Taste The Goodness

Open your Bibles to Psalm 23 and meet me at verse 6, Psalm 23 and verse 6. And the word of the Lord says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Come on, say it with me. Say it with me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord. How long? Forever. Over the last several times I've had the opportunity to share with you,

we've been talking about the goodness of God, talking about who God is. He is good. And unfortunately, in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, there was not a lot of revelation of who the devil was. Everything was credited to or attributed to God. So if something good happened, they said it was God. When something bad happened, they said it was God. Everything was credited to God. He got blamed for everything good and the bad.

And somehow, some way, that line of thinking has crossed over until today where a lot of people believe that God, if something good happens, it's God. And if it's something bad happens, it's God. It's that God is the author of good and bad. That if your dog got ran over by the FedEx truck, then that must be God. And everything has been credited to him, whether good or bad. But Jesus came on the scene in John chapter 10, verse 10.

He says, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That's not God. It's the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come. Jesus is God. I have come that you may have what life and that you may have it what more abundantly. And so Jesus came to show us God is the author of life and life more abundantly. But the thief is the author of the one who still kills and destroys.

And in this verse we find that surely it's going to happen, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life. Goodness, goodness, goodness is going to follow us. Goodness, I say goodness is going to follow us. Goodness is going to follow us. I didn't say lack was going to follow us. I said goodness is going to follow us. I didn't say disease was going to follow us. I said goodness is going to follow us.

I didn't say divorce was going to follow us. I said goodness was going to follow us all the days of our life, all the days. That word follow also means the word pursued. Pursues. What does that word mean? The goodness is going to go after us with the intent to capture us. Pursue. It's different than the word chase. Chase means someone's running and you're trying to catch them and they're actively trying to get away from you. I'm not trying to get away from the goodness.

I'm letting the goodness pursue me all the days of my life. And I was texting a friend, good friend of mine, and I told him, I said, these last several months have been the goodness of God. I've experienced the goodness of God in a way I have not experienced before over these last several months. And the way I said it was like, just look how good God has been. And his response to me said, there's more coming. Man, that was as if the Lord said that to me. You receive that, don't you?

There's more coming. And so sometimes when we talk about the goodness of God, we talk as if God was good to Abraham and God was good to Isaiah and God was good to Moses. And when I was a little kid, God was good to me then. And God was good back in 1990 and God was good in 2005. But I'm telling you, God is going to be good in 2030 and God's going to be good in 2025 and God's going to be good in 2050 or however. However, he wants to tarry, he's going to be good. Because he's Jehovah the good.

Hey, did you catch that? Jehovah the good. Now, that's not an official name of him, but that's the name I gave him, praise God. Jehovah the good. Because he's good. He is good all the time. And so we find out that the goodness of God is not confined to the past or the present. The goodness of God is a promise that extends into the future. There's more goodness coming.

Are you listening to me? I know we have a propensity to think about all the wickedness that can happen, all the evil that can happen, and all the treachery that can take place and all the bad things that can happen. But I've been focusing my mindset on there's some goodness that's going to happen in the next couple of days. Come on, somebody say amen. I'm going to keep walking this earth and I'm going to experience some goodness.

Now, Pookie on the left, he might experience some badness. And Ray Ray on the right might be experiencing some badness. But for me in my house, we're going to experience some goodness. Come on, somebody say amen. Hallelujah. Your father has more to give you than you can receive. Think about that. There's more he wants to give you than you can even receive because he's good. He is good. How much you believe in his goodness determines how much you receive.

How much you believe in the goodness determines how much you receive. The only thing that limits God's goodness is your capacity to receive it. The only thing that limits God's goodness is your capacity to receive it. James tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father. And so we're going to have to receive His goodness, But that means we're going to have to begin to believe his goodness. So before we can receive his goodness, we're going to have to believe his goodness.

And we're going to have to declare that he's good. He's good to me. He's good to my family. He's good. And there's more goodness coming. Somebody shout amen. Psalms 84 11. Psalms 84 11. Watch this. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. Watch this. No good thing will he withhold. From those who walk uprightly. Amen. How many people in here endeavor to walk uprightly? Raise your hand. I mean, you're not trying to sin.

You're not trying to run out and act crazy. You're endeavoring to walk uprightly. Well, the word says no good thing will he withhold. That means he will not deny any good thing if you decide to walk righteously and uprightly. He won't deny any good thing. No good thing will he withhold. In January of 2016, Stacey approaches me and asks me a question. And typically, every December, we get together. We'll go out to dinner, her and I.

