As we look at this last verse of Psalm 23, we're reminded of the questions that we have about our future. The questions we have about our future. We do have many questions about our future when we're young, when we're children and teenagers. We have questions like, what college am I going to attend? Anyone here with questions like that? Do you have any questions about that, Gene? Do you know yet? Do you know what college? Not necessarily. OK. Yeah, so you have that question, right? Now, what college are you going to go attend? Are you going to play basketball for Duke? Are you going to play football for Syracuse? Or none of those things? Yeah. Probably none of those things, but. What college are you going to attend? I remember thinking about that. Now, what will be your occupation? You wonder about that sometimes. What is your spouse? Who is your spouse going to be? And what do they look like? Where are they at right now? Where are they living? These are questions that we have. And sometimes we're even tempted to think, well, maybe, Lord, if you would just not come back quite yet, I at least want to have a job and go to college and get married. After I do that, you can come back any time. Maybe you have thoughts like that. Yeah, I see some of the teenagers smiling, like you never have that question or thought. A lot of us do when we're young. But then as we begin to experience answers to those questions, we have more questions like, where am I going to live? What will my house be like? Will it be an apartment or a house? And what neighborhood? What city? Where is it going to be? Am I going to have any children? What are those children going to look like? That was always my question. What are they going to look like? That's what I wanted to know. And I asked my wife just the other day, I said, so how rare is it to have four children and all of them have a different color hair? She said, it's not that special. It's pretty common. I don't know. I thought it was. I told the kids, I said, you know, the next thing we're going to have is a kid with black hair. And then after that, we'll have a kid with white hair, and we'll have all the colors. And Josh said, that's not possible. Maybe it's technically possible. But what are our kids going to look like? Then we have questions, as we begin to have those questions answered, like this. Will I keep my job? That's not a fun question, but it is a question we have. Will I be able to retire and at what age? What will America be like when I retire? Where will my children go to college? And now the questions start coming back, but in another way. How are they going to pay for that college? What will their occupations be? Who will their spouses be? And what will they look like? See, parents, they wonder this as well. And as you begin to continue through life, you reach new stages and you have new questions like, when am I going to die? Will my grandkids, will I have grandkids? What will they look like? We have some people thinking that now, right? What will it be like when I die? How am I going to die? What will that be like after I die? I don't know if you're ever like me, but sometimes I do think about that. How am I going to die and when? What's it going to be like? What will be the situation, the circumstances? It's not fun to think about that. It is a question that I have. We all do wonder. It's going to happen someday. in one particular way. Know what you're going to do at one time. What's that going to be like? We just really don't know the answer to those questions, right? And the people who do experience death, they never come back and tell us about it. Well, you may not have all the answers to all of these questions, but I can tell you one thing. You can be very excited about your future. And every person here today who has the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, and that's the key, isn't it? You have to have the Lord as your Savior, as your shepherd. But if you, and when you have the Lord Jesus Christ as your shepherd, you should be very excited about your future. You say, who, me? You don't understand. Taxes are right around the corner. I got to figure out how to wrap up my small business so that I actually turn a profit without paying too many taxes. I got to know how to. I have a lot of things coming up here. You don't understand. I have to figure out how to pay for the presents that I just bought. Now, let me just give you a little pastoral wisdom here. I am not talking as a licensed financial counselor. I am not one of those. But be careful about buying presents you don't have money to pay for. OK. It's better to give your family financial security than things you can't pay for. That also relieves stress. But anyway, maybe you're worried about that. Maybe you're saying, you know, I have some gatherings coming up here with family that I just really don't look forward to. I was reading an article about a week ago in the Wall Street Journal about family gatherings. and the kind of things that happen at family gatherings, the tensions, the arguments that occur. And it dove into the psychological analysis of usually there's this one kind of family member that has this one kind of problem that goes all these years back and it pops up around the meal table. And then the other sibling begins to act the way that they used to when