The Heart of THE Shepherd

For the past three years I have coached boys basketball at our local YMCA. The Y league is a developmental league. That means sometimes you get kids that have never played basketball, at least on a team, before in their lives. And some kids love to play and can’t get enough of the sport. Some kids are there because their parents made them come.

I had one boy exactly like that on my team. He was there, not because he loved the game of basketball, but because his parents thought it would be good for him to get some exercise during the months of January and February in a WI winter. Now, in the Y league, during every game, there are mandatory substitutions. Every kid gets to play. No one sits on the bench. So every 4 minutes during the game the refs stop play and the coaches sub in the kids on the bench.

I can remember one game. It was getting close to the mandatory substitution. This particular kid comes up to me and asks, “coach, do I have to play?” Now what is the last thing you want to do as a coach when your player has that kind of attitude? Put him in the game! But rules are rules, so I said, “yes, you have to play.”

Now what was the problem? Why didn’t this kid want to play in the game? He didn’t like basketball. He didn’t care about the sport. He was a great kid, he just didn’t have a love for the game. We could say it this way— his heart wasn’t in it. His heart wasn’t in it.

This is the problem that Jesus addresses in Matthew 9. For many believers when it comes to the Christian life, when it comes especially to gospel ministry, they say very much the same thing, “do I have to play?”

Christians are happy to come to a church service once a week on a Sunday morning. They are happy to come and fellowship with other believers, and sit and hear the word of God preached, but when it comes to participating in the work of ministry their attitude is much the same as the kid on my Y league, “do I have to play?” And what is the problem? We could say it this way—their heart is not in it.

In Matthew 9 Jesus is in the midst of what we call His Galilean ministry. This ministry began back in Matthew 4:23.

Matthew 4:23 ESV

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

Jesus had a very important earthly mission. He was sent by the Father, He was in-fleshed into the world He created, to accomplish the will of the Father. He was sent to preach and teach the good news. He was sent to validate His identity as the Son of God through signs and miracles. He was sent to become a sacrifice for the sins of the world. It was a big mission.

His Galilean mission was all about teaching and preaching the gospel and healing every kind of disease and affliction among the Jewish people. From Matthew chapter 4-9 Jesus is doing the work of this mission alone.

In Matthew 10 that all changes. Jesus enlists the help of his twelve disciples. He empowers and sends them out to help accomplish his mission. But, before he can send out the twelve Jesus has to prepare them. He has to make sure they are ready. Can we say it this way, Jesus has to make sure their hearts are in it.

In our text this morning we find that Jesus wanted his disciples to have hearts filled with compassion so that they could be useful workers in the harvest field.

God wants us to have hearts filled with unbounded compassion so that we can be useful workers for the gospel.

How do we acquire that kind of a heart? How do we ensure that our hearts are engaged, that our hearts are in it, so that we can become useful workers for the gospel?

Out text highlights two ways for us to acquire this kind of heart.

I. We must understand the heart of The Shepherd (9:35-36)

Read full text:

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

If we are going to have the right heart for gospel ministry we must first understand the kind of heart that motivated our Lord to labor in the harvest field.

A. The continuous activity of Jesus (v. 35)

Jesus is our example. We use the phrase all the time in our Christian vocabulary, “I want to be Christlike.” What does that mean? Usually we mean we want to develop the same character that Jesus had. We want to be loving, and kind, and merciful. But that phrase should also mean that we no only emulate the character of Jesus, but we imitate the content of his daily living. And I want you to notice in v. 35 the continuous activity of Jesus- in other words Jesus was a hard worker.

Matthew 9:35 ESV

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

Notice the first phrase in this verse: Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages.

The verb, “went throughout,” is in the imperfect tense in the Greek. The imperfect tense often points to an action that happened in the past, but yet was a continuous process. One commentator translated it this way, “Jesus made a tour” through all the cities and villages.

Cities were larger population centers of various sizes, and villages were relatively small communities. The point is that Jesus was a good laborer. He was a diligent worker. He made a continuous tour throughout all the region of Galilee. He went to every town and village, no matter the size, in his mission. He is our example of what doing the work of ministry looks like. And we are given three descriptive phrases that summarize what his work looked like. And the verbs in these phrases are all present tense, and they all carry the idea of constant and continuous action.

