Gabe, that was outstanding. I
hope I don't mess it up. You know, after something like
that, we just need to get along somewhere, don't we? Just think
about that. Man, that was good. I have thoroughly enjoyed the
past few days. I mean, I cannot tell you. It's
been encouragement to my heart. It's always a blessing to meet,
wherever you go, to meet God's people, people that you've never
met before. But we have one thing in common. We come from different
backgrounds, different states, but one thing we have in common,
it's Him. As you said, to those that believe,
He is precious. Not to everybody, but to those
that believe He's precious. know how precious he is. Thank
you for everything you've done and Clay and Melinda, we enjoyed
yesterday just sitting there. There's nothing like just sitting
down with believers and just fellowshipping. You know, we
do have something in common. We do. It's him. And what a blessing
it is. You know, it's a blessing that
God gave us each other. It's a blessing that we can gather
here this morning. What a blessing. and worship
Him in spirit and in truth, and He draws our affections toward
Him. And as you said, we continually
keep falling upon Him. We fall upon His breast and in
His arms. Turn with me, I want to read
one verse of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40,
verse 11. I was just turning and I had
not planned it this way because I was mainly just focusing on
this verse. A lot of times I'll go back and read the verses before,
but I didn't. It's amazing the beginning of
this chapter he says, Comfort ye. Comfort ye, my people. And I pray that's what he does
today. And our scripture will be, He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm. and shall carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young. There are so
many pictures of our Lord in the scriptures. Gabe just preached
one about him being the chief cornerstone. That's such a picture.
There are many other pictures, him and the physician and saving
us sick souls. But to me personally, one of
the most precious is the picture of Jesus Christ as the shepherd. of his sheep. To me, it is. And that's what I want to try
to look at today. As I thought about this, I preached a message
similar to this several years ago at Crossville. And to me, it's one of the greatest
blessings, one of the greatest compliments I ever received as
a preacher. There was an 11-year-old boy,
came up, and he says, Mr. Monk, I understand what you said. In fact, God did that. You know
what? And that's amazing. Amazing. All through the scriptures, he
set forth as the shepherd. David was a shepherd. Moses was
a shepherd of sheep. And you know the first time the
word sheep is used in the scriptures? I thought this was ironic. Abel
was a keeper. A keeper. He was a shepherd of
sheep. Isn't that kind of ironic? Not
Cain, he was the teller of the ground. He saw something in those
sheep. He saw someone in that sheep.
He saw Christ and he believed. Gabe looked at, a little bit
the other day, Psalms 22. And in that psalm, we read that
psalm and we can see our Lord upon the cross. And there he
is pictured as the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. Then Psalms 23, oh that great
psalm, most everybody just know it because somebody recites it
at our funeral. The Lord is my shepherd, what more could I want? And he set forth as the great
shepherd. Listen, in Hebrews 13, 20, now
the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus Christ, and who was that that God raised from the dead?
The great, the great shepherd of the sheep. He was delivered
for our offenses and he was raised again for our justification.
And then he set forth in Psalms 24, open up ye gates, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Well, who is that
King of glory? It's the Lord of hosts. And he set forth as
the chief shepherd. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, and listen to me, one day sheep, he's coming, he's
going to appear as the shepherd of the sheep, you shall receive
a crown of glory that fadeth not away. I want to spend a few
moments and just talk to you and just bring out a few characteristics
of the shepherd that set forth Christ's work in the redemption
of his people. If it was not for a shepherd,
all the sheep would perish. Every one of them. What's the
main thing that a sheep needs? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. They need a shepherd. You know why you have a shepherd?
Because they're sheep. Our Lord said in Mark chapter
6 verse 34, in Jesus when he was come out he saw much people
and he was moved with compassion toward them because they were
as a sheep not having a shepherd. Needy, helpless sheep. Christ our Lord is the surety
of his sheep. Did you know all the responsibility
for all the sheep of all time was laid upon his shoulders?
To me, one of the greatest pictures of this is when John 18, when
our Lord was in Gethsemane, and they're coming to take him. Awake,
O sword against my shepherd, smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered. Here's what he said, if you seek
me, you let these go their way. If you've come to take me, you
can't have them. Why? Because those which were given
unto me, here's what he said, I have lost none. It's laid upon
his shoulders. He's the surety of the sheep.