they were a kid in the family years ago. mediator steps in and how to handle these situations. I thought, well, I could go to the Bible to get answers to these things. But anyway, the Wall Street Journal is making an attempt to answer this. But we have these gatherings, and sometimes family gatherings and holidays are things to endure, things to brace, things to kind of try to avoid, perhaps, in situations. And that's not pleasant, but you say, how am I supposed to get excited about these things? How am I supposed to get excited about graduating from high school when I don't know what college to go to and how I'm going to pay for it? And everyone's going to clap and applaud, and I'm going to throw my hat up in the air. And then after that, what? What's then? All the crowds go away, and I'm left in my bedroom trying to figure out what I'm doing next. What do I have to look forward to? Well, you have a lot to look forward to when God is your shepherd, and I want to talk to you about that today. I want you to know that my heart fills with anticipation when I follow my shepherd, and your heart can fill with anticipation as well when you follow your shepherd. Psalm 23 in verse six says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Is your heart brimming with anticipation for your future? If it's not, you're not walking in truth. Let's get our hearts turned into the excitement about our future. Let's pray. Lord, give us the anticipation we should have when we follow you as shepherd. If there is somebody here today that doesn't know you as their personal savior, may that get addressed today. May they learn what it means to put their trust in you. May they talk to someone and have some guidance from your scriptures that they would enter this holiday season a child of God with their hearts full of anticipation for what you're going to do in their lives. And may you give us this hope for those of us who are safe. Remind us of it. Stir our hearts. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. If you're a child of God, this message is for you, and you should walk out today excited about your future. Regardless of what you've experienced in the past, if the Lord is your shepherd, you should be as excited about your future as some of our children are about Christmas Day coming up, about getting those presents that you're still trying to figure out what you're wrapping. They're excited. You remember the days of being that child looking forward to Christmas? Remember the night before Christmas and not wanting to go to bed? Remember getting up and trying to look at the presents and just the feeling of that. As adults, we don't have that anymore. As long as the food is good and our team wins the football game or whatever, that will come close to getting us excited. As long as we can just not have the boss call us or text us during Christmas, that's good. That's not exciting, it's just good. But remember when you were a kid, can you rewind back to those days and just remember being excited for Christmas? We used to, on Christmas night, sometimes we'd watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Anyone watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed, and the Abominable Snowman? My son recently got some pajamas that have this Abominable Snowman on him, and he thinks they're really neat. They are pretty neat, if you're a two-year-old boy. And he likes to wear those things. I remember watching that. I remember maybe watching another film. I forget. It was another old classic from those days. And they still play them today. And then I remember going to bed and just having that excitement and waking up early. And mom and dad would still be sleeping and wanting to see what was in those presents and unwrap those presents. Of course, we'd have to have breakfast first. And I just wanted to see what was in those presents. All of us should feel that way about our futures. And as we grow, sometimes we just, that excitement goes away. We become realists. And maybe even worse, we become pessimists. And we don't have this excitement. Let me encourage you to get the excitement back. Point number one I wanna make from this passage, Psalm 23 in verse six, is that my shepherd prepares me to flourish in this life. Everything God is doing in your life right now, he is doing to prepare you to flourish, to be abundantly fruitful. Now let me just let you know I'm not talking about being rich financially. I'm not talking about not having any needs materially. I'm not talking about him taking away all your pain and all your stress. I'm not talking about that. But I'm talking about he is giving you everything you need to live your life. successfully, not in the world's eyes, but in an eternal way, in a way that when you die, you will not be ashamed of it. You will have something that lasts forever, something worthwhile, something that you can look back at on your deathbed and say, it wasn't easy, but it was good. And you can smile with satisfaction and know that your life flourished. not trial-free, not mistake-free, not error-free or failure-free, but it was a life where God won, that his shepherdly goals were met, that you were changed to be all that he wanted you to be. He prepares you to flourish. It says, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. We're not talking about a life that