Get Ready For What's Coming

All right, so today, my beloveds, we are, by the grace of the Lord, we may be able to finish Psalm 23. So today we'll be taking the last two verses of Psalm 23, which are verses five and six. So Psalm 23, verses five and six.

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. And all glory be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, forever and ever, amen. All right, wonderful.

Last week, we took verse four, and we went into a lot of depth and detail in relation to verse four, where verse four says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. That was the end of verse four, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And we said the rod and the staff put together, they give you the sign of the cross.

So the rod and the staff is the cross of the Lord Jesus, which he said to us, if you wish to be my disciple, you need, you must carry the cross and follow me every day. If you wish to be my disciple, you need to carry, you must carry my cross and follow me every day. And you'll find that in Luke 9, 23.

So now, verse four ends with, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Your cross comforts me. Verse five, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Verse five begins with the word, you, meaning the Lord.

It is you Lord, who prepares the table before me. There is no one else that does this job or this kind of a deed or work, except you Lord. You are the one who is preparing this table before me.

Now, the question is, how was this table prepared? And what made this table being prepared? How was this table prepared? And what made it being prepared? The answer is the last part of verse four, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. So the rod and the staff put together is the cross. So it is the holy cross that made this table ready before me.

Through the cross, you Lord prepared a table before me. Now, which one is this table? What is King David alluding to here when he's referring to the table by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? It is the table here is the holy altar. That is the table you Lord have prepared for me or before me.

It is your holy cross that made this table, the holy altar ready before me. And when we refer to the holy altar, what are we referring to? The body and the blood of Christ. So in other words, the Lord is saying, I have prepared my body and my blood on my table, which is the holy altar before you, before you.

And when I prepared that table before you, in the presence of who? Your enemies. Your enemies. So the Lord through the holy cross, through Golgotha, through Calvary, prepared the table, the altar, and on the altar, he put his body and blood.

He prepared it before me in the presence of my enemies. Now, the word enemies is plural. So it looks like there is more than one enemy that is against me.

Well, how many enemies do we have? Or do I have? Or every single one of us has? How many enemies? Three, my beloved. First, the first enemy and the most powerful of all is me. I am the number one enemy to my own self.

Second most powerful enemy, Satan. Third and least of all enemies is the world. These are the enemies every single human being faces throughout their life's journey on earth.

The first and the most powerful enemy is you to yourself. Secondly, Satan. Thirdly and least of all is the world.

These are the enemies where the Lord prepared his table before me in the presence of my enemies, me, Satan, and the world. Well, when it comes to me as my own enemy, I am an internal enemy, invisible but tangible. I am an internal enemy to myself.

I am invisible but tangible. Satan is an external enemy. He is intangible but palpable or noticeable.

He is intangible, he can't grasp any spirit. He is intangible but palpable or noticeable. And the world is tangible and noticeable.

I'll say that again. When it comes to me as the enemy, I am an internal enemy. I am invisible but tangible.

Satan is an external enemy. So I am an enemy to myself internally. Satan is an enemy to me externally.

He is intangible but noticeable. And the world is tangible and noticeable at the same time. Now, me as an enemy, because of my weaknesses, because of my foolishnesses, because of my stubbornness, I become my own enemy.

I say to you, come to church, no. I say to you, read the Holy Bible, no. I say to you, pray, no.

I say to you, do some good deeds, no. Being stubborn only hurts you, nobody else. At the end, you are becoming your own enemy by being stubborn and listening to your own weaknesses, my beloved.

You are becoming your own enemy. Satan is our enemy. He is brilliant at putting thoughts, ideas in our heads.

What did Satan do from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden? It says, the Holy Bible says, that that snake came and whispered. How? Whispered, very hush-hush, you know, very quiet. Whispered in the ear of Eve and made her fall.

And through Eve made Adam fall as well. So Satan is brilliant at putting ideas in our heads. An enemy but external.

Let me tell you one thing, the internal enemy is much more dangerous than the external enemy. Because you see, the external enemy can be avoided at times, the least to say. But the internal enemy can never be avoided because wherever you go, that enemy is with you.

