WEBVTT 00:00:03.967 --> 00:00:07.352 I think the Lord has orchestrated something this morning. 00:00:07.352 --> 00:00:08.394 Worship was beautiful. 00:00:08.394 --> 00:00:15.111 There was specific words, I think, through the worship, that go along with what's going to happen in this sermon. 00:00:15.111 --> 00:00:20.132 So if you'll read with me, psalm 95, verses 6 and 7. 00:00:20.132 --> 00:00:22.346 This is where we're starting this morning. 00:00:22.346 --> 00:00:38.106 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand. 00:00:38.106 --> 00:00:47.990 He is our God, we are the people of his pasture, we are the sheep of his pasture, we are the sheep of his hand. 00:00:50.036 --> 00:01:00.271 And there are two biblical pictures, if you look through the Bible, about our relationship with God that kind of stand out and they go through the whole the thread, through the whole scriptures, and one of them is a walk. 00:01:00.271 --> 00:01:04.147 God calls our relationship with him a walk From the very beginning. 00:01:04.147 --> 00:01:08.766 It says that God walked with Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day in the garden. 00:01:08.766 --> 00:01:22.545 And it says that Abram, was told, was called by God out of his idolatry and he said walk before me and be upright or be perfect, and I will lead you into your destiny. 00:01:22.545 --> 00:01:29.305 And in Deuteronomy 5, it says that we should walk in his ways that he's laid out for us. 00:01:29.305 --> 00:01:34.760 And in Psalm 84, it says blessed is the man who walks with you. 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:38.790 No good thing will you withhold from him, who walks uprightly before you. 00:01:38.790 --> 00:01:42.802 And then we see over into the New Testament the same thing we see. 00:01:42.802 --> 00:01:44.623 Galatians says we should walk into spirit. 00:01:44.623 --> 00:01:46.125 And then we see over into the New Testament the same thing we see. 00:01:46.125 --> 00:01:47.245 Galatians says we should walk in the spirit. 00:01:47.245 --> 00:01:51.909 Ephesians says that we should walk in wisdom and in light and in love and walk worthy. 00:01:51.909 --> 00:01:55.091 And then John tells us we should walk in truth. 00:01:55.091 --> 00:02:00.897 And Jesus molded his disciples as they walked together with him. 00:02:00.897 --> 00:02:09.002 They walked and they heard his voice. 00:02:09.002 --> 00:02:12.694 And a walk is making decisions, day by day, that are consistent to God's commitment to us and to our commitment to him. 00:02:12.694 --> 00:02:16.564 It's daily decisions, it's step and a step and a step. 00:02:16.564 --> 00:02:23.145 That's one of the pictures that we see in the scripture, a metaphor of our walk with God, our relationship with God. 00:02:23.467 --> 00:02:30.930 The second thing is this idea of sheep and shepherd, that we are the sheep of his pastor. 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:40.312 And so, and you think about that idea of shepherd and sheep, you read about it in Ezekiel and other prophets. 00:02:40.312 --> 00:02:42.317 You read about it also in 1 Peter. 00:02:42.317 --> 00:02:49.129 You read about it Jesus himself said I am the good shepherd, and he talked about us being sheep and hearing his voice. 00:02:49.129 --> 00:02:55.545 And then, probably the most beloved passage and the most well-known passage about shepherding is Psalm 23,. 00:02:55.545 --> 00:02:58.829 Right, and so we see that idea, that metaphor. 00:02:58.829 --> 00:03:08.568 But I think the Lord uses this metaphor of sheep and shepherd in the Bible because it accurately, maybe most accurately portrays his heart for us. 00:03:08.568 --> 00:03:12.695 He's a shepherd that cares for his sheep. 00:03:12.695 --> 00:03:20.310 So, and not only his heart for us, but also the heart that we're supposed to have for those who are in our flock. 00:03:20.911 --> 00:03:24.504 So this week and next week we're going to have a little different kinds of sermons. 00:03:24.504 --> 00:03:29.433 Okay, it's not going to be the normal expository teaching out of scriptures that you usually get. 00:03:29.433 --> 00:03:30.742 It's going to be stories. 00:03:30.742 --> 00:04:01.229 It's going to be stories of an experience that I had, walking with sheep and shepherds in the south of Poland, and I was invited two years ago to walk with these shepherds on their annual pilgrimage from the villages in the valley up over to the top of a mountain into the grazing lands and the highland grazing grounds and then up in the spring and then back down in the fall. 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:04.746 I happened to be there at the right time, both times, pretty amazingly. 00:04:04.746 --> 00:04:25.012 So those two journeys, while walking with the sheep and the shepherds, I saw real shepherds and real sheep living out these real principles of the Lord and how he deals with us, this incredible relationship between the two that parallels our walk with God, and they're astonishing. 00:04:25.012 --> 00:04:36.267 So I want to share this with you in hopes this morning that you will leave here understanding more about your good shepherd's heart for you and that you're so cared for. 00:04:36.661 --> 00:04:40.749 So this week I'm going to talk about being a sheep and having a shepherd. 