<p> A Testimony Of Satisfaction (Part 2) Psalm 23:2(b) “…He leads me beside the still waters” Previously:</p><p>Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. </p><p> Yahweh-Rohi, I Shall not LACK!</p><p>Psalm 23:2(a) He makes me to lie down in green pastures… </p><p>Today: Psalm 23:2(b) “…He leads me beside the still waters.” </p><p>Introduction:</p><p>1. Water is the main ingredient of our body = 80 – 85%</p><p>2. A Sheep’s body consist of about 70 – 75% water</p><p>3. Water determines the vitality, strength, and vigor of the sheep and is essential to its health and general well being.</p><p>4. All beings with a soul (breath) experience thirst when they need water.</p><p>5. Just as our natural physical body thirst for water, our Spirit thirst for “living water”</p><p>6. To the Samaritan Woman in John chapter 4, Jesus said:</p><p>John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." </p><p>7. Here in verse 2, David is speaking about this spiritual “living water” Page 2</p><p>8. If sheep are not led to a good water supply of clean, pure water, they will drink whatever they can find.</p><p>9. They will drink contaminated water from pot holes that other sheep have treaded through and polluted.</p><p>10. They will ingest parasites like nematodes, liver flukes or other disease germs</p><p>Just as a sheep when thirst will ingest water that is “easy” to find, men and women thirsty for “Spiritual Water” will take in things that are easy to believe and laced with dangerous destructive doctrine!</p><p>11. The shepherd has to make sure the sheep is regularly led to clean, pure, still waters: “He leads me beside the still waters”</p><p>12. There are three sources of clean, pure, still water:</p><p>1) Dew 2) Wells 3) Streams 1. Dew</p><p>A. Early in the morning there is dew on the petals of the grass and foliage.</p><p>B. As the sheep ate early in the beginning of the day they would take in a good amount of water as Dew.</p><p> A sheep could go for many days without any other source of water except the dew on the grass.</p><p> When the shepherd knew that there was not an abundant water supply close by, he would stir the herd earlier than usual and lead them to the still droplets of water on the blades of grass Page 3</p><p>C. We too must begin our day by taking in the early dew of the Spirit of God</p><p> Sometimes we too go for many days without a “refreshing” of Spiritual Water</p><p> We have to spend a lot of early “quiet, still time” receiving our “Spiritual Water” 2. Wells</p><p>A. Wells were a common source of water during David’s day.</p><p>B. Digging wells required a lot of work and determination.</p><p> Joseph dug many wells</p><p>C. Occasionally they were able to use wells dug by their forefathers</p><p> These wells were few and far between</p><p> You had to know where they were</p><p>D. Some of the wells they could walk into and some they had to draw the water, but it was still time consuming and required diligence.</p><p>E. Sometimes we may have to dig some “spiritual wells”</p><p>F. We can also tap in to the wells dug by our spiritual forefathers!</p><p>G. Many today dig their own wells:</p><p>Jeremiah 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns-- broken cisterns that can hold no water. Page 4 3. Streams</p><p>A. Streams provided the easiest and quickest form of water for the flock.</p><p>B. The entire flock could ingest all the water their bodies needed in a very short time.</p><p>C. For the sheep, just any stream didn’t work. It had to be a “still” stream.</p><p> Sheep were afraid of running, cascading, moving water. </p><p> Their heavy fur coats prohibited them from being good swimmers so they were afraid where the rushing water might take them.</p><p> Still, stable, flowing streams provided the perfect spot for refreshing.</p><p>D. We too need streams of refreshing. We need to be in the river of God’s blessings.</p><p> We too need to be careful of the “fast flowing” “non-tested” “swiftly changing” “Spiritual” rivers.</p><p> Not everything that looks spiritual is “safe”</p><p> You could get caught up in a rushing flow of unsound doctrine – a man made stream!</p><p>Conclusion:</p><p> Every human being on the face of the earth has “spiritual hunger.”</p><p> God gave us a Spirit that cries out for Him. </p><p> Many search in the wrong places… Page 5</p><p> We must have the “living water” in our lives to satisfy our “spiritual thirst”</p><p>Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. </p><p> God alone satisfies our “spiritual thirst” </p><p>Revelation 7:15-17 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." </p>