Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for ever.
28 sermons cite this verse
… Leaves me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He ain't delinquent with child support. Anybody ever had a child support payment? Child support payment. No weapon formed against you can prosper. Child support payment. What they meant for evil, God turns for good. Child support payments. Oh my God. And so Jesus says, when you know God, is going to be on time with child support payments. You better live every day in your bag. In your bag. I'm in my bag, y'all. I'm in my bag. That's the culture. Y'all know that when you're in your bag, it means you're in a zone. Stuff is happening. And you're doing stuff even beyond your own capacity. And you recognize you're in your bag. And somebody came here today, And I'm simply trying to say if God takes care of your child support payments, then you trust God and watch God put you in your bag. …
… carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them. Reminds me of surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. The Lord's ark followed them. The Lord's ark followed them. When they stepped, God stepped. When they moved, God moved. And the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priest who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. So they're following God. God is following them. He's got you covered from every side. I thought you would shout about that. He's got you covered from every side. So anything trying to sneak up behind you and get you, it can't surprise attack God because he sovereignly got you covered from every side. And anything that's in front of you that you're worried about, God's got you covered on every side. More about that in a moment. but Joshua had commanded verse 10 the army do not give a war cry do not raise your voices do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout then shout so he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city circling it once then the army returned to camp and spent the night there Joshua got up early the next morning and the priest took up the ark of the Lord the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. …
… Now, in our last session, we came to the last verse, which goes like this. Psalm 23, verse 6. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And, and he's got this little connector word, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now friends, this last sentence is the understatement of the millennium. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. To go through 11 pictures of the goodness of God, he's gonna help you rest when you're stressed out. He's gonna help you when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He will anoint your head with oil when you need healing. And he will overflow your cup. And all of the metaphors we looked at how God is good to us in life. And then at the end he says, oh and by the way, it just doesn't end here on earth. God's gonna be good to you even after you die. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. …
… It means you're not focused on the last verse of Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It's the antidote to the three biggest fears about the future. You see, really, you have a choice. You don't get to choose what's going to happen to you the rest of your life. You don't. But you do get to choose how you respond. You can face the future as a cynic, as a critic, as a pessimist, as a doubter. You can face the future experiencing the worst and expecting the worst. You can face it being ungrateful. You can face it being stingy. you can face your future being ungracious to other people and you can live for the glory of yourself. Or you can face the future with gratitude and generosity and graciousness and the glory of God. Which one do you think will make you happier? Which one do you think will make you more successful? …
… God's glory is waiting for me. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's heaven. Now if you're taking notes, circle that little word and. Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's the little word that connects today with tomorrow. even after you've lived a life of blessing here on earth it's not the end friends this psalm is building to a crescendo I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever that's a big ending that's a big ending that means I don't have to fear death and that's the number one fear people have because death is not the end It's a transition. It's a transfer. We're going to heaven. God saves the best for last. If you love and know Jesus, if the Lord is your shepherd, it just gets better and better because even if I have a tough life here on earth, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever where there is no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more sin, no more sickness, no more sadness, no more problems, no more pain, no more pressure. …
… You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now I want you to notice first that this psalm begins and ends with the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. And it ends with, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This psalm is all about God. It's all about his goodness to you. If you missed any in this series, I would encourage you to go back and listen to the 12 things that God has said he wants to do for you because he is a good God. Now, today we look at this last verse. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. That's a promise. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's heaven. That's future. Now, any time you start worrying, you need to remember the last verse of Psalm 23. …
… If these people like me, no, you need to add the surely you have to be convinced David said in psalm 23 surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life He was saying I am confident that good things are coming. I am confident that this situation is turning around It's very powerful when you add the surely to what you're believing for Thoughts will tell you that you'll never get well. You saw the medical report. Surely. Oh lord. You will heal me Surely. Oh lord. Good health is on the way You'll never get out of debt. Surely I will lend and not borrow You'll always struggle with that bad habit. Surely I will break this addiction Surely freedom is coming. Surely I will accomplish my dreams Surely I will set a new standard for my family Well, how can you say that? None of the circumstances look like it's going to happen Yes, but i'm not moved by my circumstances. I'm moved by what god promised. He said surely he will bless me Surely he will surround me with his favor What you're up against may look too big. You don't see how it could work out You could overflow with worry Overflow with doubt overflow with fear try a new approach start overflowing with hope Start adding some surelies to what you're believing for Start showing god that you're absolutely convinced when you have this surely mentality You're going to see some surelies come to pass …
