Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder, and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets, and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

in a Superman episode my favorite show

growing up with Superman I love the TV

programs and I love the movies and one

of the episodes a building is on fire

the Man of Steel hears the cry for help

and he enters the building with his

supersonic power and ability and speed

and he grabs the man who was in danger

of being engulfed in the flames and

lifted him up flew him out of the

burning building but he kept flying up

higher and higher and higher and higher

well the man was afraid when he was in

the fire now he’s really scared because

there he’s way above the earth and he’s

terrified of what would happen if

Superman dropped it

Superman seeing his fear said what makes

you think that if I delivered you from

the fire I would drop you on their way

up out of the fire if you’re a believer

in Jesus Christ you’ve been delivered

from the fire you’ve been given the gift

of eternal life but sometimes on the way

up when things get scary we are afraid

you’ll drop us but what makes you and me

think that the God of the universe and

his magnificent Savior who had the

ability by his own resurrection to lift

us out of the fire would drop us as we

make our way north to glory I want to

say one simple phrase to me I’m talking

to me too and to you and to us that our

God is more than enough I know we’re

facing a huge crisis of health a huge

crisis of economics personal crisis of

you know depression and

xiety frustration and fear family crisis

been been locked up too long too tight

educational crisis will school open when

will they open will it be live will it

be on video how wiII I know it’s all

over the place the leaders are confused

we’re confused confusion is confused

okay but I would like to suggest to you

from a very famous passage of Scripture

you can quote it that your God and my

God our God is more than enough I want

to take your attention to Psalm 23 I

know you know it but walk with me

through it one more time

David the author of this Psalm

summarizes the psalm in verse 1 verses 2

through 6 is merely the exposition of

verse 1 if you get verse 1 you really

have the whole psalm he just breaks it

down in 2 through 6 he says the Lord is

my shepherd I shall not want the Lord is

my shepherd I shall not want

translation he’s more than enough

the word Lord capital L capital o

capital R capital D Jehovah Yahweh is

God’s covenant name it’s his name of

relationship so he’s not just talking

about God generic he’s talking about God

who is the Lord remember when God

created Adam he no longer just used the

name Elohim he used the name Yahweh

Elohim the Lord God beginning in chapter

2 verse 4 of Genesis to show that he’s

not just the powerful creator

he’s the powerful creator who wants to

relate to mankind who he created so what

David is saying is my relationship with

God not just my belief in the existence

of God the Lord is my shepherd now

David’s old occupation used to be a

shepherd as a young man

and he was a mushy perda he knew what

sheep were like and he knew they needed

a shepherd to appreciate the psalm

you’ve got to appreciate sheep because

he claims based on his being a shepherd

that God is to him what he was to his

sheep let me tell you something about

sheep sheep are dumb by the way that’s

why the Bible says all we like sheep

have gone astray cuz we a dumb let me

tell you our dumb sheep are I was told

by one sheep herder that sheep was so

dumb that one sheep will start walking

around in a circle when other sheep see

it walking around in a circle they will

follow it until there’s a circle of

sheep following the one sheep that that

know where it’s going and they think

they’re going somewhere simply because

they’re going behind another sheep and

all they’re doing is going in circles

that’s did I tell you sheep are dumb ok

not only has she done they are

defenseless they are defenseless

they are easy prey for the enemy the

Foxes the Coyotes hyenas they are

defenseless

they’re also dirty sheep are dirty you

see that white wool get dirty real quick

sheep can get really dirty and so can

