THE GOOD SHEPHERD
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A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Is The Lord Your Shepherd?
for some us God is a footnote, irrelevant, distant in the corner of our life not important to our daily life.
for some of us God is somebody we visit on weekends briefly then forget about him the rest of the week.
for some of us may not be sure he exist at all.
for some of us he is our faithful and close companion everyday.
for some of us God is our healer just when we really need it, our help only when we are struggling, he’s our friend when its convenient , and our ruler or master hardly ever.
Can you make the same claim that the Psalmist makes, “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD”?
Brothers & sisters we as sheep are weak, vulnerable, & dumb, needy, wandering, & dependent. Too many people in the world think we are wolves, that we are strong and don’t need anybody but that is an illusion. At some point God/life will show us that we are weak and we are sheep and we always need a Shepherd
In fact in John 10 we find out that their are thieves and robbers around us and we need a Shepherd to protect us.
John 10:1 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.” Jn. 10:8 ““All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.” John 10:10 ““The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
We have a good one if we will listen and follow Him?
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
This passage has roots in O.T scripture. The leaders of God’s people were supposed to lead them but they weren’t
‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.” ’ ”
For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.
“As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
“I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
“I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
“I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God.
“I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.
IN Ezek. God say he will shepherd His people. Jesus says in John 10 “I am the good Shepherd”. He is God and He is the Shepherd! That’s what makes him such a good shepherd, the perfect shepherd
Is the Lord... is God... is Jesus your shepherd?
The fundamental statement of Ps. 23 “The Lord is my shepherd” denotes - that you can have other shepherds. politicians, emotions, friends, passions,
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
I shall not want why? because he is my shepherd. he, he , he
I will Fear no evil why? because The lord is my shepherd he is with me
Is the Lord your shepherd?
Why would you not let Jesus be your shepherd?
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
Jesus is a wonderful/good shepherd we need a guide, a protector, a provider you need to feed and nurtured. There is no better shepherd. No matter what you are going through in life Jesus is there. He’s not like the thief and the robber or the hired hand.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
“He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
“He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
Are you one of God’s sheep?
Let’s take a sheep test!
1)Jesus sheep hear his voice!
1)Jesus sheep hear his voice!
“To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
You may be saying this morning I am here of course I listen to the voice of the shepherd? what about tomorrow? when you are at work? When you are at school? When siting on the couch watching t.v.?
The reason we need to listen to his voice
“He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
“For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
“He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
Do you pick an choose the words you hear,do you only let part of his words in & filter out those words you don’t want to hear or are to difficult for you to hear?
You have to let His words in and really let them work in your lives
You have to listen to his word everyday all day. You must read his word
first part of the sheep test
Jesus sheep hear his voice?
2) Jesus sheep know His voice!
2) Jesus sheep know His voice!
Do you recognize his voice, your friends voice, your own voice, the worlds voice, or the the devils voice?
Can you tell its not Jesus speaking when they are speaking, their are preachers who don’t teach truth, can you tell. politicians?
can you tell if it is his voice? How can you tell?
“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
They listen to his voice so often and so regularly that they know his voice without even looking at him. We have to be so familiar with his voice by hearing it so many times every day.
Many Christians today wouldn’t know whether it is his voice or not. they don’t listen daily to his voice they don’t have enough experience with him to know whether it is Jesus or not
we need to hang around Jesus a lot. Again this isn’t just a Sunday & Wednesday thing. We must be around Jesus all the time.
Sheep test:
Jesus sheep hear his voice!
Jesus sheep know His voice!
3) Jesus sheep follow His voice!
3) Jesus sheep follow His voice!
“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
they move, they act, based on his voice.
Sheep make decisions based on his voice.
Sheep make commitments based on his voice.
Sheep reject certain things because of his voice.
Jesus sheep will not follow a stranger!
some of us are so gullible, would you know he’s not telling me right he is not leading me where they good shepherd would?
Jesus sheep hear His voice
Jesus Sheep know His voice!
Jesus sheep follow His voice!
IS THE LORD YOUR SHEPHERD TODAY & EVERYDAY?
IS THE LORD YOUR SHEPHERD TODAY & EVERYDAY?
close relationship - they are with him everyday all day long. EVERYDAY
Psalm 23 is the Lord my shepherd everyday? We like it at funerals, when I am sick.
what about Tues afternoon I am walking with him through my Wed. Thurs. Fri.
the shepherd is God - Jesus
Listen to his word - hear
let His Word change us - believe
decide to to follow him repentance
pledge allegiance - confession
be united with him in baptism and you follow him everyday
not a loose, part time relationship…it’s a daily all the time relationship
P.S. Jesus is the Door
if you are going to find spiritual safety you have to go through the DOOR when you go out you go out Through the DOOR. Jesus is the Door
Are You following the good shepherd?
Are You following the good shepherd?
notice I didn’t ask if you go to church. A lot of people go to church the real question is
Are you following the Shepherd every day all day?
Are you following the Shepherd every day all day?