But the external, not always with you. And then the world, clubbing, Star City Casino, downtown brother, let's go and get the vitamin D on Bondi Beach, mate. Hmm? And dress up with absolutely not much.

You naughty boys and girls. I'm watching. The world, my beloveds, the treasures and the pleasures of the world, the temptations of the world, that's an enemy to the human being.

The Lord Jesus prepared His table, i.e. the Holy Altar, before me in the presence of my enemies. And He said to me, "'Come, eat and drink from my table "'every time these enemies give you a hard time.'" I.e., every time you sin, come to the table I have prepared before you. Every time you fall into sin, Satan makes you fall into sin.

The world tempts you into sin. Every time you sin, whether through your own weakness, through Satan's temptation, or the world, run to me because I have prepared a table before you where I've put my own body and my own blood for the remission of your entire sins. Run to me.

The Lord Jesus prepared the table for you and me to deliver us from these enemies, me, Satan, and the world. So next time you fall into sin, don't run away from the Lord, run to the Lord. Come to church and say, "'Lord, I sinned.

"'I have sinned before you in heaven. "'I'm not worthy to be called your son anymore, "'but I am seeking your mercy, your infinite mercy, Lord. "'Today I'm coming to your holy church, to your holy house, "'confessing my sins before you.

"'Oh my Lord, my God, my Savior. "'And I'm begging you to give me from that table "'which you have prepared before me "'in the presence of my enemies, "'I come to receive you in the sacrament of the true body "'and the true blood of Christ.'" Where the Lord, in that last supper, He got up and He said, "'This bread is truly my body.' He breaks it and He says, "'Take and eat from it. "'It is broken for the forgiveness of your sins.' And then takes the cup and says, "'This is the cup of the new covenant.

"'This is my blood. "'It is being shed on the cross "'for the remission of your sins. "'Eat, drink for your sins to be forgiven.' "'I prepared that table, the cross made it possible.'" The cross made it possible.

"'Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. "'The cross made the holy altar possible. "'The cross made my body and blood possible for you "'to wash you clean every time you sin, "'Satan makes you sin and the world makes you sin.

"'Run to me and receive me in the true body "'and the true blood.'" Verse five. What are the verses? Yeah. Verse five continues and says, "'You anoint my head with oil.'" Actually, before I go any further, is it hot? No? Maybe half a degree lower.

Verse five continues and says, "'You anoint my head with oil.' "'The very first two sacraments "'were given unto us from the cross Calvary. "'When the Lord Jesus' side was peaced,' "'by that centurion, that Roman soldier, "'by that centurion, when his side was peaced, "'two things came out of the side of the Lord Jesus. "'First blood, then water.'" Blood and water are the first two sacraments that Christ gave us from the cross.

These are the first two ever and they are actually together. Blood for the holy Eucharist body and blood and water for baptism. So the very first two sacraments were given by the Lord Jesus from the cross when his side was peaced by that centurion, Roman centurion.

Blood for the body and the blood and water for the holy baptism, my beloved. And these two sacraments, the sacrament of the body and blood and of the holy baptism are joined together. Every time we come to baptize people, whether they are adults or infants, we celebrate the holy mass and straight after the holy mass, we do the holy baptism.

They are together. Even though they can be done separately when it is needed and there is no other choice, they can be done separately. However, they are preferred to be done jointly.

And there is reason for that, which I don't have the time to go into it at the moment. We celebrate the holy mass straight after we celebrate the sacrament of the holy baptism. So the Lord Jesus, when his side was peaced, blood came and water came out, blood for the body and the blood and water for the holy sacrament.

These are the two sacraments the Lord gave at the very start from the cross on Calvary. Lord Jesus, you gave me your body and blood for the remission of my sins. That is the table.

And through the holy baptism, Lord, you anointed my head with oil. Do you see how verse five is? I'll read verse five again. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

That's the body and the blood of Christ. You anoint my head with oil. That is the holy baptism.

That is the holy baptism. Psalm 23 talks about the sacraments of the true church of Christ. Talks about the sacraments.

You anointed me to be the child of God and be called Christian after Christ. Christ Christians. So in baptism, Christ gave us his name.

