The LORD's Day, March 4, 2007

The LORD is Our Shepherd

Psalm 77.10-20

God leads us. He guides us. He is our shepherd.

The work of the shepherd was to move from pasture to pasture. It was and is the duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing. In ancient times shepherds also often milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk.

Shepherds lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children.

Shepherds to be fed the lambs and the sheep, bringing them to good pasture lands and water, grooming and clipping them, delivering new lambs, led them and taught them to stay together, went off after the wandering lost ones, and protected the sheep in the field and in the fold.

A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm by Phillip Keller is a good book.

Many songs have been written about this work of God, beginning with Psalm 23.

Some express the mystery of God as He leads, where He leads:

His ways are not our ways. If sheep could talk they might ask each other, “Why is he leading us this way?” If we are honest sometimes we wonder this ourselves.

This morning I want to us to look at the unusual places the LORD leads His flock, His children. In the very verses we are looking at in Psalm 77 there is one of these places eluded to.

1. God leads His Children through storms.

Most of the time we pray to be taken out of them. Most of the time Jesus brings us through them. Sometimes He calms them. Most of the time He calms us.

Many times the battle is in the mind and heart. We can make things much bigger than they are and depending on how overactive our imagination is. We can build things to be towering mountains until he Truth sets us free. I just came through one of them this week

One of the things this Psalm is saying to us is that God leads us through storms and there are times when we cannot see His Footprints- or evidence of His Hand.
We shared that quote from Spurgeon this week in the Bible Studies- “When you cannot trace God’s Hand, you can trust His heart.”
Get the picture here the Psalmist is drawing for us. He is going through this dark night of the soul. He is feeling God is far away and not responding to his cry. He is discouraged until he turns his thoughts toward the LORD’s work throughout the ages. By the end of the Psalm he realizes that through this very dark period in his life God was leading and protecting him though he did not know it. He didn’t see evidences of God being there until the storm was over and even then God’s footsteps were invisible. God brings us through storms sometimes without a great Revelation of Himself.

Jesus with the disciples that night when the squall blew up.

2. God leads us through fire. Daniel 3.27a

We go through fiery trials 1 Peter 4:12 (King James Version) 12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. (NIV)

When the LORD leads us through fiery trials we are entering into the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. We talked about this last week. This is not a fellowship of eating and drinking like a church dinner. At times it will be going through what Aspah is describing for us- painful difficulty- the fellowship at times being that we know Jesus went through similar things and the feelings of being alone and abandoned are ours. We share in the knowledge He too went through what we are experiencing. We are being drawn closer to Him at the same time it seems as if He is millions of miles away

Nebuchadnezzar saw the fourth person but we are not told if the three young men did We often assume they did but we don’t know. I remember hearing a story of a missionary who was going to be brutally attacked and the would be attackers called it off when they saw angels all around the man. He didn’t see them but the enemy did After they came to the LORD they told him how they saw angels wielding swords all around him. You have to wonder how many times we are kept safe and we don’t find out about it

Sometimes even through a lion’s den Daniel 6
Paul wrestled wild beasts in Ephesus. Daniel sat quietly and had a good night’s rest while Darius couldn’t sleep knowing he had thrown a just man to the loins. God loves to put commas where men put periods. He loves to write last chapters. He has the final word He is the Alpha and the Omega

3. Sometimes God leads us through a strange land. Genesis 42.1-5

Egypt was this to Israel: Its root meaning- “siege”. Abraham went down to Egypt because of a famine as did the children of Israel. God had bigger things in mind. They thought they were going down there to get food to save their lives.

They were going down there for a family reunion with their brother, Joseph.

They were going down there for a long time so the family could become a nation and have the LORD deliver them and bring them back to the land He promised to Abraham.

We see in this account as in many accounts in God’s Word, His Sovereignty. These boys were being punished for what they did to their younger brother, Jacob was reaping what he had sown years before with own family- deception There was a famine in the Promised Land and I have to wonder if part of this was not due to their sin. Yet Benjamin didn’t sin and he had to go through it too. Sometimes God leads us through a strange land.