00:04:40.749 --> 00:04:46.622 Next week I'm going to talk about being a shepherd and taking care of your flock, and we all have flocks. 00:04:46.622 --> 00:04:54.411 It could be our marriage, it could be our family, it could be spheres of influence in our job or in our community, but we all have flocks. 00:04:54.411 --> 00:04:57.324 Okay, so, shepherds and sheep. 00:04:57.324 --> 00:05:09.023 So in Hebrew there's a word commonly used for shepherd and it's taken from a root word, and the root word is ra'ah, and ra'ah is the Hebrew word for best friend. 00:05:09.023 --> 00:05:15.312 I know it's like an oh, it's beautiful. 00:05:15.312 --> 00:05:19.687 The shepherd is the best friend, and they take that word and they make the actual word. 00:05:19.687 --> 00:05:22.461 Unique term for shepherd is rotzon. 00:05:22.461 --> 00:05:25.331 Rotzon means lover of the flock. 00:05:25.331 --> 00:05:39.740 So this shepherd is not just an administrator, and so he's not just like an overseer, but he's a caring, like a father figure to these sheep and he's tending his flock out of this deep sense of love. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:52.951 So, as I walked in Poland with these shepherds and these sheep, what I saw is I saw three things I saw heart, I saw eyes and I saw hands. 00:05:52.951 --> 00:06:06.473 More specifically, I saw a compassionate heart and I saw watchful eyes and I saw able hands. 00:06:06.473 --> 00:06:20.545 And you know what, when you've got someone looking over you that has a compassionate heart and is watchful, and they're capable, you're pretty good, you're doing all right. 00:06:20.545 --> 00:06:33.163 So each year in the mountains of South Poland, near the Slovakian border and many other places in the world, there's a tradition that's been happening for centuries, that goes on, and in South Poland it's called the reddick. 00:06:33.163 --> 00:06:48.024 A reddick is just a Polish word for walking, walking up the mountains and so I was invited to go, and this is a picture of most of these pictures that I'm showing this morning I took, or the people on the journey took. 00:06:48.024 --> 00:06:50.711 About 90% of the pictures were while we were there. 00:06:50.711 --> 00:06:54.737 So what you see here is some sheep and you see these mountains in the back. 00:06:54.737 --> 00:06:57.187 These are the Tatra Mountains, part of the Carpathian Mountains. 00:06:57.187 --> 00:07:00.802 If you're a geography person, they are the mountains in the South Poland. 00:07:00.802 --> 00:07:04.088 Right at the top of those mountains is the border of Slovakia. 00:07:05.031 --> 00:07:14.581 And so these village farmers, they hire a shepherd family every year to take their flock up to these highland grazing grounds. 00:07:14.581 --> 00:07:17.889 Okay, so these meadows, they will stay there all summer. 00:07:17.889 --> 00:07:32.290 They go up in April, they come back in October, so eight months long this shepherd is leading these sheep and in the past these events were held as very dear like. 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:35.862 They're like the most important annual events in local culture in the highlands. 00:07:35.862 --> 00:07:45.367 So there's festivities, there's prayers, there's music, there's religious rites to protect the animals and during the rhetoric of today this has happened for centuries. 00:07:45.367 --> 00:07:49.713 But today it's not that big of a deal in the village. 00:07:49.713 --> 00:07:54.925 But what is a big deal is if you're driving in a car behind these 200 sheep. 00:07:54.925 --> 00:08:07.872 So this is, you can hear a little bit and the sheep and this is actually a sheep dog right there, that's like a Polish sheep dog that looks a whole lot like a sheep. 00:08:07.872 --> 00:08:16.514 So mostly people are patient with it because it's kind of a tie to their past. 00:08:16.514 --> 00:08:20.887 But when you get behind in a car. 00:08:20.887 --> 00:08:23.425 You just wait and it's not fun. 00:08:23.425 --> 00:08:27.189 So we disrupted a lot of the villages going through them. 00:08:27.189 --> 00:08:34.407 We also thrilled a lot of little kids and their grandmas were like pulling the kids out and they're like coming up and touching the sheep. 00:08:34.407 --> 00:08:35.028 It was beautiful. 00:08:35.801 --> 00:08:44.009 So I was invited to be a part of a group of 20 or so people who joined the shepherds the shepherds Stasek and Tadek. 00:08:44.009 --> 00:08:47.500 This is a picture of Stasek. 00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:48.344 Stasek is part of a family. 00:08:48.344 --> 00:08:53.240 His family has done this heretic walking up in the hills with the sheep for 50 years. 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:55.885 This was the 50th year of their heretic. 00:08:55.885 --> 00:09:00.741 Okay, stasek is not 50 years old yet, so he's done it all of his life. 00:09:00.741 --> 00:09:03.245 His dad did it for 50 years. 