Jesus continuously went about on a circuit to every city and village in Galilee, and he was continuously teaching in every synagogue, he was continuously proclaiming or preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and he was continuously healing every disease and every affliction. That is the idea of this verse. It was a vital mission, it was a big mission, and Jesus was a diligent laborer and worker for the mission of the gospel.

B. The compassionate heart of Jesus (v. 36)

Now that we have paid attention to the content of Jesus’ daily living, let’s zero in on the character of his heart. Matthew explains the effect that the crowds had upon Jesus in that he felt unbounded mercy or compassion for the Jewish people.

Matthew 9:36 ESV

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Note the timing of Jesus feeling compassion for the crowds. The text says “When he saw the crowds.” There was a particular moment when Jesus saw the large crowds of people that followed him as a result of his Galilean ministry (9:36a).

Jesus looked upon the the large throngs of people following him and what was His response? He had compassion for them.

Illustration: Do you like crowds? If you are going to an amusement park what is your number one wish for that day? I hope the crowds are small.

How about when the roads are crowded? How many of us like it when you look off in the distance on I-94 and you see a long line of cars at a stand still and that line goes on farther than your eye can see. What goes through your mind when you run into that kind of a crowd?

Oconomowoc is growing by leaps and bounds right now. Every day it seems like you discover a new apartment building or a new condo building. The roads are busier with people than they have every been before. I can remember when we moved into the parsonage, 17 years ago, you might have a car traveling on hwy 67 once every few minutes or so. Now? Sometimes I have to wait several minutes just to turn out of my driveway. If you are honest with yourself, what is your reaction when you see crowds? Are you annoyed? Are you angry? Is your heart ever moved with compassion?

Jesus was. Over the course of his Galilean ministry, preaching and teaching, healing all the sick, he gathered to himself large crowds of people. They followed him everywhere he went. And instead of getting annoyed that there were in his way, slowing him down, the text says he had compassion for them.

This word compassion is an interesting word. The root of this word is a reference to the particular location in the human body. It is a reference to the abdomen where our bowels and other important organs are located. In Bible times this area was associated with the seat of the affections. This word describes a deep “gut-level” compassion by Jesus.

One commentator said this word speaks of a “warm, compassionate response to need. No single English term does justice to it: compassion, pity, sympathy, fellow-feeling all convey part of it, but “his heart went out” perhaps represents more fully the emotional force of the underlying metaphor of a “gut response.” France, 373.

Another commentator said this, “What we are to see here is not purely human pity, but divine compassion for troubled people.” Morris, 239.

Jesus had real, unbounded, gut-level, heartfelt, mercy and compassion for people. It was this kind of heart that made Him the Good Shepherd. We must have this same kind of heart for God’s people, or we cannot be effective shepherds of God’s people.

And why did Jesus feel such compassion?

Look at what the text says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless.”

The reason Jesus felt compassion for the people was he saw them as harassed and helpless (9:36b).

And because a picture is worth a thousand words, Jesus adds the following comparison, “like sheep without a shepherd.”

So Jesus looked upon the crowds, and instead of getting annoyed or angry, he experienced a real, unbounded, gut-level compassion, because he saw not just throngs of people, but he saw shepherdless sheep. He saw people that were like sheep wounded and torn by wild animals. The crowds of people were weary from being harassed and troubled, they were dejected from being thrown or cast to the ground.

Now if we are really going to understand the heart of the shepherd in this text we must pay close attention to the phrase, “like sheep without a shepherd.” What Jesus is doing here is calling to mind an important biblical theological theme that runs throughout the divine story of the Scriptures.

C. The Biblical Theology of “Sheep Without a Shepherd”

This is a story thread that runs from OT to NT. The story of the shepherd and the sheep. In begins in the creation week where God makes for himself a people, Adam and Eve. And he desires a relationship with them. He walks and talks with them in the garden. But, sin enters the picture and make a royal mess of God’s intended relationship.

Fast forward a number of years and God chooses a man named Abraham to be the father of his chosen people, and also of many nations. He says to Abraham, “I will be your God and you shall be my people.”

Genesis 17:7–8 ESV

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

This promise of God- that He would be Abraham’s God, and that Abraham and his offspring will be God’s people- is turned into the comparison of shepherd and the sheep. And we see this idea carried throughout the pages of the Scriptures.

