December 12, 2024 • 55 mins
In this episode of Between Sermons, Pastor Brent and special guest co-host Tiffany Hines are joined by Pastor Sol McQuay to dive into the timeless truths of Psalm 23, exploring how God’s role as our Shepherd can bring peace, rest, and clarity in even the most challenging seasons.
Discover how God’s leadership provides the peace you’re longing for and why “green pastures” and “still waters” are more than just poetic imagery—they’re promises for your daily life. You’ll hear practical insights on trusting God when everything feels uncertain and learn why following His path can lead to true rest and restoration. Whether you’re a new believer, rediscovering your faith, or simply in need of encouragement, this conversation will remind you that God sees you, knows you, and is leading you—even in the mess.
Hit play and let’s walk this journey together. God’s got you!
Connect with us: Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who needs encouragement today. Check out more messages from Between Sermons on our channel.
Watch the full Sunday message: Listen on your favorite podcast platform:
#FaithInMessySeasons #Psalm23 #TrustingGod #BetweenSermons #ChristianEncouragement
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pastor Brent McQuay (00:11):
Everybody. And welcome back to another episode
of Between Sermons. I am your host,
Brent, and I don't know, I'm. I'm
the pastor of Christian Life Center. I
don't know what I'm supposed to tell
you here at this point, but it's
all right. We're gonna have some fun
today as we are diving deeper into
our conversation from Sunday. That's really the
purpose of this podcast, is for us
to be able to have a chance
(00:31):
to turn what looks like a monologue
on a Sunday morning where just there's
a guy standing on a stage talking
at people and really turn it into
a conversation and really dig into how
can we make what we're talking about
on Sundays more practical for our lives.
And since I get tongue tied so
easily, I've got a wonderful co host
with me today. And not our normal
(00:52):
co host, but. Tiffany, you are stepping
in to Tyesha's shoes today.
Tiffany Hines (00:56):
I am. Thanks for being big shoes
to follow.
Pastor Brent McQuay (00:58):
But, I mean, you've done it so
well in the past that I feel
like we're in good hands.
Tiffany Hines (01:02):
I'm happy to be here.
Pastor Brent McQuay (01:03):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (01:04):
Good to see you. And Sul. I
said, sully, die.
Pastor Brent McQuay (01:09):
Susana.
Tiffany Hines (01:10):
Susana. Susana. Yes. So welcome to Between
Sermons. And so I would love for
us to recap yesterday's message on El
Rohi, and I want to get right
into it if you guys are good
with that.
Pastor Sol McQuay (01:25):
Let's go.
Pastor Brent McQuay (01:25):
Yeah, let's go.
Tiffany Hines (01:26):
Okay, so what impacted you guys the
most from yesterday? Like, what was even
sermon prep looking like as you were
diving into El Rohi? The Lord's my
shepherd.
Pastor Sol McQuay (01:39):
Yeah. I think that for me, sermon.
Sermon prep is a lot. It's a
lot of hours, a lot of studying.
You know, yesterday I made the joke
that I could open a sheep farm
by this point. And it is. I'm
not joking. Like, I watch so so
many hours of videos of why you
(01:59):
need to look in a sheep and
what people do to care for sheep.
And I think that for me, something
that. That I gather or something that
I learned, which I should have known,
but it is one of those that
sometimes just the light bulb goes on
is how involved the person that is
caring for the sheep really is with
(02:20):
the sheep. You know, it is not
just, I am all the way in
the front and they follow me or,
you know, like. Like different visuals that
sometimes we have, or they, like, I'm
over here and they are doing their
thing over there. But as I was
watching video after video after video, the.
The shepherd is, like, walking among the
(02:41):
sheep, even while they are eating and
they are trying to. To look for
any signs of sickness or parasites or
making sure that they are being fed
enough. And, like, they are so involved.
Tiffany Hines (02:55):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (02:56):
That it's, like, all the time looking
at them. Like, I was listening to
this lady, and she was talking about
how she has, like, 67 sheep somewhere
in there. And she. She said, I
know all of their names. I know
all of the temperament. And she's like.
And it's important for me because if
one of them is not acting normal,
I need to be able to know,
(03:17):
oh, you little. Suzy, you're not acting
like yourself today. You know what's wrong?
So it is like, all of those
things that sometimes you don't think about.
Like, the shepherd spends a lot of
time with a sheep.
Tiffany Hines (03:30):
Why, you can open up that sheep
business now for sure.
Pastor Brent McQuay (03:33):
No, not happening.
Tiffany Hines (03:34):
No, definitely.
Pastor Brent McQuay (03:35):
Shoot. We got two dogs that look
like sheep sometimes. And. But I will
say our son was very disappointed when
I said no. The sheep. Sheep herding
business. He was really looking forward to
that one. Not sure why or how,
but. Yeah. No. So, like, the. The
sermon prep for this one, it was.
It was harder than usual, I think.
(03:58):
And. And for a few different reasons.
It's weird because in one sense, like,
when I. When I told people that
this is my favorite name for God,
this has been my favorite name for
several years now, where. It's just. That's
how I identify. And when I look
back on my life, Jehovah Rohi, the
Lord is my shepherd. Like, that's just.
I mean, David nailed it on the
(04:20):
head. Like, David's right. And even Jacob,
that's how we introd the message, talking
about Jacob's the first one to actually
call God a shepherd. And it's like,
man, when I look back on my
life, like, this is who he is.
So in a sense, I was really,
really excited for this message. But then
as I started the preparation for it,
I got. Man, it was rough. Like,
(04:41):
I actually had to text several pastor
friends, and I'm like, man, you gotta
pray for me. I'm struggling with this.
One soul would look at me, and
she's like, why don't you just do
this one on your own? And I'm
like, no, no, the opposite. I need
you to do this one on your
own.
Pastor Sol McQuay (04:54):
Because he will come to me. He's
like, I think that I want to
do. And he will say, I want
to do this and I want to
do that. And I'm like, well, it
seems like you are having Like, a
path to run. So just go, yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (05:06):
No, I'm literally coming to my wife
for help. And she's like, okay, why
don't you just do it on your
own? That's not help. That's not what
I'm looking for. But, you know, and
one of the people that I text
was my dad, and I was just
like, hey, I'm, you know, I'm really
struggling with this one. And, you know,
I gave a line that he's given
out before where it's like, hey, sometimes
a preacher is preaching because it's Sunday
(05:26):
and it's your job. And sometimes a
preacher is preaching because there's a. There's
a message is burning in you to
communicate. And so I use that line
back on him. I'm like, man, I
feel like this is just a work
Sunday. And he's like, no, I've heard
what you want to talk about. I
know your heart behind this message. He's
like, I know that that's just an
attack of the enemy kind of a
moment, trying to discourage you. Don't listen
(05:49):
to it. Just push through. And I'm
glad that he gave me that advice.
But, man, at the same time, I'm
like, this one was hard to do.
And there's a few different reasons I
could get into why this one was
hard. But we'll save that maybe for
some of the other conversation we're gonna
have.
Tiffany Hines (06:06):
Okay. But, yeah, well, first I would
say I love that you have wisdom
around you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (06:12):
Yes.
Tiffany Hines (06:13):
To be able to be sensitive to
the Holy Spirit, to say, I don't
think that that's it. Because if something
was to burden you this much, if
this was a life verse, this is
the Lord is my shepherd. And then
for you to not be able to
dive into it as deep, then I
would. I for sure would see, like,
(06:33):
yeah, this is an attack of the
enemy, because it's been a burden too
long for it to just not be
able to. But God, like, wanting you
to know, let's dig a little bit
deeper into this. And then, like, what
came from it was just a powerful
message from the both of you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (06:48):
So, yeah. And I think what finally
came together, you know, our heart behind
this message. And I love if you
didn't hear the message, you know, go
back, watch it. You can subscribe to
our YouTube channel. We are CLC Tinley
and catch up on all that stuff.
But the way we structured the message,
it really was just a walk through
Psalm 23, where David says, the Lord
(07:10):
is my shepherd, and being able to
Identify. Okay. David is the expert in
this regard. Like, David was a shepherd,
which was, honestly, it was not a
glamorous job. It wasn't a job that
anybody wanted. In fact, David's time, shepherds
were usually female, which was not a
normal occupation. And for women to have
(07:33):
jobs, it was simply because it was.
Nobody else wanted to do it. It
was the hardest job, and it was
the job that took you away from
the family. Shepherds were often, like, not
allowed to participate in, like, Jewish festivals
and Jewish celebrations because the time that
they were spending with the sheep would
make them unclean. The things that they
had to do made them labeled as
(07:53):
unclean. And so, like, shepherds were just
kind of looked down on. And so
David is a shepherd because he's the
youngest son. Like all the other brothers
have more important jobs. They're all fighting
in war. David has to stay back
and watch the sheep because he had
no sisters, apparently. And so, like, it's
not this, like, glamorous role. But then
David as a king, he's looking back
on his life, and he writes this
(08:15):
psalm, not in the time of being
a shepherd, but in his time as
a king, looking back on his life
and looking back on who God is.
And he's like, the same way I
was caring for my sheep, God's been
caring for me.
Tiffany Hines (08:30):
Wow.
Pastor Brent McQuay (08:31):
And so there's just something Beautiful about
Psalm 23, about the perspective of a
shepherd. Didn't identify himself as a fellow
shepherd in the. In the story.
Tiffany Hines (08:42):
Right.
Pastor Brent McQuay (08:42):
David identified himself as the sheep, and
the Lord is the shepherd. And so
it's just. It's so beautiful. And so
just being able to just walk through
what Psalm 23 means and those first
four verses. And I mean, it's four
verses, but we could have probably talked.
I think we preached for, like, 45,
50 minutes. It was a longer message,
(09:02):
but I think we probably could have
gone for another two hours just talking
about those four verses. There's so much
in it.
Tiffany Hines (09:09):
So much in it. I think something
that stood out for me even in
that was, Pastor, so when you were
talking about rest, and I don't know
about anyone else, but it's so hard
sometimes to. To rest in those green
pastures.
Pastor Sol McQuay (09:26):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (09:26):
And even as you were saying, I
mean, we're talking about, you've been to
Israel. There isn't just green pastures, you
know.
Pastor Sol McQuay (09:34):
Yes.
Tiffany Hines (09:35):
Just everywhere. So then what is David
talking about when he leads us to
green pastures? So it could be tough,
but he is a great guide, and
he wants you to rest in that.
And so I had to just reflect
on the spaces that I've been in
even now. Like, how much do I
rest and how much do I take
the hands off? And same with being
(09:58):
able to identify with Psalm 23. There
was, I remember a time where I
had to take every verse and just
take it as it is and wake
up like, the Lord is my shepherd,
I have all that I need, you
know, and so the impact of, like,
you could just stay there, that one
verse, you know, kind of thing, but
(10:20):
that really still with me or just
impressed to my heart about that rest
in him. And so no, thank you,
guys. Thank you for that. I think
it touched a lot of people. We
were talking about, even in our staff
meeting today, of how some people really
walked away from the message, so impacted
by the revelation that God gave you
(10:42):
guys. So.
Pastor Sol McQuay (10:43):
And I think the whole rest thing,
it is difficult for us. You know,
we are, especially in this time, people
are just used to go, go, go
do more and do more and do
more and do more. And that leaves
us physically exhausted, but also emotionally drained
(11:04):
because we are putting so much of
ourselves into everything that we do. And
then it comes the perfectionism and then
it comes the expectations of people, and
then it comes all of the stuff
that we are just walking around depleted,
like we have nothing. When God is
trying to lead us, you know, into
rest. And I think that's why for
(11:27):
me, the phrase he makes me was
like, he's saying, just do it already.
You know, you have everything that you
need. And that was to me, like
the eye opening moment. Because the whole
green pastures, when you think about the
lush green grass and you know, like,
(11:48):
you can see as far as the
eye can see, it's all green, it's
all pretty. But when you think of
Israel and there's just rocks and just
a little bit of grass kind of
in between some rocks. Understanding that God
wants you to be satisfied and restful
today.
Tiffany Hines (12:05):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:05):
And I think that sometimes we look
at the brown fields, they're just the
little peaks of grass, and we panic
because we want.
Pastor Brent McQuay (12:16):
It's not enough.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:17):
We want the assurance of I'm gonna
be okay forever. And God is saying,
fix your eyes on me.
Tiffany Hines (12:23):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:24):
And you will be fine.
Tiffany Hines (12:25):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:26):
But when you just look out and
you see all of the rocks and
you just see a tiny little bit
of green, you freak out.
Tiffany Hines (12:32):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:33):
You're like, but I'm gonna. But like,
but tomorrow, like, why am I gonna
eat tomorrow?
Tiffany Hines (12:37):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:37):
And he has said in the Bible
time and time again, don't worry about
tomorrow, you know, because tomorrow is going
to take. It's going to take care
of itself. Just. Just worry about today.
