Elder Josh Brown | 2026 Camp Meeting | Saturday PM | 7.18.26

Elder Josh Brown, Lampasas PBC, Lampasas, TX

Transcript

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Y'all continue to pray that the Lord will be in the matter. If you have your Bibles with you, you can turn to the 34th chapter of Ezekiel. You know, this thought that I had coming in today or to this meeting, and then this morning they started talking about sheep and shepherds and kind of got me worried for a minute, but I think confirmed that I pray that the Lord was what put this on my heart today. In the 34th chapter of Ezekiel, the Lord's speaking to Israel, speaking to those that had power in Israel, those that were the shepherds over his people. And they were not doing the things that they should be doing. They were bad shepherds. Buzzword. How you identify. Most people want to say, I identify. I always like brown bears. I'm a bear. Ah, ferocious, right? My mom likes that. She went to Baylor. She likes bears. Most people want something that's a predator, something that's independent, something that, you know, they are in charge of themselves, and that's the way we all want to feel, right? We all want to feel like I can do it myself. I have it figured out, and I can stand up and I can defeat whatever comes after me. We are not predators. We're sheep. In the world today, you'll hear derogatory things said about sheep. You're just a sheep, you'll follow whatever is going on, you're just follow whatever is put in front of you. And in a large extent, a lot of people are that way, that they'll just follow whatever the popular thing is. But I would say that we need leadership. We need leadership. I crave leadership myself. And I'm in charge, and you know, not in charge, but I am charged with, put it that way, leading my family, leading a group of employees at my job, leading and trying to shepherd a flock of God's people. This group of people, they were put in charge, and they were charged by God to shepherd the flock and to show leadership, and they did not do that. Instead, what they did was corrupt God's service. They took the sacrifices that were meant for God and they took them for themselves. They stole from the people, but the ultimate thing was that they stole from God. They took the payment for a service that they didn't do, and they took the payment that was due to the Lord and took it for themselves. And so here in the 34th chapter of Ezekiel, in the you know, halfway through the second verse, it says, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks. Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock. Um these men were not feeding the flock, they were not leading, they were not doing the things that they were supposed to do. Now, what happens with sheep? Like sheep need care. Um they are an animal, their livestock that need care. In the time of David, as a young shepherd, um he would live with the sheep. He would be out in the field with the sheep. He would be um have very minimal tools at his disposal, what he would carry with him on his back, he would be in the field. He would have a staff, which is a unique tool for shepherding. It's a long pole with a hook at the end. Um he would have a staff and he would have um a rod that was about 18 to 24 inches long with a ball at the end, like a heavy part at the end, um, whatever shape, whatever they carved it out of. Um, but that was used for multiple reasons. It was used to for defense, to stave off um predators. It was used for correcting sheep in not an abusive way. Um if you ever have animals and livestock, those are dear to you. You don't want to injure your livestock, right? You don't want to injure things. They're not wasn't meant as a club to to bash but to correct and to nudge. Um, it was also used to inspect, you know, sheep have wool. Um and there can be things, critters, you know, bugs and things in the wool. There can be um injuries that are hidden by the wool. Um you can use that rod to run it over the wool to separate and to see down into the wool. Um now when you picture sheep and and lamb of God and um the artistry that we've seen in our lives, you're probably picturing some European sheep. You know, white with curly fleece that's um, and we talked, it was mentioned earlier that you know their hair can grow and they don't shed. The their shedding was bred out of them. At the time of um when this was written, in the time of David, and um they had what we call fat-tailed sheep. Um they had longer legs and they had straighter a straighter fleece, and they did shed, um, but still they would be sheared once a year, and it was good for them, and it and also provided something for the for the shepherd. Um but they would use these tools, and of course, you know the story of David and Goliath. There was another tool that really doesn't go into my sermon, but that's another tool they would have, a sling possibly. They would have a medicine pouch, they would have, you know, if you've ever cared for livestock, you go out, check cows or whatever. You generally take things with you in case you see a cow or a sheep or whatever that needs some doctrine. You have you want it there with you so you can take care of it in the moment. They would have these things to carry them with