We make Zai watch her siblings. Now Zai's in college. We got to get somebody else to watch them. Or bring her home. Come on, you just come home from college once. No. No, she's growing up, you know, and spreading her wings, and I'm excited for her. And so we usually go out to dinner and we just sit and we talk about the year, how good the Lord has been to us in the year that we were currently in.

And we would declare his goodness and just talk about some different things of just how good he's been and some things that have happened. And even some things that happened that weren't so good, we would talk about that too, you know. And then see, look how the Lord brought us through. Look how he carried us through. And we do that every December, usually after Christmas, before New Year's Day. We'll get together and talk about the goodness of the Lord. And then we like to dream big, too.

We like to just think big and dream big and consider big. And what do you want for 2025? What's the goal of 2025? What do you want to experience in 2025? And so we'll talk about that. And sometimes it's really hard to talk about these things because we normally only think about what we can do. We don't think about what we can do with God. And so, oh, well, we look at the bank account and we look at different things like, well, you want to do that? Well, did you check the bank account?

Because I don't know if we can do that. Come on, somebody. You know what I'm talking about. Say amen here. And so she came to me in January because at that particular time, she she didn't have a lot to say about what she wanted to do the new year. And I didn't either. I said, let's think about it. And so she came to me. she said, I want to go to Las Vegas. Never been to Las Vegas, and I want to go to Las Vegas.

I heard that the shows are fun, and it's just, you know, I just want to go there. I've never been. I've never been there, and I just want to go, you know, and so I want to go spend a couple days in, Well, like a good husband as I am, I looked at the bank account. I said, well, that don't look like we're going to Las Vegas this year. You know, we're just not, we're not going to be able to do it. It wasn't in the plan.

I don't think we're going to go to Las Vegas. She's like, well, that's, you asked me what I want to do. I want to go to Las Vegas. I said, why don't you ask the Lord and ask him to send us to Las Vegas? She said, I'll do that. I said, okay. And we went on about our way. Well, a few months later, I was introduced to a gentleman. And what's funny was a friend of mine said, I want you to meet this particular guy.

He really needs your influence. He really needs your help. He needs what's on your life in his life. I can't really help him, but you can. I want to introduce you to him. And I said, well, give him my number. You always want to do that because if he gave me his number, I'm calling, calling, calling, you know, answer. Give him my number. And as soon as I said, give him my number, he called within like 15 minutes of it. So he really was soliciting some support and some help.

And I was in a shoe store. I remember I was in a shoe store. And I thought, oh, gosh, let me take this call because this man said he was going to call. Ended up talking to him multiple times throughout the next couple of months. We were talking every day at one point. And I was just really just telling him what the word says, encouraging him, rebuking him on some things. admonishing him on some things. And he was really listening, applying to what I was saying.

And it seems like there was a turn happening in his life. And so it began to fizzle out a bit. We didn't talk as often as we did before, but he was getting helped. And I was excited. I could see his mindset changed. I could see that things were going well in his life. Well, then he calls me out of the blue. And he says, I want to do something for you. And this was probably around June. I want to do something for you and your wife because you've really helped me.

I said, well, you don't have to do anything, man. He goes, no, I want to do something. I want to pay for you and your wife to go to Las Vegas for the weekend. I'll cover all of the costs. And I just want y'all to have a good time. I literally was flabbergasted. Like, my mouth dropped. I said, what now? He said, I'm going to pay for you and your wife to just go to Vegas. He had not talked to Stacey at all.

And so I said, oh, my goodness, I get off the phone. I said, Stacy, you'll never imagine what this man, I said, his name just said to me. He said he wants to pay for you and I to go to Las Vegas. And we did a little jig in the room and danced. And she was like, I prayed about it. I asked the Lord to send us to Vegas. God can get anything to you from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Now, some of y'all thinking, well, that's just because you're a pastor. That's why it happened.

Name another pastor that got all the full expense paid for a trip to Las Vegas. You can't name another. Amen. No, it's because God is not withholding any good thing. Stacey's walking uprightly, doing the best that she can, following the leadership of the Holy Spirit, being an excellent wife, a tremendous mother, and she asked the Lord for a good thing. And God said, yes. He's not withholding. He's not denying. He is not withstanding any good thing to those who walk uprightly. Somebody say amen.

And so we went to Vegas and I tell you what, we celebrated before he even paid for the trip. We had already got some new clothes and we were already just excited to go to Vegas. And then when we got there, I remember thinking just, we were talking, just look what the Lord did. This was a desire of your heart. And you asked him, and he's not withholding a good thing. I would have never considered that the Lord would tell someone else to pay for us to go on vacation to Las Vegas.