bumps along. We're not talking about a life that struggles through. We're not talking about a life that drags yourself through the events of a week. We're not talking about a life that lives on coffee and can't do anything else. We're talking about a life that flourishes. Real life. I want you to notice this phrase here. Shortly, goodness and mercy shall follow me. shall follow me. Letter A, the benefits of God as shepherd chase after me. The benefits of God chase after me. You say, where does that come from, Pastor? Well, this is the idea of this phrase, shall follow me. The word follow really literally means chase after. It could be translated pursue, or to hound, or to harass. It has the sense of making a linear motion with considerable effort and considerable force. In fact, one commentator says that it is often used in scripture in a battle context, with troops pursuing each other, vigorously fighting and running. David was simply emphasizing here the fact that blessing will follow good men just as surely as judgment will follow evil men. God, in his goodness, is chasing after you. As you live your busy life, realize that if you stop at any time and turn around, God's right there. And you can jump out of bed, and you can rush to the table, but he's right there. And you can jump into your shoes, and you can run to the subway or to the city bus, and you can get on that thing and get there as quick as you can, and he's right there. And you can take that subway, maybe take the express train. You can go all the way downtown. It's still not very fast, but you can get there, and he's still there. And you can get around and bustle and jostle through the crowds and get into your office and you can sit down finally in your seat. And you know what? You look back, it's still there. And you can go through a busy day of pushing keys and passing papers and saying things to people and making phone calls and rushing around. And you know what? When you jump back on that bus or that train at the end of the day, He's still there. And you can go through a whole week like that. You can jump on airplanes, and you can fly hundreds of miles an hour, and you can go from one state to another in hours, and you get from one airport to the next, and you know what? He's still there. And you can go through life like this, and you'll find that as a shepherd of the Lord, you can't be so busy, you can't move too fast. He's always there. And he's always there with his goodness and he's always there with his mercy to bless you and to work in your life. God's benefits as shepherd are chasing after you. You don't have to convince God to bless you. That is his intention. It is his desire. Let me give you some examples of this word. In Genesis 14, 14, it says when Abraham heard that his brother Lot was taken captive, he armed all of his trained servants, born into his own house, 318 men, and he pursued after the enemies unto Dan. When Abraham heard that his nephew Lot was in trouble and he was taken a prisoner of war by a warring group of guys, he got all of his servants, all of his employees, he armed them, 318 men. And he said, guys, let's go fight. And they jumped on their horses, and they took off as fast as you can go. And if you can imagine these horses going full speed, and these camels going full speed with these armed men on them, chasing after another army with their swords at their sides, trying to get there as fast as they could to surround them, to take them by surprise, and to take them out, and to rescue his family members. I want you to imagine that you get a phone call that one of your children have been kidnapped, and the police know where it's taking place, and they want you to come and join them in taking that child back and negotiating and getting them back. Let me tell you, you're not going to say, yeah, I got a 12 o'clock lunch appointment, and then I have to meet with the boss. I have to push a few papers and send a couple emails. I think about 430 today, I can meet up with you. Can we rescue my child then? That is not going to be your response. when a family member is taken captive? What is your response? Immediately, you jump in that car and you go. That's the way that God's blessings chase after you. How about another example of this word, Leviticus 26, seven. God says to the nation of Israel, when you follow after me, you shall chase your enemies and they shall fall before you by the sword. You should run after them on your horses and your camels and you'll take them down one at the left and one at the right. You're gonna knock them down. And that's the way God's benefits chase after you. Genesis 44 in verse four. And when they were gone out of the city, the brothers of Joseph, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, up, follow after the men. And when thou dost overtake them, there's, that following after an overtaking say unto them wherefore have you rewarded evil for good. You know the story right. Joseph had his brothers in Egypt and he he toyed with them because they had been so hard on him. He wanted them to learn a lesson without being mean. And the last thing he did was he took them. He had them come down to Egypt to get some grain And then when he sent them back, he put the money from the youngest son, Benjamin, his brother, and his gold silver cup from Pharaoh's house. He put