00:09:03.245 --> 00:09:07.660 His dad passed away the year before I walked with him on this. 00:09:07.660 --> 00:09:09.905 He was 83 years old when he passed away. 00:09:09.905 --> 00:09:18.190 He did this thing into his 80s and when you see later, like next week, you'll see what it's like to go over the top of the mountain. 00:09:19.231 --> 00:09:20.234 It is not easy. 00:09:20.234 --> 00:09:25.755 These guys are rough. 00:09:25.755 --> 00:09:26.778 You don't want to meet them. 00:09:26.778 --> 00:09:27.541 You wouldn't want to fight them. 00:09:27.541 --> 00:09:28.923 They can. 00:09:28.923 --> 00:09:31.229 They can absolutely take you, I'm sure of it. 00:09:31.910 --> 00:09:39.558 But so what happened was they took about 200 sheep from 15 different owners and they were assimilated into one flock. 00:09:39.558 --> 00:09:50.311 Okay, and these owners trust the sheep completely and the shepherds trust the shepherds completely and the shepherds take responsibility very seriously. 00:09:50.311 --> 00:09:51.625 So this is really interesting. 00:09:51.625 --> 00:09:55.470 The sheep do not belong to the shepherd, they don't own it. 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:56.292 This is great. 00:09:56.292 --> 00:09:59.886 This is, let me just tell you, from a pastoral standpoint. 00:09:59.886 --> 00:10:02.010 We have responsibility over you. 00:10:02.010 --> 00:10:07.110 We take it very seriously, but we don't own you at all. 00:10:07.110 --> 00:10:09.105 You have another owner. 00:10:09.105 --> 00:10:16.087 We're just like an under-shepherd to your good shepherd and he's the one that takes care of you. 00:10:16.087 --> 00:10:20.950 But we take care of you and we're also charged with that responsibility. 00:10:20.950 --> 00:10:29.009 So their responsibility is to create an environment that's conducive to well-being of the sheep and also productivity. 00:10:29.009 --> 00:10:32.644 They have to feed the sheep Really important. 00:10:32.644 --> 00:10:37.120 They have to care for the sheep and they have to make sure that the sheep are productive. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.264 Talk about that in a minute. 00:10:39.044 --> 00:10:42.833 So before they begin, they have this meeting with the owners. 00:10:42.833 --> 00:10:51.428 Everything's discussed, compensation, expectations, all agreed upon, before the journey begins and they always understand what's going on. 00:10:51.428 --> 00:10:54.105 And after they come. 00:10:54.105 --> 00:10:55.990 So we joined them on the third day. 00:10:55.990 --> 00:10:57.644 I'll tell you why in just a minute. 00:10:57.644 --> 00:11:01.087 And what they do is the first thing that happens is they pull. 00:11:01.087 --> 00:11:02.731 The first two days they're together. 00:11:02.731 --> 00:11:04.527 There's 15 different flocks, okay. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:16.428 And let me tell you something about sheep they're really, really, really dumb there's no way to say it but they're just really not smart animals, okay. 00:11:16.428 --> 00:11:19.710 And they're really timid, they're frightened. 00:11:19.710 --> 00:11:22.789 They get freaked out when things change at all. 00:11:22.789 --> 00:11:25.609 I don't know why God called us sheep because it doesn't sound like you at all. 00:11:25.609 --> 00:11:28.024 I don't know why God called us sheep because it doesn't sound like you at all. 00:11:28.024 --> 00:11:28.485 Does it? 00:11:28.485 --> 00:11:31.131 Anything changes? 00:11:31.131 --> 00:11:41.206 They freak out, and so they're all fine in their little flocks and then they come together and then there's that flock and all these flocks and everybody smells different and smells a big thing to sheep. 00:11:41.206 --> 00:11:50.951 And so you smell different than me and I'm freaked out at that and I'm like so they take the sheep and they walk them in this huge circle. 00:11:50.951 --> 00:11:56.187 It's like a big blender, and next week I'll show you a video that is pretty incredible. 00:11:56.187 --> 00:12:11.431 And so they take the sheep and, as they're homogenizing them, they're actually the flocks the individual flocks disappear and they become one great big flock and then, after a while, they begin to smell like each other instead of smell different from each other. 00:12:12.380 --> 00:12:14.688 But this is what the shepherd does the first two days. 00:12:14.688 --> 00:12:20.486 He's blending the sheep and he's speaking to the sheep, he's building this relationship. 00:12:20.486 --> 00:12:25.389 This is one of the biggest things that I saw is his ongoing relationship with the sheep. 00:12:25.389 --> 00:12:31.653 Okay, so what happens the first two days is you have the shepherd together. 00:12:31.653 --> 00:12:33.707 So this is a six-day journey. 00:12:33.707 --> 00:12:40.052 This is six days, 90 miles up over those mountains. 00:12:40.052 --> 00:12:42.407 Okay, this is not easy. 00:12:42.407 --> 00:12:47.030 This is really really difficult for the shepherds and for the sheep. 00:12:47.380 --> 00:12:55.224 The first two days are the shepherd and the sheep, and then we join for the second two days, so we only walk with them. 00:12:55.224 --> 00:13:01.292 Actually, two days we walked probably we walked at least 50 miles with them in two days, though. 