But God knows how to do it because he's good. He's good. All you got to do is just walk uprightly. And the goodness of the Lord will be on you in every area of your life. And guess what? That happened in the past, and we're thinking future in Jesus' name. Somebody say amen. Amen. The many, many years ago, I believe this was probably around 2014, I had mentioned to Stacey that I wanted an iPad mini.

The iPad mini, John, had just come out, and I mentioned to her I want this mini because it was like, you can get it in your back pocket and it just looked really sleek and cool. And at the time, you know, I was just using paper notes. I wasn't using the iPad like I have today. I was using paper notes and I'm just saying, you know, I'm going to get that mini. And so she was like, okay, you know, whatever. And one day a pastor called me, a local pastor in town.

He said, hey, come hang out with me. I got some things in my heart I want to talk about. So I said, okay, okay. And I like to make myself available to pastors. And I believe part of my calling is to pastor pastors too. And so I said, let's hang out. So we end up hanging out. And he said, run here with me. So I ran here with him. Run, run, let's go to the mall. Well, where are we going to the mall, you know? I thought you had some deep stuff you want to talk about.

And he didn't talk to me about nothing, nothing at all. But he said, run to the mall with me because we went to get something to eat. And then went to the mall and he said, I got to run into the Apple store. Okay. So I'm hanging out outside the Apple store. He's doing whatever he's got to do. He comes out and then we go back and I get my car. He said, Hey, before you jump in the car, he said, the Lord told me to buy you an iPad mini. Hallelujah.

He said, that's why we went to the Apple store to get you an iPad mini. I said, did my wife tell you this? He's like, no, I don't talk to your wife. I was like, He said, I don't know, I was praying the Lord said, buy Pastor Devon and I passed. Hallelujah. There's no good thing that the Lord is withholding from you. If you would just walk uprightly and believe in his goodness and declare surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

He's not withholding any good thing. Somebody say amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I'll tell this story too. So when Stacy and I first were married, we decided that we wanted three children. That's it. Three. Three children. Okay, we're going to have three. Three children, three children. And after we had Zarek J, yeah, we're done. We're done. Three children. That's all we're having. Three children. We're done. A girl and two boys. And we're just excited.

A few years later, Stacey comes to me. I want to have another child. I said, well, you're talking to the wrong man. I said, we done. We done. Okay, we're done. We talked about this years ago. We said three, we're done. I'm not coming back on that. Three, we're done. She's like, I really would like another one. I'm not your man because it's not going to happen. We're done. We're done. She came to me about a week or two later.

She's like, you know, I haven't been able to get rid of the sense of having another child. I really would like to have one more. I said, babe, we said three. We have three. We're not having four. We have three. We're done. She was like, well, will you pray about it? Yeah, we pray about it because God and I agree. You know, he's leaving it up to me. We can pray. I'll pray. I'll pray.

I promise you I'll pray. But I'm going to tell you, God's not going to say much about this because we agreed before we got married. And, you know, I believe that he's going to agree with me on this, that three is enough. She said, just pray about it. I said, okay. And so one day I'm driving in my car. I like to pray in my car. I'm driving in my car and I said, Lord, Stacey asked me to pray about this and I respect her enough to pray about this.

And I said, you know, I don't think you really care, but Stacey wants another child.

I don't but is it something that you want us to have this is what the Lord said to me when you wanted to leave your six-figure paying job and go into the ministry what did Stacy say well she said yeah when you want to go to your 20-year high school reunion which was in California and you know extra money to spend but I wanted to go what does Stacy say well she said yeah when you wanted to buy that item that you didn't really need, but you really wanted to buy it. What did Stacey say?

Well, she said, yeah, go ahead and buy it. He said, why are you saying no? Man, it shook me. She asked for one thing, and you're saying no. But every time you ask, and she says yeah. Why are you saying no? I don't have an answer to that, except I just didn't want another one. So I went back to her. I said, I prayed about it. She said, what did the Lord say? I said, the Lord said we're going to have another child.

And she says, oh my gosh, oh yes, yes, yes. And how many of you know Zage is a good thing? That is my good thing right there. God did not withhold a good thing from me. Amen. Even when I didn't want to have another, God changed my heart and gave Stacy the desire of her heart. And now Zage is mine. I mean, you know, Zage and I are like two peas in the pod. I don't know where our family would have been without Zage. Like seriously, she brings so much joy and so much peace and comfort.

