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