds, and I am going to share this story with you in less time than that, okay? So bear with me. Matthew, chapter 8, verse 23. Now, this is Jesus with his guys with his disciples. They've had a full day and they're getting into a familiar boat on a familiar lake.
The Sea of Tiberias, if you've ever been there. It's like Toledo Bend, okay? It's not the Gulf, okay? You can see the other side I don't know why they call it even a sea. You can see the other side. It's like 10 miles across. All right? So it's not a very big body of water. But it's dangerous. And the reason it's dangerous, there's mountains on both sides of this river or this lake. And winds can come down off that mountain and create pretty epic storms. I've been on that. I've been on it many times.
And they just opened a museum. If you ever get to go to Israel at the Sea of Tiberias, they just opened a museum with a boat from Jesus time that they've unearthed. And the sides of the boat are like 4ft tall. So it's not a deep boat. And it's made of wood, so it's not fiberglass. Okay. There's no radar on it, there's no seat cushions on it. It is a wooden boat, very rustic, and that's what they're in. But these are rugged men. These are fishermen. These are men that had been on that sea many, many times. They had gone through many, many storms.
Something about this storm scared them.
And I think the reason this storm scared them is cause it was a demonic storm. There was something spiritual in this storm. So listen to this. He got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Verse 23.
Suddenly, would you say that word with me? Suddenly?
Remember the 23rd Psalm, green pastures, verse three. And then suddenly you're in the valley of the shadow of death. And this is how life comes at you sometimes. They're in a boat, he's with his friends. They're tired, they've had a great day. And suddenly a furious storm came up over the lake. So as the waves swept over the boat, and I love this next phrase, Jesus was sleeping.
You know why he was not asleep? Because he wasn't concerned. He was asleep because he wasn't afraid.
And listen, don't take the absence of the presence of. You may not feel the presence of Jesus. Don't take that as a lack of concern about you. Jesus is concerned for you. He's just not scared of what's happening to you.
You can only sleep in the bottom of this boat in a storm if you are certain of your safety.
And the reason Jesus was asleep was cause he was certain of his safety. The disciples went and woke him, saying, lord, save us, we're going to drown.
Can you imagine Jesus going, you know, I did not leave the celestial palaces of heaven born of a virgin. I've lived 30 years of a sinless life to Drown for the sins of mankind.
Guys, I've told you how all this is going to happen.
I'm going back to Jerusalem. They're going to arrest me. I'm gonna be falsely accused. I didn't come here to drown in the Sea of Galilee.
Would you please take a deep breath? And he replied, you of little faith.
Why are you so afraid? Now listen. He wasn't minimizing their fear. Cause the fear was real.
And Jesus is not here telling you that your fear is that you shouldn't be afraid at times, anxious. He's not making fun of your mental health. What he's saying is, remember who's in the boat with you this morning. Can I remind you who's in the boat with you?
Can I remind you that Jesus is with you? He's in front of you, behind you, above you, and below you. Jesus is standing next to you right now in the valley of the shadow of death. You will fear no evil. Why? Because my ride, my staff are right there to protect you.
I'm in the boat. He's not left you. He's not abandoned you. And he said he got up and he rebuked the winds and the waves. Listen to this. And it was completely calm.
Now, yesterday morning, I was with my mom. My mom lives in Shelby county, on Toledo Bend. She lives right on the edge of the water. So I woke up yesterday morning, and the water on Toledo Bend yesterday was just completely calm, like a glass. So in the book of Revelation, when John sees the throne room of heaven, you know how he described it? He says, surrounding the throne was like a sea of glass, completely calm water. So when Jesus says, peace be still, and the winds completely obeyed him, he's saying, let me give you a picture of what's happening in heaven right now. There's not chaos. There's no confusion in heaven. There's no anxiety around the throne of God. He says, around the throne of God right now, as I'm speaking around the throne of God right Now, there are 24 angels saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. But the atmosphere around the throne is completely calm, like a sea of glass. Jesus gets up and rebukes the waves and shows them, says, the kingdom of heaven is like this. Peace be still.
And the waters were calm around him. It says the men were amazed. And they asked, what kind of man is this? Who is this guy?
He says, even the winds and the waves obey him. Can I just point out something?
The winds and the waves that are coming against you, they obey him too.
And I Think a lot of times we walk through storms that we don't have to walk through because we're not asking Jesus to calm them.
And I want to encourage you to take authority. You have divine authority in the name of Jesus Christ to calm the storms in your life. You walk into your home and it feels like chaos. You have the ability and the authority through Jesus to speak to that chaos. And it will become you walk into your work and if there's a chaos and confusion at your work, the winds and waves still obey Jesus.
The winds and the storms of life still have to obey Jesus. And I think a lot of Christians are walking through storms that they actually could calm if they would just pray in Jesus name.
Pray in Jesus name. This storm. Be still this chaos. Be still this confusion. Come back to order in Jesus name. The winds and the waves still obey.
Amen. Do you agree with that?
All right. Two things I want to share with you before I close. And I have nine minutes and six seconds and I will be through before that time. Hang in here with me, okay? They've turned red now. The numbers have turned red.
So that means it's serious.
Two things that I want to share with you. Number one, Jesus is not surprised by your storm today.
He's not surprised.
Do you know that everything that's happening to you right now has happened to somebody else before?
Just remind yourself everything that's happening to you right now has happened to someone else that Jesus loves.
And Jesus was right there with them and he walked them through it. He got them to the other side. He got them to verse five, and he's gonna get you through verse four and get you to verse five too.
He's gonna take you by the hand if you'll allow Him. And he's gonna walk you to the other side. He's not gonna leave you. He's not gone anywhere. In fact, Jesus was built for the storm. Jesus was built for the tomb. He overcame death, hell in the grave. His whole purpose was to go to the cross and and die and be resurrected. Listen, if Jesus went to the cross, died, and was resurrected, what's happening to you is not a problem for him.