it in Benjamin's sack, which would have been a crime if Benjamin had done those things. He put those things in the sack, he sent them away, and he knew that was in Benjamin's sack. As they took off into the desert to go back to Abraham, or to Isaac, Jacob, get it right here. He said to his steward, now go chase after them. Go to Benjamin's sack, show them the money, show them the thing and bring Benjamin back and take him prisoner. And that steward jumped on his horse or came or whatever it was and he took off and he chased after them. But God is not chasing after you to point out your problems. God is chasing after you to bless you. Now he will convict you when you do wrong. But why? Because he wants to bless you. It says, his benefits chase after me, his goodness and his mercy will chase after me. And if you don't have that in your Bible, I would encourage you, that word follow, just put in the margin, chase after. Because that's the idea. He is vigorously pursuing you to bless you. And when he points out the problems, he's doing that. When he takes out the rod to break your leg, to get your attention. When he reaches out with that staff to pull you back to safety off the cliff, he's not trying to hurt you. When he takes that ointment and he rubs it on you to get rid of all the sin and to get rid of all that bitterness and frustration, he's not doing it to put salt into your wounds to make you feel bad. He's trying to put you in a place where he can bless you. And he's not passive about it. He is chasing after you. What are the benefits that God is chasing after you with? Number one, his goodness. The Hebrew word put in transliteration here is tov. If you want it to get it, if you want it precisely pronounced, talk to brother Itay, the resident Hebrew expert. Tov, it's the goodness of God. This is his good favor. This is the smile of God. This is God looking at you and saying, I'm very pleased with you. Remember when Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit came down on him and the dove was present to symbolize what was going on because of course you can't see the spirit of God. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. God is pleased with you. Do you know that you say he can't be you don't know what I've done in the last few months. He's not pleased with that, but he's pleased with you. Why? Because if you're a child of God, you have his son in you. And he represents you. And he removes all the sin from God's sight. And he sees Jesus Christ. And he is always pleased when he sees Jesus Christ. And he's as pleased with you as he is with Jesus Christ. You need to think about that. Some of you really need to think about that because you know what you've done in the last few months. You know those reactions you've had at home or at work. You know the thoughts that you think that no one else knows. I want you to know something. As contradictory as it may seem, God is pleased with you. Those things need to be corrected, but he's pleased with you because he sees Jesus and he wants to correct those things so he can bless you. his goodness, his good favor. Did you know that anything good that happens in your life is the direct result of the favor of God on you? James 1.17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Anything good that happens is the result of the good favor of God. It is not earned on your part. It is because of Jesus Christ. In fact, God even demonstrates his faithful good favor to us when we are not behaving well as obedient sheep. Or despisest thou, Romans 2, 4, despisest thou the richness of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance. Do not make the mistake of saying, because God blessed me today, my sin is okay. Sometimes God blesses to remind you of his goodness to cause you to get right about your sin. Some people will take the goodness of God that he is pouring into your life to draw you to repentance and use that as an excuse to cover their sin. That is not a good place to be. But that's how good God is. Sometimes he blesses just to say this is what you're sitting against. This is the mother or the father who gives a Christmas present even though the child has been naughty and not nice. This is the parent who gives a hug when the child has a bad attitude. This is the parent who pays the college bill even when the child is not doing well. This is God. God will sometimes bless. Just to remind you what you're sitting against. To break your heart. And to draw you to repentance. Young people don't say. Lightning hasn't come out of the sky yet. I'm not going to deal with it. Up still getting good grades. If I start getting bad grades then I'll talk to mom and dad. Or. Hey, everything is going fine. I'm not getting in trouble. No one seems to know God must be merciful to me. No. God is being merciful. God is being good, but he's doing that because that's the preferred method of addressing things. Don't wait for God to discipline. Don't wait for God to take that rod, which he can and will do at times, and break your leg. let the goodness of God it says don't despise it don't treat it lightly don't minimize it take it for what it is it is God being good to draw you to himself by goodness and he will and sometimes he does it a whole lot longer than we would even be comfortable with doing God is good and he's chasing after all of us