And she runs the house. She runs the entire house. Zage is the manager of the home, okay? She runs it, all right? If somebody is messing up, she will tell me. They're messing up, okay? They shouldn't be doing that. You told them to do that. She'll tell me. Zage is a good thing. And I look back and think, why did I not want another one? I was thinking about, well, the future, you know what, money and energy. Do I have the energy? Do I have the time? Do I have the money? God will supply.

I said God will supply. We have not missed a meal. I have not. I've got the same amount of energy. Matter of fact, she's going to help us stay younger. If you know her, she is going to make sure I'm on the treadmill daily. to keep after her. She's a good thing. God's not withholding good things. There are good things for your future. There are some desires in your heart. Let me prophesy to you that you have given up on, you've quit on, and they're good things.

The Lord's saying, let me stir you back up. Stir yourself back up on whatever those desires are because he is not withholding any good thing. Somebody say amen. Amen. Now let's go here to... Psalm chapter 34, verse 8, I believe. Psalm chapter 34, verse 8. It says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. God is absolute good and goodness in totality.

God is good is a statement that reflects the belief that God's nature, character, and actions are inherently loving, kind, and righteous. God's goodness is an open invitation to get you to know him for yourself. Open invitation, taste and see that the Lord is good. An open invitation for you to get to know him yourself, for you to spend time with him in prayer and in reading of his word and in worship and in solitude for you to make time, create time for him.

When you taste and see, you're creating time for him so that you can build a relationship with him. He is not a magician that you just ask stuff and it magically appears. No, every example I gave you came out of a relationship, came out of a divine.

Intentional Developmental Construction. Relationship That had to be built It didn't happen accidentally, A relationship That came From him Matter of fact I'm going to put the guys on the spot But John chapter 15 verse 7 Let me read this to you That's on my heart real quick John chapter 15 verse 7 Says it this way, Glory to God It says Thank you. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.

Hallelujah. So what happens? Abiding. I'm going to have to build a relationship. I'm going to have to abide. I'm going to have to stay. I'm going to have to remain. I'm going to have to develop. I'm going to have to cultivate. I'm going to have to construct a relationship. I'm going to have to taste and see that he's good. When I do that, his words then will abide in me, and then I can ask for whatever I desire. Are you listening to me today? Not what you need, what you desire.

And answer prayer shall take place. This happens when you taste and see that the Lord is good. By tasting and seeing, you're not just taking someone else's word for it. You're experiencing God for yourself. I cannot taste for you. I can taste it and tell you if it's good or bad, but you're going to have to taste and see that the Lord is good for yourself. And that means the next part of that verse, if you don't mind, let's put it back on the screen, Psalms 34, 8.

The next part of that verse in Psalms 34, 8 says, blessed is the man who trusts in him. So how do you taste and see that the Lord is good? You're going to have to trust in him. Tasting is trusting. Tasting is trusting. Tasting is trusting. When I first, before I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina by myself as a single man. I lived in Fort Worth, Texas. I had a group, homeboys that I hung with all the time.

I was young, I was single, and I was hanging with my boys. We hooped all the time. We played dominoes all the time, spades, whatever. We just had a good time. And I was always with one of them at least. And the Lord began to direct me out of relationship. He began to say to me, I want you to start going out to eat by yourself. Now, I'm a young man. Who goes out to eat in their 20s by themselves? Somebody's going to think I'm weird.

Somebody think I'm crazy. This good looking. Come on, somebody say amen to that. This good-looking young man Going out to eat alone by himself The Lord said, I want you to go eat by yourself So I would go to Chili's and restaurants like that And just sit there and eat alone, I got hit on a couple times too, but that's another story And then I thought, man, okay I would get a booth and just sit there by myself and eat Then the Lord said, I want you to go to the movies by yourself.

Oh, Lord, I'm the weird guy going on a Friday night by myself to the movies. He said, I want you to go alone. So I would go to the movies alone, sit there by myself. Now, these things I can do very easily now. But back then, it was hard to do these things alone. I would go to the movies by myself. Then the Lord told me, I want you to go to Atlanta, Georgia by yourself. Creflo Dollar was having a singles conference. And I said, the Lord's going, my wife is there.

I'm going to go. And I said, let me get one of my homeboys to go with me. We'll have a good time. He said, no, I want you to go by yourself, alone. Don't invite anyone to go. So I had to book a trip and a hotel and a car and so on and so forth. And went to the singles conference, didn't meet not nobody because Stacy was the one for me. And then he said, I want you to move to Charlotte. And at the time, I had come to visit. So, well, first he told me to go visit Charlotte by yourself.