And I think that that is something
that is very important for us to
understand, is that the good shepherd knows
what you're going to need tomorrow. So
just trust him today.
Tiffany Hines (12:54):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:55):
And I think that sometimes we end
up even more tired and even more
exhausted in every single area of our
lives because we are not focusing on
today, we are focusing on every single
other day. And that happens to me,
you know, when I see something that
comes like I'm trying to make sure
that everything is going to be okay
for forever, and then I end up
(13:18):
missing today.
Tiffany Hines (13:19):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (13:20):
And I am exhausted today and I
am depressed today because I don't have
tomorrow. And God is just like, just
focus on today and lay down. Just.
Tiffany Hines (13:33):
Yeah, sometimes he's like, just go to
sleep.
Pastor Brent McQuay (13:35):
Yeah, stop. I mean, the number of
times we find Jesus taking a nap
in the Gospels should be a pretty
good indication that, you know, when there's
chaos around you, maybe you just take
a nap.
Tiffany Hines (13:45):
Completely unbothered, how good the Lord was.
And then just thinking about. And you
guys, if you want to share more,
when you were talking about King David,
of where he had to be in
this, like, awakening from coming from being
a shepherd into a king and writing
as a king and identifying as a
sheep, like, I just wonder what space
(14:06):
that he came to with that, because
I know you mentioned, even in the
message about a lot of times we
take this, this chapter and it can
be a little somber, but looking at
it from a place of praise, that
he became content, like, just like, where
did, where was the place that he
got to in this contentment of his
(14:28):
life? And so. Yes. Would you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (14:31):
Yeah. So that's one of the things
that I love about Psalm 23 and
a lot of scholars are talking about
this, that David is uniquely qualified to
write this psalm. If you look at
the entire psalm, and actually I had
some people that were like, why'd you
stop at verse four? Like, it gets
so good and sets a table in
the presence of my enemies, and my
cup is overflowing and anoints my head
(14:52):
with oil. Why'd you guys stop at
four?
Pastor Sol McQuay (14:54):
Because it was gonna be five hour
message.
Pastor Brent McQuay (14:56):
No, we stopped at four because the
message was about Jehovah Rohit, the shepherd.
Verse 5 isn't about a shepherd anymore.
And this is why Psalm 23 is
so uniquely beautiful, is that David can
write it from the perspective of the
shepherd, but also from the perspective of
a king. And so in verse five,
it shifts. And now we're not outside
(15:16):
in a field with the Lord my
shepherd. Now we're inside of a home.
And it's, the Lord is my host.
He's the one that is hosting me
in his palace. And David would have
been very familiar with that process as
well as a king, right. And so
when somebody comes in your home, you're
setting up a banquet, you're setting up
a feast for them, you're anointing their
(15:36):
head with oil is a common practice
at the time that when a guest
came to your home, they were weary
from the travel and the oil was
there to give them refreshing. It was
like a soothing thing. And it was
also a thing of honor. And so.
And then you would fill their cup,
and if you wanted to be extravagant,
you're filling it to overflowing. And so,
like, all of a sudden, this analogy
is no longer about sheep in a.
(15:58):
And so we had to stop there.
But that's part of what makes Psalm
23, like I said, so cool, is
that David's probably the only person in
our biblical knowledge that could have written
from that perspective to be able to
say, I know what it's like for
a shepherd to care for sheep. I
also know what it's like for a
very important wealthy person to host people
(16:21):
in their home. Like, your average shepherd
wouldn't be able to relate to the
banquet, feast kind of mentality. And so
David is just. It's such a beautiful
thing, but it's also, it's unique to
David in the sense that David has
the humility as king to say, I'm
not the shepherd, I have a shepherd.
And as the king, I'm not the
(16:41):
host, I have a host. Yeah, right.
And that's, that's why I even pointed
out the week before that it's, it's
David that says the, the phrase. And
the Lord said to my Lord, just
that phrase right there. The king of
Israel is saying, the Lord Yahweh is
saying to my Adonai, King David shouldn't
(17:01):
have an Adonai. There shouldn't be a
lord over David. If he's king, he's
top dog. But even in the humility
of David as king, he recognizes, no,
no, no, God is way more kingly
than I am. He is the king
of kings. He is the Lord of
lords. And while people will probably call
David Adon, they'll call him a Lord.
(17:24):
He's like, I'm not Adonai. I have
an Adonai. And so, like, there's Just
this perspective that David has of both
worlds, but also the humility that he
has to be able to say, no,
no, no, it's about God. It's not
about me. And so then we're left
with this incredible psalm that shows us
how God cares for us and protects
(17:45):
us and provides for us and leads
us if we will just follow.
Pastor Sol McQuay (17:49):
And I think that it's also his
journey. You know, there's. There's a lot
of controversy on when he actually wrote
it. Like, where. Where was he. What.
What was happening in his life at
the moment? And. And I don't know,
but he had experienced so much, you
know, like, he had to be on
the run because Saul was trying to
(18:10):
kill him. And then he finally takes.
Takes the throne, and he's finally the
king, and then his son is trying
to kill him so that he can
be that. So it's like so much
happening in his life. So with that
perspective of pain and heartbreak and betrayal,
he's still able to say, I have
everything that I need, and I am
(18:31):
satisfied. And, you know, and I can.
And I can rest. And he's restoring
my soul. Like, being able to even
say in all of this that I
am. That I am experiencing. He is
still my good Shepherd. Like it is.
I think that it is beautiful.
Tiffany Hines (18:47):
Yeah. Covered and protected. Yes, covered and
protected. I love that. So, Pastor Soul,
yesterday you were talking about this year,
2024. Like, it's had some valleys.
Pastor Sol McQuay (19:00):
Like, I'm ready for. You're ready for
New Year's Eve. Let's change the page.
Tiffany Hines (19:06):
She's like, pop out the orange juice,
because I cannot wait for 2025.
Pastor Sol McQuay (19:10):
I cannot wait.
Tiffany Hines (19:11):
So you were mentioning about those valleys
and what this just year has been
for any people that may be out
there maybe dealing with some valleys. How
have you both been able to navigate
this year with those valleys ways? And
maybe you're still walking through how to
(19:33):
do that, but if there are any
ways that you can kind of share
that would help people to practice and
apply when you're in that place in
that valley and needing that rest, how.
How have you guys been walking this
out? And how can you help others?
Pastor Sol McQuay (19:47):
That's. That's a loaded question. Yeah, it
has been. It has been. It has
been a lot. There has been some.
Some stuff with family, with some family's
health, with some just family's choices and.
And a lot of things that just
leave you just broken, you know, And
I wish I could tell you that
(20:08):
I'm on the other side, but I'm
not like I'm. I'm still there. And
I think it was part of what
Brent was saying was so hard to
do this, this message. Because it was
Saturday, we were about to go to
a soccer game, and I am literally
like trembling. I'm crying, and I'm like,
there's just so much fear. And over
(20:32):
tomorrow, you know, and I had to
pull back and just remember, you know,
and start preaching to myself. And I
think that that's something that I do
quite a bit at this time, is
just preach to myself. You know what,
there's so many times that I'm like,
okay, if somebody came to you with
this situation, what would you say? What
have you said to people? What have
(20:53):
you said, you know, when somebody said,
hey, I have this issue. And I
think that what I can tell you
is that it's in moments like this
where you have to get closer to
God. And I think that sometimes in
our pain and in our suffering, we
tend to isolate ourselves because we feel
(21:15):
like nobody will understand. Nobody will be
with me or run with me or
pray with me. And sometimes in that
distance, you actually distance yourself from God.
Tiffany Hines (21:27):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (21:28):
And I think that for me, it
has been just such a beautiful growing
experience to say, I can't do it,
but you can. And you. And, and,
and even getting to the point of
I don't know what tomorrow will bring,
but I know that you're here with
me today.
Tiffany Hines (21:46):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (21:46):
And, and, and it is understanding that
that green pasture, you know, like, I
stop trying to worry and try to
fix tomorrow. And that has been really,
really difficult because I'm just. I just
want the perfect picture done.
Tiffany Hines (22:03):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (22:04):
I just want the perfect picture done.
And I think that's something that I
have realized in this, in this season,
is that I have to give up
my Instagram worthy picture of what I
thought my life was going to be
and just embrace the goodness of God
today with whatever it is that I'm
seeing. So what I've been doing personally
(22:28):
is reading the word of God, understanding
who God is in my pain, you
know, and seeing God in everything that
is happening because he's been there. And
I think that that's why I was
able to. To talk about, you know,
even in. When I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I
(22:49):
will fear no evil because you are
with me.
Tiffany Hines (22:51):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (22:52):
And I. And I wish I would
say that I. That I never fear,
but that's not true. But in the
moments that I feel afraid, I have
to remind myself, look, that he is
with you. And find all of the
little moments in this day where you
have seen the hand of God. And
when you do, you will find it.
(23:13):
You will find. Like, there's so many
times that I just feel like I'm
just broken right now. I just need.
I just need something. God. I just
need. I just need you to at
least, like, just a wink. Just that
I know that you're there. And then.
And then one of my kids will
come, or something will happen, and it's
just like a God was there, you
know? So let's start crying. Oh, Lord.
(23:37):
This podcast is getting real, people. I
think that it is understanding that it
can be very dark and it can
be very uncomfortable, and it can be
something that you don't want to experience,
and you don't want anybody else to
ever experience it again. But he's with
you. And if he's with you, you
(23:59):
can handle it, because it is not
your strength. It is not even you,
the one that is. That is handling
it. You're just the sheep that is
following.
Tiffany Hines (24:08):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:09):
And that you know that in every
step of the way, he's gonna care
for you.
Tiffany Hines (24:12):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:13):
And we all want sunny, sunny days,
you know, and beautiful pictures, but it's.
Pastor Brent McQuay (24:22):
Not how it works.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:23):
But the valleys are gonna be there,
and the dark moments are gonna be
there. But it is what you're choosing
to focus on, what is gonna take
you to the next. To the next
part. And if you focus on God
and you focus on growing and getting
closer to him and relinquishing the control
(24:44):
of your life and of the picture
that you wanted, because nobody wants the
picture of the value of the shadow
of the dead.
Tiffany Hines (24:53):
Absolutely.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:54):
That is not what you want to
see when you look at your life.
But when you relinquish that and you
say, okay, God, this is where we
are walking today. I just have to
trust you that you know why we're
walking through here.
Tiffany Hines (25:10):
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (25:10):
I love that old phrase, if you're
going through hell, don't stop. That's the
idea I think that David is getting
at, is, though I walk through the
valley, though, means it happens, but I'm
going to walk through this valley. And
there was times, you know, in that.
(25:32):
That shepherding journey where he. He probably
had to take his sheep along some
paths that they didn't want to walk.
Like, it was like, this is. This
is where the robbers can hide. This
is where the wolves can hide. And
the shepherd is saying, no, no, we've
got to go through this because we
have to get to some place like
There's a purpose to it. And that's,
that's the thing that always helps me,
(25:52):
is that I know that good can
come from the worst things. And so
if the Lord is leading me through
something, I need to trust him that
it's for my good or it's for
the benefit of others. But there's gonna
be something good that is gonna be
brought about because of this. And so,
(26:13):
yeah, right there with you. It's not
fun, it's not pleasant. I think on
Saturday you were on the verge of
a full blown panic attack. And it's
funny, I love that you said, you
gotta preach to yourself. Because that's basically
what I did. As we were leaving
the house, I was like, soul, change
the channel. Which is something we've preached,
(26:34):
we've team taught. In fact, it's something
we started teaching our kids. And then
we're like, hey, this is probably better
for the congregation than it is just
for our kids. And so we started
teaching this whole idea of, hey, change
the channel. When your mind is so
fixated on one thing, you've got to
come in there and you've got to
change the channel. And some people are
like, well, I can't help what I'm
thinking about. You absolutely can. You choose
(26:55):
what to think about. And sometimes it's
easier than others, right? But you do
have a choice to refocus your attention.
That's why the Bible tells us to
choose to think about these things, the
things that are beautiful. And if we
will make that choice to change the
channel, then we can refocus on God
(27:16):
and in this journey. And so it
was, it was one of those where
my heart was breaking as the husband
seeing my wife hurting. But at the
same time, I was also became very
proud of you in that moment because
I saw you bring it back together,
breathe, saw you change the channel. And
(27:36):
then on Sunday you were able to
be on the stage.
Pastor Sol McQuay (27:38):
And everything that was happening in my
head was even though I walked through
a path that I will fear no
evil because you were with me, I
kept just saying, like I was remembering
everything that I was going to be
talking about. And I'm like, I guess
I had to experience it first, huh?
Tiffany Hines (27:51):
Like, here we go.
Pastor Sol McQuay (27:53):
Like, here we go. We, we're not
talking about something we don't know. And
yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's not fun.
But if, if you are in that
position, I just want to encourage you
to push closer to God. Don't push
God away. Don't you know I think
that it is very easy to go
(28:15):
into the why me? And the where
are you, God? He is with you.