… and you anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Thank you. Now there are a lot of metaphors in this passage. David is a shepherd and he's using the shepherd motif, talking about all the ways that God wants to bless your life. And today I want us to focus on the meaning of verse 4, which is this phrase, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Now what in the world does that mean? Your rod and your staff. These are clearly two kinds of sticks. How in the world can they bring comfort to your life? How does that bring comfort to you at all? What in the world does this mean? It raises all kinds of questions. And of all the verses in Psalm 23, this little phrase, your rod and your staff comfort me, requires the most explanation. I mean, what is a rod and what is a staff? …
… Next verse, Psalm 23, you know this, verse 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. These are the things of God. Next verse is Psalm 25, verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he teaches sinners in the way. That's exactly what we're talking about. When God invites us up on this path to journey with him, he doesn't tell you to clean up your act and get yourself really, really presentable and then come on up. No, he's simply asking you to repent and come to him. He will restore that relationship, and now you walk with him, and all along the way, he's working in your life. It's a wonderful way to live. Technically, it's the only way to live. Next verse. Psalm 34 verse 8. O taste and see that the Lord is what? Good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Why should you trust in the Lord? Because he is good. Next verse. Psalm 145 verse 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. That's a great promise to hang on to. …
… He restores my soul. goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And so if God gives you yes, no option, and you say yes, you're not just saying yes to what you want, but you're saying yes to trusting him. He is good. Remember week one, we started with this verse. I wanna look at it again. God says this, I'll instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. This is God. Here's what he says to you. I will instruct you. He'll show you the next step. I will instruct you. I will teach you the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Sometimes it's supernatural writing on the wall. A lot of times it's open doors, closed doors, frustrated plans and everyday choices. And so my plea to you as a person of faith who wants to follow Jesus, just take the next step. …
… He prepares a table before me in the presence of Donald Trump. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I said what I said. You the first day. I've got loyalty. I've got royalty in my DNA. Hey, hey, and I'm so glad Jesus lifted me singing glory. Hallelujah. Jesus lifted me. Satan had me down, but Jesus. lifted me singing glorious All glory. Hallelujah. Jesus. Y'all know I don't normally do this, but look at your neighbor right quick. Give him a high five and say, you're the birthday. Hallelujah.
… And I love how Psalm 23 ends. It ends saying, surely goodness and mercy will follow me on Tuesday. it will follow me when I'm good and right with God. It will follow me when I've tithed. It will follow me when I've read my Bible seven days in a week. No, it says surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Give him some praise today. Come on, Zoe. give him some praise and some thankfulness and gratitude. We serve a going God, a God who is after you, a God who's pursued you, a God who's not afraid of your sin, a God who's not afraid of the mistakes, a God who's not afraid of your past, a God who is actively pursuing you, a God who is active. He's not passive. Let's see how they do this week. Let's see what, let's see how they, how they give this week. Let's see their church attendance. Let's see their serving this week. Let's see how they love their family this week. …
God of mercy, as we enter into Lent, may your spirit guide us to places we might not necessarily want to go. We turn to you because you, O Lord, have the words of life. Help us to hear what you have to say and grant us the courage to live it out. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. repent and thou shall be saved. Is that what you came here to hear today? I mean, is life going well with you? When you look out at the world, is it as it should be? Do you find yourself crying out to God in fear or because of injustice? Do you hope that God would finally come and fix all that is broken? You wonder, when will the day of the Lord get here so that we can have peace and justice for all? be careful what you wish for the prophet Joel proclaims that the day of the Lord is coming and is near however he goes on to describe the day as one of darkness and gloom on that day there will be a great and powerful army but it is not to bring liberation and freedom to the oppressed. …
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truths that are contained in this psalm, this powerful and simple declaration of who you are. Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes today to see just how you want us to enjoy you, to interact with you, and to be led by you. I pray that you would speak through me and touch lives and change lives today. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. We've titled this message, hold on wait for it a rested development that's very important the space is very important a rested development some of you heathens are like oh arrested development like the tv show and you could quote bees and banana stands and all of that not today not today it's a rested development. And we came up with this title because of just how God wants to work in your life. It's so easy to think it's about you and incumbent upon you to do the things that would make you a better disciple or follower of God. And in this scripture, we learn that it isn't about you at all. In fact, here's the subtitle, it's a walk in the park. …