So, I flew out here alone and loved it. And a year later, he said, I want you to move by yourself. So, what am I saying? I had to trust God in every one of those things. Those commandments that he gave me, had to trust him. And as I begin to trust him, I begin to taste and see that he's good, that he's good because I have to trust. If you're going to taste, it's going to be a trust. The Lord's going to, and one of the ways he's going to always test you is financially.

He's going to always test you in that financial realm because in Luke chapter 16, Jesus said that if you can't be faithful in the least, and in that passage, he's talking about money. If you can't be faithful with unrighteous mammon or money, you're not going to be faithful with much. And one of the first areas God's going to test you, people ask, well, how can you easily talk about money? I get asked a lot. Pastor, you can easily talk about money because I've been tested in this area

a whole lot. And I know that there's a correlation between your heart and your money. There's a string attached to both of them. This is how I know. Lose your wallet with hundreds of dollars in it and see how you feel. You're going to be heartbroken. I lost $100 in a house somewhere and I'm a $100 bill. I'm like, where is it? I'm running around in my heart. Did somebody steal it in here? Zage, did you take my money? I mean, where is it? Eventually, I found it. Thank God I found it.

But my point is, I started to feel a certain way when it was lost because there's a connection between trusting God and trusting him. People don't like to hear this, but I'm telling you the truth. If you can trust him financially, you'll begin to trust him in any and every other area of your life. And then he'll begin to add more. But the lowest denominator that he is going to ask you to taste and see that he's good is financially.

That's why tithing is important. That's why sowing and reaping and giving is important. The Lord is going to ask you to give something and it's going to stretch you. He's going to say, okay, I'm being stretched. Let me taste and see that he's good. I'm being stretched. I'm being stretched. And you're going to be stretched. And you're going to be stretched. And you're going to be stretched even more. but you're going to experience the goodness of God.

A lot of, I can get up here and I'm going to tell you more stories in the next couple of weeks because the Lord's been good to me because of his goodness, first and foremost, and Stacey and I trusting him when it comes to his commandments and when it comes to what he tells us about money. We begin to trust him and then we'll begin. Am I right, Don? Tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.

It's going to require you to listen and to trust him in every area of your life He's going to ask you to do something And you're going to say, man, I don't want to do that, But I trust him We're talking to our children right now We're telling them, I don't care that you don't want to do something Well, can you vacuum? I don't want to vacuum the flow I don't care.

Right? I don't care if you want to do it or not You're going to have to be the same way with the Lord When the Lord's going to ask you to do something and I don't want to do it. Just imagine the Lord saying, I don't care. I don't care. I want you to do this thing. And when you do it, you become more willing and so on and so forth. But we're going to have to begin to trust him more and more as we taste and see. I was praying about this a few weeks ago, talking about this with you.

And I said, Lord, how can we taste and see that you're good? And I was praying. I contacted a good pastor friend of mine in another state, and we were talking about it through text. And the Lord spoke to me and said, just keep reading the verse. And so I opened up my Bible, and I read it, and I said, that's how we taste and see. The next verse says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.

That's how you taste and see. Psalms 3119, Psalm 3119, oh, how great is your goodness, glory to God, say that, say that after me, oh, how great is your goodness. Say it one more time. Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have prepared for those who trust in you, in the presence of the sons of men. Oh, how great is your goodness. What has he done? He's laid it up. He's stored up his goodness. For who? For those who respect the Lord.

He's prepared for those who trust in the Lord in the presence of the sons of men. That means he's going to bless you in the presence of people. People are going to see that you trust him and that you've tasted and seen that he is good. Let's see that Psalms 3119 in the Passion Translation. Psalms 3119, the Passion says, Lord, how wonderful you are. Say that after me. Lord, how wonderful you are.

You have stored up so many good things for us, like a treasure chest heaped up and spilling over with blessings, all for those who honor and worship you. Hallelujah. Everybody knows what you can do for those who turn and hide themselves in you. How wonderful you are. What has He done? He's stored up for us so many good things. There is more coming. There is more goodness coming. Stop considering all of the bad that can happen.

And we have to do this intentionally, on purpose, and start thinking about all of the goodness that's been stored up for you and I, all we have to do is just trust Him.

All we have to do is just walk righteously and uprightly and trust Him and all of the goodness that has been stored up for us for the future, all of the goodness that's been stored up for us for the present, all of the goodness that's gonna happen before 2024 is over, praise God, is stored up for us and heaven's open and all you got to do is what? Receive. That's it, receive. This is how you experience true life.