‘Twas a sheep not a lamb that went astray
In the parable Jesus told.
‘Twas a grown sheep that wandered away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And out on the hilltop, and out in the cold,
‘Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought.
Back to the fold and back to the flock,
‘Twas a sheep that the Good Shepherd brought.
Now, why should the sheep be so carefully fed
And cared for even to-day?
Because there is danger if they go wrong,
They will lead the lambs astray.
The lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Where’er they wander–where’er they go.
If the sheep goes wrong, it will not be long
Till the lambs are as wrong as they.
So still with the sheep we must earnestly plead,
For the sake of the lambs to-day.
If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost
The sheep will have to pay!
-C.C. Miller
not done yet
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” (John 10:11-18, NRSV)
We hear this verse every year on week 3 after Easter.
We hear about the Good Shepherd.
But this time I was not drawn to the Good Shepherd or the hired hand.
I was drawn to what God is still up to.
Jesus tells the disciples and those listening here that He is going to lay His life down. So that is yet to come, but even more than His prediction of His death and resurrection here, we see something else God is up to.
There are other sheep that are not here yet. And Jesus must bring these sheep along with those who are here.
You see we are all not here yet, and so God is not done yet.
God is still working to make His flock complete, and He is using us to do that. He is working through us, in our every day lives to bring more sheep into the fold. We can help them hear His voice and know He is the Good Shepherd.
So know that God is not done yet, and He needs you to go and show His love, grace and mercy to all of the world!
Praise the Lord!
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!
(Psalm 150)
This is one of my favorite camp songs!
Praise the Lord with trumpet sound.
Trumpet Sound.
Trumpet Sound.
Alleluia alleluia alleluia Amen!
Praise the Lord with everything!
You see this psalm tells us that all of creation can be and should be used to praise God. We have no excuse not tot praise Him!
but speak
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.” He stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts 18:1-11, NRSV)
Sometimes we have all the right things to say and people just don’t listen.
Sometimes we have an audience to listen and nothing to say.
God tells you, just as God told Paul, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.”
You are God’s witness. And you need to speak for God.
Do bot be afraid, but speak!
set free
Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39, NRSV)
Through the name of Jesus, we who believe have been set free from our past.
Through the name of Jesus, we who believe have been set free from our sin.
Through the name of Jesus, we who believe are set from the law that condemns us.
Through the name of Jesus, we who believe are set free from others thoughts of us.
Through the name of Jesus, we who believe are set free!
We are free! Through the faith we have in the promises, that as He rose we too shall rise.
His name
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:34-43, NRSV)
All are acceptable to Him.
We can have forgiveness of sins through His name. All the prophets testify about Him, and through Him we can be forgiven.
He died for our sins, and we are witnesses to this in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to all the corners of the world.
He died on the tree, so that we might be set free.
Be His witness, and know it is only in His name that we are redeemed.
witnesses
Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.
When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on. Then someone arrived and announced, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:17-32, NRSV)
When God calls you to do something you can’t not do it…
I remember when I was in college I first felt the call to seminary, and I thought, no I could never do that because I’m not good enough to be a pastor. I was judging myself based on what I thought others would think of me and my past. I did not hear the love of God ringing through in the call, knowing He would empower me to do His will.
So I didn’t follow.
Many years later that call rang true in me again, and this time I said yes. Now I am not a perfect pastor or person. But I have been empowered by God to be His witness just as you have. We are all empowered to speak His word boldly and without compromise to the world!
He will be with you. So go and speak his truth!
ripples
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:1-8, NRSV)
Jesus was dead, but then He rose and presented Himself in many ways over 40 days.
And He told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to be His witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!
What does that mean?
Well you can see in the picture Jerusalem, and below and above Judea, and then Samaria, and the on to the rest of the world.
It is like a ripple in the pond when you drop the rock in.
Your actions of showing forth your life in Christ should cause the waters to move in all directions around. You are to take His message of Love. The love that He did on the cross for and send it rippling into the lives of those around you.
So go and be a witness for the grace and mercy of Jesus in all the world!
puzzled
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:36-48, NRSV)
Seriously Jesus! You have to ask why do doubts rise in our hearts?
I mean just earlier this week, 2 days ago we saw you on the cross. You were dead, and now here you are asking for something to eat?
This just doesn’t happen.
It is a puzzle like the one pictured here. Here is the description of this taken from the website it comes from:
The idea is to figure out how a bolt with two nuts and a washer was able to get itself where it’s at – that’s the part that seems impossible! Yet, here it is.
For those of you (and I will be willing to bet there is quite a few of you) that know how I did this, PLEASE do not post the solution – let others guess as that is the fun of this! 🙂
I will offer these clues:
– There was no glue used.
– The wood remaining in the picture was never cut, split nor broken.
– The holes are perfectly centered side to side in the wood and run perfectly level with the piece.
– This is one solid block of wood.
– The bolt is solid as well and has not been tampered with or cut in any way.
– The bolt moves freely, but snugly, in the holes, but of course it has to stop because of the outside pillars.
– This took me over five days to build.
– The nuts and washer? Purely decoration. 🙂
The piece measures 7 inches long, around 2 1/2 inches high and about 1 1/4 inches thick and is made from Southern Yellow Pine.
If you are wondering, that’s a 3/8” Stainless Steel Carriage bolt going through two 3/8” holes in the wood.
How is this possible. There is a bolt through a block of wood and there is not a hole on either end…
Just like Jesus standing in front of us after we saw Him brutally killed.
How can this be.
You see I can doubt that the above is true, yet I have seen something similar with my own eyes and held it in my hands. It is real. And so is the risen Jesus.
You see we are allowed to be puzzled. We are allowed to doubt. We are allowed to question.
Puzzles, doubts and questions push us towards discovery and understanding.
So live in the puzzlement of our faith, knowing that Christ is alive, even though He was dead. And because of that you also will live forever!
voice
Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;
worship the LORD in holy splendor.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
(Psalm 29, NRSV)
Did you ever thin before about what the voice of God can do?
I mean think for a minute.
In the beginning, the earth was a formless void, and God’s voice moved over the waters….
And then there was…
everything!
God spoke and existence came into being.
The Lord speaks and flames come and the wilderness shakes, and the forests are stripped bare.
If He can do all of that with just His voice, can we even imagine what He can do?
aSacredRebel 