So instead of trying to pass blame
onto God, just push into him.
Tiffany Hines (28:30):
Yeah. When we were in Kenya in
February on the missions trip, of course,
there are just all kinds of things
everywhere. But I noticed with different farmers,
I would see sheep. And so sometimes
when we would be driving, you'd see
all these sheep, but I wouldn't see
a shepherd. And so our tour guide
(28:54):
was, even if you don't see it,
trust me, that shepherd is close by.
So even if someone, like, there is
no kind of stealing someone's sheep, like,
that shepherd is for sure close by.
Like, even if we didn't see the
shepherd there. And so just again, that
beautiful protection of God's covering and his
(29:15):
protection as a shepherd of we didn't
know, but he was. He could. He
could see us. He could see us.
Pastor Brent McQuay (29:22):
He was watching.
Tiffany Hines (29:22):
He was watching for sure. Are there
any takeaways that you guys would have
from the message that you like to
share and share with others?
Pastor Brent McQuay (29:32):
I think the biggest one we tried
to hit in the message, and I
would just kind of encourage people to
lean into it, is if he's the
shepherd who's leading, then we need to
be the sheep that follow. And I
think that so much of what the
shepherd does is based on the sheep's
ability to follow. Right? So, like, if
(29:52):
the shepherd is leading you to beside
still waters, but you're not following him,
you're not gonna get the still waters.
If the shepherd is leading you to
green pastures and you're not following him,
guess what? You don't get the green
pastures. And if he's the one that's
looking over you to protect you, but
you've wandered off, like, how can he
(30:12):
protect you if you're not a part
of the fold? And so, like, it
all comes down to, if he's leading,
we have to follow, and if he's
the shepherd, then we're the sheep. And
so I would just really lean on
people that if there's an area of
your life where I love that he
said that he lead me along the
path of righteousness for my name's sake.
And what I love about that is
(30:33):
a couple things. One I didn't even
get into on Sunday, but please share,
please. When he says, yeah, for your
namesake. Sorry, I said, for my. What
that's saying is God is putting his
own name on the line. Like, and
this is to bring him honor and
glory. And so if he fails, as
A shepherd, it looks bad on him.
(30:56):
So I can trust that he's going
to do these things, that I can
trust him that the path of righteousness
is good for me because it doesn't
do any good for anybody for God
to make himself look bad.
Tiffany Hines (31:08):
Right?
Pastor Brent McQuay (31:09):
And so he's putting his name on
the line and we need to follow
that path of righteousness. And that is
what I was able to talk about
a little bit. That path of righteousness,
it's that well worn path, like it's
the path of safety. And so, yeah,
the shepherd is leading the sheep along
these paths, but there are, there are
grooves that are worn into the land.
(31:30):
There's some paths that the shepherd knows.
Hey, this is the journey we're going
to take. And maybe the journey takes
a month, but we're going to loop
back around and we're going to come
back through the same path. Because by
the time we come back around, there's
new grass that's grown, right? And so
they constantly are leading them along similar
paths or the same paths that have
been well worn, that are paths of
safety. Right? Because they're well worn. Now
(31:53):
we're not stumbling, we're not tripping, we're
not following. It's for our protection. And
so for us, the parallel. And David
talks about this all the time, about
God's word have I hidden in my
heart. And David is just, he's the
one that's like, man, the law brings
life. And the law just. I find
comfort in God's law. Well, he's tying
that into this path of righteousness. And
he's saying, look, God's laws, his commands
(32:16):
over my life, they're for my benefit,
they're for my good. And when we
choose to be independent and say, man,
I don't need to follow that. I'm
gonna trailblaze, I'm gonna make my own
path. There's a way that seems right
to a man that leads to death.
And that's what happens to us when
we get off of the path of
righteousness. And so if you're listening to
(32:38):
this and you're like, okay, how do
I apply? The Lord is my shepherd
to my life. It's those two things.
First, if he's leading, you gotta follow,
which means you need to stay to
the path of righteousness. And when you
get off of that path, that's when
problems happen.
Tiffany Hines (32:52):
Yeah, yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (32:53):
And for me, I think it is
the trust. You know, you have to
trust God with your life. He cares
for you, he is involved in every
aspect of your life. Even when. If
you feel it or you don't feel
it, if you see it or you
don't see it, he is there. So
you just have to trust that he
has you. And I think that we
(33:15):
tend to wander off and we tend
to fall off the path and take
our eyes off of the shepherd when
we start lacking trust.
Tiffany Hines (33:24):
Yes.
Pastor Sol McQuay (33:25):
But if you choose to trust in
him no matter what, because sometimes we
trust depending on outcome. You know, even
if it was good for me, if
it was something that I wanted, then
I've absolutely. I trust God. Right. But
if it's not what I wanted, if
my prayer wasn't answered, then I'm not
trusting anymore. I think that that is.
(33:47):
That is. That's not right. We cannot
trust God conditionally.
Tiffany Hines (33:51):
Yeah. Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (33:52):
We have to trust that God knows
what he's doing. And if. If that
prayer wasn't answered the way that you
thought.
Pastor Brent McQuay (33:59):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (34:00):
You have to trust.
Tiffany Hines (34:01):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (34:01):
That there's a reason for it.
Tiffany Hines (34:03):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (34:03):
You know, if the. The plan didn't
work out the way that you thought
it was gonna be, you have to
trust. You know, you have to trust
him. So when you trust them, then
you will walk on his way. When
you trust them, then you will. You
will want to be closer to him.
When you trust them, you're gonna want
to hear from him. When you don't
trust somebody, you don't care what they
(34:24):
have to say. Say.
Tiffany Hines (34:25):
No, that's real. Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (34:28):
Yeah. That trust piece, that. That's huge.
I love that you pointed that out.
How do we. How do we build
that trust? Trust, though? Like, how do
we get to a place where. Because.
Because I think that is that sign
of maturity. Right. When it's like, hey,
I don't just trust you because good
things have happened in the past when
I trusted you. Like, I trust you
even when, from my perspective, something bad
(34:48):
happened. But I trust you that you've
got. You know something I don't like,
that trust for the sheep is saying,
look, I want to go over there,
but I know that you're leading me
over there, so I'm just going to
trust that what's at the end of
this journey, what's way down there that
I don't see and I don't know
I'm trusting you, that it's better than
(35:09):
what I see right over here. But
how do we get to that place?
Pastor Sol McQuay (35:13):
I think, at least for me, it
is a twofold one. Yeah. It is.
By experience. You have seen him come
through time and time again in your
own Life, but also by third party
experience. You read the Bible and you
see that he has been faithful. You
read the Word and you see all
(35:34):
of the lengths that he went to
get you to rescue you. You see
his faithfulness throughout centuries. You go to
other people and you hear their stories
and you see how God has, has
been there for them. You know, so
I think that it is personal experience
and other people's experience. You know, there
are from friends and accounts on the
(35:54):
Bible and then you can understand that
he has always been true to his
Word.
Tiffany Hines (36:00):
Yeah, yeah. I was thinking the same
thing of like if I was a
new Christian and I didn't know where
to start on this trust thing is
the people around me of like, I
don't know what this is, but can
you share with me some stories of
like how you've seen and been able
to trust God? Because I don't know
the Bible like that, but I'm, I've
surrendered. Like I'm becoming him as Lord,
(36:24):
but how do I build that? And
even though if there was nothing that
I knew yet or could see in
my life, I could ask people.
Pastor Brent McQuay (36:32):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (36:32):
And then of course they also pointing
to the Bible of this. But like
I have for sure seen God take
me from this space of not trusting.
This did not go the way that
I thought it was going to go
to him taking me to like, has
everything changed? No, but my perspective along
the way I have had people fiercely
(36:54):
pray for me and pray for you,
like those kind of things that like
he's trustworthy. The people around me really
trust him and I trust that they
will fervently root me on in this
process. And so yeah, that community thing
I think also will help people who
don't know what trust looks like yet
(37:15):
or feel trust has been broken.
Pastor Sol McQuay (37:17):
The Bible says, you know, like they
overcame by the blood of the lamb
and the word of the testimony. So
it is important for people who have
a testimony that where you have experienced
God in any way, share that with
other people. You have no idea how
much you can be building somebody up
when somebody's just feeling like it is
(37:38):
never going to work for me. But
then you hear somebody say but God
did this in my life. It kind
of starts fueling a little bit of
expectancy to say if he did it
for you, he can do it for
me. So I think that it is
very important. I think that sometimes we
downplay the things that God does or
you just keep it to ourselves when
it is very important for us to
(38:00):
communicate that.
Pastor Brent McQuay (38:01):
Yeah, I don't know if this will
help anybody because this is one of
those Brent's a weird person, probably kind
of moments. But for me, like, I
trust God fully because I am fully
convinced that he's God. And if, and
if he's actually God, I'm not. And
(38:23):
if he's God, then he knows way
more. Like, if we look at this,
okay, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, like, if this
is the real God, the God we
see in scripture, if he really exists,
then why would I question him? Why
would I not trust him? Why would
I fight the system if what I
read in my Bible is real? And
(38:43):
I've been fully convinced that God is
God. So I'm putting my trust in
him and the outcome, honestly. And this
is, this is the part where it's
like, this is harder for other people,
but this is where I am. But
if he's fully God, the outcomes don't
matter. And I could be trusting him
for my healing and still be sick
(39:06):
and still trust him. Right? I can
be going through something with family and
it doesn't get resolved the way I
want it to be resolved, but I
still trust him because he's God and
he has a perspective that I don't
get. I don't have his perspective. You
know, the Bible talks about how his
ways are so far above our ways.
Like, who are we to, like, I
(39:27):
love when Job is like getting so
self righteous and he's, he's mouthing off
to his friends and he's just like,
you don't even understand. And he calls
out God and then God shows up
and he's like, hey, where were you
when I formed the mountains?
Tiffany Hines (39:41):
Right?
Pastor Brent McQuay (39:41):
Are you. Do you know how lightning
works? I speak this thing into existence.
Like, God just shows up and is
like, yeah, just remember, Job, I'm God
and you're not. And so like, I
read his story and I'm like, God,
don't let me ever make that mistake.
Don't let me ever get into a
place where I'm not trusting you because
I think I know better. I just
want to get into a place where
(40:02):
it's like, God, it doesn't matter the
outcome, it doesn't matter the track record,
like, all of that. Like, yes, that's
good. It builds up faith and all
of that. But at the end of
the day, if I'm sick, he's God,
and if I'm healed, he's God. And
if I'm not healed, he's God. And
if everything is provided the way that
I want it, He's God. And if
(40:22):
nothing is provided the way that I
want it, he's God. Like, he's God.
I'm not. My job is to follow
and be submitted to him. And I
guess I've just gotten to this place
in my life where I'm so fully
convinced of that. Man. Yeah, there's things
in life that suck. There's things in
life that I wish were different, but
(40:42):
it's not affecting my faith. Like, I'm.
I trust him.
Pastor Sol McQuay (40:46):
And, and. And I think that when
you said Job, the. The phrase that
I love that he said was, would
I only take the good from God
and not the bad?
Pastor Brent McQuay (40:55):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (40:56):
You know, like, am I only going
to be okay with God if he
gives me good things?
Tiffany Hines (41:00):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (41:00):
And not with him when life is
not okay?
Pastor Brent McQuay (41:03):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (41:05):
Which even brings back to why the
Lord allowed, like, for Job to be
tried and tested.
Pastor Sol McQuay (41:12):
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (41:13):
And so, yeah, it's fun. Our journey
with the good shepherd is. It's a
fun journey. But I do want to
reiterate what I had said in the
message that he's good at his job.
And his job as the shepherd is
to lead, protect, and provide. And so
he's really good at leading, if you'll
(41:35):
follow. Yeah, he's really good at providing,
if you'll follow. He's really good at
protecting, if you'll follow.
Tiffany Hines (41:41):
I was at a women's Bible study,
and some people were sharing just where
they were. And this mantra that I
have to remember, too, is that God
is like, the best event planner. Like,
nobody's beating God. Like, he just is.
Pastor Brent McQuay (41:55):
He's got this.
Tiffany Hines (41:55):
He, like the best one. And so
I have to remember he is not
surprised by this event. He always has
a plan. Always. God, so help me
to trust that you, as the best
one, you already. And you know the
outcome and you know, every step in
the play of how I can, like,
(42:17):
move toward. Move toward you and trust
that you have a plan. He. He
just has a plan.
Pastor Brent McQuay (42:25):
Trust him.
Tiffany Hines (42:25):
There was one more thing that I
put as a takeaway from me because
of what you said and the demeanor,
how sometimes when we listen to the
message or that passage and we can
kind of get sad, I'm like, I
want to hear more of the tone
of praise with that. And so more
praise songs, you know, that are like,
you know, in this tone when you're
(42:45):
reading it, like, the Lord is my
shepherd, you know, even when I walk
through this kind of. I mean, I
feel like Psalm 23 with some energy.
