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The Shadow of Death

Primary Text:  Psalm 23:4                                                         October 10 & 11, 2026

This Week’s Teaching:  

1)  Through The Valley

Psalm 23:4 (NIV 1984):   Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….

Psalm 23:4 (NASB 1995):  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….  

DQ 1) What is the valley of the shadow of death?

2)  The Place of the Dead

Genesis 37:34-35 (NASB 1995):  So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.  Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.  And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.”  So his father wept for him.

Job 10:20-22:  Are not my few days almost over?  Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow, to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.

Acts 2:26-27:  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 

DQ 2) What is the meaning of the word Sheol?  

DQ 3) What is the meaning of the word Hades?

3)  Hell

Luke 16:22-26:  “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.  The rich man also died and was buried.  In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side….  ‘And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’”

Matthew 10:28:  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mark 9:47-48:  And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”  

DQ 4) What is the meaning of the word Gehenna?  

DQ 5) What are different theological views of the nature of hell?

4)  The Dark Valley

Psalm 23:4 (NIV 1984):   Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (or through the darkest valley)….

Psalm 23:4 (CSB 2017):  Even when I go through the darkest valley….  

DQ 6) What are the darkest valleys you have endured in life?

5)  Take Heart!

John 16:33:  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.   In this world you will have trouble.   But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  

DQ 7) Why do you suppose God allows tribulations in our lives?  

DQ 8) How has God empowered and emboldened you to overcome the trials of life?