with his goodness who are saved. Number two, what else chases after us? His mercy. He chases after us with his mercy. Number two, again, the Hebrew word here is chesed, chesed. And you have to kind of, that H sound with a dot under it is more of a ch sound. It's like you're preparing to spit really good, but you don't actually do it. But you kind of clear your throat to spit. That's the idea, chesed. but the word is a lot more beautiful than it sounds. In fact, this word translated mercy is theologically one of the richest, most significant words in the entire Old Testament. So much could be said of this word, but let me say this, that it is a word that characterizes Jehovah, our God, in a simple sense. This word means the loyal love. God the loyal love of God for his people it is an unfailing kind of love and unfailing kind of kindness or goodness in fact has said is a one-word summary of God's Old Testament dealings with mankind and especially with the nation of Israel man fell in the garden when he sinned And God promised in Genesis 315 a deliverer. The wickedness of mankind increased and became profuse, and God preserved mankind through the ark. Mankind wandered from God into astrology and demon worship in the large cities like Ur of the Chaldees, and God reached in and he pulled Abraham and Lot out. Abraham failed God through unbelief and dishonesty, but God provided Isaac. Isaac and Jacob failed in their own ways, but God blessed them with the 12 tribes. They themselves were miserable failures and Joseph ended up in slavery because of it. And in fact, as a result of that, the Israelites ended up in Egypt for 400 years and God sent Moses to deliver them. And even Moses failed and God took him to the wilderness and brought him back to deliver them. And he brought them to the Red Sea, and he took them into Sinai, and they complained, and they murmured, and they had to stay in the wilderness for 40 years until only two men were left, and then the next generation. And through Joshua, he took them into the promised land. And even in the promised land, they failed him, and they chased after other gods. And God sent the judges, and even the judges failed. And God sent the kings, and the kings failed. And even David, who wrote Psalm 23. David was implicit in murder. David lied, David committed adultery, and David suffered consequences for that. But the Bible says, David in his own words said, surely goodness and mercy, the loyal, devoted, steadfast, unwavering love and commitment of God to me will keep chasing after me. God doesn't give up, he keeps chasing. And even the kings failed even David failed and God kept chasing after him. The prophets were sent and the prophets failed and you get to the end of the Old Testament and the whole thing is a failure. One example of failure after another. And in fact if you study the Old Testament the end of the last book Malachi it ends with a curse. 400 years of silence and then the New Testament begins and you see the nation of Israel rejecting their Messiah and Jesus goes to the cross anyway. This is chesed. This is the unwavering, loyal, devoted, covenant love of God to his people. And I want you to know that that commitment of God to you as his child, if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, is chasing after you. You cannot shake it off. And if you look in 1 Timothy 2, the Bible says, in fact, if we choose to believe not, yet he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. When he saves a person and he puts a person into his flock, he cannot deny the choice that he made to save you. And you may say, I don't even believe in you anymore, Lord. He can't change his mind. He said he would save you and he will. And that will chase after you all the days of your life. Unlike the promises made by governments and politicians and even educators the promises of God and his commitment to you are faithful and They will chase after you all the days of your life Hebrews 13 5 says let your conversation Lifestyle be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you Not only do these benefits chase after you, letter B, they bless other people as well. They bless other people as well. Well-managed sheep leave their pasture land better off after them, not worse. Good grazing rotation. good weeding practices by the shepherd, and the natural waste that occurs from sheep all work together to leave the pasture a better, more fertilized, more weeded, more grazeable area. In ancient literature, one commentator observes this, who also was a shepherd, that sheep were referred to as those of the golden hooves simply because they were regarded and esteemed so highly for their beneficial effect on the land. A flock of sheep, well managed and obedient to their shepherd, leave their pastures a better place afterwards. Sometimes it's a good thing to pause and consider what kind of effect you leave behind on people in your life. Do you leave peace behind or turmoil? Do you leave forgiveness or bitterness? Do you leave behind contentment or conflict? Do you leave behind joy or frustration, love or hatred, order or chaos, happiness or sadness? What do you leave behind you when you pass through? That's a good question for us to consider. And if we're following after the Lord, as a good sheep follows after a shepherd, we leave behind us the natural effect of