Dear Father in Heaven: I love You, Lord, and pray thanking You for waking us this morning, and Lord, please help us to walk each day with You and to serve You each day that You bless us on this earth. Please be with all those on our prayer lists and heal folks, please, dear Lord. Please be with our son Matthew and as we pray Your healing hand on him, we pray that he comes back to You. Please be with those who have cancer, who have heart problems and with those with addictions, and clear them of their problems. Asking all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Good morning, my dear brothers and sisters. What a great weekend! Thanks for all those who came to help us pack food for our Christmas distribution which is on December 15th, from 9 to noon. We packed for 80 families, and we are over that number and this morning we received 8 additional families from just one school counselor from a local elementary school. We are going to need to pack some more food. Next week we will also be going on a "turkey hunt" to track down some good buys. We need the following for December 15th: Prayer warriors, people who can pray with people as they come for food. We need car loaders, helpers, traffic controllers, and a few others ... This is a very fun day and a very rewarding day. Unless you have been here to see how we can load out a lot of food, into a lot of cars, in a short amount of time, while praying with EVERYONE who comes in the driveway, you just cannot envision it. God is good and all glory to Him ...
Please, on this Monday, remember it is the day we pray for our president and all of our leaders, plus our military past and present. Also our police and firefighters and all others working to keep us healthy and safe. Last night Dolores and I did Santa and Mrs. Claus for our local police (Silver Spring Township Police). We anointed our Police Superintendent (Chief) Richard Harmon with oil as he stood in for his department. The police officers of our township love our Lord, folks, and we are so blessed to have them protecting us night and day. As I lead up to Christmas and beyond with The Story, I have some "filler" time so to speak, and there is never a lack of things to write about when working for the Lord. As I prayed today asking for the message, He led me again to the 23rd Psalm, for He indeed is our Shepherd ... So let's take another look at this very much used Psalm.
The Story Day 8.
Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still wters. 3 He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of The Lord forever. (King James)
Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (KJV)
I see the 23rd Psalm most often when attending a funeral service or a viewing of a friend or loved one. It is used often as the scripture on the "service notice" given at the funeral home. God has had me write about this in the past, and I admit it is hard not to look back at what I wrote before, but I feel God wants this fresh today; however, I will be looking back and also at a fresh look. This Psalm as in many scriptures is a comfort at a time of loss, and pretty much and you will recall that God left the Holy Spirit with us to be our comforter. As you look at this, try and picture most of it as being sent by the Holy Spirit.
In the first verse, we see David saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd," and I can say that He truly is my Shepherd, so I start with a question, is He your Shepherd? I want to go to the back of the book and bring forth another scripture, from Revelation 7.
Revelation 7:17 - For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to the springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (NIV)
Back in the day a king was often referred to as a shepherd of his people. Today, Pastors, Preachers, Priests, are also referred to from time to time as a shepherd as they have been given a flock. We are accountable for that flock before God, my brothers and sisters. We need to be preaching, teaching the truth as it appears in the Bible. Of course, the messages of the 23rd Psalm will be about the Great Shepherd. So let's look at the first verse again and see what The Lord, our Great Shepherd is up to ...
Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (KJV)
Here is a scripture where we can see that Jesus is our Shepherd, and I referred to Him as a Great Shepherd, but Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd.
John 10:11 - "I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (NIV)
John 10:14 - "I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know me." (NIV)
I wanted to point this out before we go on to the second part of that verse. I want you to take a good look at where Jesus tells us that He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. And I pray as I write this message that all of you are saved, are born again and know our Lord Jesus as your Savior and of course in knowing Him as your Savior you would indeed be one of His flock. It would indeed be sad if when you arrived at the gate upon departing from this earth and you were to get to the Shepherd in the throne room that will lead you to the living water and He, the Good Shepherd would say, SORRY, I don't know you.
Psalm 23:1 - The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (KJV)
Now let us look at the second part of that very first verse. I shall not want. I shall not want back in the dayi would be taken to mean I shall not be in need. Every need supplied to us, if we truly believe. Yes, He supplies our needs most often through the hands of others. He could still, if He chose to do it, feed us all manna from heaven, and while that would be nice, Lord, my Dear Good Shepherd, please keep it as it is. For I love hamburgers and cheeseburgers and hot dogs and pizza and watermelon and soups and all kinds of sandwiches, gosh, is not our Good Shepherd really good, and He even sends us ice cream, and for a lot of you, God even sent chocolate. Oh, and yes, He furnishes all of our other needs, like the air we breathe, the clothes we wear, the water we drink, and the roof over our heads and the job we have and the car we have to get back and forth to work and back and forth to the doctors and then He helps us in retirement. However, we should NEVER RETIRE from working for Him.
Yes, folks, our Good Shepherd, as Jesus calls Himself, and our Great Shepherd, as I called Him this morning, is one and the same and He is also the GREAT PROVIDER. Think about it, and let's this week get nearer and nearer to the One who takes care of us. And for all the pastors on the line, again I remind you that we have been given a flock and we need to take are of those folks in our flock for we WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for them when we are judged.
Dear Father in Heaven, help me with the flock You have trusted me with. Help me lead them to You and Salvation through You. Keep all walking in Your light, and help us spread the Good News about the Good Shepherd. In the name of Jesus, I pray and give You honor and glory. Amen.
Now go forth, sharing those blessings and sharing the good, good news.
Love ya, Pastor Dan.
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