Key points
1Psalm 23:6 was written by David in a genuinely dark, hopeless valley, not just a comforting greeting-card verse.
Pastor Bill points out David wrote this as an older king in exile, having lost his kingdom to his rebelling son Absalom after the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba caught up with him. David was outnumbered, wondering if he'd be wiped out or have to fight his own son, and it was in that real despair that the Holy Spirit inspired these words.
2God's goodness pursuing me means His will is being perfected in my life, not that He's giving me what I define as good.
Pastor Bill unpacks the Hebrew word tob, explaining it means the perfection of God's will, not God agreeing with our agenda. He contrasts our tendency to want goodness to go ahead of us (so we can decide to follow) with the verse's claim that goodness pursues, or follows, meaning we trust the Shepherd's will even while walking through the valley.
3God's unfailing love, mercy and grace are always at work in me, even rescuing me when I wander.
He distinguishes mercy (not getting the bad we deserve) from grace (getting good we don't deserve) and says God's unfailing love is both together. Using the image of a shepherd's sheep dogs that bark and nip to keep sheep from wandering, he shows grace as a rescuing, protecting force, then tells the story of the Golden Gate Bridge's safety nets, where 19 men fell and lived because of the nets built beneath them, illustrating that grace catches us so we can get back to the mission rather than becoming a trampoline for careless living.
Illustration
Safety nets built under the Golden Gate Bridge during construction enabled workers to recover from falls and finish the project ahead of schedule — used to illustrate how God's grace catches and restores
4Heaven is waiting for me, so this life's brokenness is not the whole story.
Pastor Bill highlights the closing exclamation point of the psalm, 'I will live in the house of the Lord forever,' and connects it to Ecclesiastes' idea that God planted eternity in our hearts, which is why we keep chasing more. He warns that when Christians make this present world, or even good causes like social justice or politics, the goal rather than a means of pointing people to Jesus, they set themselves up for constant frustration and fear.
The gospel should lead to doing good. But doing good does not automatically lead you to the gospel
5The question to ask is not just whether Jesus is Savior, but whether He is actually functioning as Shepherd and Lord.
He challenges listeners to reflect on whether they trust Jesus day to day as their shepherd, noting that the good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, so trusting Him with our future should follow naturally from trusting Him with our salvation. He also names the reverse mistake, treating Jesus as a self-help life coach without ever making Him Lord.
That's a hopelessness that comes from looking at the wrong thing
if the wrong side of heaven can be so beautiful, what does the right side look like
he never said, I'll walk you around a dark valley. He said, I'll never walk you around that valley, but I will hold your hand as we walk through it
A story from life
A father and daughter watching a meteor shower in the mountains; the daughter grabs her father's face and asks what the right side of heaven must look like if the wrong side is this beautiful
Application
Pastor Bill frames the response as a reflection question: is Jesus really my Shepherd, and is He really my Lord?
Check whether you're following Jesus as Shepherd
If you already call Jesus Savior, ask this week where you're not actually listening to Him as your shepherd, and realign there, since John 10 says His sheep listen to His voice.
Stop using grace as a trampoline
Don't treat God's forgiveness as license to keep falling on purpose; let His grace be the net that gets you back up and back to the mission, not a toy to bounce on.
Let your faith inform your politics, not the reverse
Stay involved in your community and care about issues, but keep the gospel as the goal so causes like politics or social justice don't replace pointing people to Jesus.
Put your faith in Jesus if you never have
If you've never said yes to Jesus, pray the prayer of confession and faith offered at the end, trusting His death and resurrection rather than your own effort to be right with God.
Take it into your week
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