Can we just say that out loud more and more often as Christ followers? If Jesus rose from the grave, what's happening to me is not a problem for him.
If you'll just say that out loud about a dozen times.
If Jesus rose from the grave, did he rise from the grave or not?
Yes.
Then if he did, if that's true, then nothing that's happening to Me is impossible for him.
He's got plenty of ability to overcome whatever's going on in my life because of what he overcame in his own tomb.
That is really good news to every Christ follower. Here's the second thing. You're not going to drown.
Then the water may be right here, right now.
It may be right there. But I promise you, you will not drown.
However, that's dependent on one thing.
That's you gotta put your eyes on Jesus.
You gotta fix your eyes on him. If you're hoping for someone else to rescue you, you may drown.
But if your hope is in Christ Jesus, you will not drown.
I didn't say you wouldn't walk through a storm. I. I didn't say that life was always gonna be joyful. I did not promise you a perpetual Disney experience. But I can promise you one thing. If you're following Jesus, you will not drown.
He is going to come alongside you. He's going to walk you through it. You're gonna walk through the valley, but you're gonna get to the other side. That is a promise from the Lord. That's what David wrote in the 23rd Psalm. That's why Matthew 8. These stories of calming the storms are important. The said Jesus, we're about to drown. He goes, no, you're not.
Not one disciple drowned in the entire life of Jesus on the planet. Not one of his disciples ever drowned in the Sea of Galilee. And they were out there all the time.
And I just wanna encourage you today that the Lord is faithful to you. That's a very simple message I brought today. He's got you by the hand. He's gonna lead you to the other side. But this morning, there's some of you in the room, maybe some of you watching online, that you've never said yes to Jesus.
You know about Jesus. You like Jesus. You like hearing stories about Jesus.
But have you ever just surrendered your life? I remember in August, my senior year of college, I was in a little red Chevrolet pickup. I just dropped off Pam from a date.
And the Holy Spirit had been wrestling with me on a Saturday night. It was after midnight on a backcountry road in North Louisiana. The Holy Spirit came into the cab of my pickup truck.
So much so that I had to pull over.
And it was that moment where the Lord confronted me and said, brady, I want your life. I want you. I'm pursuing you like the hound of heaven.
I knew I needed him. I was about to get married. I knew I wasn't ready for that.
And I gave my Life to Christ that night. It was an epic decision.
In fact, the next morning. This is a true story. My mom and I were just talking about this. The next morning, I was in the kitchen. That was a Saturday night. It was Sunday morning. And mom knew something was wrong because when she got up, I was up already up on Sunday morning.
And she looked at me and she said, something's different about you.
I said, well. And I told her what had happened the night before. There was a physical difference in my face and my countenance the next day because Jesus had taken over.
And listen, I'm inviting you into that today. I wanna pray. In just a moment, I'm gonna pray a super simple prayer and you're gonna say, pastor Brady, this is really, really a simple prayer. You know, the reason it's simple is because Jesus has already done the complicated thing.
He's already done the hard work. He's not making this difficult for you. The Bible says if you just have faith and believe, you call upon, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It's that simple.
So I'm gonna pray this prayer. And again, if you're in the room, if you're watching online, if you find yourself praying this prayer with me, I just believe a miracle's about to happen in your life as well. You're gonna walk through this storm because he's gonna come alongside you in a way you've never known him before.
Let's pray together. Father in heaven, I thank you today for the Holy Spirit that's in this room, the Holy Spirit that's moving in this church.
I feel it, I know it.
And I'm asking today, Lord, for everyone in the room, all those watching online, if they've never said yes to following Jesus, I pray they pray this prayer with me. Father in heaven, I need a savior. I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I've tried, but, Lord, I need Jesus today. I call upon the name of the Lord. I confess that Jesus is Lord, forgive me of my sins, cleanse my heart and mind, and fill me with the Holy Spirit and help me follow you all the days of my life.
Thank you for salvation that comes in Jesus alone, and I receive it today.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen and amen.
God bless you guys. I love what's happening here. Pastor Tim, thank you for having me. God bless you guys.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: Well, show your love. One more time for Pastor Brady. Boyd Village Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Such an honor to have you here. What a fantastic message. Go ahead and stand to your feet, if you would. As we prepare to dismiss today, I'm going to invite our altar ministry team to step forward. We've got some. Some of our elders are out, so we're filling in the spots. But we believe that if you need prayer, that the God of the impossible, the God that still does miracles, he still hears prayers. And so we've gathered some prayer warriors here. And if you're in a place in your life, in your marriage, in your family, in your health, that you would say, I need some prayer. I wish somebody would pray for me. Then these people are going to be remaining right here as the service ends to be available to pray for you. Also want to remind you, starting next week, we've got some new things happening and I'm excited to be back in the pulpit. Can't wait, can't wait to share with you some of the things that the Lord's put on my heart. But until then, I'm going to bless you, pray for you, and then dismiss you on with the rest of your week. So let me pray for you, Father. I thank you for my friends. I thank you for the word that we've just heard. I thank you, Lord, for what you've implanted inside of our spirit. I pray that it would bear good fruit, that would continue, Lord, to teach us and to. To preach to us, to correct us, to show us the way.
I pray that your word would produce fantastic things in the lives of my friends. Would you bless their businesses, bless their marriages, bless their homes, bless their personal discipline, their quiet times with you, Lord? Would you bless them as they travel, as they go, as they minister, as they work, as they sleep, Lord, as they go throughout their day? Would you put your hand of blessing upon them? And I ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus. And together we all said Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome week.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayers that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv or you can check out our
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We appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life.
[00:29:52] Speaker C: Life.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