If that shepherd, if our Lord Jesus Christ, our shepherd, if
he loses one sheep, he's a failure. If he loses one sheep, you're
looking at one that he would lose. Secondly, the shepherd knows
all his sheep by name. If you're here this morning,
in this vast multitude, if you're his sheep, he knows you by name. You say, well, how, preacher,
will I know if I'm one of his sheep? When he calls you, you'll
know. That's how you'll know. He said, I'm the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and have known of mine. Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Like that story you told. That
man was one of his sheep. And one day that man heard. He
didn't just hear facts. He didn't just hear doctrine.
He heard the shepherd. That's what salvation is. It's
when you hear him speak. As Kevin said yesterday, as I
tried to preach, he said, you must have been in the military
or something. And I said, no. He said, it's like you was just
preaching to me. That's how God works. He's speaking
to his sheep. Whatever you need, whatever that
sheep needs, at that moment in time, he ministers to that need. And he speaks to them. Explain
it. I can't. But if you're a sheep,
you know exactly what I'm talking about. Why? Because you've heard his voice.
And children, you're going to say, well, what does that sound
like? Someone in our church a while back said, it's louder than any
audible voice you've ever heard. I do know this. If he ever speaks
to you, you'll know it. You'll know it. He called Peter, James, and John,
and they followed him. They forsook everything. Why?
They were sheep. And another one I thought about
was Samuel. And I really thought about this when you were talking
about preaching to children. You remember Samuel's mother, Hannah,
she prayed for a son and she prayed and God granted her that
request. She was barren and couldn't have
children. Well, then when she got Samuel, she said, Lord, I'm
going to give him back to you because he's yours anyway. And
she took him to the temple and Eli was, he was working with
Eli in the temple. And he laid down one night and
said, the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, here am I. Well,
then he called again. When he called, he runs to Eli.
He thinks it's Eli's calling him. Eli said, no, I didn't call
you. And he said, if he, now he did, Leli did have enough
sense to say, well, if he calls again, you say, hear, Lord, thy
servant heareth. I pray every one of you that
one day God would speak to you and call your name. He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? When he come to Lazarus's grave,
who was one of his sheep, he said, Lazarus, come forth. When he rose from the dead, you
know what he said to his little sheep standing outside the sepulcher? Mary? She said, Rabona, that's
my master, that's my shepherd. But then in Samuel, 1 Samuel
3 verse 7, now listen to this. Now Samuel did not know the Lord.
Neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. And the
Lord called Samuel again the third time. You know it's amazing
God called one time, isn't it? Three times? And he rose and
he went to Eli as he'd done before and he said, Here am I, for thou
didst call me and Eli perceived that the Lord had called the
child. Therefore Eli said unto him, he gave him this advice,
Go and lay down. And it shall be, if he shall
call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord. Speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth. So Samuel went and lay down like
he did before in the place, and the Lord came and stood and called
as at other times, and he said, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel answered
and said, Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. he calls his sheep. Thirdly, he not only is the surety
of the sheep and calls his sheep, he feeds his sheep. Here we see in our text, Isaiah
40 verse 11, the first thing he says, he shall feed his flock. Now that word feed refers more
to just feeding. It means to take care of the
sheep, to tend to the sheep, to guard the sheep, to govern
the sheep, and to provide everything that the sheep need. That's what
it means to feed them. Everything. Everything. When the children
of Israel wandered in the wilderness, you know what that was? That
was his sheep. How's God going to feed all them sheep? He said,
well, I'm going to rain manna down from heaven. And I'm going
to feed them every one for 40 years. There's going to be water
from the rock. That's my sheep. That's my sheep. There in Psalms 23, he says,
he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. You know why a sheep
lays down in green pastures? Well, first of all, green means
that they're life. And you know why they like green
pastures? That's their life. Christ is the green pastures.
That's what they feed upon. And you know why a sheep lays
down? It's content. It's happy. I don't want to be
anywhere else but right here. My shepherd led me here and I'm
going to eat what he's given me and I'm just going to lay
down. He leads us beside the still
water. Still water. How does our Lord feed his sheep? If you're his sheep, how is God
going to feed you? I'm going to show you. Jeremiah
3.15. You look at this verse. You need
to underline this verse. You need to put it to memory.