00:13:01.292 --> 00:13:02.845 So it was a long ways. 00:13:02.845 --> 00:13:08.501 Miles with them in two days, though. 00:13:08.501 --> 00:13:13.149 So it was a long ways, and this is not the beautiful, pretty little pastoral kind of setting. 00:13:13.149 --> 00:13:14.030 This is hard work. 00:13:14.030 --> 00:13:17.322 This is through the ridges, down the ravines, all this stuff. 00:13:17.322 --> 00:13:26.272 So the last two days we don't walk with them because it's too treacherous over the top of the mountains and they won't let us walk, and we probably get in their way too, by the way. 00:13:26.272 --> 00:13:30.370 So why in the world look at this they're going down these big ravines like this. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:40.671 So why in the world is it worth the trouble and the expense to hire a shepherd to take them up over the mountain when you could just keep them on your little farm? 00:13:40.671 --> 00:13:54.291 It's a good question and the answer is next week I'll show you a picture of where they go and it is beautiful dense, lush grasses, super quiet. 00:13:54.291 --> 00:13:56.433 So it's quiet, quiet, quiet. 00:13:56.433 --> 00:14:05.504 They eat grass, grass grass, and they make milk, milk, milk, which makes cheese, cheese, cheese and cheese is the commodity. 00:14:05.504 --> 00:14:07.120 This is what they make money on. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.490 They take the cheese, they smoke the cheese and they sell it as a specialty. 00:14:10.490 --> 00:14:11.600 So that's it. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:13.264 The cheese is everything. 00:14:13.264 --> 00:14:19.585 Okay, they do sell the wool the wool they make almost no money off of, but the cheese is everything. 00:14:19.585 --> 00:14:23.634 So you have to have them in a place where they're quiet. 00:14:23.634 --> 00:14:30.750 You have to have them in a place where they're quiet, they're peaceful and they have tons of food so they can make tons of milk. 00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:35.663 That's the reason you would pay somebody for eight months to take your sheep up over the mountains. 00:14:35.663 --> 00:14:42.461 Okay, so this is mud and mess and smell and sweat and strain on your muscles. 00:14:42.461 --> 00:14:45.190 That's what this is, but it's beautiful. 00:14:45.190 --> 00:14:46.662 So I found. 00:14:46.701 --> 00:14:54.993 The most striking thing that I found was this real and ever-growing relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, so this is a picture of Magda. 00:14:54.993 --> 00:14:58.140 Magda is the lady who actually puts this thing together. 00:14:58.140 --> 00:15:04.746 So, magda, she is the one that coordinates us being able to come on this journey. 00:15:04.746 --> 00:15:06.469 She does it twice a year. 00:15:06.469 --> 00:15:14.996 She also, through the summer, takes leadership teams, like corporations will send their leadership teams up to the highlands, and Magda will teach them about. 00:15:14.996 --> 00:15:19.926 She calls it leadership. 00:15:19.926 --> 00:15:23.092 It's like principles of leadership from the shepherd and the sheep. 00:15:23.092 --> 00:15:27.182 So leadership, brilliant Marketing. 00:15:27.182 --> 00:15:32.549 She's with Stasek, and Stasek is the only time I remember seeing him smile. 00:15:32.549 --> 00:15:35.193 I don't know what he was smiling at, but it was something. 00:15:35.193 --> 00:15:44.413 So what happens in those first two days, though, is there's a relationship established between the sheep and the shepherds. 00:15:44.413 --> 00:15:47.539 There's a relationship established between the sheep and the shepherds. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.205 The sheep learn to hear his voice while they're walking with him. 00:15:52.205 --> 00:15:53.708 You guys got to get the parallels here. 00:15:53.708 --> 00:15:54.851 This is real important. 00:15:54.851 --> 00:16:01.604 I think you're smart enough, but we learn to hear his voice as we're walking with him. 00:16:01.604 --> 00:16:05.392 Maybe you're not sure you're able to hear the voice of the Lord very well, you're not confident, it's okay. 00:16:05.392 --> 00:16:08.457 You will hear his voice as you learn, as you're able to hear the voice of the Lord very well. 00:16:08.457 --> 00:16:08.979 You're not confident. 00:16:08.979 --> 00:16:09.200 It's okay. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:11.690 You will hear his voice as you learn, as you walk with him. 00:16:11.710 --> 00:16:18.451 So the first two days he's taken all of these sheep, he's homogenizing them into one big flock and he's talking all the time to them. 00:16:18.451 --> 00:16:21.961 In fact, I have this video that you're going to hear. 00:16:21.961 --> 00:16:55.434 Okay, now I and we missed the first one One, two, three, four, five, six. 00:16:55.434 --> 00:16:57.267 He made six sounds in 12 seconds. 00:16:57.267 --> 00:16:59.884 You can stop In 12 seconds. 00:16:59.884 --> 00:17:01.028 He's talking all the time. 00:17:01.028 --> 00:17:07.144 You can stop it and stop that one too. 00:17:07.144 --> 00:17:10.265 Thank you, okay, you get it. 00:17:10.339 --> 00:17:17.086 He's always talking, he's always making sounds and all those sounds mean something different and they're learning what the sounds mean. 00:17:17.086 --> 00:17:21.491 Okay, the words give them comfort and they also give them direction. 