And who is he? The son of God. So what did the Lord Jesus do for all of us through the sacrament of baptism? He adopted us to be sons of the almighty God. We were adopted through the sacrament of baptism to be the children of God and God becoming our dad.

And every time you pray, you say, our daddy who art in heaven in the literal transliteration from the original language which the Lord taught this prayer, which is Aramaic. Aramaic is abon bashmayo or abon bashmaya. Abon or abon literally means daddy, not father.

So through the sacrament of baptism, Jesus Christ adopted us to be children to the almighty God and God becoming our dad. Since the Lord prepared a table in before me in the presence of my enemies, me, Satan and the world, when I came to receive him in the true body and the blood, he forgave my sins. And since he anointed me, anointed my head with oil, the holy baptism, through the baptism, he made me the child of God.

No wonder my cup runs over. Which is the end of verse five. No wonder my cup runs over.

Do you see how the Holy Spirit is talking about Christ, the Messiah, the Savior and the Redeemer so beautifully, so eloquently and so perfectly? The order is perfect. Look at the Lord Jesus in relation to my cup runs over. Look what the Lord is saying in John chapter seven, verse 38.

The Lord himself is saying this in John 7, 38. He says, He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. He who believes in me, as scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living waters.

My cup runs over. My cup is overflowing because when I am filled by the Lord Jesus through the body and the blood and the baptism, he has filled me so much, I am running over, meaning not only he has blessed me, but through me blessed the world. The Lord is saying, literally to all of us, when you come first and receive my name upon you through the holy baptism and come and receive my body and blood in faith thereafter, then read my word and believe in it and follow me, your cup will run over.

You hold on to me, you believe in me, you trust in me, you follow me faithfully and loyally, I'll make sure you will be overflowing with my blessings. With my blessings, you will be overflowing. And when the Lord fills us up with his blessings, when you speak, people will start changing because it is no longer you speaking, it is the Lord who has made you overflow, speaks through you.

And when the Lord speaks, things change. So when you are filled by the Lord, you start speaking, people will start changing. And when you go somewhere dark, that dark place will change into light because you are carrying the Lord Jesus with you, my beloved.

The Lord will make sure you are totally different to every single human being out there. You're totally different. You anointed me to be the child of God and be called Christian after Christ because I came, received you through the holy sacrament of baptism and then I came and received you through the holy sacrament of the body and the blood.

I read your word. I believed in your word. I followed you and I believed in everything you said.

My cup is now running over because you have made me a blessing because wherever you go, my beloved, the blessings of the Lord are with you and are running over, meaning overflowing from you. The blessings of the Lord. They are not only with you but now your cup runs over, meaning the blessings are not only inside, they are also spilling over to other people.

The Lord blessed you and through you started blessing thousands, millions and billions of people. And this is how God blessed the world through one Jesus Christ of Nazareth because Jesus Christ followed God to the fullness of it. Never broke his word, always faithful, always loyal.

One person changed the history of mankind forever. Now this alone should raise a question in every human being's heart. Seek who this person is.

Why when Jesus is mentioned, things are totally different? This is moving. I'm saying what is going on? By the way, I've got a pad to soften my standing here for the knees because I've got a very bad knee. But I saw myself moving over there.

See, that's what happens when you are so fixated on the Lord Jesus, you forget the grace of God. The ground is moving beneath you. You know, you need to be fixated on the Lord.

You need to be engulfed by the Lord. You know, the ultimate beauty is that you become dissolved totally in him and he in you, dissolved. He goes in every fiber, in every corner, in every crevices of your being, fills you right up.

Then you'll understand if Jesus Christ truly exists or not. We need to build this relationship with him. We need to build.

There is a start to everything. We need to start somehow, somewhere. Stop crying for yourself.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop saying, I should have said this, I should have done this. This is time wasting, which he cannot afford to do, my beloved child.

Just give it up, stop it. Focus on the Lord and say, Lord, whatever has happened thus far, I'm starting fresh. I need you, Lord.

But this time, I'm calling you from the heart. No longer the lip is talking, it is the heart. Be honest and true to yourself.

Because the Lord knows. We can't lie, we can't falsify, we can't hide things from him. He is God.