God’s people we’ve all had those times

in our lives when we needed to clean up

we needed to clean off because things

had gotten dirty finally sheep are

dependent without a shepherd

they lost as a jaybird they need

direction they’re kind of hard to train

you’ve never seen in the circus a sheep

trainer right hey

you’ve never seen a trainer telling

sheep to roll over or to pop up cuz they

know they not good for much unless the

Shepherd is calling the shots he says

the Lord is my shepherd and since sheep

are dumb

the Lord is the one who makes me

intelligent since sheep are dirty the

Lord is the one who cleans me up since

sheep are dirty the Lord is the one who

defends me since sheep are dirty it is

the Lord that I’m depending on he says

the Lord is my shepherd I’m just a dumb

sheep and because the Lord is my

shepherd I shall not want

in other words I won’t go lacking he is

my sufficiency my argument today in the

midst of all we’re going through is that

you and I need a shepherd because we

don’t have answers to our own I don’t

mess our own struggles and then the

world doesn’t have answers says the Lord

who I am in relationship with Jehovah

he’s my shepherd he’s the one I’m

looking to to address these issues in my

life he’s more than enough because he

covers all the bases verses 2 through 6

is his exposition of verse 1 he says

first of all if the Lord is your

Shepherd he will meet your spiritual

needs he says he makes me to lie down in

green pastures he leads me beside quiet

waters the first line of verse 3

summarises it he gives me back he

restores my soul

he’s speaking about his spiritual needs

his soul needs reviving his soul needs

some get up and go because it’s gotten

up and gone he’s discouraged the soul

sometime so pain that’s best deeper than

body pain that’s where something is

wrong with your life but your soul is

your life

something is wrong life is not working

out and he says if the Lord is your

Shepherd he says he makes me lie down

because you know we could be a little

rebellious

sometimes he has to make us lie down he

has to put us flat on our backs you know

if you’re a parent you’ve had to make

your kids lie down they fighting it they

then I’m not tired I’m not tired are you

going to bed now because you’re making

them to lie down sometimes doctors make

us lie down when I was over the last

couple of months going through a battle

with pneumonia they told me to no you

can’t you can’t do what you normally do

you have to lie down you’ve got

something going on inside of you that

needs to be rectified and it won’t get

rectified if you keep moving so they

forced me they made me lie down he says

he makes me lie down when God puts you

and us and right now he’s made the whole

nation kind of lie down he says when God

makes you lie down it’s to restore your

soul it’s to give you your life back

because life gets draining hurt pain

rejection relationships economics it

just sucks the life out of you being

quarantined being afraid when you go out

having to wear a mask risking not

wearing one that’s it just it just comes

in every single direction so he he makes

you settle down he puts you and us and

yet the world in a situation of

refocusing the key words is that he

leads me beside quiet waters he makes me

lie down in green pastures the key word

is green are green and quiet the

pastures are green which means they’re

soft because there’s a lot of grass

there if it’s green he makes me lie down

but he cushions me when I lie down is it

not green this is not grass for eating

this is grass for for a mattress this is

the mattress cover

he makes me like that he puts me in a

situation where I’ve got to refocus

spiritually many times we don’t see when

God puts us in situations that we can’t

fix he’s calling for divine focus that’s

why during this time when you don’t have

to go to work and you’ve got some time

that you didn’t normally have with the

hectic pace of how life used to be he’s

making me and you lie down still waters

not moving water still waters you’ve

seen pictures of a shepherd leading a

sheep beside still waters that says the

Sun sets in the background

the water is glassy calm and the sheep