Pastor Sol McQuay (42:53):
Right.
Tiffany Hines (42:55):
But here you need to write it.
Diff.
Pastor Sol McQuay (42:57):
You need to write it. You need
to sing it, you know.
Tiffany Hines (43:00):
Because the tone, like, he was just
reassuring himself over and over again. And
so I'm like, I want to see
more of that in that tone, said
and sung and stuff.
Pastor Brent McQuay (43:09):
So I think. And this is one
of those. How does Pastor Carlton put
it? My sanctified imagination or something. Like,
I forget how he calls it, but
it's like, I got no scripture for
this or no. No historical evidence for
this. But I think in my glorified
imagination. I think so. In my glorified
imagination, David is smiling when he's writing
Psalm 23. Because when he's looking back,
(43:32):
the. You lead me beside still waters.
Tiffany Hines (43:35):
Oh, he knows what that is. Thank
you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (43:37):
There's contentment, like, your rod and your
staff, they comfort me. Like, I just.
Man, it's like. And we read this
psalm at funerals, and everybody's crying, this
is my shepherd. And it's so hard,
and it's so rough, and it's just.
But I think that David is like,
no, no, no. Like, God loves me
(43:58):
enough to lead me, to care for
me, to protect me. And his rod
and his staff, man, I'm comforted by
the shepherd. I think that that's. Man,
I don't know. I think that I
probably picture David spending some nights cuddled
up with a sheep like, you're my
favorite, like, scratching his head like, I
don't know, man. But, yeah, my glorified
imagination goes. Goes wild on this one.
Tiffany Hines (44:20):
But it's okay. It's good.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:22):
I think I'm with you. I think
that we need some praise, some. Some
upbeat, some energetic, some.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:27):
Some happy.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:28):
Put some smile on your face because
the Lord is my shepherd. This is
good news, not bad news.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:34):
Yes.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:35):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:35):
Yes.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:36):
It's life, not death.
Tiffany Hines (44:37):
Yes.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:37):
I second the motion.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:38):
Yeah. All right, Tiff.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:39):
Write it.
Tiffany Hines (44:40):
Done. Well, thank you guys so much.
I'm so happy that I got to
be a part of this today.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:47):
Yeah. Before we wrap up, though, Taisha
always gives me a chance to nerd
out, and I have to.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:52):
Here we go.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:53):
I have to. So when we talked
about how this was a hard one
for me to prepare, here's the real
answer to that. Not that my other
answer wasn't real, but this is just,
like, the. The bonus answer, the thing
that was, like, the thorn in my
side and Saul was like, don't do
that.
(45:13):
Don't ruin it for people. But I'm
going, please do it. I love you,
but I'm going to ruin this for
you. So when I prepare a message,
a lot of times what I'll do
is I'll get a verse, I'll get
a passage, and I'll study it. I'll
write down my thoughts, I'll highlight certain
words or things that stand out to
(45:34):
me. It was basically, it's Bible study.
And it's usually for my benefit more
than the congregations. And then from there,
I start pulling out my thoughts, my
ideas, I start remembering things from my
past and other things I've heard preached.
And I'll do all this stuff. And
when it came to Psalm 23, I
started doing that. I started pulling out
all these incredible. Because every preacher has
(45:56):
preached Psalm 23. So I started pulling
out all these things that I had
heard before.
Like, you know, that the shepherd would
break the legs of the sheep so
that, you know, if they were stubborn
and would always wander off, they break
the legs. So the sheep would have
to ride on his shoulders and he'd
be close to the heartbeat and he
would. He would hold them close and
like, it was all this stuff. And
then, you know, he leaves me beside
still waters because sheep, you know, they
(46:17):
won't drink from rapid waters.
And, you know, the laying down in
green pastures in these beautiful fields, and
we find comfort and rest and there's
food all around us, but we're still
sleeping because everything's been satisfied. And sheep
are so stupid, and people are stupid
and people are like sheep. And like,
(46:37):
all these things I've heard preached over
and over and over again. Have you
never heard a sermon where the preacher,
like, cheap or dumb or like sheep
is such a perfect analogy for Christians?
Because sheep cannot survive without a shepherd
and we can't survive without God. And
like, using all this stuff, man, I
wrote down all those things that I'm
(46:57):
like, I've heard this before. This is
what I've heard preached. I've talked about
these things before. And then I fact
checked myself, okay? And that's where I
discovered that all of those things are
lies. None of those things are true
or at least exaggerated claims or extremely
exaggerated claims. So, like our sheep, stupid.
(47:18):
I mean, sometimes they're not the most
intelligent. They are animals. However, they're actually
highly trainable. Sheep actually demonstrate, like, amazing
qualities of intelligence in the sense that,
like, they can be trained to. To
do certain things at certain vocal commands.
They recognize, I think it's up to
like 10 different faces. So, like, if
(47:39):
their shepherd walks by versus a stranger
walks by, voices they're like. And voices,
they're like, nope, that's my shepherd. That's
not so. So, like, the shepherd could
have an audible command for the sheep
that they'll follow. A stranger can give
the exact same command and the sheep
won't follow it because they've been trained
to follow that voice, not that voice.
And it's like, so, like they actually
(47:59):
demonstrate super high intelligence now. They're stubborn,
which makes them appear stupid because they're
like, I'm doing what I want to
do. Okay. But then like. And they
also have a tendency to follow. So
like, I read one article that's so
sad, but it's still kind of funny.
So I laughed at it, but it's
really sad. It was like, I think
I gotta find the article. But I
think it was like Italian shepherds were
(48:22):
leading their flock and they went into
a town to have lunch.
And while they're having lunch, they just
left the flock on the hillside. Apparently
on the opposite side of the hillside
was a cliff. And one of the
sheep walked off the cliff.
Pastor Sol McQuay (48:36):
Don't say it. Don't finish that.
Tiffany Hines (48:37):
And then where's the happy ending?
Pastor Brent McQuay (48:40):
Because sheep have a tendency to fall.
Hello. Sheep number two, one, off the
cliff. Sheep number three, one off the
cliff. I think the article, I gotta
find it, but I think it's like
1500 sheep went off of this cliff.
They're all dying. Up until the last
like 400 of them literally survived the
fall by landing on the other dead
(49:02):
sheep.
Tiffany Hines (49:03):
Wow.
Pastor Brent McQuay (49:04):
I shouldn't laugh. I know this is
bad. And like, it reminds me of
the whole, like, cast down sheep, like
sheep stuck on their back. Which is
actually true. Which does happen. It's a
really funny image. But they literally, like,
in a few hours, like, they can
die. The gases build up and. And
so like shepherds literally, like, I watched
one video of a farmer that was
like, hey, if you ever see a
sheep, like you're driving down the road,
(49:25):
you see a sheep that's on his
back, like, do that.
Pastor Sol McQuay (49:27):
Their backs are like, they're too flat.
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (49:30):
So they can't get like the momentum
to rotate. Especially if they're, they're fur
or their wool is too long. It's
like this farmer was like, look, do
them a favor, get out of your
car. Tip that sheep back over. You
might be saving their life if the
shepherd didn't notice. So I kept coming
across all these things that I had
been taught or I had heard a
preacher say that just weren't true. They
(49:52):
don't break the legs of the lambs
because if they did, the lamb Has
a long memory and will hold a
grudge. And so that sheep is never
going to trust that shepherd again. Because
it's like, you're the dude that broke
my leg. Because they recognize the face
and they recognize you broke my leg,
you jerk. Right?
Pastor Sol McQuay (50:09):
This game is so bad.
Pastor Brent McQuay (50:11):
The rushing water thing, like, I heard
this one preached multiple times, like, the
sheep will only drink from still waters.
And so when God leads us beside
still waters, because that's the only thing
that will bring us. It's not true
at all. Like, I watched a video
of, like, a bunch of sheep drinking
from a river that was rushing, but
I also saw one video of a
sheep. Literally, this goes back to their
intelligence. The sheep was turning on the
(50:32):
water faucet in the sink in the.
In the shed and drinking directly from
the faucet. And the farmer would turn
the faucet off, and the sheep would
get mad and turn it back on,
like, five or six times. The sheep
is turning on the faucet.
Pastor Sol McQuay (50:44):
I'm telling you, we need a sheep
farm. We need to see all of
this happen.
Pastor Brent McQuay (50:48):
So it was just. But it was
one of those things that I'm like,
man, all these things that I thought
about sheep, it just. It isn't true.
It isn't real. Right down to the
biggest thing. Like, I had so many
sermons where it was, sheep cannot survive
without a shepherd. And I'm like, man,
that preaches so well because we can't
survive without our shepherd. We can't survive
without Jesus. And like, I read a
(51:11):
whole farming thread where they're like, whoever
told you that is an idiot. There's
literally wild sheep. There are sheep all
over the place that can survive just
fine without a shepherd. They shed their
wool on a regular basis. When those
clocks, climate changes. Like, it's totally a
normal thing. We've just genetically engineered sheep
(51:31):
to be dependent on shepherds because we're
trying to get something from them. Like,
oh, okay. So, like, in my sermon
prep, I was like, well, I can't
preach that. I can't preach that. I
can't preach that. I can't preach that.
That's not true. That's not right. Man,
I got mad. That was. That was
like. I kept looking at soul. I'm
like, nope, can't use it. Nope. It's
not real. Nope. This. Nope. It's not
(51:53):
a thing.
Pastor Sol McQuay (51:54):
But I think with all of that
to make the happy package, let's bring.
Tiffany Hines (51:59):
All of that to a happy package.
Pastor Brent McQuay (52:01):
You never let me just end on
a sour note. No, that's why people
like you. That's why people like soul
a lot better.
Pastor Sol McQuay (52:07):
And put the bow on top, make
it pretty. I think that that is
why it's so important for us to
understand that what Jesus does for us
is that leading, that protecting, and that
providing, you know, because I always think
of the phrase that, you know, the
Bible says that Jesus had compassion for
the multitudes because they were like sheep
(52:27):
without a shepherd. So basically, he's looking
at all of these people and saying,
who is protecting you? Who's providing for
you?
Pastor Brent McQuay (52:33):
Who's leading you?
Pastor Sol McQuay (52:34):
Who's leading you? You know, so can
you be without Jesus? Sure.
Tiffany Hines (52:39):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (52:40):
But trying to deal with life with
Jesus is hard. Trying to do it
without him. When you don't have the
hope, when you don't have the protection,
when you don't have the comfort, when
you don't have the person that can
grab all of the broken pieces and
restore you, why would anyone want that?
(53:04):
You know? So when Jesus sees the
multitudes without him, he's saying, who is.
Who is with you? So I think
that for us, we have. We have
a beautiful. A beautiful shepherd that is
making our life much better, even if
our life is not perfect.
Tiffany Hines (53:22):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (53:22):
On this side of eternity.
Tiffany Hines (53:24):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (53:24):
You know, but he's with us. So
I think that's where we can find
the comfort and the joy and the
happy, is that all of those things
might not be true, but he's leading.
His protection and his provision. They are.
Pastor Brent McQuay (53:41):
Which is why when we finally settled
on this message, we taught the things
that we taught because it was things
that we could verify. It was like,
okay, we're not trying to add things
to the text that aren't there. And
we're not trying to stretch truths that
aren't all that true. We're sticking to,
okay, David made this analogy for a
reason. And David is the expert. He
(54:02):
was a shepherd. He knows the relationship
between shepherd and sheep. What is David
pointing out? And why is David pointing
it out? And so for us to
be able to recognize there is something
beautiful, we don't have to add to
it. We don't have to get preachy
with it. We don't have to go
all imagination. And out there the text
is beautiful. Just teach that. And that's
(54:25):
where we finally was like, okay, we're
walking through Psalm 23, and.
Pastor Sol McQuay (54:29):
He'S happy and he's hopeful.
Pastor Brent McQuay (54:30):
Yeah. And he is a good shepherd.
And we are sheep that sometimes wander,
which is why he leaves the 99
to find the One and whack us
on the head. And that's why he's
got a staff, because sometimes you need
a good whack on the head.
Pastor Sol McQuay (54:43):
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (54:43):
All right. That was good. Sorry I
had to rant.
Tiffany Hines (54:46):
Please do.
Pastor Brent McQuay (54:47):
Soul doesn't like my rantings, but you
made it. You. You made it beautiful.
You. You made it. High five for
you. Way to go. That's why we
make a good team. I can be.
I can be Debbie Downer, and then
you can bring the life and the
energy, and it's great. That's awesome. Good
balance. Beautiful. Well, hey, thanks for hanging
out with us for this episode of
Between Sermons. If you didn't watch the
message yet, please go and take a
(55:08):
listen to it on YouTube or wherever
you're watching this podcast. I'm sure you
can get that message as well. Like,
subscribe. Do all the things that you
need to do to keep the algorithms
going. Help us get this message out
to other people. We need more people
to recognize that Jesus is the good
shepherd, that God is the Lord, my
shepherd. He's the one that's leading us,
(55:28):
protecting us, providing for us. So share
this with somebody that needs some encouragement
today. Tell them, you know, Pastor Brent's
a little rough around the edges. He's
going to be a little bit of
a downer. But Pastor Soul's there, too,
and she's got so much life and
energy and hope. So just, yeah, share.