So be honest to yourself for the Lord to come to you. The only time you're gonna get the Lord's attention when you are honest to yourself, not to him. He knows you more than you.

But you need to be honest to yourself. When the Lord sees that you're honest to yourself, before you call him, he's already there. He's already there.

Truthfulness brings the Lord. Now, when you come and receive the Lord's name upon you through the holy baptism, and then you receive him in the body and the blood of Christ in faith, and read his word, and believe in it, and follow him, your cup is running over. Wherever you go, you become a blessing to that place and to the people in that place.

What did the Lord God say to Abraham? He said, you listen to me and follow me, I will bless you. And then, not only I'll bless you, I'll make you a blessing. You see, there is a difference.

It's stages, it's levels. I'll bless you first, but then I'll make you the blessing itself, so that wherever you go, without saying anything, just being present there, the place is already blessed, just for you, by being there, without doing anything, nor saying anything. When the Lord blesses you, wherever you go, the place is blessed.

Incredible. Incredible how the Lord works. I believe it's still hot.

I know it's my presence, but it doesn't matter. In other words, you will never be empty when the Lord blesses you. You'll never be empty.

You will be a blessing to everywhere you go, and you will start bringing people to Christ. You'll start bringing people to the Lord Jesus when he blesses you. Verse six.

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Obviously, verse six has to come here. Why? Because when the Lord has blessed you and made you a blessing, then obviously, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

When I am blessed by the Lord, what am I gonna expect to follow after that? Goodness and mercy. All the days of my life, goodness and mercy shall follow me. Now, here is a question to all of us, my beloved.

Are we truly living with this kind of a mentality that all the days of our life, we receive goodness and mercy from the Lord? Are we truly living this verse? Goodness, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Do I say everything that happens to me is good, but King David says goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life? Or do we complain when things don't go our way and start complaining to God and saying, why are you doing this to me? See, in the Old Testament, there was a person called Job in the Old Testament. Job lost everything.

Job lost his 10 sons, lost his wealth and lost his health. Can't get any worse. Except one thing he didn't lose, his wife.

Hallelujah. Isn't he blessed? Lose everything, just don't lose your wife, baby. Job lost everything.

His sons died before him. His wealth gone, his health gone, all together, just like that. He lost everything, except his wife.

His wife came and said to him, but you see, even though he lost all these horrible things, like terrifying things happen in his life, but he was still thankful. He was still thanking God for everything that had been happening in his life and to him. His wife came one day and said, man, husband, are you serious? What are you thankful of? Haven't you seen what God has done to you? He has destroyed you.

Until when are you going to thank God? Look around you. Where are your children? Where is your wealth? Where is your health? Is this a kind of a God that you thank or go against? And then Job replies to his wife with this stunning reply. What does he say? He says, woman, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks.

You speak like a fool. Shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity? Job 210, Job 210. Shall we accept good things from God and shall we not accept adversity? Is it fair to accept only good things from God and accept nothing else from Him? What kind of a love are we here illustrating and revealing to God? This is a very selfish love.

If I only love Him when He's nice to me and I deny Him when He is not. And then he continues and mentions it in Job 121. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Incredible.

Incredible. The Lord gave, the Lord took away. Blessed be His name at all times.

Why? Women, because I originally, initially, from the start, I came naked from my mother's womb. I came with nothing and I will leave with nothing to my mother nature, the grave. So what am I to complain and whinge about? I came with nothing, I leave with nothing.

So let the name of the Lord be blessed when He gives and when He takes. He is the one who gave me the sons. He is the one who gave me the wealth.

He is the one who gave me the health and it is He who is entirely entitled to take in it once again because I came with nothing. If it's given to me, I'm grateful. It came as a bonus and if it gets taken away from me, I have no right to complain because initially I came with nothing.

Let the name of the Lord be blessed in His giving and in His taking away. When we are thankful to the Lord, when He gives and when He takes away, then verse six will apply to all of us. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

When I am thankful in good times and in bad times, when I'm thankful when God gives and when God takes, when I am thankful always, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. St. Paul puts it also so beautifully in Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.

We know all things work together for good to God. To who? To those who love God. See, when you love God, all things work together for good.

