ACNH - Amazon Web Services



Prop Preparation:

• White posterboard

• Large cut-outs of sheep, grass, a scary wolf, and a mound of dirt, that you can place onto the posterboard and remove

• Easel

• Tape – to easily attach and remove cut-outs from posterboard

[Set up posterboard prior to giving message.]

I’ll begin by reading from Psalm 23:

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

This psalm begins with, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Well, that means that we are sheep, and we could feel slightly insulted that God has called you a sheep. Do you know why? Because sheep are the most helpless, most foolish, and easily frightened animals around. [show poster board with a few sheep] They panic at any sudden movement. They have no way to defend themselves against predators like this wolf. [place wolf onto poster board] And they are notorious creatures of habit and not very wise. If left to themselves they will graze the same hills until they turn to desert [remove wolf, place grass in front a sheep’s mouth], or follow the herd over the same paths again and again until the land is ruined [replace grass with dirt].

Sheep need a good shepherd if they are going to survive. Left by themselves, they would definitely die. They need someone who can take care of them, who can protect them from predators, who can make them feel safe and secure, and who can lead them to good pasture.

In this psalm, God is saying we are just like these sheep, that we are helpless, foolish, fearful beings. Without good reason, we foolishly follow what everyone else is doing, or we repeat the same mistakes again and again even though we know our solutions to life’s problems don’t work. We are helpless because there is so much in life that we have no control over, both externally to us and internally. And that leaves us frightened.

Haven’t we tried to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts with stuff that never seems to work, yet we keep on doing it? Or haven’t you felt fearful over things that you realize you really don’t have any control over, like your own health, or the safety of your children? Haven’t we all felt helpless to change ourselves, our own bad character? Our nasty temper, for example.

When I was younger, I would have taken offense – Me, a frightened sheep? I was always trying to show everybody how capable I was, how I could take care of myself and fix my own problems. But that’s just the foolishness of youth, isn’t it? I think most of us can attest to that. Eventually we run into something that we can’t handle. We are truly helpless sheep.

And just like real sheep, we also need a good shepherd. How can people live without a loving shepherd watching over them, caring for them? God wants to be our shepherd! God has not meant us to live taking care of ourselves! He has not made us to be sheep without him as our shepherd. He made us to be the sheep of his pasture. Listen to the promises God has made for the sheep of his pasture:

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Sounds pretty great, right? Those are some pretty awesome promises aren’t they? But God also says this in Isaiah 53:6:

Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; … 


This verse says that we have chosen to live without God as our shepherd. We have gone astray. We have turned to our own way. And every single one of us has done this. We didn’t like being part of God’s flock. We wanted to live life our way under our own rules. So we turned away from God, rejecting him, the Creator of everything. In someone’s words, we have committed cosmic treason.

I rejected God when I proudly asserted that I was capable on my own and didn’t need God as my shepherd. But, when I came to my senses, I realized that I desperately needed God. Living life my own way did not bring the fulfillment I thought it would. I came to see that not only do we live in a scary world, but we all have evil inside of us that we cannot control. I wanted to return to God. But, because of our sin, we are separated from God and cannot just decide to walk back. A Holy Righteous God cannot accept such unrighteous sinful beings as us.

Now let me finish that verse from Isaiah that I read earlier:

Isaiah 53.6

The Lord has laid on him [meaning Jesus] the iniquity of us all.

Amazingly, Jesus pays the price for our treason. On the cross, God placed our sin on Jesus. Our sin was lifted off us and placed on Jesus. Through Jesus’ blood, a way has been opened for us to return to God’s flock. And Jesus did not do this begrudgingly. The Bible tells us that there is a party in heaven whenever one sinner returns! How awesome is God’s love for us, his sheep! If we confess our sin that we have gone astray from God, accept his sacrifice in our place, and choose to live with him as the Shepherd of our life, then we will once again be part of his flock. This is where we were meant to be. This is where we will thrive. I pray that each of us will humble ourselves and return to God through the blood of Christ.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download