IMPACT Recap

Psalm 23 Sermon Collection: Chased By God's Goodness And Grace

September 1, 2025 · 0:49:54

SalvationForgivenessBlessings

Recap

Pastor Travis Hearn concludes the Psalm 23 sermon series by focusing on the final verse, Psalm 23:6. He opens with a personal reflection on being chased as a child, drawing a parallel to how God relentlessly pursues us with His goodness and mercy. The message centers on the certainty that God's kindness and steadfast love actively follow believers all their days, a truth declared with the word 'surely.' Pastor Travis illustrates this through personal stories, including a time he tried to ignore a prompting to help a homeless man and a teenage memory of running from the police, which taught him we cannot outrun God's spiritual law. He explains the Hebrew meanings of 'goodness' (tov) as God's beautiful, beneficial nature and 'mercy' (chesed) as His covenant faithfulness and forgiveness. Using the examples of Joseph and Jonah, he emphasizes that God's goodness can turn betrayal into blessing and that His mercy will reroute us even when we run, sometimes through storms or difficult circumstances, to bring us back to Him. The sermon culminates in an invitation to stop running from God, to surrender, and to 'taste and see that the Lord is good,' with the assurance that God's pursuit leads us all the way to an eternal home with Him.

Main Points

  • God's goodness and mercy are not passive; they actively and relentlessly chase after us all the days of our lives.
  • We cannot outrun God; His pursuit, sometimes through storms or conviction, is an expression of His mercy to bring us back into relationship with Him.
  • The proper response to being chased by God is to stop running, surrender fully, and 'taste and see that the Lord is good.'

Verses Mentioned

  • Psalm 23:6 - "Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." (NIV)
  • Genesis 1:31 - "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day." (NIV)
  • Psalm 119:68 - "You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees." (NIV)
  • James 1:17 - "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (NIV)
  • Nahum 1:7 - "The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him." (NIV)
  • Genesis 50:20 - "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (NIV)
  • Psalm 34:8 - "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." (NIV)
  • Lamentations 3:22-23 - "Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (NIV)
  • Psalm 103:10 - "he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." (NIV)
  • Ephesians 2:4-5 - "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." (NIV)
  • Romans 10:9 - "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (NIV)

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