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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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Welcome back to the Daily Blade. We're gonna be in Psalm 23 all week long, actually for two weeks. So in case you hadn't picked up on my style I don't know that I'll do this every single time, but I'm a verse-by-verse Bible teacher, so the majority of the time when it's me is I'm just going to dive into some scriptures for an entire week or two weeks or however long it takes us. And today we're going to talk about one of the most familiar passages. Even if you're new to Bible study, you've heard of the 23rd Psalm. I mean, if you've ever been to a funeral, you've heard the 23rd Psalm. I think it's very, very, very misunderstood oftentimes because we read so much of ourself into it. But let's read it. I'll read it in the ESV One of the things I memorize it in the King James.

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So sometimes it's even hard to get the words right because my memory takes over. But here we go, psalm 23,. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake and 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows, and surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Those are some beautiful, beautiful words. Now, king David was a shepherd. He knows very intimately about what this means, and one of the most remarkable things that most of us just read right over is the first half of a sentence. The Bible says the Lord is my shepherd. Do you realize how radical this is? If you could see the text I don't know if you can see it, you're probably just listening but if you, when you get home, you look up the 23rd Psalm and it will say the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, is my shepherd. That is the covenant name of God. That is the, the name Yahweh. It's called in Hebrew, the tetragram. It's really just four letters. In Hebrew they did not have vowels, so it was just those four letters. In English we would say Yahweh, and this is the covenant name that God gives to Moses.

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At the burning bush when maybe you've heard the story, if not, I'm sure we'll cover it. Sometimes, the burning bush when maybe you've heard the story, if not, I'm sure we'll cover it. Sometimes Moses is on the run. He thinks he's done for His life's, kind of a train wreck. He's working for his father-in-law of all things, so you know he can't be in the center of God's will. He's tending sheep out in the back pasture.

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One day he sees a burning bush, but the bush is not consumed. It wasn't necessarily out of order for a bush to be on fire, but the thing's not burning up. So he goes to check it out and from within the bush, god speaks and he says Moses, moses, take off your shoes, for you are on holy ground. And Moses takes off his shoes and God gives him this command Moses, I'm going to send you to go to Pharaoh because I've heard the cry of my people and I want you to tell Pharaoh let my people go. And after giving some excuses, eventually Moses says, all right, well, if I'm going to do this and they say who sent me? Then what is your name that I can say on behalf of who Am I telling Moses? Am I telling Pharaoh to let my people go and God says you tell them my name is Yahweh.

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We translate it I am that I am. It's a tough translation or I be what I be. The name in and of itself is supposed to in Hebrew is supposed to sound like breathing to breathe in, to breathe out. Yahweh, that God is as close as your next breath and he is reality, just like without air. You won't live. Without God, there is no existence. And this is God's covenant name. It's a really big deal.

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The almighty maker of heaven and earth, the one in whom all glory, all honor, all respect, all worship should be aimed at, the one who created us, made us, has a plan for us and one day will judge us. The Lord is his name. And yet David wants us to know that God communicates to us. The Lord, creator of heaven and earth, is my shepherd. We're going to talk about this this week. But being a shepherd, I know people think it's awesome because of like paintings from Bible books or in Christian history, but it was a very, very, very lowly position where the shepherd took care of sheep which were not worth much at all, and it was a very, very intimate thing.

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And so this God of the universe, this king, this judge, wants to be your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Let me ask you is he yours? Is he yours? Do you just know about him, or do you know him as shepherd, one that would care for you, know you, love you and be willing to lay down his life for you? This is what the 23rd Psalm is all about.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.