goodness and mercy. As God blesses us, we're able to bless others and leave that behind us. Are the lives of other people made better because you pass through? If you're following the shepherd, the answer is yes. Do you remember as a little child going on a vacation? I remember once a year, we lived in Gary, Indiana for a while, and then Spencer, Indiana for a while. Both of those locations were about 12 hours drive with stops to where all of our extended family lived in York, Pennsylvania. One time a year, we would go on a vacation for one week, usually in the summertime, sometimes at Christmas. I remember a couple of weeks building up to that. Mom would begin to pack the clothing, and she'd begin to buy little snacks, little squeeze it juice bottles, and little sweets, and little snacks, and little gummy things. We didn't buy those things very often, but when she started getting those out for a vacation, we got excited. We began to pack, and then the night before she'd get us to bed. I remember getting up in the morning, I remember getting up before the sun came up and going out to the car, sometimes still in our pajamas, taking our pillow with us, and our blanket with us, and our stuffed animal, and all stuffing into the back seat of the Mercury Grand Marquis that my dad had. He had a different one at different times, but it was usually a Mercury Grand Marquis. Big, boxy things. But we'd smash into that back seat, and then we'd take off. Of course, we'd go back to sleep. And then about 7 or 8 o'clock, we'd wake up. Are we there yet? And we would be so excited. No, we have many hours to go. Mom would start breaking out the snacks, and eventually those would run out. Are we there yet? No. And so we'd sleep again, and then we'd wake up. Are we there yet? No. And Dad would probably get really tired of that. Finally, we would arrive in York. We'd get off of the highway, turn off onto the last road, and we'd wind up around. Roads are really windy, and they wrap all around in Pennsylvania. And they wrapped around, and we'd come up that last bend, go up this really steep hill, and we'd pull into Grandma and Grandpa's driveway. It seemed like the weeks before that took so long. And it seemed like that trip took so long. But we'd get there. And we'd get there soon enough. And once we got there, Grandma and Grandpa would meet us outside. We'd get big hugs and kisses. And I remember the smell of Grandma's house. It just was something that you remember. And we'd go downstairs, and we'd break out the closet with a box in it of all these random toys that had nothing to do whatsoever with each other. And we'd pull them out, and we'd start playing with them. And all the food and all the baked goods and all the candy dishes all around the house. and all the different meals that she would serve, and then going up and playing computer games with our cousins, and going out to Roots Auction to do some shopping and get more good food, and playing out in the yard and the sandbox. We just had a great time. The blessings of being at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tell you what, you can have that every day spiritually when you're following after the Lord. I'm gonna come back to that illustration in just a minute. Point number two. Not only does he prepare us to flourish in this life with his good favor on us and his loyal love commitment to us chasing after us no matter what we do can't kick him. He's always there chasing after us. Point number two he always ensures or also ensures a heavenly home. He also ensures a heavenly home. 1 Peter 1, verses 3-5 say, See the theme there? hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, confidence, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Letter A, I will live in the presence of God. I am going to live in the presence of God there is little doubt one commentator says when David says I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever there is little doubt that the tabernacle and later the temple in particular are what he was referring to because the tabernacle in the temple had special significance to the Israelite with respect to God's presence. To pray at or worship in the temple was something greatly desired. Here are some verses. Psalm 26.8, David says, Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. Psalm 27.4, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire of his temple. Psalm 65.4, blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts, we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple." The longing of the Christian's heart is not merely to worship in a church or to sing in a cathedral though, but to enjoy the actual presence of the Lord forever. The Lord Jesus promised that he was preparing a place for us that where he was, we might also be with him. The deep longing of the believer's heart is to be in the presence of his Redeemer forever. This, of course, will not just be the temple, which will be, there will be a temple in the eternal kingdom, but this is our perpetual enjoyment forever, wherever we are on the new earth, we will be in the presence of the Lord forever. John 14, one through three, let not your heart be troubled, Neither you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. But I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, and he does, and I prepare a place for