How does he feed his sheep? I will give you pastors. You know what that word pastor
is? It's a shepherd. I will give you grace. I will give you pastors
according to my heart. You think about that. That man right there is a gift
to his church. When he was raised and ascended
up, he gave gifts unto men. He gave, and it's a gift. No
man can do this on his own. You don't know what they need,
but God does. And you know what he does? The pastor,
he feeds the sheep with knowledge and with understanding. Sandy bought me a sign. I'm always
telling something on Sandy. One day she's going to skin my
head. But she bought me a sign last year at Christmas, and I've
got me a little shop out there where I work and piddle around.
And it says, I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand
it for you. And that's what you do. I can
try by God's grace to explain what God is saying about feeding
His sheep and sending you a pastor, but only God can give you the
understanding of what it is. Life will need... I understand.
I understand. Used to it didn't make any sense.
Boy, I understand now. And age has nothing to do with
it. A seven-year-old child can understand just as much as a
70-year-old man can understand. Age has no difference. It's all
rest upon the shepherd. He said, I'm going to give them
pastors. I'm going to give them pastors. I was so thankful when
Gabe went to Kingsford. And you know what he's doing?
You know what his responsibility is? What his responsibility is,
what my responsibility is, is to feed God's And if you see him, you'll be
fed." You remember what our Lord told
Peter? Now you think about Peter. He was up and down. He denied
our Lord three times. But when he rose from the grave,
he said, he told him, he said, you go back and tell them to
meet me at Galilee and I'll meet them there. He said, oh, but
be sure you tell Peter. Don't forget to tell Peter. Then
he comes and Peter denied him three times, and he said, Peter,
do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter,
do you love me? And he said, Peter, if you love
me, feed my sheep. If you love me, feed my lambs. Here's what Peter said. I thought
this was ironic in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 1. 1 Peter 5 verse 1. The elders which
are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of
the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but
willingly. Preaching is one of the most
difficult things in the world. Like you said, trying to prepare
and you go, and to seek what does God want for today? I've
had the greatest struggle. I thought, well, I should preach
this yesterday. Well, then maybe I'll preach
it this morning. You go, how do you know? I don't know. I
wish you would tell me. I know this. He makes you willing.
I know this, I would rather do what I'm doing right now than
anything in this world. That ain't because I'm, I'm not
much of a preacher, I know that. But he makes you willing. You
want to more than anything in this world. He is my life and
this is my life. Everything in my life has led
up to this point. I have nightmares. I think I'm
going to preach and I'm going to go looking for my notes and
I don't have any. I don't even have the text. I don't know if
you all have them or not. This is terrifying. But he said, feed the flock which
are among you. Take in the oversight, not by constraint, but willingly,
not for filthy lucre, not for money, but of a ready mind, neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
The shepherd loves the sheep. You know in that great chapter
of John 10 we talked about I'm the shepherd of the sheep, I
know my sheep. But then he gives the illustration
of a hireling. He said he that is a hireling,
now who, what is a hireling? Break it down, it's somebody
that's hired to keep the sheep. Now you think with me, okay you're
out here in a big pasture and over here at the edge of the
pasture is a big thicket of woods. And that hireling, he sees, he's
out here paid to watch the sheep and when he sees a wolf or something
coming out of the woods, you know what he says? You can forget
this. I didn't sign up for this. I'm
not risking my life for those bunch of sheep. And he runs.
Why did he run? He's a hireling. He's a hireling. They see the wolf coming and
they leave the sheep and they flee and the wolf catches them
and scatters the sheep. The hireling fleeing because
he's a hireling and he doesn't care for the sheep. Shepherds love the sheep. Love
them. The fourth thing he does, I love
this right here, he gathers the lambs with his arm. The lambs, I think, are the weak
ones. Well, that includes all of us.
You know what you are? You are just a weak, frail lamb. And he says he gathers them.