are walking by it’s a relaxed atmosphere

let me tell you something about sheep

sheep are not that short footed and when

the water is rough if you get them too

close to it they all get scared because

you see if a sheep falls in water and

that wool gets wet it’ll pull them down

they’ll drown you know life can cause us

to slip trip and wants to suck us under

the circumstances you may be underneath

the circumstances right now but he says

he restores my soul your you know ever

all of us have phones now that us pretty

sophisticated but they still run out of

juice don’t they and the power needs to

be restored so you take it back and what

do you do you put it on the base and you

let it rest there you let it rest there

because what it needs is to be restored

the power needs to be reintroduced

because the youth has worn it down

living can wear you down life can wear

you down but if the Lord is your

Shepherd he restores your soul he meets

you in that place of recovery that is if

he can get you to lie down if he can get

you to chill for a moment we can get you

to rest he goes on to say if the Lord is

your Shepherd

you’ll meet your directional need the

second half of verse three he guides me

in the paths of righteousness for his

namesake

the paths of rightness he tells me which

way to go not only does he meet your

spiritual meeting meet your directional

need that is he guides you that is if

he’s your Shepherd God’s got a GPS

system you won’t believe how would we

make how did we make it without that

without the GPS system and we didn’t

know where we were going we either

needed to be writing it down or somebody

telling us you know we had a where to go

through commissions and make sure we got

there you know what the beauty of the

GPS system is it not only guides you it

corrects you if you make a wrong turn I

remember driving one day and I missed

the exit not paying attention and it

recalibrated it popped off recalibrated

and reverse my direction because then we

do that sometimes

miss God miss doing right miss obedience

and we got to be recalibrated and

brought back he says he leads me on the

paths that are right that’s why he’s got

to be your personal Shepherd the Lord is

my shepherd I know either everybody’s

Shepherd who’s a believer but he’s

talking about a monogrammed shepherd you

say I got a shirt on and this particular

shirt has a monogram oh it’s got T and E

standing for Tony Evans and now that

plenty of shirts but this is my shirt

because it’s got my monogram on it

you see God just doesn’t want to be a

savior he wants to be your Savior and

more importantly your Shepherd he wants

to be the one directing and guiding your

life and so he wants a monogrammed

relationship with you not just the

general go to church relationship with

you he wants to be your shepherd I

remember one day I was that

the airport crowded Airport and there

was a change of plans

and they were they were making all these

changes and I was unaware of all the

changes they were making that was going

to affect my journey thousands of people

are at the airport and that’s when I

heard a cry that said dr. Tony Evans

will you go to the red courtesy phone I

went to the red courtesy phone picked it

up and it was my assistant Sylvia and

she said to me they’re making changes

and I thought you may not know about it

and let me tell you what they are left

to my own ideas I was confused but

somehow she tracked me down there were

thousands of people there but she found

me by my name

and gave me directions on where I should

go you see he knows your name he knows

where you ought to go he knows the

confusion why you haven’t gotten there

yet whether it’s your fault or somebody

else’s fault and he knows how to reverse

it and get you back on track if he is

your Shepherd see our problem is too

many of us are getting our directions

from the wrong gps’s the secular culture

the world our friends our selves the

media and we have created chaos but he

says if the Lord is your Shepherd he

will meet your directional needs he goes

on next and says if the Lord is your

Shepherd he will meet your emotional

needs he says in verse 4 even though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of