them, ointments and oils and things like that. Um, a good shepherd lives with the sheep, he loves his sheep, he cares for them. Um, and as it was mentioned this morning, um he knows them individually. Um, he's inspecting each one. Um take the oil and um pour it on their head and their face to keep the flies and things off of them. Um they would go out into the field and they would inspect the field for predators and drive them off and and and tend to them. We know the stories of David killing a lion and a bear to protect his sheep. Um they would take care of the sheep and they would prepare the field. Um in you think about uh a high elevated um prairie would be like a mesa. Um sometimes they're called it's called a table land. Um it looks like if you look at it from afar off, it's got slopes and then at the top it's flat, um good grass in certain times of the year, right? Um you would definitely where this took place, you would be concerned with water. Um, it's not the most plentiful resource, um, so you'd know where the water was, where the good water was, and you would make sure, just like we need clean water, animals need clean water, you take care of your water. Um you make sure that they have good, cool, clean water. Um, but you take care, a good shepherd cares for his sheep. He cares for them in a uh a real way. He provides provision for his sheep. Make sure he feeds the sheep and he takes care of them. Um one thing that they would have, and we call them pens. We we benefit from fences these days. You have for sheep, you'd probably have a netwire fence that would keep them where you wanted them, right? You don't have to live out there with them. You might have a sheepdog. Um I don't think they benefited from sheepdogs in that day. Um, but you would we have this benefit of these things. There, they didn't have that. You had to be out there with them, they had to lead them. I imagine, I think about um King David as a young shepherd and a psalmist playing the harp and singing. Um, his sheep probably came to enjoy David singing to them. I I imagine they knew his voice, they would hear his songs. Um I'm sure he sang out loud to them and he practiced his psalms with them. Um but he they became to know his voice. Um at times, you know, you gotta sleep, right? So a shepherd's got to sleep, he's he's gotta um sometimes go to restock, do things at night, he's gotta sleep, and so what he would do with his sheep is you would lead them into the fold. Um the fold is a um mostly circular, or you know, it's a stone enclosure, a pin. Um, and they would usually build out of stone. You might have a c in the mountains, you might have a cleft in a rock where you would um narrow, you get them in there and you can narrow the opening. It would have an opening and it would have a narrow opening so you could lead them in, you can inspect the sheep as they go in. If you know anything about animals, when they congregate, where they congregate, that's where diseases are passed. Right? That's where things can one can infect another. Umround water holes. If you got bird feeders, diseases with birds, transmit at your bird feeders, right? Wherever they congregate and they they come together is where things can pass one to another. So when the sheep are going into the fold, you don't want one that's sick going in with the rest of them and getting the other sick, right? You need to inspect them with that rod. You need to pay attention to what's going on. Um, and if one's you need to get it separated and get it doctored, you need to tend to it. Um, not shun it, not um just say this one's gone, but doctor it and keep it well if you can, you know, talking about natural sense, but um so that would that's the fold. Um a shepherd would lay in the opening to get his rest. He knew that his sheep were in the fold, and he would lay in that opening. If any sheep were to come out, he would know it. Right? If anything would try to get in other than from the sides, he would know it. Um so that's what a good shepherd would do. Here we're again in the 34th chapter, we're not talking about good shepherds. We're talking about bad shepherds, and they didn't feed the flock, they didn't tend to them. In the fifth verse, it says, and they were scattered, because there is no shepherd. And they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. So one thing about um about sheep that you know, the European type sheep, you know, case my oldest, when he was four, um he did mutton busting and um Colt's about to here in a few weeks. We got the rodeo at Gatesville, he's gonna try his hand at mutton busting. And one thing they do, when if you've ever watched it, is they put a mature U out in the middle of the arena, and when a kid comes out on the sheep and gets bucked off, they go gather together. They find that mature you and they gather together. Um these fat-tailed sheep had a tendency to wander. That's one thing about it. They wanted, right? They were in want. They weren't being taken care of, their needs weren't being provided for. And so they had to go elsewhere to look for provision. They had to go find some place to get good grass, they had to go find somewhere else to get water, they had to go find some other place, and they were scattered and wandering off because they