The Call to Action

Scriptural Text:

The cross is a clarion call to action, commitment, and discipleship.

However in agreement with this quote:

life is not an easy journey. The road is not always smooth, the conditions are not always favorable, and many hazards lie along the way. While life contains many joys, it can also be plagued by sorrows. It can be confusing, even at times, terrifying. Furthermore, our needs for the journey are never-ending, and we often feel helpless and overwhelmed. Clearly, we were not created to navigate life alone.

When We No Longer Care

Dr. Laurence M. Gould, president emeritus of Carleton College, said “I do not believe the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. I don’t think our civilization will end that way. I think it will die when we no longer care. Arnold Toynbee has pointed out that nineteen of twenty-one civilizations have died from within and not by conquest from without. There were no bands playing and flags waving when these civilizations decayed. It happened slowly, in the quiet and in the dark when no one was aware.”

 Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 153.

To be careless and uncaring is wrong(, )

(ESV)

10“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

(ESV)

14then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

God care for His children (, )

(ESV)

3He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

(ESV)

1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

God Will Take Care Of You

This was written on a Sunday afternoon by a pastor’s wife. She was very ill and in bed, but her husband had to go to a meeting. He was reluctant to leave her. She said, “Don’t worry, God will Take care of you.”

While her husband was away, she thought of the wonderful truths in her own words, and wrote this poem. Her husband returned and later composed it to music.

 Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 889.

Human care should reflect God’s nature ()

From this stand point,

Care involves responsibility. (, )

Christ meets every need in our lives. He feeds us and leads us throughout our journey. He loves and cares for us, His sheep; therefore we are able to rest easy and secure in Him. This is the glorious message of the twenty-third Psalm.

How to Have Every Need of Life Met, 23:1-6.

            1. Confess the Lord as your Shepherd (v. 1) (; ; ; Isaiah 53:6)

sheep is all of the things that we do not want to be” … dumb stubborn; defenseless; without a sense of direction; prone to wander; slow to recognize danger; nervous and uneasy easily excitable and frightened;

Note: One thing is certain about sheep: they will perish if left to themselves

(ESV)

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

(ESV)

7So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

8All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

9I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

(ESV)

14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,

15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

(ESV)

            2. Know the Lord will meet every need (vv. 2-3).

6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.           

 2. Know the Lord will meet every need (vv. 2-3). (; ; ; ; ; John 6:25)

a. He will meet your physical needs: Provide the basic necessities—food (pasture) and water (v. 2).

b. He will meet your spiritual needs (v. 3).

Note: Our Shepherd loves us and He will supply our every need. (ESV)

8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

(ESV)

31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

(ESV)

19And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

(ESV)

25I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

The Lord also provides our spiritual nourishment. (ESV)

4But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

(ESV)

25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

3. Trust the Lord for protection (vv. 4-5). (; ; ; ; ; Pet 5:8)

            3. Trust the Lord for protection (vv. 4-5).

a. He will be with you in the darkest hours (trials) (v. 4).

. He will be with you in the darkest hours (trials) (v. 4).

Valleys are symbols of the darkest times of life. The valley of the shadow of death speaks of life’s gravest circumstances, fearful occasions when death is a real possibility, such as…

 3. Trust the Lord for protection (vv. 4-5).

severe illness or disease

a sudden attack on your health

a serious accident deadly weather conditions

a violent, criminal attack

war

a terrorist attack

famine or extreme poverty

b. He will be with you when facing enemies (v. 5).

(ESV)

(ESV)

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

5For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

(ESV)

14Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

15and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

(ESV)

5Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

(ESV)

9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Eph 6:10(ESV)

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

(ESV)

8Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

            4. Be assured of the Lord’s goodness and love (v. 6). (; ; ;

a. Through all the days of life (v. 6).

b. Through giving you eternal life in heaven (the Lord’s house) (v. 6).

(ESV)

16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

(ESV)

27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

(ESV)

1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

4And you know the way to where I am going.”

5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(ESV)

16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

God has called us all to action-that is what love means.