Share this one, and we'll see you
on next episode.
Everybody. And welcome back to another episode
of Between Sermons. I am your host,
Brent, and I don't know, I'm. I'm
the pastor of Christian Life Center. I
don't know what I'm supposed to tell
you here at this point, but it's
all right. We're gonna have some fun
today as we are diving deeper into
our conversation from Sunday. That's really the
purpose of this podcast, is for us
to be able to have a chance
(00:31):
to turn what looks like a monologue
on a Sunday morning where just there's
a guy standing on a stage talking
at people and really turn it into
a conversation and really dig into how
can we make what we're talking about
on Sundays more practical for our lives.
And since I get tongue tied so
easily, I've got a wonderful co host
with me today. And not our normal
(00:52):
co host, but. Tiffany, you are stepping
in to Tyesha's shoes today.
Tiffany Hines (00:56):
I am. Thanks for being big shoes
to follow.
Pastor Brent McQuay (00:58):
But, I mean, you've done it so
well in the past that I feel
like we're in good hands.
Tiffany Hines (01:02):
I'm happy to be here.
Pastor Brent McQuay (01:03):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (01:04):
Good to see you. And Sul. I
said, sully, die.
Pastor Brent McQuay (01:09):
Susana.
Tiffany Hines (01:10):
Susana. Susana. Yes. So welcome to Between
Sermons. And so I would love for
us to recap yesterday's message on El
Rohi, and I want to get right
into it if you guys are good
with that.
Pastor Sol McQuay (01:25):
Let's go.
Pastor Brent McQuay (01:25):
Yeah, let's go.
Tiffany Hines (01:26):
Okay, so what impacted you guys the
most from yesterday? Like, what was even
sermon prep looking like as you were
diving into El Rohi? The Lord's my
shepherd.
Pastor Sol McQuay (01:39):
Yeah. I think that for me, sermon.
Sermon prep is a lot. It's a
lot of hours, a lot of studying.
You know, yesterday I made the joke
that I could open a sheep farm
by this point. And it is. I'm
not joking. Like, I watch so so
many hours of videos of why you
(01:59):
need to look in a sheep and
what people do to care for sheep.
And I think that for me, something
that. That I gather or something that
I learned, which I should have known,
but it is one of those that
sometimes just the light bulb goes on
is how involved the person that is
caring for the sheep really is with
(02:20):
the sheep. You know, it is not
just, I am all the way in
the front and they follow me or,
you know, like. Like different visuals that
sometimes we have, or they, like, I'm
over here and they are doing their
thing over there. But as I was
watching video after video after video, the.
The shepherd is, like, walking among the
(02:41):
sheep, even while they are eating and
they are trying to. To look for
any signs of sickness or parasites or
making sure that they are being fed
enough. And, like, they are so involved.
Tiffany Hines (02:55):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (02:56):
That it's, like, all the time looking
at them. Like, I was listening to
this lady, and she was talking about
how she has, like, 67 sheep somewhere
in there. And she. She said, I
know all of their names. I know
all of the temperament. And she's like.
And it's important for me because if
one of them is not acting normal,
I need to be able to know,
(03:17):
oh, you little. Suzy, you're not acting
like yourself today. You know what's wrong?
So it is like, all of those
things that sometimes you don't think about.
Like, the shepherd spends a lot of
time with a sheep.
Tiffany Hines (03:30):
Why, you can open up that sheep
business now for sure.
Pastor Brent McQuay (03:33):
No, not happening.
Tiffany Hines (03:34):
No, definitely.
Pastor Brent McQuay (03:35):
Shoot. We got two dogs that look
like sheep sometimes. And. But I will
say our son was very disappointed when
I said no. The sheep. Sheep herding
business. He was really looking forward to
that one. Not sure why or how,
but. Yeah. No. So, like, the. The
sermon prep for this one, it was.
It was harder than usual, I think.
(03:58):
And. And for a few different reasons.
It's weird because in one sense, like,
when I. When I told people that
this is my favorite name for God,
this has been my favorite name for
several years now, where. It's just. That's
how I identify. And when I look
back on my life, Jehovah Rohi, the
Lord is my shepherd. Like, that's just.
I mean, David nailed it on the
(04:20):
head. Like, David's right. And even Jacob,
that's how we introd the message, talking
about Jacob's the first one to actually
call God a shepherd. And it's like,
man, when I look back on my
life, like, this is who he is.
So in a sense, I was really,
really excited for this message. But then
as I started the preparation for it,
I got. Man, it was rough. Like,
(04:41):
I actually had to text several pastor
friends, and I'm like, man, you gotta
pray for me. I'm struggling with this.
One soul would look at me, and
she's like, why don't you just do
this one on your own? And I'm
like, no, no, the opposite. I need
you to do this one on your
own.
Pastor Sol McQuay (04:54):
Because he will come to me. He's
like, I think that I want to
do. And he will say, I want
to do this and I want to
do that. And I'm like, well, it
seems like you are having Like, a
path to run. So just go, yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (05:06):
No, I'm literally coming to my wife
for help. And she's like, okay, why
don't you just do it on your
own? That's not help. That's not what
I'm looking for. But, you know, and
one of the people that I text
was my dad, and I was just
like, hey, I'm, you know, I'm really
struggling with this one. And, you know,
I gave a line that he's given
out before where it's like, hey, sometimes
a preacher is preaching because it's Sunday
(05:26):
and it's your job. And sometimes a
preacher is preaching because there's a. There's
a message is burning in you to
communicate. And so I use that line
back on him. I'm like, man, I
feel like this is just a work
Sunday. And he's like, no, I've heard
what you want to talk about. I
know your heart behind this message. He's
like, I know that that's just an
attack of the enemy kind of a
moment, trying to discourage you. Don't listen
(05:49):
to it. Just push through. And I'm
glad that he gave me that advice.
But, man, at the same time, I'm
like, this one was hard to do.
And there's a few different reasons I
could get into why this one was
hard. But we'll save that maybe for
some of the other conversation we're gonna
have.
Tiffany Hines (06:06):
Okay. But, yeah, well, first I would
say I love that you have wisdom
around you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (06:12):
Yes.
Tiffany Hines (06:13):
To be able to be sensitive to
the Holy Spirit, to say, I don't
think that that's it. Because if something
was to burden you this much, if
this was a life verse, this is
the Lord is my shepherd. And then
for you to not be able to
dive into it as deep, then I
would. I for sure would see, like,
(06:33):
yeah, this is an attack of the
enemy, because it's been a burden too
long for it to just not be
able to. But God, like, wanting you
to know, let's dig a little bit
deeper into this. And then, like, what
came from it was just a powerful
message from the both of you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (06:48):
So, yeah. And I think what finally
came together, you know, our heart behind
this message. And I love if you
didn't hear the message, you know, go
back, watch it. You can subscribe to
our YouTube channel. We are CLC Tinley
and catch up on all that stuff.
But the way we structured the message,
it really was just a walk through
Psalm 23, where David says, the Lord
(07:10):
is my shepherd, and being able to
Identify. Okay. David is the expert in
this regard. Like, David was a shepherd,
which was, honestly, it was not a
glamorous job. It wasn't a job that
anybody wanted. In fact, David's time, shepherds
were usually female, which was not a
normal occupation. And for women to have
(07:33):
jobs, it was simply because it was.
Nobody else wanted to do it. It
was the hardest job, and it was
the job that took you away from
the family. Shepherds were often, like, not
allowed to participate in, like, Jewish festivals
and Jewish celebrations because the time that
they were spending with the sheep would
make them unclean. The things that they
had to do made them labeled as
(07:53):
unclean. And so, like, shepherds were just
kind of looked down on. And so
David is a shepherd because he's the
youngest son. Like all the other brothers
have more important jobs. They're all fighting
in war. David has to stay back
and watch the sheep because he had
no sisters, apparently. And so, like, it's
not this, like, glamorous role. But then
David as a king, he's looking back
on his life, and he writes this
(08:15):
psalm, not in the time of being
a shepherd, but in his time as
a king, looking back on his life
and looking back on who God is.
And he's like, the same way I
was caring for my sheep, God's been
caring for me.
Tiffany Hines (08:30):
Wow.
Pastor Brent McQuay (08:31):
And so there's just something Beautiful about
Psalm 23, about the perspective of a
shepherd. Didn't identify himself as a fellow
shepherd in the. In the story.
Tiffany Hines (08:42):
Right.
Pastor Brent McQuay (08:42):
David identified himself as the sheep, and
the Lord is the shepherd. And so
it's just. It's so beautiful. And so
just being able to just walk through
what Psalm 23 means and those first
four verses. And I mean, it's four
verses, but we could have probably talked.
I think we preached for, like, 45,
50 minutes. It was a longer message,
(09:02):
but I think we probably could have
gone for another two hours just talking
about those four verses. There's so much
in it.
Tiffany Hines (09:09):
So much in it. I think something
that stood out for me even in
that was, Pastor, so when you were
talking about rest, and I don't know
about anyone else, but it's so hard
sometimes to. To rest in those green
pastures.
Pastor Sol McQuay (09:26):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (09:26):
And even as you were saying, I
mean, we're talking about, you've been to
Israel. There isn't just green pastures, you
know.
Pastor Sol McQuay (09:34):
Yes.
Tiffany Hines (09:35):
Just everywhere. So then what is David
talking about when he leads us to
green pastures? So it could be tough,
but he is a great guide, and
he wants you to rest in that.
And so I had to just reflect
on the spaces that I've been in
even now. Like, how much do I
rest and how much do I take
the hands off? And same with being
(09:58):
able to identify with Psalm 23. There
was, I remember a time where I
had to take every verse and just
take it as it is and wake
up like, the Lord is my shepherd,
I have all that I need, you
know, and so the impact of, like,
you could just stay there, that one
verse, you know, kind of thing, but
(10:20):
that really still with me or just
impressed to my heart about that rest
in him. And so no, thank you,
guys. Thank you for that. I think
it touched a lot of people. We
were talking about, even in our staff
meeting today, of how some people really
walked away from the message, so impacted
by the revelation that God gave you
(10:42):
guys. So.
Pastor Sol McQuay (10:43):
And I think the whole rest thing,
it is difficult for us. You know,
we are, especially in this time, people
are just used to go, go, go
do more and do more and do
more and do more. And that leaves
us physically exhausted, but also emotionally drained
(11:04):
because we are putting so much of
ourselves into everything that we do. And
then it comes the perfectionism and then
it comes the expectations of people, and
then it comes all of the stuff
that we are just walking around depleted,
like we have nothing. When God is
trying to lead us, you know, into
rest. And I think that's why for
(11:27):
me, the phrase he makes me was
like, he's saying, just do it already.
You know, you have everything that you
need. And that was to me, like
the eye opening moment. Because the whole
green pastures, when you think about the
lush green grass and you know, like,
(11:48):
you can see as far as the
eye can see, it's all green, it's
all pretty. But when you think of
Israel and there's just rocks and just
a little bit of grass kind of
in between some rocks. Understanding that God
wants you to be satisfied and restful
today.
Tiffany Hines (12:05):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:05):
And I think that sometimes we look
at the brown fields, they're just the
little peaks of grass, and we panic
because we want.
Pastor Brent McQuay (12:16):
It's not enough.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:17):
We want the assurance of I'm gonna
be okay forever. And God is saying,
fix your eyes on me.
Tiffany Hines (12:23):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:24):
And you will be fine.
Tiffany Hines (12:25):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:26):
But when you just look out and
you see all of the rocks and
you just see a tiny little bit
of green, you freak out.
Tiffany Hines (12:32):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:33):
You're like, but I'm gonna. But like,
but tomorrow, like, why am I gonna
eat tomorrow?
Tiffany Hines (12:37):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:37):
And he has said in the Bible
time and time again, don't worry about
tomorrow, you know, because tomorrow is going
to take. It's going to take care
of itself. Just. Just worry about today.
And I think that that is something
that is very important for us to
understand, is that the good shepherd knows
what you're going to need tomorrow. So
just trust him today.
Tiffany Hines (12:54):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (12:55):
And I think that sometimes we end
up even more tired and even more
exhausted in every single area of our
lives because we are not focusing on
today, we are focusing on every single
other day. And that happens to me,
you know, when I see something that
comes like I'm trying to make sure
that everything is going to be okay
for forever, and then I end up
(13:18):
missing today.
Tiffany Hines (13:19):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (13:20):
And I am exhausted today and I
am depressed today because I don't have
tomorrow. And God is just like, just
focus on today and lay down. Just.
Tiffany Hines (13:33):
Yeah, sometimes he's like, just go to
sleep.