… you will prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies you will anoint my head with oil and my cup will overflow goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life you will restore my soul wait a minute wait a minute we claim those promises but don't realize the context the context is in Psalm 23 and 1 where it says the Lord is my I wish somebody would catch it to say the Lord is my shepherd is to confess that I am a nomad To say the Lord is my shepherd is to say I am bought with a price. My life is not my own. I have a leader. I have a guide. That's why he says you will lead me in the path of righteousness for my name's sake. So we claim the promise without the posture. You can't claim goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life without claiming that the Lord is your shepherd. …
… My cup runs over. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And I want one more verse. And it's Isaiah 43. when you pass through, not if you pass through, I'm not telling you you won't go through the flood. I will be with you. See the comma? When you go through it, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. And when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. Nor shall the flame scorch you. I love this. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia, saving in your place. I love this part of this verse. Since you were precious in my sight. Somebody really needs to hear that today at our campuses watching. since you were precious in my sight, you have been honored and I have loved you. …
Because you have been following them around this week. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Thank you for speaking, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And In the Bible, the kinds of conversations we get to hear are really crazy if you step back and think about it. To get to hear Elisha, one of the greatest prophets God ever made as he is dealing with the situation that is beyond his control and how he advises his young servant, is really an incredible masterclass for us in our minds. I think it's amazing in this conversation how the servant wakes up and sees something that is so much bigger than him, and the prophet essentially says, don't make it bigger than it is. In every marriage, there's one person who makes things bigger than they are. In my marriage… Let me go ahead and give you a framework for my marriage. Did y'all see the movie Inside Out? Did y'all see Inside Out 2? …
… Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What a powerful phrase. I will fear no evil. Listen, I'm telling you, I've been shaken up this week. I'm not Superman. but I'm coming through this week saying even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. I certainly don't fear death, not one shred of fear of death, but I want to come through these days and say, and I don't fear evil, and I'm staring right at it. I know that this spiritual war is real. but I don't fear it because you are with me. Help me, God, not to be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, to present my request to you so that your peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard my heart and guard my mind in Christ Jesus. Prayer is posture. Prayer is an essential component of our victory. …
… you've prepared a banqueting table in the presence of my enemies my cup overflows surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life amen so he's called you Come on, let's thank God that he's called us. He's given us purpose. The second thing is that wrestling, unfortunately, wrestling is the language of transformation. it's the language transformation in your life. It only happens through the wrestling. It only happens through God working in that inner struggle with you in your life. Wrestling is the language of transformation. Look at it here in Genesis 24. So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak, till daybreak. Jacob's struggle ultimately came down to his identity, being second born, being behind his brother Esau, being overlooked. And so he took matters into his own hands his whole life and he schemed and he used desperation and deception to try and get what he could get because he was overlooked. He didn't like his identity. …
… My cup runneth over Surely, goodness and mercy Will follow me all the days of my life If you see something, say something And he will supply all of my needs According to his riches in glory If you see something, say something In the time of trouble, He will hide me If you see something, say something We've been made in door for a night But you're joy is coming in the morning if you see something say something look at me I'm a testimony I didn't make it on my own somebody prayed for me If you see something, my eyes have seen The glory of the coming of the Lord If you see something You are somebody's child. Can you imagine that God is going to introduce you by using your mother? You just miss what I just said. God is going to introduce you to the world by your mother's testimony. that you came through something because there's an assignment over your life something that you are assigned to do and your mother carried you to the point where God had to say I'll take it from here come on I can't hear nobody in here I want you to lift up that hand. …
… of the shepherd. I'll say more about that when I look at the second perspective. thirdly there's the shepherd's promise what's the promise surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever in other words surely you will cause goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life not i will achieve i will attain i will acquire i will earn but they will follow me as spurgeon says like two bodyguards walking behind you for the remainder of your days so here are the three movements. And the first perspective is to look at these three movements from the perspective of the shepherd. But if you flip it on its other end and look at these same three movements from the perspective of the sheep, you see something quite different. There are three I statements. I shall not want, I will fear no evil, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord. …