One of the important truths that we learn from this beautiful picture of shepherd and sheep is that the sheep need a good shepherd. If the sheep are to prosper, they must be led by a good shepherd.

One commentator said this, “Sheep are defenseless animals. Without a shepherd they are vulnerable to any attack. Even without predators they are in trouble if they have no shepherd, for they are not good foragers. They need a shepherd to lead them in green pastures and beside still waters (Ps. 23:2). Goats manage very well by themselves, but sheep do not. Sheep without a shepherd points to people who are in great danger and without the resources to escape from it.” Morris, 239.

And if we study this biblical theological theme out in the pages of the Bible we will see this to be true.

Take Numbers 27 for instance. In Numbers 27 Moses is about to die. Remember because he struck the rock a second time he was not permitted to enter the promised land. So the people were about to go into the promised land without their leader. And look at what Moses says to the Lord.

Numbers 27:16 ESV

16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation

A man over the congregation- in other words, a leader! Why?

Numbers 27:17–18 (ESV)

17 who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” 18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.

And so Joshua becomes the next in line to lead the people to prevent the Jewish people from becoming like sheep that have no shepherd.

Let’s look at I Kings 22. This is an interesting story. In this narrative King Jehoshaphat of Judah and the Northern king of Israel get together and decide to take back Ramoth-gilead from the king of Syria. But, before they go to war Jehoshaphat wants some assurances. He convinces the king of Israel to gather all of the prophets together and ask the Lord, “Lord, if we go up to battle with the big bad king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead are we going to win?” So the King of Israel scrapes together four hundred prophets and has them inquire of the Lord. And guess what they say? 10 out of 10 kings, you are going to win.

Apparently, 400 prophets wasn’t enough for Jehoshaphat.

So they summon one more prophet, a true prophet, a guy by the name of Micaiah. And they instruct this prophet on the way things should go when he stands before these two kings.

But Micaiah is a true prophet and is determined to speak only what the Lord actually says. And so finally this is what Micaiah says to these two kings.

1 Kings 22:17 (ESV)

17 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’ ”

What was he saying? Look kings if you go up to battle you are going to die. And when the kings die, the leaders of the people die, then the rest of the army will become like sheep scattered all over a mountainside. The will be like sheep that have no shepherd.

Shephedless sheep are leaderless sheep.

We discover another important piece of information of shepherdless sheep in Zech. 10.

Zechariah 10:2 (ESV)

2 For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

Here the people are not bereft of their king, instead they are being lied to by false prophets. They are being lead astray by false teachers. So even though they technically have “leaders” they are false ones. And a false leader is no better, and often times worse, than no leader at all. Because of these false prophets the people were like sheep, they were afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

That leads us to one more text and perhaps it is the most important text of all for understanding the heart of the shepherd. Turn to Ezekiel 34 in your Bible with me.

I want to read much of this text for you this morning.

In the first 10 verses God absolutely lays into the false shepherds, the false leaders of Ezekiel’s day.

Ezekiel 34:1–4 ESV

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

Pay attention to vv. 5-6 because I think here we really get a sense of the heart of God, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, for His people.

Ezekiel 34:5 (ESV)

5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered;

Ezekiel 34:6 (ESV)

6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

How do you think God will retaliate against these false shepherds? Look at your bibles:

Ezekiel 34:7–10 ESV

7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

Who were the false shepherds of Jesus’ day? Pharisees, scribes, priests of Israel. It is a fascinating study to compare and contrast the mission and ministry of Jesus and the hypocrisy, the arrogance, and abuse of the spiritual “leaders” of Jesus’ day.

So God is going to vigorously judge the false shepherds of Israel. But that is not all.

Ezekiel 34:11–14 (ESV)

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

Again pay special attention vv. 15-16 because we truly see the heart of the shepherd in these verses.

Ezekiel 34:15 (ESV)

15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 34:16 (ESV)

16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

Can you feel the shepherd’s heart in this text? Why will God seek the lost, bring back the stay, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak? Why will God destroy the fat and strong and feed them in justice? Why? Because the Shepherd loves the sheep! That is the heart of the shepherd!

Drop down to v. 23!