All things. What is all things? When I am filled, it is good. And when I'm hungry, it is also good.

When I am healthy, it is good. When I'm sick, it is also good. When I'm rich, it is good.

And when I am poor, it is also good. Are you able to thank God always? Or do you thank Him when He gives you and you are unthankful person when He takes away from you? Wow. When you truly love God, then all things work together for good to those who love God.

All things. See, my beloveds, who says success always is good? You may think that, but that's not the truth. Success always can be extremely dangerous because success can bring something into your life which you don't ever, ever need called pride.

When success brings pride, you're gone. Success always is not healthy. Failure always is not healthy either.

But sometimes success and sometimes failures is good. Are you thankful when you pray to the Lord Jesus? You have an exam coming up. You're in high school or uni and there is exam or an assignment.

So you go, you went to your room and prayed and said, Lord, please, please help me. I wanna pass this exam. You prayed fervently.

You prayed from the heart and you begged the Lord to pass the exam. You went and you came out a failure. You failed miserably in the exam.

Are you gonna come out having that failure and saying, Lord, thank you for failing me in the exam. I love you, Lord Jesus. Will you ever do that? No, we get upset, angry, offended, you name it.

We become rebellious. God, but I asked you, I begged you. I prayed from the heart.

You said, pray and I will answer you. I did, you didn't answer me. No, he did answer you.

He said, failure was the only good thing for you now, my child. I allowed you to fail because I know what is good for you and what is not. Are you gonna trust the Lord or are you gonna walk away from the Lord? See, when you entrust him with all of you, now you need to let him do the work, not you.

You pray and then move. Someone came a while back to me and said, Bishop, I said, yes, my son. He said, there is a job that came up and I really wanna apply for it, but I'm not sure if I should or not.

Sometimes we pray and wait for God to come down and tell us apply or not. And we wait for that. And when we don't hear nothing, we don't do anything.

That's not faith. That's very wrong. Let me put it to you in a very simple nutshell approach.

What you need to do is number one, don't forget God gave you a brain. And God, when he gave you that brain, he's not gonna come and stop you from using it because he is the one who gave it to you in the first place. So he's expecting you to use it for God's sake, use it.

Okay, now this is moving again. Now, this is better now. All right, so use it.

Now we have to glue it, I think, next time. So now what you need to do is come, the first thing you do, you pray. Say, Lord, there is a job coming up and I'm thinking of applying for that job.

The first thing I'm doing before anything, I'm coming to you, Lord, and I'm putting this intention at your feet. I'm asking you, Lord, to have your blessings in what I'm about to do. Secondly, use your head.

Do you qualify for that job? You need to know this. God will not reveal this to you. He's given you the head to use your head to find out whether you qualify or not.

What are the criterias for that job? Go and read the description. If you fit those criterias, for God's sake, fill out the form and just go for it. Simple.

But you pray first, then look at the criterias. I qualify and I feel like applying. Since I prayed, I left it in the Almighty hand.

I fill out the form. I apply for it. If the door opens and I get the job, it is good.

And if the door closes and I don't get the job, it is also as good. I'm happy either way. Why? Because I asked the Lord.

I trusted the Lord with it. I entrusted Him with it. That's it.

Whatever the outcome is, is beside the point. Are you with me? If you live in this way, surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life. Like this young man came to a priest and he said, Father, I've known this girl for four years and I don't know if I should marry her or not.

The priest got up and kicked him so hard in the backside, he threw him outside. He said, Hey, you've been going out with this girl for four years and after four years, you're asking me if you should marry her or not. Am I gonna marry her or you? If you wanna marry her, just marry her.

If you don't, just get out of my sight. Sometimes we are too fragile, too lethargic, too weak. No, God doesn't want you to be like that.

You need to have confidence in Him. You trust Him with everything and move on. Move forward, don't look back.

Because the moment you start thinking, shall I, shall I not, shall I, shall I not? You will stand in your own spot. You will make no progress whatsoever. That's it, gone, finished.

Pray about it, apply for it, and whatever happens, all things work together for good to those who love the Lord or love God. Blessed is the soul that thanks God in all situations at all times. Blessed is that soul.

