Shepherds

Psalm 23:1-4 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me besides the still waters.  He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Names sake.  Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. 

Each Christmas we hear about the shepherds that were keeping their sheep when the angels appeared and brought them the good news of Christ's birth.  These were no ordinary shepherds but men who were tasked with watching over the flock whose lambs were used for sacrifice.  

I've been reading two books, one by David Roper called "The Song of a Passionate Heart Psalm 23" and another by Rick Renner called, "Christmas, the Rest of the Story"  In these two books I've been learning more about what a shepherd does and how much they care for the sheep.  It's been such a beautiful way to see Jesus anew.  

John 10:7-16 7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

He is our good shepherd who laid down His life for us.  But there is so much more a shepherd does for His sheep, that Jesus does for us.  

Isaiah 40:10-11  Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.  11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. 

In David Roper's book, he described how a good shepherd knows each and every sheep.  He knows their personalities, their peculiarities, their pace...everything about them so that He can care for each as needed.  He knows who has to be carried, those that go at a slower pace because they have injuries.  The nursing Moms and the pushy bullies.  Those that are afraid and those that want to be out in front.  And like a shepherd with his flock, God knows each of us as well.  He knows our hurts and habits, our limitations and our strengths, and He works with us and in us accordingly.  He never pushes but gently leads us in paths of righteousness.  When needed, He carries each of us next to his heart.  

Shepherds led their sheep to rich pastures, protected waters, providing for their needs.  Their staff had a crook that could remove them from perilous situations and help keep them from wandering.  The rod, or club would be a weapon used against beasts who were dangerous to the sheep.  I wonder how many bad situations God has kept me from and how many battles He has fought on my behalf that I know nothing about.  And when I've strayed, just like a good shepherd God searches for me until I am found and brought back to the fold. 

Our heavenly Shepherd gentle, sweet, ferocious and protective.  Loving and strong.  Wise and patient.  He leads, cares for, loves and provides for His wayward and wandering flock.  What a beautiful blessing!  

Lord, thank You for being our good shepherd, the One who gives His life for us.  I am in awe of You, as always.  

Do some research on shepherds and see how much God cares for you.  

The Reason-A God Story

 A GOD STORY

There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays.  His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in Gid and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.  One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived.  They were to talk about Jesus’ birth.  She asked him to come, but he refused.  “That story is nonsense!” he said.  “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man?  That’s ridiculous!”  So she and the children left, and he stayed home.

A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard.  As the man looked outs the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm.  He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening.  Then he heard a loud thump.  Something had hit the window.  Then another thump.  He looked out but couldn’t see more than a few feet.  When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. 

In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese.  Apparently, they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on.  They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter.  They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly.  A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them.  The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought.  It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm.  So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside.  But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.  

The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away.  He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading toward the barn, They still didn’t catch on.  Now he was getting frustrated.  He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn.  Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.  

“Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed.  “Can’t they see this is the only  place where they can survive the storm?”  He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human.  “If only I were a goose, then I could save them.” He said out loud. 

Then he had an idea.  He went into the barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese.  He then released it.  His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn—and one by one, the other geese followed it to safety.  He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!”

Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier.  “Why would God want to be like us?  That’s ridiculous!”  Suddenly it all made sense.  That is what God had done.  We were like the geese—blind, lost, perishing.  God sent His Son to become like us so He could show us the way and save us.  As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought.  Suddenly he understood why Christ had come.   And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.     John 1:14

Merry Christmas!

 Family and friends,

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

We are so blessed in all the gifts we give 

and receive this time

of year.  The greatest of these being the reason

we celebrate Christmas, Jesus, Himself.  

As much joy as we get from blessing 

one another, I can only imagine God

the Father’s joy in giving us His Son.

God the Father gave Jesus, wrapped as a present 

in human form, to save us all.  John 3:16 tells 

us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and

only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,

but have eternal life.”  Imagine that!!  The Creator

of everything wanted our fellowship so much, loved us so much,

that Jesus willingly came to earth, lived perfectly, died and 

rose again to bring us to Himself.  

So, I pray for you, my loved ones, that during all 

the wonderful fun and bustle of this season, that God warms

your heart with His love for you and that you remember

the greatest gift of all.

Have a great holiday!!

Families

This time of year is usually the time for family get togethers.  Maybe it's family that you don't get to see often.  Maybe it's only the immediate family or a small gathering of people you consider family.  Or maybe your family lives too far away to be together and the celebration is just a phone call or two.  Whether by blood or chosen relationship, these are the people we care about, we pray for and love.  

I have been praying for my family for a long time.  When my Mom was alive I know she prayed for them too.  Very few of in our family are saved.  So I continue my prayers.  

This year, my church family in NY is studying a book by Rick Renner called, "Christmas, the Rest of the Story."  What an enlightening book about the Christmas story.  Mr. Renner pulls from the Bible, historical sources, early church writings and the original languages to flesh out this ancient, much read, much loved story of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  

One of the things Mr. Renner points out and that stayed in my heart was how God works in families.  And this gave me hope for my family.  

Early Christian writers give evidence of Mary's parents dedicating her to the Lord as a baby.  They tell of her father being a scroll scholar.  The evidence shows her parents were dedicated to the Lord.  We see her cousins, Elizabeth and Zacharias, both strong followers of God, active in the Temple.  And this makes for another addition to Mary's family, John the Baptist, son of Elizabeth and Zacharias. This was a family dedicated to the Lord.  Sadly, that is not my family.  

We see Joseph, leading his family by example.  His obedience to the Lord, his mercy to Mary and his dedication to bringing his family to the Lord's temple for the prescribed festivals tell us he was committed to raising a family that glorified and honored  God.  

We can look at Jesus' family.  We are told He had brothers and sisters. In Matthew 13:54-57 we are introduced to these family members.  54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So they were offended at Him. We are also told they originally didn't believe Him.  In fact, they thought He was crazy.  Perhaps that more exemplifies your family and mine.  But the good news is they did come to believe.  And this can give us hope for our families.  Acts 1:14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.  Two of Jesus' brothers even went on to write two books of the Bible.  

We see sets of brothers within the Apostles.  James and John, Peter and Andrew. 

We can go back further and see God working in the families of Abraham, Noah and David.  None of these were perfect families, yet at some point God worked in their lives and worked out His perfect plans for them and for the whole earth.  

There is hope for our families.  Pray!   James 5:16  Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.  Continue in prayer.  Continue in planting seeds.  Continue to model Jesus to your families.  And leave the results in God's hands.  The increase is His domain.  1 Corinthians 3:6-7  6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 

Lord, we continue to lift our families up to You.  We pray for the salvation of each and every family member.  Lord, thank You that You are the God of the harvest.  And You will give us the desires of our heart.  We know that You can soften even the hardest of hearts and turn them to You.  It is You that said in 1 Timothy 2:3-5 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,  It is You that provided for that salvation.  Lord save our families.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen

Christmas Songs

We went to visit our family in New York over the past week and we blessed to share Sunday service with our NY church family.  These are two of the songs that were sung and they are favorites of mine.  What beautiful words to wake our hearts to this most holy of seasons.  Enjoy!