00:17:21.491 --> 00:17:25.268 They give comfort because words equals presence. 00:17:25.268 --> 00:17:28.321 If they can hear his words, they know he's near. 00:17:28.321 --> 00:17:28.782 Okay. 00:17:28.782 --> 00:17:32.751 The whistles are about encouragement and direction as well. 00:17:32.751 --> 00:17:33.923 So there's specific things. 00:17:33.962 --> 00:17:37.740 When he's whistling, he's saying this way and he's giving a little encouragement. 00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:39.102 He does these little trills. 00:17:39.102 --> 00:17:58.144 You'll hear more next, I think next week, but it's little things that he does with his mouth, like rrr, rrr, rrr, like that, and when he goes rrr, what he's saying is gather to me Everybody here right now and it's beautiful, and the cowbells. 00:17:58.144 --> 00:18:01.752 If you notice the cowbells, they are low-pitched ones and high-pitched ones. 00:18:01.752 --> 00:18:07.972 The low-pitched ones are to scare off the snakes, especially up in the highlands. 00:18:07.972 --> 00:18:12.932 But the high-pitched ones they put on these experienced sheep who've been on this journey before. 00:18:12.932 --> 00:18:16.220 So they are like helping to guide. 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:21.353 They're almost like mentors, mentor sheep helping to guide the other sheep. 00:18:21.353 --> 00:18:25.010 They're walking and so the other ones are hearing the little cowbell and they keep going. 00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:31.268 So for two days the shepherd is establishing this relationship with the sheep and then everything is kind of cool. 00:18:31.268 --> 00:18:37.228 The sheep are like okay, they're kind of calmed down and they're not as anxious. 00:18:37.228 --> 00:18:39.113 They're all one flock. 00:18:39.113 --> 00:18:40.545 They're starting to trust the shepherd. 00:18:40.545 --> 00:18:47.467 And then we show up and we are a mess to them. 00:18:47.467 --> 00:18:56.351 We make a mess for the shepherds because we are variables and we smell funny and we're something different and sheep don't like nothing different. 00:18:56.351 --> 00:18:58.243 They like it the way it is. 00:18:58.243 --> 00:19:00.289 Don't mess with my, don't move my cheese. 00:19:00.289 --> 00:19:03.762 I don't know where that even came from. 00:19:03.762 --> 00:19:09.413 Speaking of cheese, don't upset my little cart here. 00:19:09.413 --> 00:19:11.145 And then we upset the cart. 00:19:11.145 --> 00:19:13.087 We like turn the cart on top of itself. 00:19:13.087 --> 00:19:15.727 There's 20 of us and we all smell weird to them. 00:19:15.727 --> 00:19:17.090 Okay, so there we go. 00:19:17.090 --> 00:19:20.570 But I want to show you two videos here. 00:19:20.570 --> 00:19:26.630 But there's two videos of the sheep and they're both videos of them walking across little streams. 00:19:26.690 --> 00:19:31.327 Okay, the first one is right after we got there, just minutes after these pictures I've showed you. 00:19:31.327 --> 00:19:37.547 We were walking across this little brook and the sheep. 00:19:37.547 --> 00:19:43.108 What you're gonna hear is you're gonna hear a lot of noise, a lot of talking like meh, a lot of that. 00:19:43.108 --> 00:19:44.405 You're gonna see a lot of pushing. 00:19:44.405 --> 00:19:47.363 You're gonna see a lot of impatience and not sure what to do. 00:19:47.363 --> 00:19:47.865 You're gonna see anxiety. 00:19:47.865 --> 00:19:49.236 You're going to see a lot of impatience and not sure what to do. 00:19:49.236 --> 00:19:49.859 You're going to see anxiety. 00:19:49.859 --> 00:19:55.669 You're going to see them halt when they get to the water and it's like ah, ah, like that. 00:19:55.669 --> 00:19:59.829 Okay, and we caused all of this because we showed up. 00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:15.237 And so go ahead and show the first one that confusion, confusion, like confusion. 00:20:15.237 --> 00:20:17.849 Wow, there's no way for me to. 00:20:17.849 --> 00:20:18.311 You're stuck. 00:20:18.311 --> 00:20:30.501 Listen to the shepherd. 00:20:30.501 --> 00:20:39.864 He's whistling this way, this way. 00:20:39.864 --> 00:20:41.469 So everything changes. 00:20:41.469 --> 00:20:51.451 Everything changes because we changed it all and they're kind of like oh no, I like this, I'm not, this is not good. 00:20:51.451 --> 00:20:53.847 And then, but they're hearing the voice of the shepherd. 00:20:53.847 --> 00:20:56.930 The shepherd seems to feel like it's okay, right, and he's moving on. 00:20:56.930 --> 00:20:59.019 He's not stopping, we're going forward. 00:20:59.019 --> 00:21:03.586 So I think we trust the shepherd a little bit, so we'll just keep on going. 00:21:03.700 --> 00:21:05.788 Okay, the next video is hours later. 00:21:05.788 --> 00:21:17.680 They're crossing another stream. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.020 This is like a totally different flock. 00:21:19.020 --> 00:22:19.576 You're not going to hear almost any noise, they are not pushy or confused, they're really calm and they just go right across. 