I can see the shepherd as he comes by. I can see him stoop
down and pick up that little lamb and he picks it up. And
he gathers them. Well, two or three are gathered
together in my name. There am I in the midst. How
in the world did we gather here this morning? I don't know how
many there were of you when y'all started meeting before you came
their pastor. How did that happen? God began
to gather and God's still gathering them. Isn't that amazing? To
me that's amazing. Don't get over being amazed at
God's grace. Why would God gather you here? What makes you to differ? I tell
you what makes you to differ. He makes you to differ because
you're His sheep. He knows where you were at and
anytime He gathered you with His arm, He said, come on, little
sheep. And you didn't even know what
was going on. He gathers us when we wander
prone to wander, Lord, we feel it, prone to leave the God we
love. He gathers us when we fall. Did he gather Peter? Yeah, he
said, don't forget Peter. When it just come to my mind,
did he gather Lot? You think about Lot. He pitched
his tent towards Sodom. He winds up in Sodom. And then
these five kings come and take everybody in Sodom captive. And
Abraham gets some men, I think 300 men, and they go and they
get Lot. The only reason everybody else
was spared and the only reason the goods was brought back was
for Lot. But you think about this. You would have thought
that a man had been spared from that, that he wouldn't go back
and live in Lot. You know what he did? I mean
live in Sodom, he goes right back and lives in Sodom. But
he's still one of his sheep. And God sent an angel to go down
there and take him out of that place. That's one of his sheep. He gathered him and brought him
out. He said, we can't do nothing
as long as you're here. You know, as I thought about
this, you know what, there could be many definitions of a church,
but I thought the true definition of a church is a gathering of
sheep. As we come up the road this morning,
we've seen the Lutheran Church and the Methodist Church and
all those other so-called, they're not churches. There might be
some sheep in there. There may be some lost sheep
in there. But a church is where God gathers
his sheep. He gathers his people together.
You know, you didn't gather yourself here. It says, as a hen doth
gather her biddies, she gathers her biddies. The Lord gathers
his people, and as I thought about this, I wanna show you
an example of what happens when men gather themselves together. And that's what most of what's
going on in religion, is they gather, we're gonna give us a
gathering. We'll get all these people together,
and we're gonna just gather together, okay? In Exodus chapter 32, Moses
is up on the mountain. God's giving him the law. God's
giving him the instructions for the tabernacle. And it said,
when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the
mount, the people gathered themselves together. And this is how it
always works. And they said unto Aaron, make
us gods. Small g-o-d. which shall go before
us, for as this Moses, you know who that Moses was? That was God's shepherd. Where
is this Moses? Where is he at? For this Moses,
this man that brought us up out of the land to Egypt, we don't
know what has become of him. So you know what Aaron did? He
made him a golden calf. That's exactly what happens when
men in their depraved nature want to have a gathering. They're
going to worship all false gods. They don't worship the shepherd. Something else, he gathers them
into his arm and he carries them in his bosom. I can see the little
sheep, he comes along and it's probably, it may be caught in
a thicket or something and he reaches down and he picks it
up and he pulls it to his breast. And you know what happens when
he's carrying it in his arms? He's hand feeding it. Hand feeding
it. How long will he carry that lamb? How long has he carried you?
Well, he's carried you for all eternity. But listen in Isaiah
46 verse 4. And even to your old age, I am
he. And even to the whore hares will
I carry you. I have made, I will bear, even
I will carry, and will deliver you. When you didn't even know you
was a sheep, he carried you. I know everybody's seen that
little thing people put up on the wall called footprints. Footprints
in the sand. At the worst, you know, part
of your life there was only one set of footprints and he was
carrying it. There's only ever been one set of footprints. And
that was his. But you think about that. How
precious to lay on his breast, in his bosom, near his heart.
That's a safe place. And as I thought about this,
you remember in Luke 16, the rich man and Lazarus, they both
died and the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell. Well, what
about Lazarus? Who is Lazarus? I'll tell you
who he is. He was one of the Lord's sheep. And here's what
he said. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bustle. That's what he does when his
sheep die. He comes and gets them and carries them into Christ's
bosom. We sung the song yesterday, I
am his and he is mine. I'll read a couple of lines from
that song. Now listen, that which once were
wild alarms, I used to be afraid of dying. It's the consequences
and everything after death. Things that once were wild or
long. I was afraid of the law. Terrifying. It cannot disturb
my rest. Closed in his everlasting arms. Pillowed on his loving breast.
Oh, to lie forever here. I wish I could just stay right
there. Doubt and care and self-resign. While he whispers in my ear,
I am his, I'm his, and he is mine. Fear not, little flock. You don't
have to fear anything. The shepherd's the only one that
can relieve you of your fears. I thought about John, and here's
how it described it. John, that wrote John, the Gospel
of John, John chapter 13 verse 23. Now there was leaning on
Jesus' bosom one of his disciples. It didn't say whom John loved.