Ezekiel 34:23 ESV

23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

Who is that ONE SHEPHERD? who is my servant DAVID? It is Jesus! God loves the sheep so much that He planned to send them his only Son. And Jesus came to earth and the Good Shepherd fed the sheep and he was to them a true shepherd. Again if you study the mission and ministry of Jesus in contrast to the pharisees, and scribes, and the priests it is startling.

Just go back and read Matthew 8-9 and see the contrast. In those two chapters alone. Jesus touches and heals a leper, he commends and helps a gentile centurion, he heals many and casts out demons. He heals a paralytic, calls a tax collector as his disciple, eats a meal with many tax collectors and sinners, allows himself to be touched by a woman with an issue of blood and heals her, heals the bind and the mute- in short he serves as an example of the good shepherd.

Remember Ezek 34 16?

Ezekiel 34:16 ESV

16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

Now, contrast that to the false shepherds of Jesus’ day- the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the priests. When Jesus healed the paralytic- some scribes thought in their hearts that Jesus was a blasphemer. When Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners the Pharisees condemned him and asked the disciples, “how could your master do such a thing?” And when Jesus healed the mute man and the crowds marveled, in jealousy the Pharisees slandered Jesus by saying, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

These are the false shepherds that God judges and removes. And in their place he sends his servant.

Ezekiel 34:24 ESV

24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the sheep. This important biblical theological theme of sheep and shepherd, properly understood, ought to make Matthew 9:36 sing in your hearts.

Matthew 9:36 ESV

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Friends, God wants us to have hearts filled with unbounded compassion so that we can be useful workers for the gospel.

If we are going to have that kind of a heart we must understand THE Shepherd’s heart.

Do you have a heart like Jesus? When you see crowds what is your response? When you see crowds on the roads, when you are stuck in traffic jams, do you just see cars, or do you see people? Do you see souls that need Jesus? When you see the next apartment building going up in your town what do you think? Are you upset that YOUR town is being overpopulated? Or do you think about the wonderful opportunity you might have to reach scattered sheep who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd?

Do you have a heart of real, unbounded, gut-level, heartfelt, mercy and compassion for people? This is the heart of the shepherd. We must have this same heart of people, or we cannot be effective shepherds.

Let’s look at the second way we can acquire the right kind of heart for gospel ministry. Not just understand the heart of the shepherd, but…

II. We must pray for the heart of The Shepherd (9:37-38)

After explaining for us the heart of the shepherd in vv. 35-36, now Matthew shows Jesus turning to His disciples and preparing them to become shepherds with themselves.

Matthew 9:37 ESV

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

A. An abrupt change in illustration (v. 37)

In one short verse Matthew changes our thinking from one illustration, sheep without a shepherd, to another— a plentiful harvest, but a shortage of qualified workers.

Jesus used the illustration of an abundant harvest field and a shortage of qualified workers to help his disciples feel His own compassion (9:37).

Matthew 9:37 ESV

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

Now, don’t disconnect the setting of the story from the words of Jesus!

Where is Jesus when he makes this statement? In the midst of ministry, in the midst of laboring and working.

What did Jesus see? He saw crowds of people.

How did Jesus see them? Like harassed and cast down sheep without a shepherd.

How did that make Jesus feel? He was moved with compassion.

So can you picture it in your mind’s eye? Jesus is perhaps standing in the midst of the crowds and he is overcome with emotion. And he turns to his disciples and spreads out his hands to the crowds of people, and with a heart full of divine compassion, and perhaps tears sliding down his cheeks, speaks these words to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

Until this point in Jesus’ ministry he was spreading the gospel of the kingdom alone. But even Jesus by himself doing the work was not enough. He needed other people to help Him with His mission.

Jesus needs us to be active in gospel ministry.

The Gospel according to Matthew 1. The Harvest and the Workers, 9:35–38

A crop of wheat needs workers to bring the grain into the barn; without the laborers the crop cannot be reaped.

Illustration: Mulberry trees along the woods of the church. The branches are thick with berries, but unless someone goes and gathers them, they fall to the ground and the deer eat them. I can’t gather them all by myself. I need help. Thankfully, I have six boys. And some of them like to climb trees and all of them like to eat mulberry pancakes. So I enlist the aid of others to help bring in the harvest.