You see, my beloved, when we go through difficult times sometimes, there is a reason for it. Nothing happens out of thin air. There is a reason for everything that happens because we need to believe in this divine living God that there are no coincidences, neither luck, everything is planned by God.

So as a Christian, you need to get rid of two words which can never exist in the Christian index. One is luck, two coincidence. Please don't ever use them, don't ever trust them, don't ever believe in them because with the Lord Jesus, nothing is a coincidence and neither luck, everything is planned purposefully.

So when I went through the dark tunnel and I faced challenges in my life, God intended for me to go through it. And when I came into the light, also God intended that to happen because God wants me to learn and the only way I'm gonna learn fully when I see the light and the darkness, not just one. Not just one.

So when we go through difficult times, thank the Lord, there is a reason. Hang in there. The light is awaiting you at the end of that tunnel.

Thank the Lord always. Our good God brings nothing but good our way. Our good God brings nothing but good our way.

Verse six, therefore, verse six continues and says, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It looks like we're gonna finish Psalm 23. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, meaning there is no power that can take me outside the house of the Lord. Out of the house of the Lord. There is no power in existence that can ever take me away from the house of the Lord.

Since the Lord placed me in his house, he is the only one who will take me if he wishes to. And the second one is me. I'm the only one that through my foolishness and stubbornness, I take myself out of the house of the Lord.

But since the Lord put me in his house, there is no one that can take me away from that house unless I become disobedient to him. God will never take me out of his house, why? Because he's the one who put me in it in the first place. And since he is love, and he loves me more than himself, why would he put me in his house and then take me away from it? Because if he takes me outside of it, I'll be lost, I'll be dead.

And God came to give me life. I was in the wilderness of this world. He came searching for the lost sheep and brought the sheep back to the church.

So God will not take you out of the church. It is you who will take yourself out of it if you become disobedient to the Lord who is my shepherd. Sometimes we leave the church because of others.

Please pay attention. If anybody said to you that in the church are all saints, they have not told you the truth. Nobody says in the church are saints.

The Lord never said in the church are saints. In fact, the Lord says, in my church are all sinners. Because the Lord Jesus resembled his church with a hospital.

Now who goes to hospital? Those who are wholesome or those who are sick? Do you ever go to the doctor and say, hey doctor, look, I'm perfectly fine. I just came to have a cup of tea with you, doctor. Would you do that? Waste your beautiful sunny day to go to a clinic and sit with a doctor for a cup of tea and there's nothing wrong with you? He would never do that.

Poor doctors, they just cop it. Only you go to see them when you're sick. But that's the way it is.

This is what the job is all about. So that's it, tough luck. Just like people come to me, rarely they come to me with good news.

There's always sad and difficult news, all problems. Bishop, I've got a problem. Bishop, please, bishop, bishop.

Why don't you just invite me for a fish burger and a chocolate sundae? I don't know. So my beloved, the Lord says, my church is like a hospital. Who goes to hospital? Those who are sick.

And who are the sick? The sinners. So my church is filled with sinners. In fact, my church is only for those who confess they are sinners.

So since sinners come to my church, you're not gonna find saints, you're gonna find sinners. And what do sinners do? Give you a hard time. Sick people always whinge and complain.

I've got an ache, oh, my stomach, my back, my head, ah, don't talk to me, leave me alone, go away. This is my room, this is my chair, this is my microphone, this is my throne, don't ever come and take my spot. So just because you get a hard time in the church, you don't pack up and leave.

Now you've gone outside of your father's house. You need to be focused on the Lord. Just because I'm a bishop doesn't mean I don't go through hell in the church.

I do. I am a punching bag from everywhere. You may see the bishop laughing and talking and joking, and you say, wow, like he's really happy.

Yes, I am, but that doesn't mean that I don't cop it. In fact, I don't wish anyone to be in my spot. Because what I go through, I don't want none of you to go through it.

I don't want that. But does that mean I pack up and leave? No. Because I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I am here for the Lord, not for the sick people, which I am one of them. Yeah? So I cop it, but I carry on. Because a father can't just pack up because his family are not listening to him.

He just denies them and walk away. That's not what a father is supposed to be. A father is the one who carries the weight.