It said who Jesus loved. It's laying right there. Something else. He shall gently
lead those who are with young. He is so tender. He is so gentle. Sheep don't lead themselves.
We don't know the way. You remember when Jacob comes
and he has to face Esau? Esau wants him to go with him
and Jacob has a whole herd of sheep. And a bunch of those sheep
have little lambs, they're weak, they're frail. And he said unto
him, he said unto Esau, my lord knoweth that the children are
tender. And the flocks and the herbs with young are with me.
If men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. He knew how to care for the sheep. The Lord knows how to care for
you. Psalm 23 once says, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil because you're
with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. The shepherd is responsible for
the sheep. He knows them by name, he feeds
them, he gathers them, he carries them and he gently leads them. Well why does he do this? Because
he loves the sheep. Now I want to give you a few
characteristics of the sheep and you'll know why he does all
that. They respond to their environment
and everything that's around them. Things happen and they
just get scared to death. And our Lord understands His
sheep. He remembers that we're just dust. We're just dust. First thing, sheep flock together.
Why do sheep flock together? It's their nature. They will
run when they're frightened, they will run and band together. Why? That's their only protection.
They don't have claws, they don't have big teeth. How are they
going to defend themselves? They band together. Isn't that
amazing? Because they need each other. And as I thought about this,
I thought about, now you picture this, the disciples. Our Lord,
He died. He died upon the cross to put
away sin. Then He rested on the Sabbath
day. Now it's the first day of the week. And He told them that
He would raise from the dead. Can you imagine what's going
on in their mind? They are terrified. They are
a bunch of little sheep that are just scared to death. And
it said in John 20, Mary Magdalene came, the Lord revealed himself
to Mary Magdalene and told the disciples that she had seen the
Lord. And that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the
same day at evening, being the first day of the week, where
the door was shut, where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews. Why are they gathering together?
Isn't it amazing how God has created his people in such a
way when danger comes, we run together. Isn't that amazing? And listen, you imagine how they
fear, just terrified. And Jesus came and stood in the
midst and he said unto them, peace be unto you. And when he
had so said, he showed them his hands and decided. This is not like Thomas when
Thomas said, I won't believe till I see him. Our Lord just,
you know what? He reassured them. You know what
those marks are? Those marks are the marks of
the good shepherd who gave his life. Then were the disciples glad? They're not afraid now. Many
times we come in and we're so terrified. Why are we afraid? God's not giving us the spirit
of fear, but power and love and a sound mind, but we're terrified.
We're scared to death and we need each other. And Christ manifests
himself and then we're glad. Said, you told me last night.
She said, man, I've enjoyed this weekend. All the stress, all the worries
are gone. Now about tomorrow, they'll be
right back there. And you know why you may meet
if it's Wednesday or Thursday? You know why you'll meet? Because
you need each other. That's our prediction. Come and
say, Clay, tell me again about my shepherds. Then said Jesus unto them again,
peace be unto you as my father has sent me, even so have I sent
you. How has he sent you? As lambs
in the midst of wolves. But don't be afraid. And then sheep, now they follow
other sheep. I don't follow other sheep. Oh
yeah, you do. Remember the statement Don made
the other night when he told your pastor, he said, you know,
to go sit under Marvin Stoniker and get in his hip pocket and
listen to him. And what he was doing? Following
him, his example, as he preached the gospel. Let me give you an
illustration. We not only follow good things,
we can follow bad things. I read something where, I think
it was back in 2006, this one sheep walked off a cliff and
600 more went over with it. You say, oh, that wouldn't happen
to a believer. In Galatians chapter 2 verse 13, you remember when
Peter came to Galatia? Here's what he said, and other
Jews dissembled likewise with him. That means that they were
carried away by what he was doing. In so much that Barnabas also
was carried about with their dissimulation. You know what
he's doing? He's looking at Peter and he said, well Peter must
be right. God help us to follow our shepherd.
I'll tell you this, you may not think about it and I know we're
just human beings saved by God's grace, but somebody watches you.
