Shepherding is one
of the oldest profession known to man; it's over 6,000 years
old. Shepherding is a very
powerful thing.
You cannot understand the bible without
understanding the context and how people lived back
then. It was an agricultural society.
We don't understand the fullness of shepherding because we are
not an agricultural society.
In that time, in the
land of Israel, the population was mainly poor. A very few were
rich. Over 90% of the people
were very poor.
In order to survive,
they had to have…
1.A
small tract of land to grown grain
2.A
couple of Olive Trees—olive oil was a staple
3.A
small vineyard to produce grapes for the wine because water
undrinkable
4.Some
type of flock of sheep—size depended on how wealthy
Jesus was a
carpenter by trade but still said “I am the Good Shepherd”.
Your profession doesn’t determine who you are only what you do.
His announcement as
the good Shepherd was amazing. His birth was announced to
shepherds. Turn to the 23rd psalm. Most of the heroes
of the Bible were shepherds…Moses, Jacob, David, Amos, Abraham.
Then, Jesus identifies
Himself as a shepherd.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my
shepherd (amp says) he guides me, feeds me, shields me.
The problem: WE
WANT TO BE THE SHEPHERD AND WE WANT GOD TO BE THE SHEEP!
Everyone wants to get
to the second part “I shall not want” but to get to the second
part, we have to let the Lord be the shepherd and we must be the
sheep. Until we let Him be the shepherd, we cannot get to the “I
shall not want”
Apart from HIM, we can
do nothing. We can’t protect ourselves. We are sheep. If the
sheep said “Don’t worry, I can find my own food”, it would
starve. A sheep cannot find its own food. It’s useless—no
ability to protect itself and any animal can beat it up—no
defense mechanism. JESUS IS THE SHEPHERD.
Sheep, if you don’t
move them, will destroy the pasture; they will eat the grass
until it goes into the dirt and you can no longer stay there. So
a good shepherd continue moves the sheep from pasture to
pasture. Literally—from home to home. We want to stay where are
and be comfortable but God is always saying “Move, move, move”.
“But, I like where I
am” YOU SAY. YOU WILL DESTROY WHERE YOU ARE IF YOU DON’T MOVE
WHEN GOD TELLS YOU TO MOVE.
HE IS THE GOOD
SHEPHERD. AN EVIL SHEPHERD WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU BECAUSE A
SHEPHERD IS ALL POWERFUL. GOD WILL JUDGE THE SHEPHERDS WHO TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF THE SHEEP.
God says “I’m going to
lead you from place to place”. It takes a group of shepherds.
You never have sheep
in the valley because the valley is where you plant your crops.
You lead your sheep on the mountains. You need groups because we
can’t shepherd alone. It takes awareness to shepherd—can be old
or young.
The LORD is my
shepherd..I shall not want. I shall not lack, I shall not fail,
I shall not decrease. The one caveat is IF HE’S NOT YOUR
SHEPHERD, YOU HAVE NO PROMISE.
We want to be in
control, but the minute YOU are in control and God isn’t your
shepherd, you are a sheep among wolves. The shepherd
watches out. Not everything that looks like a sheep is really a
sheep. The shepherd protects from the wolves outside the flock
and inside the flock. Watch out for the wolf in sheep’s
clothing. The shepherd gets him out of the sheepfold. It’s his
responsibility to guard, guide, and feed the sheep.
Vs. 2 He makes me
to lie down in green pastures. If he’s the shepherd, he doesn’t
ask your opinion.
HE MAKES ME TO LIE
DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES. You can’t eat while you’re lying down.
He
makes you to lie down because you need to rest. You need to
rest. He’ll make you lie down where you can see your dream but
not reach it.
He says “lay down”.
How
many of you have been to a preschool class that’s complete chaos
and then teacher says “it’s naptime”. The kids don’t want to go
to sleep, but if you lay those little heads down on those mats
the kids fall asleep cause that’s what they need. The shepherd
knows what the sheep need.
We think we know so
much but we don’t. If you know about sheep, you know that their
nostrils are at the top of their nose, so if we start to drink
out of a brook that’s babbling, the water would come over them
and get into their nostrils and they would drown standing up.
You think you know what you need but God knows that we need to
“lie down” because we’ll drown if we’re “standing up”.
I AM THE GOOD
SHEPHERD. It’s my responsibility to say “It’s time to rest”.
And then there’s a time to get up. Ecclesiastes 3 says that
there is a time for everything. We must live in balance.
He restores my
soul—my life.
That word restore means to take back to the original. It means
to totally restore you to wholeness. How many of you would like
to see the body of Christ where there is no mental breakdowns or
depression? People in total mental health. He restores my soul
and heals my emotions.
Every day, I see
people with wounded emotions. You can tell because some little
thing happens to them and it’s a big thing because they have
wounded emotions. They have a chip on their shoulder. And, when
you try to have a relationship with them, you’ll get hurt
because hurt people hurt other people.
He says “If I’m
your shepherd, my responsibility is to refresh—to restore your
soul.
If Duane Swilley isn’t whole emotionally, then BISHOP Swilley is
in trouble. If he’s not healthy here, Pastor Swilley is in
trouble. If he’s not healthy then father and husband Duane is in
trouble.
He says I restore you,
because He makes you lie down He leads me in paths of right
standing with Him—not from my earning it but for His Name’s
sake. Here’s a beautiful thing.
There are sheepherders
in the mountains of Argentina. Again, we have to go back to the
time Psalm 23 was written. For me to be in the right place with
God, I had to present the Lamb. God didn’t look at me, He looked
at my lamb.
God didn’t really look
at YOU when you came this morning, He looked at your PRAISE! Was
it worthy? Was it the right thing? God doesn’t look at me, He
looks at your tithe. It’s sacred; it belongs to Him.
David said “I’m a
shepherd. I know what it’s like. God is MY shepherd and he takes
care of me. I will offer Him my praise and worship”. David says
I will not give to the Lord what costs me nothing.
AT night, the Good
Shepherd puts His sheep in the sheep fold. That’s the church.
Then He lays down at the door and protects them.
THE LORD IS MY
SHEPHERD AND I AM THE SHEEP!And, because the Lord is my shepherd, I
will lack nothing. I don’t care what evil report comes in or
what’s going on in the world because the LORD is my shepherd.
During the era of
Psalm 23, they would venture out of their city to shop at the
market. When they went in, there would be a huge sheepfold and
there would be about 20 or 30 shepherds that would put their
sheep together. How did they separate them? In the morning, the
shepherd would come and speak to them and regardless of how many
sheep there were and how many shepherds, HIS sheep would
recognize his voice and follow.
If I can just hear HIS
voice, everything will be okay because MY shepherd says that I
won’t want or lack for anything. He’s my shepherd; He loves me
and makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul. He
leads me in paths of righteousness for His namesake.
Why do we need to
know all His faces? Today we may need the Shepherd; tomorrow you
may need the Healer or the Provider. We need all the faces of
Jesus.