A father is the foundation of their house. And the foundation is not on the top, it's at the bottom. So at the bottom, meaning you cop everything.

You cop all the weight, you cop all the blame, you cop all the hard works. No matter what you say, you are in the wrong. You cop it from your wife, from your children, you cop it left, right, and center.

You need to take it on board. You're the man. You're the man.

The woman is weak, the children are weak, but you are the strong. You need to protect that house. So who cops it? The strongest, not the weakest.

Who cops the blame? The strongest. Imagine I'm with a group of people, friends. One of the friends is the most powerful one out of all.

He is all muscly, tattooed, scary looking. And then other people, strangers, they come and bash me up. And the strongest friend did not come to my rescue.

Who am I gonna blame out of all the friends? The strongest. The strongest always cops it. The first always cops it.

The leader always cops it. Tough luck, leader. That's what you are there for.

You need to absorb it and move on. Don't be a little kid and cry for yourself. Don't be.

Is it cold now? Half a degree warm it up. Sorry, Father. I think we need to put our hands together for Father Isaac because I give him a hard time.

But dear Father, it's a good exercise for you, like sitting and getting up, sitting and getting up. It keeps the knees very healthy. You know, unlike the bishop one, it's gone really sour.

Actually pray for me. My knees are giving me a hard time. Not my knees, my knees, but my knees.

All right, so when I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, in the house of the Lord, there are challenges and obstacles. But I need to understand one thing. I'm not alone.

Christ is helping me. Let me tell you one thing. For us to understand if God truly exists or not, this human minute piece of intellect can never ever fathom the awesomeness of God.

Impossible. So the only way God will try to prove to us that he exists is through the narrow door, through the dark tunnels, through the hardships. You know why? Because when I am placed in a situation where I know for sure, I, Bishop Murray, I know for sure I cannot handle this situation.

I know I cannot handle it. I cannot do anything about it. I cannot neither change it nor come out of it.

And I know there is no one that can get me out of this situation. And when I am taken out of it without a scratch, without a dent, only God could have done that. That's how you build your faith, your trust, your confidence in the Lord.

Because there was no way I could have done it. It was the Lord. And for me to be standing right now, right here, now, the Lord did it because it was hell two days ago.

Absolute hell, unbearable hell, but I'm still here. The reason why I'm saying this, which I don't like to talk when it comes to this piece of rake, is just, I pray, that it gets to you. And if you're going through some difficult times now, there is a living testimony here.

Don't be afraid. Don't give up. And don't lose it.

Just have faith. The Lord will bring you out of it. Yes, he will.

100%. He will. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen. Forever means I dwell in his house on earth and in heaven for eternities to come. Hallelujah, baby.

You know, yes, you can applaud the Lord Jesus. Amen. Let me tell you something about heaven.

When you make it to heaven by the grace and the mercy of the Lord Jesus, I can assure you, I can assure you, I can assure you, heaven, you will be blown away by the beauty of it. You will be blown away by the majestic presence of it. You will be just be dumbfounded.

You will just lose yourself, lose your mind, lose everything. Because when you face heaven, it's just unspeakable. The beauty, the excellence, the glory, the list is endless.

But when you face Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then heaven is a secondary thing because he surpasses heaven. This person who surpasses heaven and every beauty and every excellence and every glory died on the cross for you and me, prepared a table before us all in the presence of our enemies. He died and he said, I'm giving you my body and my blood from the table, the holy altar.

Come, run to me and receive me in the true sacrament of the true body and the true blood. I gave you my baptism. I made you children of God and God became your dad.

The stranger became known. The invisible, visible, the unreachable, reachable. The one who loves you the most died for you.

Are you gonna be afraid of someone who died for you? How can you be afraid of him? How can you not trust him when he gave his own life for you? How can you not trust someone like that? What are you worried about? Things not working out, marital issues, social issues, economical issues, health issues. I don't know, whatever they are, just leave them in the Lord's capable hands. Have faith the Lord has delivered you.

Have faith, have faith, have faith. Now I'll leave you with the finale of Psalm 23 and look at the beauty of Psalm 23. This is another revelation in Psalm 23.