death I will fear no evil for you are

with me your rod and your staff they

comfort me

emotion he says I will fear no evil let

me tell you about the valley of the

shadow as far as the Sheep is concerned

because he’s talking about a shepherd

the valley of the shadow is a valley

between two mountains in Israel and when

the Sheep is coming upon a valley when

the Sun is setting

it casts a shadow over the valley

because of the blockage of the of the

mountains so the shadow is cast over the

valley and you have to understand sheep

are dumb so it could be six o’clock in

the evening but they’re so dumb they

think it’s nighttime when it’s only a

shadow and so they get afraid of the

shadow thinking it’s night because the

mountains have blocked the direct ray of

the Sun perhaps you right now we’re

going through a valley a dark place I

know what that feels like perhaps right

now you’re going through a place of loss

a place of anguish perhaps you’re scared

he says when things look like death that

is their casting and emotional

instability in your life he says what I

want you to remember is that he can meet

you there and he can calm your fears we

fear the past because of its impact on

us we fear the present what we’re going

through right now and we fear the

uncertainty of the future we fear death

we fear catching this virus sickness we

fear for our family

and none of it may have happened yet but

it’s a shadow and the S o n has been

blocked our emotions have taken over and

let’s let’s come on let’s don’t be super

spiritual sometimes you can’t help how

you feel you may not even want to feel

it but you feel it and to deny it is a

lie so if you’re afraid and you deny you

afraid you lied which means you just

sinned no no if that’s how you feel

that’s how you feel that’s real but what

he does do is he makes a decision in the

midst of his emotions that you can’t

control you can’t always tell your

emotions to disappear what you can do

it’s shift your focus while you’re

working through your emotions he says

I’m in this this shadowy place of

uncertainty of insecurity but thy rod

and thy staff they comfort me he he

shifts his focus without denying his

reality it is a shadowy time a father

took his son to the zoo one day and when

he took his son to the zoo they went to

the lion cage the lion saw the little

boy close to the cage and came up to the

cage and ward rah rah terrify the little

boy the little boy called to his father

was just standing a few feet back daddy

daddy the lion father said boy that

Lions not gonna bother you he said daddy

daddy daddy the line the line is roaring

the lion and he was terrified father

said son that line is not gonna bother

you the boy said daddy daddy don’t you

see the lion that’s when a little boy of

this woman daddy said the little boy I

see the lion but I’m staring at the cage

yeah you may see the shadow but what are

you staring are you staring at the

sufficiency of your God and your

Shepherd or are you staring at the

shadow of the lion’s roar I know he’s

loud I know he’s intimidating I know he

produces fear but he says thy rod and

thy staff they comfort me

God’s rod is his Shepherd’s Club that’s

where he would beat off anything that

would come after the Sheep the staff to

stick with the hook on it that’s where

he would establish his authority and his

deliverance that would be His grace

because when a sheep got caught in the

thicket he would reach in with the staff

and Whittle it out because it was

maybe maybe something is overpowering

you and you need the power of God’s rod

or maybe you’re stuck in a situation and

maybe you went into the wrong place at

the wrong time and did the wrong thing

and your wool is stuck and you need His

grace to reach in and wiggle you out you

afraid of the consequences you’re afraid

of what’s going to happen but you want

to be set free

he says thy rod and thy staff they they

calmed me down in my in my fear oh yes

he’s got two things he’s writing to the

left hand rod and staff he power and

Grace and they will they will keep you

calm in a storm it won’t keep you out of

a storm but it’ll weather you through it

as you submit to your great Shepherd

let’s review where we’ve been so far the

Lord wants to be a shepherd personally

my shepherd and if he’s your Shepherd

he’ll meet you in your spiritual need

he’ll restore your soul he’ll give you

back your life your directional need you

know he’ll guide you in the way you

ought to go and reverse directions as

needed when you are willing to abide by

his GPS signals then he’ll meet your

emotional needs when circumstances

viruses situations caused you dismay he

will meet you and calm you down no

matter how deep that Valley is how long

it’s been there

when man said I have so much to worry

about if I get anything else that’s

gonna take me two weeks to get around to

it cuz sometimes things come there’s one

after another don’t they he’s there to

meet you there then he says if the Lord

is your Shepherd in verse five you

prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies

you’ve anointed my head with oil my

cup overflows if the Lord is just

shepherd Oh miss your spiritual need

your directional need your emotional

need now he will meet your physical need

he says he prepares the table before me

in the presence of my enemies another

one he’s meeting my needs in a pandemic

God has a way all through scripture of

meeting needs of healing bull’s eyes

with a crooked stick he has a way of

being able to feed you when the business

has shut down to provide for you with

laws that say nobody can has to be

forced to pay rent right now maybe it’s

a stimulus check that comes that you

didn’t plan for when you first entered

the pandemic I don’t know how God’s

gonna do it in your particular situation

all I know is what David said if the

Lord is your Shepherd he can prepare a

table now what a shepherd would do is he

would walk around with a pouch in

biblical days and he’d have a cloth and

some father he had spread the cloth out

on the ground when he found the lost