had no leadership. We need leadership, we need we need provision. Um He says, there was no is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. They're not very good at protecting themselves. You know, sheep are vulnerable. Um they pictures are from my childhood of my grandpa having sheep were popping into my mind with a neighbor dog. It's a little too graphic. Um, but they they are they are vulnerable to predators. Um they need tending to, they need to be cared for. I you know, I think about this video, and it's pretty, I think, viral. So there's a somebody's laying a utility line, right? They've trenched this long line, and um the sheep has found itself in the trench. And shepherd comes and he pulls it out, and it goes hop, hop, hop, back in the trench. You know, they they're not the brightest animals in the world, and they need to be taken care of. Um that that shepherd's um staff with that hook at the end, um, you know, it's used to direct, to move, to pull, to hook, and to draw, right? That's why it's got the hook at the end. You can hook and draw, um, draw it towards you. When I think about um none cometh several as father draws them, you know, often the analogy of the water in the well is is given. I've come to look think about this shepherd and his hook drawing the sheep in. It's another way just to pull that animal to you, to hook them and pull them to you. Um, to get them out of danger, to get them away and get them to where you can tend to them and give them what they need. It says in the sixth verse, my sheep wandered through the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, saith the Lord, God surely, because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my flock. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall they shou shall the shepherds feed themselves any more, for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. They were praying, the shepherds who are in charge of taking care of the flock were preying on the flock. Um they were praying on them, and God said, I will require my shepherds at your hand. I you were this is I'm putting an end to it. I'm done. Like, this is over, I'm gonna deliver my sheep. Um and I will say that if we go, I'm gonna skip some and come back. If we go down to about the 17th verse, you start seeing, you know, the sheep, you're not off the hook. Right? The sheep weren't behaving the way a good sheep should. Like you know, sheep, they all have different personalities. We all have different personalities, right? We're different, we are individuals. Um it's not you you see a herd of sheep, for us, it looks like just a monogenous, you know, you might as well be a flock of birds just going in the wind. They all look the same, right? But we're all individuals, they have personalities, right? Um some are mean, some will wander more than others, um, some are timid and shy, just like just like any one of us in here. They have personalities. Um But they, it says, um, and as in the 17th verse, and as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. He judges, he's judging them between them. Um it says in the 18th verse, seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture. It seemed it seemed like a small thing to you. You were just getting yours, right? There's no leader, there was no nobody in charge, nobody guiding you and rotating you to where the good field was. Um there's a a book called The Tragedy of the Commons. And if you know you're in any kind of conservationist, probably in your coursework, um, the tragedy of the commons, the basic story is that if you just let everybody, this is a common field, and you let everybody get what they want out of it, there's not gonna be anything left, right? Because we're all gonna compete for what's there, and we're gonna we're gonna go in, we're gonna trample it all. When you're thinking about livestock, you're you're thinking about grass. There's a certain amount of brows you want to take, and then you want to get get them off of it, let it rest, let it recover, right? Um, and when you're trying to stock and figure out how many you can fit, you got to consider the fact that a lot of the grass isn't gonna get eaten, it's gonna get trampled on. It's gonna they're only gonna want the good grass, good grass that tastes good to them. They're not gonna take the bad stuff, and so if you don't do it right, you're gonna end up with no good grass, nothing but um undesirable. You know, a lot of y'all are gonna say weeds. I'm a conservationist, I don't say weeds, right? I say forbes, right? Um so there's gonna be a lot of undesirable for your purpose plants out there because all the good stuff's gonna get eaten away. Right? That's what's that's what the picture that he's showing here. That um he seemeth a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture. Um we need to be considerate of one another. We need to think about one another, we need to esteem one another higher than ourselves. Um we need to make sure that um everybody gets um taken care of. And you know, if you're behind me in the dessert line and there's dirt cake, you want to, I don't that's that's a problem that I have. You know, you might not get your share. Um but but when we're talking about the things of God, um his store of grace and his store of mercy is boundless. Um that's something that we can indulge in. We can all come to the fold and we can indulge in the grace of God. We can indulge in his mercy, we can all take our fill of it, and it will never run out. Um It says, and it's in the 19th verse, and as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have found with your feet. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God unto them, Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle, between the lean cattle, because ye have thrust with uh side with shoulder and pushed all the diseased with your horns till ye have scattered them abroad. So they're scattering each other, right? They're fighting, they're they're they're um throwing bows, right, in in the throng, brother James. Um they are they are offending one another, and the strong are are running the the weak out, right? The ones that may need help the most, the strong are running them out. Um He says, because ye have um thrust with the just read that, therefore I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle, I will set up one shepherd over them, and ye shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them. I the Lord have spoken it, and I will make with them a covenant of peace. Um this is a prophecy, right? This he's not talking about um he's not talking about the King David, he's talking about the seed of David, he's talking about the um Jesus Christ. Um moving backwards again, um He says, as a shepherd seeketh in the twelfth verse, as a shepherd seeketh out his flock, in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been, scattered in the cloudy and dark day, and I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God, cause them to rest, cause them to stop from their struggle, stop from their strife and their and their torment, and cause them to lay down and rest in a good fat pasture. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong, I will feed them with judgment. Um back in the the sixty first sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, it says, Um, let me go there before I misquote. Um In the 61st chapter of Isaiah, I'm lost my mark. It says that Sharon will be a fold of flocks. It said it'll be a f Sharon, the valley of Sharon is known as a plentiful, bountiful valley, a coastal plain with plenty of good grass, and it symbolizes a good pasture. It symbolizes a bounty of goodness. It says in Acre will be something. There it is. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Acre a place for the herds to lie down and for my people that have sought me. So Acre is a place of desolation. But nevertheless, God is saying that even there will my flock be safe. They will be tended to. I will be a good shepherd, and I will protect my sheep wherever their feet may find themselves. That's where I will be with them. And it says in the um in the ninth verse, it says, I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains, and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servant shall dwell with me there. So again, a prophecy, a prophecy that we see fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In the John chapter 10, it says, Verily, verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. So remember that image of the fold that we had, that pin that was made out of stone with a narrow opening, where the door, the shepherd is the door who laid in the opening. He says, Anyone that comes any other way for coming up over the side, they're a thief and a robber. They didn't come through the door, they didn't come because they belonged there, they came to steal, to kill, and to rob. He says, But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Think about King David out there singing to his sheep. Um you know one thing, um I'm not the first person to say this from the stand, but it nevertheless it's true, right? Um when you call up your animals, um a lot of people have a unique call. Some people put sirens on their truck, or some people honk, or um have a certain holler that they do. Um and the animals know their voice and they come because they get fed. They hear that, they come running because they're gonna get fed. And if you don't feed them when they come, they're gonna stop coming. Right? Um you have to train them. That's something that's trained into them. When our ministers in the room, you know, we want to be good shepherds, right? We want to seek the wounded, we want to seek the lost, those that are scattered, we want to seek them. And it's not just up to us. I say that each of us in the congregation, as a brother and sister in Christ, you want to seek those that are wounded and lost and try to tend to them. We want to care for one another. Um, because as much as this analogy is true in so many ways, um, we are not actually sheep, right? Um we are people that have hearts and desires, and we can think and and and we can have compassion and empathy for one another and tend to one another. Um, but we hear the voice of the Lord and we come and to be fed. He says, and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. You know, I wish that that were true a hundred percent of the time. I wish that that every time a false prophet or someone who came with the wisdom of the world came speaking in in eloquent