00:22:19.576 --> 00:22:35.942 So check this out, thank you, almost no noise, just patiently waiting. 00:22:37.883 --> 00:23:01.911 Okay, so what made the difference? 00:23:01.911 --> 00:23:08.832 And what made the difference is they were so anxious because of the variables we introduced in that first video. 00:23:08.832 --> 00:23:15.413 But after walking with a shepherd for a few hours, it's like okay, we're all right, we're okay. 00:23:15.413 --> 00:23:37.750 You learn to hear his voice as you walk with him and his voice comforts you and you know that he has a compassionate heart and he has watchful eyes and he has skillful hands and you're okay, beautiful, and so I mean the parallel is pretty obvious, right? 00:23:37.750 --> 00:23:40.342 God calls his people sheep for a reason, right? 00:23:40.342 --> 00:23:46.679 We get anxious when things change, we're uncertain or we don't know why. 00:23:46.679 --> 00:23:48.022 We're being led a certain way. 00:23:48.022 --> 00:23:53.788 Why did we just leave our little farm and why are we going through these ravines? 00:23:53.788 --> 00:24:02.609 And when we're agitated by outward uncertainties or inward fears, the voice of our shepherd calms us. 00:24:02.609 --> 00:24:05.887 And Jesus identified as a good shepherd. 00:24:05.887 --> 00:24:08.707 Right, he said his sheep hear his voice. 00:24:08.707 --> 00:24:13.346 So we're going to start, we're going to just take a minute and look at this great shepherd. 00:24:13.366 --> 00:24:22.181 Psalm, psalm 23, because I want to read it to you again in the context of what we're doing this morning and let you hear it and let's think through it. 00:24:22.181 --> 00:24:24.604 Just a minute and you know most of it, right. 00:24:24.604 --> 00:24:27.546 So Psalm 23 says the Lord is my shepherd. 00:24:27.546 --> 00:24:33.112 I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:24:33.112 --> 00:24:35.354 He leads me beside still waters. 00:24:35.354 --> 00:24:37.115 He restores my soul. 00:24:37.115 --> 00:24:41.721 He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. 00:24:41.721 --> 00:24:53.060 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. 00:24:53.060 --> 00:24:53.521 They comfort me. 00:24:53.521 --> 00:24:55.085 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 00:24:55.085 --> 00:24:59.453 You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. 00:24:59.453 --> 00:25:03.584 And surely goodness and mercy shall follow. 00:25:03.584 --> 00:25:05.885 You understand the heart of the shepherd. 00:25:05.885 --> 00:25:17.729 You see that he's meeting physical needs here, right? 00:25:17.729 --> 00:25:33.334 He brings me to a place to lie down in green pastures that's the rest and the food that I need and by quiet waters, and that's the water I need and it's also in a context that stills my soul. 00:25:33.334 --> 00:25:37.628 So my soul needs are being met as well. 00:25:37.628 --> 00:25:40.506 I feel safe and this travel can't happen. 00:25:40.506 --> 00:25:43.387 These sheep will not travel like this. 00:25:43.387 --> 00:25:46.224 Unless they feel safe, they won't go very far. 00:25:46.224 --> 00:25:52.721 They kind of mutiny so they and milk cannot be produced unless they feel safe too. 00:25:52.721 --> 00:25:56.921 So all of this stuff they have to learn to trust their shepherd as they walk with him. 00:25:56.921 --> 00:25:57.863 And then their spiritual needs. 00:25:57.863 --> 00:26:00.450 He leads me in paths of righteousness. 00:26:00.450 --> 00:26:02.143 There's a spiritual leading as well. 00:26:02.143 --> 00:26:03.987 All of that in those Psalms. 00:26:04.607 --> 00:26:08.682 And so we don't know what time in David's life, what period, this Psalm was written. 00:26:08.682 --> 00:26:09.262 We just don't know. 00:26:09.262 --> 00:26:13.646 That Could be before he was in Saul's service, when he was a shepherd. 00:26:13.646 --> 00:26:17.652 It could be after, at the end of his life, we don't know. 00:26:17.652 --> 00:26:21.255 It could be when he was being chased down. 00:26:21.255 --> 00:26:22.336 He was hiding in the caves. 00:26:22.336 --> 00:26:23.480 We don't know. 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:46.829 But we do know that he was always cared for by his shepherd and he never once lacked the expert care of his master shepherd, and we can see him out in his field as he's caring for his sheep with his own watchful eyes and skillful hands and looking up to the heavens and saying I've got one that cares for me. 00:26:46.829 --> 00:26:47.730 Just like that. 00:26:47.730 --> 00:26:50.375 It's beautiful. 00:26:51.421 --> 00:26:53.887 So in this psalm we see the Lord is my shepherd. 00:26:53.887 --> 00:26:57.204 That's relationship and I shall not want. 00:26:57.204 --> 00:27:01.287 That's supply, and he makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:27:01.287 --> 00:27:06.050 That's rest and he leads me by quiet waters, and that's refreshment. 00:27:06.050 --> 00:27:08.236 And he restores my soul and that's healing. 00:27:08.236 --> 00:27:09.448 And he leads me in paths of righteousness, and that's refreshment. 00:27:09.448 --> 00:27:09.941 And he restores my soul and that's healing. 