Our Father and Our Shepherd

Announcements

All the upcoming events are on the website and you can always scan the QR code to get caught up.

Camps were a bit more expensive than we thought, so if you would like to give towards general we can recoup some of that.

Also we need about $3700 to upgrade the camera system to put in some new cameras in the childrens wing. We may also need to replace the computer in here soon so if that is something you would like to help with you can.

lastly, for our announcements this morning, Cal has recently and we wish him all the best as he helps to take care of Angie. Please continue to be praying for them. If you don’t know, Cal, he is an amazing also our maintenance man here at Journey. I am looking for a couple of guys or ladies who would like to help in from time to time on some different projects we’ve got going on. If you’re interested, let me know or fill out a connection card and drop it in the bucket and we’ll get a group text message going.

The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23

The Bible often tells us to pray. Paul for example says,

1 Thessalonians 5:17 CSB

pray constantly,

The Bible also records hundreds of prayers from people like Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Jesus, Peter, and so on.

We can flip to almost any page in the Bible and find a command to pray, an example of prayer, or an answer to prayer.

The late pastor and theologian Tim Keller said,

“Prayer turns theology into experience.” - Timothy Keller

Some of have said that,

The Bible is a book of prayer

I would agree with that.

The Bible is filled with commands to pray and examples of prayer. The Psalms for example are the recorded prayers of people, inspired by God to give prayer back to Him.

For those in Christ, for those who trust in Christ for hope and salvation:

We also know that the Spirit interceding for us,

Romans 8:26 CSB

In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

When we are confused, tired, run down, emotionally spent, the Spirit Himself is interceding on our behalf.

Jesus Himself is at the right hand of the Father interceding as well,

Hebrews 7:25 CSB

Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.

When we get a picture of heaven at the end times we see a prayer circle.

Revelation 5:8 CSB

When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Prayer is the most important thing we can do as believers.

Prayer should be the first and last thing we do.

There is much we can say about prayer and there is also much we can understand.

Over the next few of weeks we will look at perhaps the two most popular prayers in history.

I have lumped them together because lately when I go to pray one I end up praying the other as well. As I start to press into the Lord’s Prayer I find myself also praying Psalm 23 and vise versa.

Each week we will read them both together and then break them down.

The Lord’s prayer is especially important because when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray as people would for a Rabbi, this is what He gave them.

The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not want.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He makes me to lie down in green pastures;He leads me beside the still waters.He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousnessFor His name’s sake.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

And forgive us our debts,as we forgive our debtors.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

God is our Father and our Shepherd

To start with we have God our Father and the Lord our Shepherd.

We can use this enhance and increase our prayer life. The character of God:

There is a beauty to to thinking about the duality of things here. God is our Father in heaven and yet He is also our Shepherd which as the Psalm goes on to talk about. He is in heaven implying that He is separate, He is different, but he is also our father and shepherd he is also near.

He is holy

The holiness of God means He is unique and uncontaminated by impunity. It can be hard for us to think about perfection and perfect holiness. We do not have a frame of reference for that.

Just as a baby has no concept of what life outside the womb is we have no concept of what the perfection and holiness of God is actually like. I think sometimes He gives is glimpses of it and we have feelings in our spirit or soul but actually knowing it is beyond us.

The Bible has to use poetic language like fire, white wool, and gem stones to communicate it. In reality it is too much for us to understand.

How do I communicate the smell of a cinnamon roll to someone who has never seen, smelled, or eaten one. I can’t. Anything I say will fall short.

This is ok. God is Holy and separate.

But there are times when the separateness of God or the wholly other as Karl Barth says is good for us to meditate on.

When life is overwhelming it helps me to remember that God is separate. He is above and beyond creation. The worries I face do not affect Him.

Acts 17:24–25 CSB

The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.

He does not need us. He requires nothing and we cannot provide Him anything. He is God all by Himself.

Neither created nor changing. He is.

He is totally, completely, and in all way separate.

When God gives His personal name to Moses He says I am who I am. God is the self-existent one

And yet God is close.

This is because He is not just a God who creates and then said ok have at it. He is loving and tender like a father should be.

Prodigal Son Story

Luke 15:11–32 CSB

He also said, “A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ “ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

We call this the Prodigal Son Story but in reality it teaches us more about God than anything else.

Here is what should have happened.

The Father should have disowned the son. He should have brought him before the people of the town and said this wicked son of mine has asked for his inheritance which is to wish me dead. I disown him.

The son should have been sent away. He should have been left to fend for himself.

Then if he ever comes back he was to sit in the town square in sackcloth and ashes. He was to be mocked and ridiculed. He was to sit in disgrace. He was to receive what he deserved.

Instead the father ran to him. This is huge. Men in that day did not run. Fathers did not run especially to wayward children. It would have been undignified.

What we see is the father taking on shame that belonged to the son. This is what out God does.

He runs to the prodigal. What we should have, He takes, this is the Father we pray too. He does not have to take on shame but does. He does not have to wait but he does. He does not have to be undignified but He does.

God gives a royal robe

A signet ring

A banquet in your honor.

What more could we possibly want?

For those who want to see the prodigal son receive his punishment we must careful not to become the older brother who was so caught up in his own self-righteousness that he forgot the father’s character as well.

Remember the older son received his inheritance too. The father came out to him too.

Whether we are the prodigal son who went away or the one who stayed and forgot our access He is good and loving.

this is who we pray to

The lord is my shepherd I shall not want.

He is a God who is holy and separate and still close. He is also a shepherd guiding, loving and tender.

He is always there giving us what we need. He knows what we need.

Bummer Lamb

Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind.

These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken.

These lambs are called “bummer lambs.” Unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the shepherd does?

He takes that rejected little one into his home, hand-feeds it and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so the bummer can hear his heartbeat. Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock.

But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first?

That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows his voice intimately.

It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the one who loves it.

It’s not that it is loved more, it just believes it because it has experienced that love one on one.

So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But He is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat.

We may be broken and rejected but we are deeply loved by the Shepherd.

We are all bummer lambs. We are the ones who have been rejected and yet the Good Shepherd comes and rescues us. He takes us in and holds us. He feeds us. He protects us. He lets us hear his heartbeat.

So when He calls we respond with love. We rejoice because we know His voice.

When we pray this is who we pray to

This is who we pray to, a Good Father and a Tender Shepherd.

A God who is holy and affected by the brokenness of the world, yet still close as a father. Still close enough as a to hold the bummer lamb. You are a bummer lamb. I am a bummer lamb. We are in need of the father who is in heaven and the who makes us not want