tongues, that we would all just know that that was false just just because we know it and not follow. Unfortunately, in time, in time, in time, we can go astray. We can be misled. Um, a minister who has been blessed to preach the truth for many years can can fall into error and lead his flock astray. Um, it's happened, um, and we've got to be careful. Um I wish that each of us had um the discernment of the Lord that we would know and be able to detect, and we should keep our eyes up for that and our ears up for that, and and and try to put a stop to it when we can in the loving as way as possible. Um He says in the seventh verse, Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me and by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I'm gonna take them to the fat pastures, I'm gonna take them to the land of plenty, I'm gonna take them to the clean, cool water, I'm gonna have them lie down, I'm gonna tend to their wounds, I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of my sheep. Um says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He'll lay Christ laid down his life for the sheep. David would have given his life fighting that bear or that lion for his sheep. Um a good shepherd puts himself in harm's way for his sheep. Um, you know, this morning we heard about the sheep counted as sheep for the slaughter. Um the Lord suffered that slaughter for us. Um Jesus Christ was the one that was slaughtered for us. Um He says, But he that is in hireling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is in hireling and careth, he doesn't care, he careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and a known of mine. You think about um back there in Ezekiel where he said he will search and seek his sheep. He knows his sheep. Um when he goes to find his sheep and they're not where they're supposed to be, um, he's gonna, there's gonna be an accounting. Like, why why are they not here? Where are they at? Um give me an account, you shepherd. Tell me where my sheep are. Um and then when they're unable to answer in any satisfying way, um, he's gonna go seek his sheep. He himself, he says, he says, I will seek my sheep. The God himself, he says, I will seek, I will come, and I will seek my sheep. Um it said back there in Ezekiel that he had to be present with them to seek them, he had to be here to seek them. Again, it's a prophecy of the coming Messiah, the coming Christ, the good shepherd. And here it's fulfilled in the tenth chapter of John. Um the hireling fleeth and said, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. I have other sheep, and they are not of this fold. One thing about livestock is you pay for them, they're yours. Right? You may not have gone and picked them up yet, but they belong to you. Wherever they're at, whoever has them are liable to you for their care. Right? They are his sheep. Bought with a price, bought with the very blood of Christ. His sheep are his. Whether they know it or not, or whether the people in charge of them know it or not, they are his. Right? Um therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. So I know that we think oftentimes we get into wanting to be strong, wanting to be mighty, wanting to be able to stand up for ourselves and for those that we love and be the predator, right? Um, our spirit animal or whatever um you might say. Um, but we are sheep. We are sheep. And it may not sound like the animal I want to identify as, right? It may not sound like, hey, this is something, this is good. And if you have a bad shepherd, I don't want to be a sheep with a bad shepherd. That's not a good place to be. That's terrible. I need to be taken care of. I need to be taken care of. I need to be led. I need somebody to tell me what's right and what's wrong. I need to be the food to be provided for me. I mean, show me where to go, right? And if there's nobody there, if the if the ones that are supposed to be taking care of me are preying on me, that is a terrible place to be. As, you know, just vulnerable and not cared for. Um, but we have a good shepherd. We have Jesus Christ our Lord as our shepherd. It's a wonderful place to be. King David said it like this in the 23rd Psalm. He said, um. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 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 name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Sounds like a beautiful place to be. And if you're not, if you're his sheep and you're not in the fold, if you haven't joined the church, it's it look might look good from the outside, it's even better when you're in there. Um, it looks wonderful. And I'll tell you this not all God's sheep will come into his fold in time. Again, we I wish that it was the case that we all just had this natural ability. Um, the inner man hears his voice, the inner man responds. There's an effectual call, the shepherd calls, and that sheep that was dead is now alive. Um in this time we have a fold that we can enter into, we can have provision and protection. But there is coming a day. There is coming a day when Christ will appear in the heavens and he will shout with the sound of a trumpet, and his sheep will hear his voice and follow him to glory. I thank you for your kind attention. Give God all the honor and glory for anything.