Application: I once had a church member say something like this, “Pastor, I’ve got a friend who doesn’t know Jesus. I am going to bring him to church so I can ‘sick you on him.’” What is the underlying error in that statement? If I want my friend to know Christ- Only the pastor can do it.

Friends, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. The pastor can’t do all the work, I can’t do all the work. I need help. I need help reaching God’s scattered sheep. I need help shepherding this flock. One man can only do so much. How man sheep can one person shepherd? This is why my job as a pastor is to equip you the saints to do the work of ministry. I need help! I need help in evangelism. I need help in discipling. Jesus wants all of us to be active in ministry.

B. A surprising command (v. 38)

In v. 38 Jesus issues a surprising command. What did Jesus just say by way of illustration? The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. What would you expect as a follow up to that illustration? Therefore, GO! Become a worker. Start laboring in the harvest field. That is not the command Jesus gives however.

Matthew 9:38 ESV

38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Surprisingly the first command that Jesus gives is not to go, but to pray.

This word, “pray earnestly,” means to ask for something pleadingly. It is the idea of asking with urgency, with the implication of a presumed need. Plead with the Lord, beg the Lord.

Illustration: Driving to the ER because I could not breathe. Because it was during the time of COVID the receptionist asked me if I would be willing to talk with a doctor over the intercom. NO! Please let me see a doctor! This is the idea of asking with urgency, pleading, begging.

Luke 5:12 (ESV)

12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Luke 9:38 (ESV)

38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.

In the next chapter Jesus sends out the twelve, but first he commands them to pray? Why? Jesus already knows he is sending out more laborers. Why have them pray?

Because to be co-laborers with Jesus to His sheep and in His harvest field requires that we have His heart. We need to have a divine unbounded compassion and love for people. That kind of a heart can only be produced in us through the power of God. That kind of a heart requires prayer.

Application: When is the last time you begged God to send out workers into His harvest? When is the last time you begged God to give you the right kind of heart so that you would become the right kind of worker? God make me a usable worker, make me a shepherd like unto Jesus, God use me to reach harvest!

Let’s take a moment and think about the result that Jesus desired from the disciples urgent prayers. “Pray earnestly, beg fervently to the Lord of the harvest, so that He might send out workers into His harvest.”

What is the desired result? More workers!

Gospel work is not easy. God needs more laborers or workers. There is real work involved in reaching people for the gospel. And there are not enough people who are willing to put in the hard work of reaping a harvest. If we want to know the blessing of participating in God’s harvest, we must become diligent laborers for the Lord.

What is the old statistic about church ministry? 10% of the people do 90% of the work. Friend, are you a participant in ministry here at Faith or are you merely an audience member? Do you come to sit or do you come to serve?

Are you working for the harvest? Are you purposefully engaging in gospel ministry? We have a desire for everyone to get involved in the work of making disciples here at Faith. Are you engaged yet? Why not? Have you prayed about it? Have you earnestly begged God to send more workers into this harvest field?

Finally notice who Jesus tells his disciples to pray to: “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest.”

God is the “Lord of the harvest.” He is sovereignly in control over His harvest. Another reason we need to pray is that while we are required to do the hard work of partaking in the harvest, it is ultimately God who is the one that brings the increase. Gospel ministry requires complete dependence upon the Lord who is over all.

Is that how you do gospel ministry? Are you bathing your ministry in prayer? Are you depending on the soverign Lord of the harvest? Are you participating in his plan for reaching our community? Are you depending upon him? A great place to regularly implement Jesus’ command of urgent prayer is Wednesday evening. If you don’t come to Wednesday night prayer service you should. One of the things we regularly do is pray about gospel ministry.

Why should we care about any of this? Because God wants us to have hearts filled with unbounded compassion so that we can be useful workers for the gospel.

This morning we looked at two ways we can have this kind of heart.

We must understand the heart of the shepherd.

We must pray for the heart of the shepherd.

Can you honestly say that you have the Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd? If not, how will you change? Let me encourage you to meditate on this text this week. Let the words of Christ dwell richly in your heart in all wisdom. Let me encourage you to pray earnestly this week. Go to the Lord of the harvest and pray. Pray that he might change your heart and send you forth and that a great harvest might be reaped here in our community.

May the Lord of the Harvest so move us to send us out as diligent workers in his harvest field.