Can we put the table, let's start with it. Psalm 23 is six verses made out of six verses. Now verse one goes hand in hand with verse four.

And verse two goes hand in hand with verse five. And verse three goes hand in hand with verse six. They are six verses, but look at the psalmist.

By the power of the Holy Spirit and the direction of the Holy Spirit, these six verses are split into two categories. Verse one, two, three, one category. Four, five, six, another category.

However, verse one goes hand in hand with verse four. Verse two goes hand in hand with verse five. And verse three goes hand in hand with verse six.

Let's look at what we are saying right now. Let's look at the first one. Verse one is, and by the way, each verse is split into two parts.

Each verse is split into two parts. Part one of verse one says, the Lord is my shepherd. First part of verse four is, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will see no evil.

Why? Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will see no evil. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. Yes? Because the Lord is my shepherd, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and we said what is the valley of the shadow of death? Hell.

Even though I walk through hell I'll fear no evil. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. Now let's go to the second part of verse 1 which goes hand in hand with the second part of verse 4. Second part, I shall not want.

Verse 4 part 2, for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me. Since you're with me since your rod and your staff the cross comforts me I shall not want. Now we go to verse 2 first part.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Verse 5 first part, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Now what did we say the table is? The holy altar.

What's on the holy altar? Food, body and blood. He what? Verse 2 part 1, he makes me to lie down in green pastures. What is green pastures? Food.

So green pastures represent the body and the blood. Food and food are for life. If you don't eat you'll die but if you eat you live.

So those green pastures where the sheep eat from are the body and the blood for the children of God. Food. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

Verse 2 part 1, verse 5, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Part 2 of verse 2, he leads me beside the still waters. Part 2 of verse 5, you anoint my head with oil my cup runs over.

He leads me beside what? The still waters. What did we say when the Lord's side was peace? Blood and water came out. Blood for the body and the blood and water for the holy baptism.

And in the holy baptism what do we do with the baby and the person being being baptized? Anoint them with the holy oil. So he leads me beside the still waters. You anoint my head with oil and since you anointed me with the oil of the Holy Spirit my cup is running over.

I am blessed and blessings are overflowing now from me. Verse 3 part 1, he restores my soul. Verse 6 part 1, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Because he restored my soul surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Part 2 verse 3, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The last part and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So verse 1 is an answer to verse 4. Verse 2 is the answer to verse 5 and verse 3 is the answer to verse 6. Look how the Holy Spirit is talking so powerfully so deeply and so eloquently through King David over 3,000 years ago. Over 3,000 years ago. And this is the end of Psalm 23 after six consecutive sessions of over an hour each.

And you want to finish the whole Bible? Good luck, even though there is no luck. Good luck. We thank the Lord Jesus, Amen? Very good.

Now we finished Psalm 23. That just gives you an idea what the book of Psalm is all about. And obviously there are so many beautiful Psalms out there, so many beautiful.

And it will be never-ending to talk about all of them. Never-ending. There is maybe another topic we can do in the Psalms, but maybe later on, which I really adore and love very much so.

It's called the Psalms of Ascensions. And they are 15 Psalms starting from Psalm 120 to 134. They are called the Psalms of Ascensions.

15 Psalms, but when we dive deep into them, oh my, my. Incredible. Incredible.

So maybe we do that later on. Now let's see and ask the Lord what he wants us to talk about next Friday, because I haven't decided as yet what the topic will be, but I'm sure it's going to be another interesting topic. We may talk about some of the sacraments in the church.

What do you say? Would you like to know about the body and the blood of Christ? Would you like to know about baptism, biblically speaking? You're going to be bombarded with verses. Are you going to be with it? Up to it? By the grace of the Lord? Amen. You know, next time anybody asks you a question, say, by the grace of the Lord, I can.

I'm willing. I'm ready. Always by the grace of the Lord.

Put the Lord first. You'll never fall. You'll never fail.

Put the Lord first. Live this way. Get practice this way.

Practice makes perfect. It gets to a stage where naturally you'll go straight to the Lord, without even blinking your eyes, without even thinking in a split second time. Automatically you go to the Lord.

Practice that way. Live this way and see what the Lord will do for you. Amen? Very good.