Somebody watches you. You may not think they do, but
they do. Your neighbors, they see you get up on Sunday morning
and come to church. They see you get up and come
on Wednesday night. They do. So sheep follow other sheep. I can see them standing out there
in the field, and one's grazing, and this one starts walking on,
so I'm going to walk with him. Then sheep are very social creatures. I run across these things and
I thought it blessed me and I pray it gives help for you. They said,
when sheep are grazing, they need to see other sheep. When
they see other sheep, this relieves them of their stress. And I can
see that. We live in a day and age, and
I mentioned a little bit the other night about the technology
and things that God has given us. And there will be people
listening to these messages and that's fine. But I can tell you
this, there is no substitute, no substitute for meeting with
God's people. I mean, it's great to put in
a CD. I mean, that's great. I'm thankful we have those things.
But if it's where you can, every time the door's open, you need
to meet with God's people. They become agitated if separated
from the rest of the flock. A sheep or a lamb that is isolated
from the rest of the flock likely shows early signs of illness. Even the last sheep that comes
into the fold at the end of the day may not be feeling well if
that sheep's usually the first one in the fold. I've heard I don't know how many
people say one of the first steps of apostasy, of people falling
away, is they begin to neglect the worship of God. So it just
happens one time. Well, then there's another time. Then they have their senses,
their sight, their hearing, their smell. They are able to smell
and taste and touch. Sheep depend highly upon their
sight. But they have poor depth perception. They have a problem picking out
small details such as an open space created by a partial gate
being opened. They said, well don't that picture
us? Our depth perception is not real good. They tend to avoid shadows and
sharp contrasts between light and dark. They are reluctant
to go where they cannot see. We want to see. Let me tell you
an illustration. Before I went to West Virginia,
I was pastor of the church in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
for 18 years. And I felt like the Lord would have us to go
to West Virginia. We'd went and preached to him
for several times over a couple of years. And we went, and one
of the men in the church, we were staying with him that Saturday
night, was sitting out on his porch. And he said, Mike, the
men in the church want me to ask you if you'd be their pastor.
And I'm terrified. I said, how do you know? Would
you like to answer that for me? How would you know? How do you
know? And he said, Mike, sometimes you don't know until you do.
We want to see everything and we have to walk. If my shepherd's
leading me, I walk. He leads us through the valley
of the shadow of death. You imagine. Them shadows terrify
us. I saw an illustration, it's been
several months ago, I was outside working and Sandy comes out the
side door of our house and the sun's getting ready to go down
so the shadows are very long. When she comes out and the sun
hits her back, it looks like she's 30 feet long. A lot of
times we see shadows and they distort things. You see what
I'm saying? And that's how we see things. Then they're hearing. They're
frightened by loud noises, by yelling or barking of dogs. You
know, believers, you know where there's just a mess going on
and people always complaining and griping and there's always
something going on, somebody keeping something stirred up.
Sheep don't like that. We don't. Will I get caught? And I thought about the barking
dogs. He said, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. And then there's smell. They
have a great sense of smell. They know how to smell the enemy.
We have an unction from the Holy One and know all things. If it
were possible, they would deceive the very elect. He enabled you. I've said, have you ever heard
someone say, I know something, there's just something wrong
about that. You know what they're talking about? They're talking
more about the sheep than they are the shepherd. It's all about
him. And then they touch each other. And they said that where sheep
gather together and touch each other, they're calmer. And I
can see that. God has gathered us here for
a reason. And he watches over us, he takes care of us. Then
lastly is the taste. Do you know how to tell healthy
sheep? They want to eat. They want to eat. You know why
you're here this morning? You're hungry. The full soul
loatheth the honeycomb. But to the hungry soul, every
bitter thing is made sweet. We don't know much about being
hungry. We just eat because we like it. But I mean, you really
got hungry. I mean, you're hungry. When you
sit down, I guarantee you don't care whether it's on a paper
plate or with a plastic fork. That don't matter. All you're
interested in is what's on the plate. that we would come to the house
of God with a hunger and a thirst for him. Someone said they're most always
hungry and a lack of an appetite is
a symptom of a sick sheep. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd He shall gather the lambs with his arm, carry them
in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. I pray if you're his, that he
would comfort your heart. And I pray if you're his and
you're a lost sheep, I pray that he would speak to you and he
would keep speaking. And he won't stop till he gets
you. You don't want to come, but He
makes you willing. Amen.