Pastor Brent McQuay (13:35):
Yeah, stop. I mean, the number of
times we find Jesus taking a nap
in the Gospels should be a pretty
good indication that, you know, when there's
chaos around you, maybe you just take
a nap.
Tiffany Hines (13:45):
Completely unbothered, how good the Lord was.
And then just thinking about. And you
guys, if you want to share more,
when you were talking about King David,
of where he had to be in
this, like, awakening from coming from being
a shepherd into a king and writing
as a king and identifying as a
sheep, like, I just wonder what space
(14:06):
that he came to with that, because
I know you mentioned, even in the
message about a lot of times we
take this, this chapter and it can
be a little somber, but looking at
it from a place of praise, that
he became content, like, just like, where
did, where was the place that he
got to in this contentment of his
(14:28):
life? And so. Yes. Would you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (14:31):
Yeah. So that's one of the things
that I love about Psalm 23 and
a lot of scholars are talking about
this, that David is uniquely qualified to
write this psalm. If you look at
the entire psalm, and actually I had
some people that were like, why'd you
stop at verse four? Like, it gets
so good and sets a table in
the presence of my enemies, and my
cup is overflowing and anoints my head
(14:52):
with oil. Why'd you guys stop at
four?
Pastor Sol McQuay (14:54):
Because it was gonna be five hour
message.
Pastor Brent McQuay (14:56):
No, we stopped at four because the
message was about Jehovah Rohit, the shepherd.
Verse 5 isn't about a shepherd anymore.
And this is why Psalm 23 is
so uniquely beautiful, is that David can
write it from the perspective of the
shepherd, but also from the perspective of
a king. And so in verse five,
it shifts. And now we're not outside
(15:16):
in a field with the Lord my
shepherd. Now we're inside of a home.
And it's, the Lord is my host.
He's the one that is hosting me
in his palace. And David would have
been very familiar with that process as
well as a king, right. And so
when somebody comes in your home, you're
setting up a banquet, you're setting up
a feast for them, you're anointing their
(15:36):
head with oil is a common practice
at the time that when a guest
came to your home, they were weary
from the travel and the oil was
there to give them refreshing. It was
like a soothing thing. And it was
also a thing of honor. And so.
And then you would fill their cup,
and if you wanted to be extravagant,
you're filling it to overflowing. And so,
like, all of a sudden, this analogy
is no longer about sheep in a.
(15:58):
And so we had to stop there.
But that's part of what makes Psalm
23, like I said, so cool, is
that David's probably the only person in
our biblical knowledge that could have written
from that perspective to be able to
say, I know what it's like for
a shepherd to care for sheep. I
also know what it's like for a
very important wealthy person to host people
(16:21):
in their home. Like, your average shepherd
wouldn't be able to relate to the
banquet, feast kind of mentality. And so
David is just. It's such a beautiful
thing, but it's also, it's unique to
David in the sense that David has
the humility as king to say, I'm
not the shepherd, I have a shepherd.
And as the king, I'm not the
(16:41):
host, I have a host. Yeah, right.
And that's, that's why I even pointed
out the week before that it's, it's
David that says the, the phrase. And
the Lord said to my Lord, just
that phrase right there. The king of
Israel is saying, the Lord Yahweh is
saying to my Adonai, King David shouldn't
(17:01):
have an Adonai. There shouldn't be a
lord over David. If he's king, he's
top dog. But even in the humility
of David as king, he recognizes, no,
no, no, God is way more kingly
than I am. He is the king
of kings. He is the Lord of
lords. And while people will probably call
David Adon, they'll call him a Lord.
(17:24):
He's like, I'm not Adonai. I have
an Adonai. And so, like, there's Just
this perspective that David has of both
worlds, but also the humility that he
has to be able to say, no,
no, no, it's about God. It's not
about me. And so then we're left
with this incredible psalm that shows us
how God cares for us and protects
(17:45):
us and provides for us and leads
us if we will just follow.
Pastor Sol McQuay (17:49):
And I think that it's also his
journey. You know, there's. There's a lot
of controversy on when he actually wrote
it. Like, where. Where was he. What.
What was happening in his life at
the moment? And. And I don't know,
but he had experienced so much, you
know, like, he had to be on
the run because Saul was trying to
(18:10):
kill him. And then he finally takes.
Takes the throne, and he's finally the
king, and then his son is trying
to kill him so that he can
be that. So it's like so much
happening in his life. So with that
perspective of pain and heartbreak and betrayal,
he's still able to say, I have
everything that I need, and I am
(18:31):
satisfied. And, you know, and I can.
And I can rest. And he's restoring
my soul. Like, being able to even
say in all of this that I
am. That I am experiencing. He is
still my good Shepherd. Like it is.
I think that it is beautiful.
Tiffany Hines (18:47):
Yeah. Covered and protected. Yes, covered and
protected. I love that. So, Pastor Soul,
yesterday you were talking about this year,
2024. Like, it's had some valleys.
Pastor Sol McQuay (19:00):
Like, I'm ready for. You're ready for
New Year's Eve. Let's change the page.
Tiffany Hines (19:06):
She's like, pop out the orange juice,
because I cannot wait for 2025.
Pastor Sol McQuay (19:10):
I cannot wait.
Tiffany Hines (19:11):
So you were mentioning about those valleys
and what this just year has been
for any people that may be out
there maybe dealing with some valleys. How
have you both been able to navigate
this year with those valleys ways? And
maybe you're still walking through how to
(19:33):
do that, but if there are any
ways that you can kind of share
that would help people to practice and
apply when you're in that place in
that valley and needing that rest, how.
How have you guys been walking this
out? And how can you help others?
Pastor Sol McQuay (19:47):
That's. That's a loaded question. Yeah, it
has been. It has been. It has
been a lot. There has been some.
Some stuff with family, with some family's
health, with some just family's choices and.
And a lot of things that just
leave you just broken, you know, And
I wish I could tell you that
(20:08):
I'm on the other side, but I'm
not like I'm. I'm still there. And
I think it was part of what
Brent was saying was so hard to
do this, this message. Because it was
Saturday, we were about to go to
a soccer game, and I am literally
like trembling. I'm crying, and I'm like,
there's just so much fear. And over
(20:32):
tomorrow, you know, and I had to
pull back and just remember, you know,
and start preaching to myself. And I
think that that's something that I do
quite a bit at this time, is
just preach to myself. You know what,
there's so many times that I'm like,
okay, if somebody came to you with
this situation, what would you say? What
have you said to people? What have
(20:53):
you said, you know, when somebody said,
hey, I have this issue. And I
think that what I can tell you
is that it's in moments like this
where you have to get closer to
God. And I think that sometimes in
our pain and in our suffering, we
tend to isolate ourselves because we feel
(21:15):
like nobody will understand. Nobody will be
with me or run with me or
pray with me. And sometimes in that
distance, you actually distance yourself from God.
Tiffany Hines (21:27):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (21:28):
And I think that for me, it
has been just such a beautiful growing
experience to say, I can't do it,
but you can. And you. And, and,
and even getting to the point of
I don't know what tomorrow will bring,
but I know that you're here with
me today.
Tiffany Hines (21:46):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (21:46):
And, and, and it is understanding that
that green pasture, you know, like, I
stop trying to worry and try to
fix tomorrow. And that has been really,
really difficult because I'm just. I just
want the perfect picture done.
Tiffany Hines (22:03):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (22:04):
I just want the perfect picture done.
And I think that's something that I
have realized in this, in this season,
is that I have to give up
my Instagram worthy picture of what I
thought my life was going to be
and just embrace the goodness of God
today with whatever it is that I'm
seeing. So what I've been doing personally
(22:28):
is reading the word of God, understanding
who God is in my pain, you
know, and seeing God in everything that
is happening because he's been there. And
I think that that's why I was
able to. To talk about, you know,
even in. When I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I
(22:49):
will fear no evil because you are
with me.
Tiffany Hines (22:51):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (22:52):
And I. And I wish I would
say that I. That I never fear,
but that's not true. But in the
moments that I feel afraid, I have
to remind myself, look, that he is
with you. And find all of the
little moments in this day where you
have seen the hand of God. And
when you do, you will find it.
(23:13):
You will find. Like, there's so many
times that I just feel like I'm
just broken right now. I just need.
I just need something. God. I just
need. I just need you to at
least, like, just a wink. Just that
I know that you're there. And then.
And then one of my kids will
come, or something will happen, and it's
just like a God was there, you
know? So let's start crying. Oh, Lord.
(23:37):
This podcast is getting real, people. I
think that it is understanding that it
can be very dark and it can
be very uncomfortable, and it can be
something that you don't want to experience,
and you don't want anybody else to
ever experience it again. But he's with
you. And if he's with you, you
(23:59):
can handle it, because it is not
your strength. It is not even you,
the one that is. That is handling
it. You're just the sheep that is
following.
Tiffany Hines (24:08):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:09):
And that you know that in every
step of the way, he's gonna care
for you.
Tiffany Hines (24:12):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:13):
And we all want sunny, sunny days,
you know, and beautiful pictures, but it's.
Pastor Brent McQuay (24:22):
Not how it works.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:23):
But the valleys are gonna be there,
and the dark moments are gonna be
there. But it is what you're choosing
to focus on, what is gonna take
you to the next. To the next
part. And if you focus on God
and you focus on growing and getting
closer to him and relinquishing the control
(24:44):
of your life and of the picture
that you wanted, because nobody wants the
picture of the value of the shadow
of the dead.
Tiffany Hines (24:53):
Absolutely.
Pastor Sol McQuay (24:54):
That is not what you want to
see when you look at your life.
But when you relinquish that and you
say, okay, God, this is where we
are walking today. I just have to
trust you that you know why we're
walking through here.
Tiffany Hines (25:10):
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (25:10):
I love that old phrase, if you're
going through hell, don't stop. That's the
idea I think that David is getting
at, is, though I walk through the
valley, though, means it happens, but I'm
going to walk through this valley. And
there was times, you know, in that.
(25:32):
That shepherding journey where he. He probably
had to take his sheep along some
paths that they didn't want to walk.
Like, it was like, this is. This
is where the robbers can hide. This
is where the wolves can hide. And
the shepherd is saying, no, no, we've
got to go through this because we
have to get to some place like
There's a purpose to it. And that's,
that's the thing that always helps me,
(25:52):
is that I know that good can
come from the worst things. And so
if the Lord is leading me through
something, I need to trust him that
it's for my good or it's for
the benefit of others. But there's gonna
be something good that is gonna be
brought about because of this. And so,
(26:13):
yeah, right there with you. It's not
fun, it's not pleasant. I think on
Saturday you were on the verge of
a full blown panic attack. And it's
funny, I love that you said, you
gotta preach to yourself. Because that's basically
what I did. As we were leaving
the house, I was like, soul, change
the channel. Which is something we've preached,
(26:34):
we've team taught. In fact, it's something
we started teaching our kids. And then
we're like, hey, this is probably better
for the congregation than it is just
for our kids. And so we started
teaching this whole idea of, hey, change
the channel. When your mind is so
fixated on one thing, you've got to
come in there and you've got to
change the channel. And some people are
like, well, I can't help what I'm
thinking about. You absolutely can. You choose
(26:55):
what to think about. And sometimes it's
easier than others, right? But you do
have a choice to refocus your attention.
That's why the Bible tells us to
choose to think about these things, the
things that are beautiful. And if we
will make that choice to change the
channel, then we can refocus on God
(27:16):
and in this journey. And so it
was, it was one of those where
my heart was breaking as the husband
seeing my wife hurting. But at the
same time, I was also became very
proud of you in that moment because
I saw you bring it back together,
breathe, saw you change the channel. And
(27:36):
then on Sunday you were able to
be on the stage.
Pastor Sol McQuay (27:38):
And everything that was happening in my
head was even though I walked through
a path that I will fear no
evil because you were with me, I
kept just saying, like I was remembering
everything that I was going to be
talking about. And I'm like, I guess
I had to experience it first, huh?
Tiffany Hines (27:51):
Like, here we go.
Pastor Sol McQuay (27:53):
Like, here we go. We, we're not
talking about something we don't know. And
yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's not fun.
But if, if you are in that
position, I just want to encourage you
to push closer to God. Don't push
God away. Don't you know I think
that it is very easy to go
(28:15):
into the why me? And the where
are you, God? He is with you.
So instead of trying to pass blame
onto God, just push into him.
Tiffany Hines (28:30):
Yeah. When we were in Kenya in
February on the missions trip, of course,
there are just all kinds of things
everywhere. But I noticed with different farmers,
I would see sheep. And so sometimes
when we would be driving, you'd see
all these sheep, but I wouldn't see
a shepherd. And so our tour guide
(28:54):
was, even if you don't see it,
trust me, that shepherd is close by.
So even if someone, like, there is
no kind of stealing someone's sheep, like,
that shepherd is for sure close by.