00:27:09.941 --> 00:27:18.329 And he leads me in paths of righteousness and that's guidance For his name's sake and that's purpose. 00:27:18.329 --> 00:27:25.307 It's all beautiful and all these things are what our good shepherd does for us in our times of non-conflict. 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:27.428 But then this psalm takes this dark turn. 00:27:27.428 --> 00:27:34.567 But though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, there's dark places. 00:27:34.567 --> 00:27:41.624 Just like life turns dark sometimes, this psalm turns dark as well. 00:27:41.624 --> 00:27:49.830 And there, in the most difficult times, david finds that we find our shepherd is not changed at all. 00:27:49.830 --> 00:27:53.430 It's easy to believe that he's caring for us when times are good, right. 00:27:53.430 --> 00:27:56.468 But when times are dark we kind of forget. 00:27:56.468 --> 00:28:01.628 He doesn't change his nature, he doesn't change his love for us in the dark times. 00:28:04.560 --> 00:28:07.007 Is it possible to have rest in the midst of your dark time? 00:28:07.007 --> 00:28:13.506 Yeah, in fact, even in the dark time. 00:28:13.506 --> 00:28:14.769 Did you notice it? 00:28:14.769 --> 00:28:16.643 The dangerous places. 00:28:16.643 --> 00:28:20.952 I hear his voice and my relationship grows deeper. 00:28:20.952 --> 00:28:22.625 There's an intimacy that happens there. 00:28:22.625 --> 00:28:26.555 That's different, because the it's a grammar lesson. 00:28:26.555 --> 00:28:31.980 I'm sorry, the pronouns change from third person to second person, from. 00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:33.707 He makes me lie down. 00:28:33.707 --> 00:28:34.769 The Lord is my shepherd. 00:28:34.769 --> 00:28:37.088 He leads me by quiet waters. 00:28:37.088 --> 00:28:39.067 He to you. 00:28:39.067 --> 00:28:43.910 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. 00:28:43.910 --> 00:28:45.666 You are with me. 00:28:45.666 --> 00:28:47.527 Your rod, your staff come for me. 00:28:47.527 --> 00:28:48.944 You prepare a table for me. 00:28:48.944 --> 00:28:52.042 In presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil. 00:28:52.042 --> 00:29:00.310 This other degree of intimacy happens in this place of dark times when we walk through the valley. 00:29:01.473 --> 00:29:13.596 So as I'm walking with these shepherds through these ravines and up these mountainsides, we see that those shepherds oftentimes have to move them up those mountainsides, up those slopes, to get to where they're going. 00:29:13.596 --> 00:29:15.584 And these are really dangerous times. 00:29:15.584 --> 00:29:18.592 Without the shepherd, the sheep would get lost. 00:29:18.592 --> 00:29:20.006 They would be easy targets for prey. 00:29:20.006 --> 00:29:27.413 And it's in these times that I saw the sheep pay more attention to the shepherd. 00:29:27.413 --> 00:29:39.505 You could literally see them watching the shepherd, watching where he's going, listening more, pulling in closer to the shepherd, and he didn't drive them. 00:29:39.505 --> 00:29:41.346 Shepherds don't drive the sheep. 00:29:41.346 --> 00:29:44.446 Cowboys drive cattle. 00:29:44.446 --> 00:30:02.740 Shepherds lead sheep because they're different kinds of animals and they watched his back and they listened for his trills and his whistles and his words, and he's loving them right here in order to get them over there where they're going, and it's just a beautiful thing. 00:30:03.561 --> 00:30:12.922 So it's interesting when we talk about food, because I asked the shepherd what is the thing you're most concerned about? 00:30:12.922 --> 00:30:15.347 And he said when they don't want to eat. 00:30:15.347 --> 00:30:27.928 When they don't want to eat because I know they're either anxious or they're sick, and so feeding them is the most important thing, and getting them to the destination is secondary. 00:30:27.928 --> 00:30:31.403 Care for them now, and feeding them now is the most important thing. 00:30:31.403 --> 00:30:33.106 So they spread them out. 00:30:33.146 --> 00:30:38.887 If you remember that picture I showed you after they homogenized them, they spread them out. 00:30:38.887 --> 00:30:48.426 And they spread them out for a reason because sheep are really dumb and sheep only see what's right in front of them right now. 00:30:48.426 --> 00:30:51.730 Sheep only see what's right in front of them right now. 00:30:51.730 --> 00:30:52.150 That's it. 00:30:52.150 --> 00:30:57.875 They're not over there just right here and not five minutes ago, but just right here. 00:30:57.875 --> 00:30:59.356 This is their whole. 00:30:59.356 --> 00:31:04.721 Their entire world is right there. 00:31:04.721 --> 00:31:08.887 So the strange thing is that when there's other sheep in front of them, they're seeing a little sheep behind in front of them. 00:31:08.887 --> 00:31:14.201 They don't see the grass, and so he has to spread them out in a line. 00:31:14.201 --> 00:31:17.489 So they see grass in front of them and say, oh, grass, let's eat. 00:31:17.489 --> 00:31:26.176 They're that dumb, I'm just telling you, yeah, and we laugh because we're like that too, aren't we? 00:31:26.176 --> 00:31:31.207 We basically only see what's right in front of us right now and we don't even have the vision sometimes. 