you, and he does, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. You may not own a house here. but you will have a place in heaven like all the rest and it will never go away. Letter B, not only will you be with him in his presence forever, your security will last forever. That's a big time. That's a long time. It will last forever. Remember the trip that I talked about going to vacation at grandma and grandpa's house in Pennsylvania, the long trip, the long car ride, We would get there after a whole month of buildup and a long 12-hour journey, and we were there for one week. You know what I'm going to say, right? That one week went by way too fast. And then we'd be getting back in the car again, saying goodbye. That was hard. That week seemed like one day. We always wanted to add an extra day and dad was never interested because he had to get back and rest before he went back to work on Monday. But for a young kid, you know what I'm talking about, right? What it would be like to have this vacation. You had these experiences. It would go by so quickly and then you'd have to wait for me. We had to wait a whole extra year to see grandma and grandpa again. That was hard. It was probably harder for them, which is why we usually cried at the end of our vacations. I want to tell you something. It seems like a long time coming to get to heaven. But when we get there, we don't ever have to come back. It will last forever. It's going to be like going to grandma's house and never having to leave. David said, after all the life that David had, you know David's life, it was pretty rough. A shepherd living outside as a kid all day. fighting Goliath, wrestling bears and lions, which sounds pretty neat. And then he had to run around for several years being chased after by Saul's armies. His life was hanging by a thread. He was under the threat of the sword everywhere he went. People were out for his life. Then he became king and he's fighting battles and he's going through the consequences of his sins and his family began to fall apart and so many tragedies happened in David's life. David said, one thing I know, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What hope. And you have that hope if you're a child of God. And you have it completely. If you don't know Jesus Christ as Savior, you better get that addressed today. You need that kind of hope. It is life changing. Revelation chapter 22 says this, there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads and there shall be no night there. And they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. You may have heard this famous illustration. It's been used by presidents. I believe President Clinton used this at the turn of the millennium when we hit midnight at the turn of this last century or millennium. I remember sitting in the living room of my house and watching President Clinton at that time give a speech as we turned into the year 2000. And he used this illustration. I'd like to use it to encapsulate the end of Psalm 23 for us. The illustration regards what some people call Ben Franklin's rising sun chair. Do you know what I'm talking about? Benjamin Franklin at age 81 was the oldest and most widely accomplished delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. His presence represented the final public service in a remarkable career as a scientist, author, diplomat, and statesman. His reputation in Europe, wrote John Adams from Paris, was more universal than that of Leibniz or Newton or Frederick or Voltaire, and his character more beloved and esteemed than any or all of them. Although he was physically feeble, all of his speeches were read by a colleague. Franklin attended most of the sessions and was troubled by the recurring signs of opposition to the draft of our Constitution as a country. In a notable address toward the close of the convention, He gently urged dissenting delegates to put aside their legitimate criticisms, he himself had several, and recognized the version before them as the best compromise possible. And so he ended up with our Constitution, for which we're thankful. On the final day, as the last delegates were signing the Constitution, Franklin pointed toward the sun carved on the back of the convention president's chair, who happened to be George Washington. If you've seen a picture of this, there was a chair he sat on all through the debates leading up to the draft of our Constitution. And at the top of the back of that chair was the hand carving of a sun. It was half of a sun. If you can imagine half of the circle and the rays coming out from it, it was only a half sun. He said, observing that the painters found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising sun from a setting sun, he went on to say, I have often in the course of the session of these delegates looked at that sun behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length, I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun. You know what the sun is in your life and you may wonder sometimes is the sun rising or setting is God's blessing rising or falling on me and I tell you assuredly it is chasing after you just turn around his goodness and his mercy are on your heels every minute of every day the sun in your life and the sun on our church is a rising sun. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.