Like, even if we didn't see the
shepherd there. And so just again, that
beautiful protection of God's covering and his
(29:15):
protection as a shepherd of we didn't
know, but he was. He could. He
could see us. He could see us.
Pastor Brent McQuay (29:22):
He was watching.
Tiffany Hines (29:22):
He was watching for sure. Are there
any takeaways that you guys would have
from the message that you like to
share and share with others?
Pastor Brent McQuay (29:32):
I think the biggest one we tried
to hit in the message, and I
would just kind of encourage people to
lean into it, is if he's the
shepherd who's leading, then we need to
be the sheep that follow. And I
think that so much of what the
shepherd does is based on the sheep's
ability to follow. Right? So, like, if
(29:52):
the shepherd is leading you to beside
still waters, but you're not following him,
you're not gonna get the still waters.
If the shepherd is leading you to
green pastures and you're not following him,
guess what? You don't get the green
pastures. And if he's the one that's
looking over you to protect you, but
you've wandered off, like, how can he
(30:12):
protect you if you're not a part
of the fold? And so, like, it
all comes down to, if he's leading,
we have to follow, and if he's
the shepherd, then we're the sheep. And
so I would just really lean on
people that if there's an area of
your life where I love that he
said that he lead me along the
path of righteousness for my name's sake.
And what I love about that is
(30:33):
a couple things. One I didn't even
get into on Sunday, but please share,
please. When he says, yeah, for your
namesake. Sorry, I said, for my. What
that's saying is God is putting his
own name on the line. Like, and
this is to bring him honor and
glory. And so if he fails, as
A shepherd, it looks bad on him.
(30:56):
So I can trust that he's going
to do these things, that I can
trust him that the path of righteousness
is good for me because it doesn't
do any good for anybody for God
to make himself look bad.
Tiffany Hines (31:08):
Right?
Pastor Brent McQuay (31:09):
And so he's putting his name on
the line and we need to follow
that path of righteousness. And that is
what I was able to talk about
a little bit. That path of righteousness,
it's that well worn path, like it's
the path of safety. And so, yeah,
the shepherd is leading the sheep along
these paths, but there are, there are
grooves that are worn into the land.
(31:30):
There's some paths that the shepherd knows.
Hey, this is the journey we're going
to take. And maybe the journey takes
a month, but we're going to loop
back around and we're going to come
back through the same path. Because by
the time we come back around, there's
new grass that's grown, right? And so
they constantly are leading them along similar
paths or the same paths that have
been well worn, that are paths of
safety. Right? Because they're well worn. Now
(31:53):
we're not stumbling, we're not tripping, we're
not following. It's for our protection. And
so for us, the parallel. And David
talks about this all the time, about
God's word have I hidden in my
heart. And David is just, he's the
one that's like, man, the law brings
life. And the law just. I find
comfort in God's law. Well, he's tying
that into this path of righteousness. And
he's saying, look, God's laws, his commands
(32:16):
over my life, they're for my benefit,
they're for my good. And when we
choose to be independent and say, man,
I don't need to follow that. I'm
gonna trailblaze, I'm gonna make my own
path. There's a way that seems right
to a man that leads to death.
And that's what happens to us when
we get off of the path of
righteousness. And so if you're listening to
(32:38):
this and you're like, okay, how do
I apply? The Lord is my shepherd
to my life. It's those two things.
First, if he's leading, you gotta follow,
which means you need to stay to
the path of righteousness. And when you
get off of that path, that's when
problems happen.
Tiffany Hines (32:52):
Yeah, yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (32:53):
And for me, I think it is
the trust. You know, you have to
trust God with your life. He cares
for you, he is involved in every
aspect of your life. Even when. If
you feel it or you don't feel
it, if you see it or you
don't see it, he is there. So
you just have to trust that he
has you. And I think that we
(33:15):
tend to wander off and we tend
to fall off the path and take
our eyes off of the shepherd when
we start lacking trust.
Tiffany Hines (33:24):
Yes.
Pastor Sol McQuay (33:25):
But if you choose to trust in
him no matter what, because sometimes we
trust depending on outcome. You know, even
if it was good for me, if
it was something that I wanted, then
I've absolutely. I trust God. Right. But
if it's not what I wanted, if
my prayer wasn't answered, then I'm not
trusting anymore. I think that that is.
(33:47):
That is. That's not right. We cannot
trust God conditionally.
Tiffany Hines (33:51):
Yeah. Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (33:52):
We have to trust that God knows
what he's doing. And if. If that
prayer wasn't answered the way that you
thought.
Pastor Brent McQuay (33:59):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (34:00):
You have to trust.
Tiffany Hines (34:01):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (34:01):
That there's a reason for it.
Tiffany Hines (34:03):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (34:03):
You know, if the. The plan didn't
work out the way that you thought
it was gonna be, you have to
trust. You know, you have to trust
him. So when you trust them, then
you will walk on his way. When
you trust them, then you will. You
will want to be closer to him.
When you trust them, you're gonna want
to hear from him. When you don't
trust somebody, you don't care what they
(34:24):
have to say. Say.
Tiffany Hines (34:25):
No, that's real. Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (34:28):
Yeah. That trust piece, that. That's huge.
I love that you pointed that out.
How do we. How do we build
that trust? Trust, though? Like, how do
we get to a place where. Because.
Because I think that is that sign
of maturity. Right. When it's like, hey,
I don't just trust you because good
things have happened in the past when
I trusted you. Like, I trust you
even when, from my perspective, something bad
(34:48):
happened. But I trust you that you've
got. You know something I don't like,
that trust for the sheep is saying,
look, I want to go over there,
but I know that you're leading me
over there, so I'm just going to
trust that what's at the end of
this journey, what's way down there that
I don't see and I don't know
I'm trusting you, that it's better than
(35:09):
what I see right over here. But
how do we get to that place?
Pastor Sol McQuay (35:13):
I think, at least for me, it
is a twofold one. Yeah. It is.
By experience. You have seen him come
through time and time again in your
own Life, but also by third party
experience. You read the Bible and you
see that he has been faithful. You
read the Word and you see all
(35:34):
of the lengths that he went to
get you to rescue you. You see
his faithfulness throughout centuries. You go to
other people and you hear their stories
and you see how God has, has
been there for them. You know, so
I think that it is personal experience
and other people's experience. You know, there
are from friends and accounts on the
(35:54):
Bible and then you can understand that
he has always been true to his
Word.
Tiffany Hines (36:00):
Yeah, yeah. I was thinking the same
thing of like if I was a
new Christian and I didn't know where
to start on this trust thing is
the people around me of like, I
don't know what this is, but can
you share with me some stories of
like how you've seen and been able
to trust God? Because I don't know
the Bible like that, but I'm, I've
surrendered. Like I'm becoming him as Lord,
(36:24):
but how do I build that? And
even though if there was nothing that
I knew yet or could see in
my life, I could ask people.
Pastor Brent McQuay (36:32):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (36:32):
And then of course they also pointing
to the Bible of this. But like
I have for sure seen God take
me from this space of not trusting.
This did not go the way that
I thought it was going to go
to him taking me to like, has
everything changed? No, but my perspective along
the way I have had people fiercely
(36:54):
pray for me and pray for you,
like those kind of things that like
he's trustworthy. The people around me really
trust him and I trust that they
will fervently root me on in this
process. And so yeah, that community thing
I think also will help people who
don't know what trust looks like yet
(37:15):
or feel trust has been broken.
Pastor Sol McQuay (37:17):
The Bible says, you know, like they
overcame by the blood of the lamb
and the word of the testimony. So
it is important for people who have
a testimony that where you have experienced
God in any way, share that with
other people. You have no idea how
much you can be building somebody up
when somebody's just feeling like it is
(37:38):
never going to work for me. But
then you hear somebody say but God
did this in my life. It kind
of starts fueling a little bit of
expectancy to say if he did it
for you, he can do it for
me. So I think that it is
very important. I think that sometimes we
downplay the things that God does or
you just keep it to ourselves when
it is very important for us to
(38:00):
communicate that.
Pastor Brent McQuay (38:01):
Yeah, I don't know if this will
help anybody because this is one of
those Brent's a weird person, probably kind
of moments. But for me, like, I
trust God fully because I am fully
convinced that he's God. And if, and
if he's actually God, I'm not. And
(38:23):
if he's God, then he knows way
more. Like, if we look at this,
okay, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, like, if this
is the real God, the God we
see in scripture, if he really exists,
then why would I question him? Why
would I not trust him? Why would
I fight the system if what I
read in my Bible is real? And
(38:43):
I've been fully convinced that God is
God. So I'm putting my trust in
him and the outcome, honestly. And this
is, this is the part where it's
like, this is harder for other people,
but this is where I am. But
if he's fully God, the outcomes don't
matter. And I could be trusting him
for my healing and still be sick
(39:06):
and still trust him. Right? I can
be going through something with family and
it doesn't get resolved the way I
want it to be resolved, but I
still trust him because he's God and
he has a perspective that I don't
get. I don't have his perspective. You
know, the Bible talks about how his
ways are so far above our ways.
Like, who are we to, like, I
(39:27):
love when Job is like getting so
self righteous and he's, he's mouthing off
to his friends and he's just like,
you don't even understand. And he calls
out God and then God shows up
and he's like, hey, where were you
when I formed the mountains?
Tiffany Hines (39:41):
Right?
Pastor Brent McQuay (39:41):
Are you. Do you know how lightning
works? I speak this thing into existence.
Like, God just shows up and is
like, yeah, just remember, Job, I'm God
and you're not. And so like, I
read his story and I'm like, God,
don't let me ever make that mistake.
Don't let me ever get into a
place where I'm not trusting you because
I think I know better. I just
want to get into a place where
(40:02):
it's like, God, it doesn't matter the
outcome, it doesn't matter the track record,
like, all of that. Like, yes, that's
good. It builds up faith and all
of that. But at the end of
the day, if I'm sick, he's God,
and if I'm healed, he's God. And
if I'm not healed, he's God. And
if everything is provided the way that
I want it, He's God. And if
(40:22):
nothing is provided the way that I
want it, he's God. Like, he's God.
I'm not. My job is to follow
and be submitted to him. And I
guess I've just gotten to this place
in my life where I'm so fully
convinced of that. Man. Yeah, there's things
in life that suck. There's things in
life that I wish were different, but
(40:42):
it's not affecting my faith. Like, I'm.
I trust him.
Pastor Sol McQuay (40:46):
And, and. And I think that when
you said Job, the. The phrase that
I love that he said was, would
I only take the good from God
and not the bad?
Pastor Brent McQuay (40:55):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (40:56):
You know, like, am I only going
to be okay with God if he
gives me good things?
Tiffany Hines (41:00):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (41:00):
And not with him when life is
not okay?
Pastor Brent McQuay (41:03):
Yeah.
Tiffany Hines (41:05):
Which even brings back to why the
Lord allowed, like, for Job to be
tried and tested.
Pastor Sol McQuay (41:12):
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (41:13):
And so, yeah, it's fun. Our journey
with the good shepherd is. It's a
fun journey. But I do want to
reiterate what I had said in the
message that he's good at his job.
And his job as the shepherd is
to lead, protect, and provide. And so
he's really good at leading, if you'll
(41:35):
follow. Yeah, he's really good at providing,
if you'll follow. He's really good at
protecting, if you'll follow.
Tiffany Hines (41:41):
I was at a women's Bible study,
and some people were sharing just where
they were. And this mantra that I
have to remember, too, is that God
is like, the best event planner. Like,
nobody's beating God. Like, he just is.
Pastor Brent McQuay (41:55):
He's got this.
Tiffany Hines (41:55):
He, like the best one. And so
I have to remember he is not
surprised by this event. He always has
a plan. Always. God, so help me
to trust that you, as the best
one, you already. And you know the
outcome and you know, every step in
the play of how I can, like,
(42:17):
move toward. Move toward you and trust
that you have a plan. He. He
just has a plan.
Pastor Brent McQuay (42:25):
Trust him.
Tiffany Hines (42:25):
There was one more thing that I
put as a takeaway from me because
of what you said and the demeanor,
how sometimes when we listen to the
message or that passage and we can
kind of get sad, I'm like, I
want to hear more of the tone
of praise with that. And so more
praise songs, you know, that are like,
you know, in this tone when you're
(42:45):
reading it, like, the Lord is my
shepherd, you know, even when I walk
through this kind of. I mean, I
feel like Psalm 23 with some energy.
Pastor Sol McQuay (42:53):
Right.
Tiffany Hines (42:55):
But here you need to write it.
Diff.
Pastor Sol McQuay (42:57):
You need to write it. You need
to sing it, you know.
Tiffany Hines (43:00):
Because the tone, like, he was just
reassuring himself over and over again. And
so I'm like, I want to see
more of that in that tone, said
and sung and stuff.