00:31:31.207 --> 00:31:33.830 It's funny, we're funny. 00:31:35.213 --> 00:31:42.365 But he says this he said it's easier for everybody to feed them in the open fields and find good food for them there. 00:31:42.365 --> 00:31:48.722 It's easier, it's more inviting, it's easier for everyone, but that's not where the best food is. 00:31:48.722 --> 00:31:53.628 More inviting, it's easier for everyone, but that's not where the best food is. 00:31:53.628 --> 00:31:56.653 He said the dark forest is the best, most vitamin-rich, most nutritional food for them. 00:31:56.653 --> 00:32:04.145 So he leads them when he could go around it. 00:32:04.145 --> 00:32:05.519 He leads them through these hard places so they can find this food. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:06.826 I have another video there. 00:32:06.826 --> 00:32:10.269 I think you can see that we're going up beside a. 00:32:10.269 --> 00:32:34.319 He's whistling, he's yelling and you see that they're grazing all along the way, because this is where really good food is, because this is where really good food is Yep, that's good, yeah. 00:32:34.339 --> 00:32:36.709 So sometimes those paths of righteousness he leads us in are through dark and difficult times. 00:32:36.709 --> 00:32:42.166 Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, it's not always the devil resisting you. 00:32:42.166 --> 00:32:54.705 Sometimes it's your shepherd taking you through a dark time, because what you're going to get there is good for your soul and what you're going to find out there is. 00:32:54.705 --> 00:33:06.131 You're going to find kindness, you're going to see his compassionate heart and his skillful hands and his watchful eyes there like you've never seen it, and you get the most nourishing and strengthening food in those dark valleys. 00:33:06.131 --> 00:33:08.920 So it's a picture of total trust. 00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:20.951 I mean, they were walking these places where normally they wouldn't walk, they would be vulnerable to getting lost or possibly killed, but they go there because the shepherd goes there and they trust the shepherd. 00:33:22.580 --> 00:33:26.008 This is a picture of me, by the way, in the field with the sheep. 00:33:26.008 --> 00:33:29.763 So your rod and your staff, they comfort me, they protect me. 00:33:29.763 --> 00:33:32.844 He does have a rod, he does have a stick as well. 00:33:32.844 --> 00:33:34.509 Right, a staff and a stick. 00:33:34.509 --> 00:33:49.365 That's what he has, and he does protect them, he does guide them and even though the sheep are naturally fearful and timid, they have this peace because the rod and the staff comforts them. 00:33:49.365 --> 00:33:50.701 And we have a comforter too. 00:33:50.701 --> 00:33:56.165 We have the Holy Spirit as a comforter and a corrector too. 00:33:56.165 --> 00:34:10.041 Right, he leads us, he corrects us with it, but he draws us, he convicts us, he comforts us, he guides us by his spirit so we can fear no evil, for you are with me. 00:34:10.041 --> 00:34:12.447 And as we learn to walk with him, we learn that he's trustworthy. 00:34:12.447 --> 00:34:19.396 And if he's trustworthy and he's capable, then I'm okay. 00:34:19.396 --> 00:34:19.898 It's beautiful. 00:34:20.677 --> 00:34:21.878 So we asked this question. 00:34:21.878 --> 00:34:23.981 It was great, we were able to ask the question. 00:34:23.981 --> 00:34:26.182 Of course, I speak English. 00:34:26.182 --> 00:34:29.925 I don't speak their language, and they speak a kind of a Slovakian. 00:34:29.925 --> 00:34:34.630 They speak a Highland kind of Polish, and even some of the Polish people. 00:34:34.630 --> 00:34:42.681 It was hard to understand them, but when we asked them questions they had great answers. 00:34:42.681 --> 00:34:43.666 Usually they're pretty, they're pretty sly people. 00:34:43.666 --> 00:34:45.635 You know they're simple people, but they sly and they kind of like to play with you a little bit. 00:34:45.635 --> 00:34:51.884 So their answers were they were taking us a little bit on a ride, but I'll tell you more about that next week. 00:34:52.255 --> 00:34:54.581 But we asked this question how do you know what to do. 00:34:54.581 --> 00:34:55.804 You're a shepherd, you're in charge. 00:34:55.804 --> 00:34:56.646 How do you know what to do? 00:34:56.646 --> 00:34:58.240 How do you know what the sheep need? 00:34:58.240 --> 00:35:00.001 And he just stopped a minute. 00:35:00.001 --> 00:35:09.847 This minute, this was Tadek, the other shepherd. 00:35:09.847 --> 00:35:11.052 He said it's just so simple. 00:35:11.052 --> 00:35:18.496 He said I watch, so I know that's it. 00:35:18.496 --> 00:35:19.637 That was his answer, too simple, right? 00:35:19.637 --> 00:35:21.039 He watches and so he sees the needs. 00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:21.561 He's always watching. 00:35:21.561 --> 00:35:23.744 They are so vigilant, they are watching all the time. 00:35:24.344 --> 00:35:27.010 Sometimes he has to do minor surgery when the sheep needs it. 00:35:27.010 --> 00:35:28.882