sheep like a tablecloth reaching his

pouch and put some father down so that

the Sheep could eat that had gotten lost

and was now hungry now the thing is that

surrounding the Sheep all these enemies

of the Sheep foxes the hyenas coyotes

who want to eat the Sheep not only could

they not eat the Sheep they couldn’t I

eat what the Sheik was eating because

the shepherd was covering the Sheep

in the presence of the enemies of the

sheep he still got two dies see this is

where the Lord needs to be my shepherd

and your Shepherd because my God will

supply all your needs according to his

riches and glory in Christ Jesus I’ve

never seen the righteous forsaken or

their seed begging bread he knows how to

meet you meet us in our physical needs

he says he says you anoint my head with

oil when she got lost and got caught in

the thicket it would cut itself on the

on the vines because one of the things

that would

would create this cutting is them going

after berries and things that had that

had thorns on them and sometimes they

would get cut Shepherd would come and

anoint the head with oil that is soothed

the situation soothe the pain Wow this

can be painful life hurts you live long

enough and your heart bleeds but he

knows how to at the right time give you

the right phone call the right

encouraging word the right song or the

right sermon the right reinforcement to

anoint your head with oil

to soothe you in the midst of your

circumstance he says my cup overflows

see on his poverty they have a cup – he

dipped the cup in water and bring it

over to the Sheep that had gotten lost

and as he walked the water would flop

over the full cup the Sheep would see

that the cup overflows you know what

that meant I meant that that she would

have more than enough more than enough

Oh Paul put it this way did me now on to

him we can do exceedingly abundantly

above all you can ask her think he can

overflow he can you know the old folks

used to say he’s been better than me

then I’ve been to myself yeah he can

overflow it even in the presence of your

enemies this overflow of a cup in the

scriptures joy he can give you joy in

the middle of your junk when he is your

shepherd he can overflow your cup

finally he says surely goodness and

loving kindness will follow me all the

days of my life and I will dwell in the

house of the Lord forever

if the Lord is your Shepherd you’ll meet

your spiritual need your directional

need your emotional need your physical

need and

he says he’ll meet your eternal need

surely goodness and mercy shall follow

me it’s like two sheepdogs you’ve seen

sheepdogs right cuz we told my Shepherd

sheep sheep dogs one dog his name

goodness one dog is name mercy and they

will follow me the Hebrew word is to

pursue it’s like dogs nipping at your

back and you running forward God’s not

gonna let you outrun his goodness and

he’s not gonna let you outrun his mercy

they go snip at you they gonna nip at

you because he wants to keep you going

forward he doesn’t want you retreating

quitting throwing in the towel running

away he wants you to be pursued by his

goodness oh it’s not just a slogan to

say God is good all the time and all the

time God is good now that’s not just a

slogan that’s a reality look for the

goodness of God even in the pain of life

look for the loving kindness his

faithful mercy even doing times of

difficulty and he says and I will dwell

in the house of the Lord forever I want

to live in his presence so that that’s

what this is about in time and on to

eternity because eternity is merely the

continuation of time without time being

an issue because if you love Jesus

Christ if you’re born again you don’t

die you transition into eternity with

this perspective of life don’t you get

it

he’s more than enough so there are two

questions that have to be answered as we

close the first question is is the Lord

your Savior have you accepted Jesus

Christ as your personal sin bear

the Bible makes it clear that you must

come to Christ for the forgiveness of

sins and the free gift of eternal life

that he offers to everyone

who comes by faith to him to receive it

he cannot be a shepherd if you won’t

allow him to be your Savior and that’s

simply going to Christ and saying I

believe that you are the son of God who

died on the cross for me it’s got to be

personal

you rose from the dead for me and I’m

now placing my life into your hands for

my eternal destiny and for my

forgiveness I’m trusting you alone for

my salvation I’m not gonna try to earn

it can’t work for it can’t be baptized

to get it can’t buy it but he will give

it away if you trust him to receive it

once you come to Christ for your

salvation now you can follow Christ as

your Shepherd see he says the Lord is my

shepherd because he was already his

Savior but the Lord is the one who’s

guiding him and governing him leading

him and directing him the Lord is the

one who he’s looking to for his

spiritual restoration directional

guidance emotional stability physical

provision and eternal hope see now there

is nothing that you’re going through the

doesn’t fit in one of those categories

you can’t name one item in your life

that doesn’t fit in Psalm 23

because all I’m trying to say today is

if the Lord is your Shepherd he’s more

than enough he’s more than sufficient

you know it’s hard to find full service

stations any morning everything is self

service self service self service you

got to get out and pump your own gas

right but when we were growing up

everything was full service you pulled

up they filled your car up they pulled

up the hood check your oil they wash

your windshield check your tires because

they were full service we live in a self

service world

when we have a full-service God so where

you want to park your life at your own

self-service you taking care of all of

those categories or before a

full-service God who says if you let me

Shepherd you that is follow me my will

my way from my glory when you surrender

your life daily to me I’ll be a shepherd

and when I’m your Shepherd you’ll

discover I’m more than enough god bless

you