Certainly that is happening today. Things are rapidly changing and effecting all of us. Places that were familiar to us have all changed. One of these places as I have mentioned before is in the area of the celebration of days that are special to us as believers. While the influence we have had over the culture is diminishing, the secular counterpart is flourishing. Look at the all stuff out there for celebrating Easter. The LORD, our Shepherd leads us.

Joseph is our example of how we are to be when the LORD leads us through a strange land. He led Joseph down to Egypt. He was with him there.

* Joseph kept himself pure for the LORD.

*Joseph did not try to escape even when he could have easily done so. He would have messed up God’s plan. He would not be able to return to Egypt.

*Joseph saw his nightmare ending as God established him in a land that means siege

When I grew up in Bellmore we had honeysuckle in our yard. For years my aunt tried to transplant it. It would not take. She wanted to bring it out to Melville and run it up on a fence she had on the border of her property. Back about 10 years ago I tried as well. Finally I went to buy some. When they showed it to me it was not the kind I wanted. The lady in Frank’s was kind and knowledgeable. She told me what to do. I took cuttings from across the street and put them in water until roots developed, then I kept them inside for the winter. In the spring I brought them outside and they began to grow and for the past few years I have enjoyed the fragrance of the flowers These guys had to be cut then soaked then put out in the cold. But they also bloomed because they put their roots down. Joseph did the same thing. He bloomed in Egypt You can too wherever your are.

Maybe today you feel under siege. You are in a situation that you had nothing to do with as far as getting there. You feel trapped, cut off and wonder what will happen. You could be like Joseph- in a dungeon. You could be like Asaph, unable to speak and your soul refusing to be comforted.

Do what these men did Trust in God. When the disciples’ hearts were troubled Jesus told them to do that and pointed them to Himself and heaven. God brought of these men out of their troubled hearts.

Joseph’s testimony: Genesis 41.50-51

Asaph’s : Psalm 77.10-20
Notice how Asaph is talking about Joseph. God led him. He kept him. He restored his soul.

God leads us...
4. Always with love
One of the unique qualities of the shepherd is that he must love the sheep. A rancher doesn’t need to do that. Sheep need love. That is why the LORD is our shepherd and not our rancher Sheep must be led, watched over, protected, cared for, attended to and sometimes rescued. They must be fed. Jesus does all this for us and then He laid down His life for us.

God is love. He is good. He cares for us. He is watching over us. He never sleeps or slumbers. He is in control.

Sometimes as we said before that is all we have to hold onto We want assurances and appearances but we are blessed if not seeing we believe. Part of that faith is in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and part of it is in the character of God Himself, the two not really able to be separated- they are just simply facets that part of the same diamond.

The LORD is our Shepherd, We will never lack what we need
He keeps us and guides us, He protects and cares for His sheep.

Sometimes He leads His Children through places that are full of pain,
Yet in those times as we trust in Him, we experience the power in His Name.

His name is Jesus, He came from heaven to save us from our sins,
Lean on Him, Look to Him, tell Him your hurts that are deep within.

He’ll strengthen and He’ll help you He’ll bring you through the storms,
You’ll grow to love Him more and more leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

And then one day He’ll come again to bring His children home,
Praising Him and singing to Him we’ll all stand before His Throne



The LORD’s Day
March 4, 2007

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Receiving the LORD’s Supper
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
The LORD is Our Shepherd Psalm 77
*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*
Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.

V
This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 78-80
Monday- Men’s Prayer Meeting- 6:30am
Wednesday- Bible Study- 7:30pm at the parsonage Psalm 78-80
Thursday- Bible Study- 10:30am at the church Psalm 78-80
Next Lord’s Day-
Turn your clocks ahead one hour
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm
In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave right now, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq. His mother was just diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Billy Knapp, Jr. leaves for Iraq next month (neighbor of the church). Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s daughter. Sonya, Albert and Anka’s niece in Canada waiting for biopsy results. Please pray for the whole family. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for a lifelong condition. Please pray for healing for all of these. Praise God for a good report on Judy Mucci.
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*A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503
*If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see Alice Gordon.

Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
The LORD Our Shepherd
Psalm 77




Pastor’s messages are now available on the Internet
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
(Church Phone: 631-969-1730


*1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God