Pastor Brent McQuay (43:09):
So I think. And this is one
of those. How does Pastor Carlton put
it? My sanctified imagination or something. Like,
I forget how he calls it, but
it's like, I got no scripture for
this or no. No historical evidence for
this. But I think in my glorified
imagination. I think so. In my glorified
imagination, David is smiling when he's writing
Psalm 23. Because when he's looking back,
(43:32):
the. You lead me beside still waters.
Tiffany Hines (43:35):
Oh, he knows what that is. Thank
you.
Pastor Brent McQuay (43:37):
There's contentment, like, your rod and your
staff, they comfort me. Like, I just.
Man, it's like. And we read this
psalm at funerals, and everybody's crying, this
is my shepherd. And it's so hard,
and it's so rough, and it's just.
But I think that David is like,
no, no, no. Like, God loves me
(43:58):
enough to lead me, to care for
me, to protect me. And his rod
and his staff, man, I'm comforted by
the shepherd. I think that that's. Man,
I don't know. I think that I
probably picture David spending some nights cuddled
up with a sheep like, you're my
favorite, like, scratching his head like, I
don't know, man. But, yeah, my glorified
imagination goes. Goes wild on this one.
Tiffany Hines (44:20):
But it's okay. It's good.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:22):
I think I'm with you. I think
that we need some praise, some. Some
upbeat, some energetic, some.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:27):
Some happy.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:28):
Put some smile on your face because
the Lord is my shepherd. This is
good news, not bad news.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:34):
Yes.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:35):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:35):
Yes.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:36):
It's life, not death.
Tiffany Hines (44:37):
Yes.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:37):
I second the motion.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:38):
Yeah. All right, Tiff.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:39):
Write it.
Tiffany Hines (44:40):
Done. Well, thank you guys so much.
I'm so happy that I got to
be a part of this today.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:47):
Yeah. Before we wrap up, though, Taisha
always gives me a chance to nerd
out, and I have to.
Pastor Sol McQuay (44:52):
Here we go.
Pastor Brent McQuay (44:53):
I have to. So when we talked
about how this was a hard one
for me to prepare, here's the real
answer to that. Not that my other
answer wasn't real, but this is just,
like, the. The bonus answer, the thing
that was, like, the thorn in my
side and Saul was like, don't do
that.
(45:13):
Don't ruin it for people. But I'm
going, please do it. I love you,
but I'm going to ruin this for
you. So when I prepare a message,
a lot of times what I'll do
is I'll get a verse, I'll get
a passage, and I'll study it. I'll
write down my thoughts, I'll highlight certain
words or things that stand out to
(45:34):
me. It was basically, it's Bible study.
And it's usually for my benefit more
than the congregations. And then from there,
I start pulling out my thoughts, my
ideas, I start remembering things from my
past and other things I've heard preached.
And I'll do all this stuff. And
when it came to Psalm 23, I
started doing that. I started pulling out
all these incredible. Because every preacher has
(45:56):
preached Psalm 23. So I started pulling
out all these things that I had
heard before.
Like, you know, that the shepherd would
break the legs of the sheep so
that, you know, if they were stubborn
and would always wander off, they break
the legs. So the sheep would have
to ride on his shoulders and he'd
be close to the heartbeat and he
would. He would hold them close and
like, it was all this stuff. And
then, you know, he leaves me beside
still waters because sheep, you know, they
(46:17):
won't drink from rapid waters.
And, you know, the laying down in
green pastures in these beautiful fields, and
we find comfort and rest and there's
food all around us, but we're still
sleeping because everything's been satisfied. And sheep
are so stupid, and people are stupid
and people are like sheep. And like,
(46:37):
all these things I've heard preached over
and over and over again. Have you
never heard a sermon where the preacher,
like, cheap or dumb or like sheep
is such a perfect analogy for Christians?
Because sheep cannot survive without a shepherd
and we can't survive without God. And
like, using all this stuff, man, I
wrote down all those things that I'm
(46:57):
like, I've heard this before. This is
what I've heard preached. I've talked about
these things before. And then I fact
checked myself, okay? And that's where I
discovered that all of those things are
lies. None of those things are true
or at least exaggerated claims or extremely
exaggerated claims. So, like our sheep, stupid.
(47:18):
I mean, sometimes they're not the most
intelligent. They are animals. However, they're actually
highly trainable. Sheep actually demonstrate, like, amazing
qualities of intelligence in the sense that,
like, they can be trained to. To
do certain things at certain vocal commands.
They recognize, I think it's up to
like 10 different faces. So, like, if
(47:39):
their shepherd walks by versus a stranger
walks by, voices they're like. And voices,
they're like, nope, that's my shepherd. That's
not so. So, like, the shepherd could
have an audible command for the sheep
that they'll follow. A stranger can give
the exact same command and the sheep
won't follow it because they've been trained
to follow that voice, not that voice.
And it's like, so, like they actually
(47:59):
demonstrate super high intelligence now. They're stubborn,
which makes them appear stupid because they're
like, I'm doing what I want to
do. Okay. But then like. And they
also have a tendency to follow. So
like, I read one article that's so
sad, but it's still kind of funny.
So I laughed at it, but it's
really sad. It was like, I think
I gotta find the article. But I
think it was like Italian shepherds were
(48:22):
leading their flock and they went into
a town to have lunch.
And while they're having lunch, they just
left the flock on the hillside. Apparently
on the opposite side of the hillside
was a cliff. And one of the
sheep walked off the cliff.
Pastor Sol McQuay (48:36):
Don't say it. Don't finish that.
Tiffany Hines (48:37):
And then where's the happy ending?
Pastor Brent McQuay (48:40):
Because sheep have a tendency to fall.
Hello. Sheep number two, one, off the
cliff. Sheep number three, one off the
cliff. I think the article, I gotta
find it, but I think it's like
1500 sheep went off of this cliff.
They're all dying. Up until the last
like 400 of them literally survived the
fall by landing on the other dead
(49:02):
sheep.
Tiffany Hines (49:03):
Wow.
Pastor Brent McQuay (49:04):
I shouldn't laugh. I know this is
bad. And like, it reminds me of
the whole, like, cast down sheep, like
sheep stuck on their back. Which is
actually true. Which does happen. It's a
really funny image. But they literally, like,
in a few hours, like, they can
die. The gases build up and. And
so like shepherds literally, like, I watched
one video of a farmer that was
like, hey, if you ever see a
sheep, like you're driving down the road,
(49:25):
you see a sheep that's on his
back, like, do that.
Pastor Sol McQuay (49:27):
Their backs are like, they're too flat.
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (49:30):
So they can't get like the momentum
to rotate. Especially if they're, they're fur
or their wool is too long. It's
like this farmer was like, look, do
them a favor, get out of your
car. Tip that sheep back over. You
might be saving their life if the
shepherd didn't notice. So I kept coming
across all these things that I had
been taught or I had heard a
preacher say that just weren't true. They
(49:52):
don't break the legs of the lambs
because if they did, the lamb Has
a long memory and will hold a
grudge. And so that sheep is never
going to trust that shepherd again. Because
it's like, you're the dude that broke
my leg. Because they recognize the face
and they recognize you broke my leg,
you jerk. Right?
Pastor Sol McQuay (50:09):
This game is so bad.
Pastor Brent McQuay (50:11):
The rushing water thing, like, I heard
this one preached multiple times, like, the
sheep will only drink from still waters.
And so when God leads us beside
still waters, because that's the only thing
that will bring us. It's not true
at all. Like, I watched a video
of, like, a bunch of sheep drinking
from a river that was rushing, but
I also saw one video of a
sheep. Literally, this goes back to their
intelligence. The sheep was turning on the
(50:32):
water faucet in the sink in the.
In the shed and drinking directly from
the faucet. And the farmer would turn
the faucet off, and the sheep would
get mad and turn it back on,
like, five or six times. The sheep
is turning on the faucet.
Pastor Sol McQuay (50:44):
I'm telling you, we need a sheep
farm. We need to see all of
this happen.
Pastor Brent McQuay (50:48):
So it was just. But it was
one of those things that I'm like,
man, all these things that I thought
about sheep, it just. It isn't true.
It isn't real. Right down to the
biggest thing. Like, I had so many
sermons where it was, sheep cannot survive
without a shepherd. And I'm like, man,
that preaches so well because we can't
survive without our shepherd. We can't survive
without Jesus. And like, I read a
(51:11):
whole farming thread where they're like, whoever
told you that is an idiot. There's
literally wild sheep. There are sheep all
over the place that can survive just
fine without a shepherd. They shed their
wool on a regular basis. When those
clocks, climate changes. Like, it's totally a
normal thing. We've just genetically engineered sheep
(51:31):
to be dependent on shepherds because we're
trying to get something from them. Like,
oh, okay. So, like, in my sermon
prep, I was like, well, I can't
preach that. I can't preach that. I
can't preach that. I can't preach that.
That's not true. That's not right. Man,
I got mad. That was. That was
like. I kept looking at soul. I'm
like, nope, can't use it. Nope. It's
not real. Nope. This. Nope. It's not
(51:53):
a thing.
Pastor Sol McQuay (51:54):
But I think with all of that
to make the happy package, let's bring.
Tiffany Hines (51:59):
All of that to a happy package.
Pastor Brent McQuay (52:01):
You never let me just end on
a sour note. No, that's why people
like you. That's why people like soul
a lot better.
Pastor Sol McQuay (52:07):
And put the bow on top, make
it pretty. I think that that is
why it's so important for us to
understand that what Jesus does for us
is that leading, that protecting, and that
providing, you know, because I always think
of the phrase that, you know, the
Bible says that Jesus had compassion for
the multitudes because they were like sheep
(52:27):
without a shepherd. So basically, he's looking
at all of these people and saying,
who is protecting you? Who's providing for
you?
Pastor Brent McQuay (52:33):
Who's leading you?
Pastor Sol McQuay (52:34):
Who's leading you? You know, so can
you be without Jesus? Sure.
Tiffany Hines (52:39):
Right.
Pastor Sol McQuay (52:40):
But trying to deal with life with
Jesus is hard. Trying to do it
without him. When you don't have the
hope, when you don't have the protection,
when you don't have the comfort, when
you don't have the person that can
grab all of the broken pieces and
restore you, why would anyone want that?
(53:04):
You know? So when Jesus sees the
multitudes without him, he's saying, who is.
Who is with you? So I think
that for us, we have. We have
a beautiful. A beautiful shepherd that is
making our life much better, even if
our life is not perfect.
Tiffany Hines (53:22):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (53:22):
On this side of eternity.
Tiffany Hines (53:24):
Yeah.
Pastor Sol McQuay (53:24):
You know, but he's with us. So
I think that's where we can find
the comfort and the joy and the
happy, is that all of those things
might not be true, but he's leading.
His protection and his provision. They are.
Pastor Brent McQuay (53:41):
Which is why when we finally settled
on this message, we taught the things
that we taught because it was things
that we could verify. It was like,
okay, we're not trying to add things
to the text that aren't there. And
we're not trying to stretch truths that
aren't all that true. We're sticking to,
okay, David made this analogy for a
reason. And David is the expert. He
(54:02):
was a shepherd. He knows the relationship
between shepherd and sheep. What is David
pointing out? And why is David pointing
it out? And so for us to
be able to recognize there is something
beautiful, we don't have to add to
it. We don't have to get preachy
with it. We don't have to go
all imagination. And out there the text
is beautiful. Just teach that. And that's
(54:25):
where we finally was like, okay, we're
walking through Psalm 23, and.
Pastor Sol McQuay (54:29):
He'S happy and he's hopeful.
Pastor Brent McQuay (54:30):
Yeah. And he is a good shepherd.
And we are sheep that sometimes wander,
which is why he leaves the 99
to find the One and whack us
on the head. And that's why he's
got a staff, because sometimes you need
a good whack on the head.
Pastor Sol McQuay (54:43):
Yeah.
Pastor Brent McQuay (54:43):
All right. That was good. Sorry I
had to rant.
Tiffany Hines (54:46):
Please do.
Pastor Brent McQuay (54:47):
Soul doesn't like my rantings, but you
made it. You. You made it beautiful.
You. You made it. High five for
you. Way to go. That's why we
make a good team. I can be.
I can be Debbie Downer, and then
you can bring the life and the
energy, and it's great. That's awesome. Good
balance. Beautiful. Well, hey, thanks for hanging
out with us for this episode of
Between Sermons. If you didn't watch the
message yet, please go and take a
(55:08):
listen to it on YouTube or wherever
you're watching this podcast. I'm sure you
can get that message as well. Like,
subscribe. Do all the things that you
need to do to keep the algorithms
going. Help us get this message out
to other people. We need more people
to recognize that Jesus is the good
shepherd, that God is the Lord, my
shepherd. He's the one that's leading us,
(55:28):
protecting us, providing for us. So share
this with somebody that needs some encouragement
today. Tell them, you know, Pastor Brent's
a little rough around the edges. He's
going to be a little bit of
a downer. But Pastor Soul's there, too,
and she's got so much life and
energy and hope. So just, yeah, share.
Share this one, and we'll see you
on next episode.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.