… walk straight. They walk in zigzags. And I just want to tell you that when you lean into character, the favor of God is going to follow you. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Amen to that? Look at Daniel chapter one. This is Daniel, a powerful man of God. This is where we get our 21 days of prayer and fasting right here. Daniel chapter one, verse eight. But Daniel resolved. See, in other words, I like that word resolved because you don't fall into character. Character doesn't just happen. You got to make a decision to live in God's path. So Daniel resolved. I'm praying over you today. You get some resolve. In other words, don't live wishy-washy. I wonder if I'm going to go to Coachella. No, no, you got to make, go to Stagecoach. Come on, somebody. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. A few people are like, it's right. that's right that's right get your truck we're gonna go down there we're gonna get your dog too God, that was so fun. …
… I used to wonder now I can say surely I used to have questions now I can say surely my faith was depleted But now I can say surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life Somebody ought to thank God for your seasons of disorientation Because they taught you how to trust God like you've never trusted him before Go on and take a few seconds and thank God for your challenges Thank God for your tears the songwriter said if I never had a problem I wouldn't know he could solve them and that's what's going on in the text today with the author behind this text is David and to appreciate Psalm 3 up to appreciate this content you've got to understand the context and to appreciate what David is wrestling with the disorientation that David is dealing with in this text you got to go back and 2nd Samuel chapter 15 through chapter 18 because here's what's happened let me drop it real low so you can pick it up light here's what happened his son who he gave birth to is trying to take the kingdom and his son is trying to usurp the kingdom David was anointed to be king of Israel David was appointed to be king of Israel and now his son by the name of Absalom is getting people together gathering the troops together to try to overtake the kingdom the person he gave life to is trying to take his life the person that he helped is trying to hurt him the person that he lost sleep …
… My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So, Lord, back that weak enemy up, up off me, for Satan's power is limited. but your power is immeasurable in Jesus' name, in Jesus' mighty name. Family, it works. The principle works. In Jesus' name, it works. And speaking of Jesus, yes, speaking of the Son of God, you know I've introduced you to the principle of the divine, however. Now let me leave you by introducing you to the person. Because the divine, however, is not simply a principle. The divine, however, is also a person. And that person's name is Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus embodies every component in this principle. He is the divine, however. And the divine, however, is him. You see, it may be hard to see it now, but let's find it. You see, the praise is in him. Because upon his birth, the angels gathered in a multitude and shouted glory to God in the highest. …
… of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So first of all, as we look at verse 1, we see what I'm going to call the sovereign God, Jehovah, the great, great, great I Am, the one who rules the universe. Now notice in contradistinction what David is saying, the great Jehovah is my shepherd. Now we move from the sovereign to the shepherd. Learn this, that the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament. When we say Jehovah, we speak of his deity. But when we say shepherd, we speak of his humanity. In John chapter 10, the Lord Jesus unlocked the mystery of the 23rd Psalm when he said, I am the good shepherd. You want to know who David was talking about? I am the good shepherd. The sovereign, the shepherd. His deity, his humanity. …
… My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. A beautiful psalm. We're only going to look at the first verse. And it will be a marvel really if we even touch on the truth that's in the first verse. We could take every word in the first verse and just emphasize each word. The Lord. Not a Lord, but the Lord. When David wrote this, the Egyptians had 360 primary gods, one for every day of the week. The Canaanites, in whose land the Israeli came to live, they had many gods. But David knew there is but one God, the Lord. We could put the emphasis on the word Lord, the great sovereign, the eternal God, the one who rules over all. The Lord is. We could put an emphasis on the word is. When I was in Florida about 20 years ago I heard the great preacher S.M. Lockridge preach on the Lordship of Christ. …
… the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou noughtest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness or mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Well, what I'd like to do is I'd like for us to look at this passage of Scripture in the light of that whole idea that God is a caring God, that He cares for us, and He cares for every single detail of our life. There's not anything about you that is not important in the eyes of God. There's nothing about you that He will neglect, nothing He's going to overlook. He is indeed a caring shepherd. Now, let's begin in this first verse when He says, the Lord is my shepherd. What I'd like for you to do is to look at it in this light. What kind of shepherd is he? This is the kind he is. He is a personal shepherd. Look at this. …
… My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness or mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now, how many times have you read that passage of Scripture? Where did you usually stop when it says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil? Well, what about this table? And what about the anointing of my head? And what about goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life? This passage of Scripture is God's psalm to us, showing us and demonstrating to us how much He cares for us. It's very difficult for us to feel, to sense, to be aware, and to experience, and to walk in the very spirit of realizing that God has said, I'm your shepherd, and I'm going to treat you like a shepherd treats sheep. Now, I want you to turn, if you will, to John the 10th chapter. because in John the 10th chapter, you and I will see very clearly who the good shepherd is. God, the father, God, the son, God, the Holy Spirit. Who is the good shepherd? Look at this, if you will. …