Full Service | Sunday, February 21, 2021

[Music] good morning creekers it's good to see you the 8 o'clock crew let's all stand together chance to worship the lord [Music] are you guys peppy this morning all right that's what i want to hear uh you know we have so much to be thankful for and the bible says sing unto the lord and make a joyful noise and man this is a great way to break out the morning uh sing out with us clap along here we go oh i'm gonna sing and sing i'm gonna shout out shout out i'm gonna sing i'm gonna praise the lord i'm gonna sit by jesus i'm gonna sing [Music] [Music] this train is bound for glory all right all right good job okay here's what we're gonna do we're gonna break into three groups and here's how it's gonna work you guys over here you guys are with me we're gonna be the i'm gonna sing sing singers okay the center group the the massive group you're gonna sing with brooke because she's the most saintly one up here um she's gonna sing the saints and you guys still sing saints and then from here over you guys are gonna follow joey and you guys are the trains all right you carry out carry the train for us right on okay here we go let's start all together with i'm gonna sing six things then we'll break off into our groups here we go oh i'm gonna sing sing i'm gonna shout yeah i'm gonna sing all right here we go [Music] is [Music] ah [Music] [Music] so all right [Music] let's all sing what [Music] [Music] my [Music] me [Music] and [Music] [Music] hey [Music] on the internet [Music] bring me away take me up to your resurrection please bring me awake because i wanna feel your light on my face [Music] my [Music] bring me away take me up to your resurrection there's [Music] [Music] is i see oh thank you [Music] oh [Music] to face my [Applause] oh thank you god i see the lights no more darkness no foreign darkness [Applause] forever [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] you got thank you god i [Music] see [Music] [Applause] [Music] the emblem of suffering [Music] for a world [Music] till my trophies at last i lay down [Music] and i will cling to the old rugged cross [Music] i will ever be true it's shame and reproach [Applause] then he'll call me someday to my home far away where is glory forever [Music] until my trophies at last [Music] and exchange [Music] and exchange [Music] do [Music] so [Music] lord how thankful we are for the cross that you died on lord that we can remember that that great work was done for people that are the furthest away from you people that you had in mind lord even to the uttermost you saved those who would be willing to accept and believe the work of the cross and i pray that that would be the central theme this morning as we just continue to worship you as we continue to draw near to you i pray that that we'd know you and that we'd walk with you and that lord our love for you would be in place because lord we know you loved us so powerfully and so perfectly so i pray lord that you just continue to bless this congregation as we worship you and study your word lord this is an old hymn just a closer walk i remember when i was a kid we had dinner and the record player next to our table and um my mom always had old jimmy dean on the record singing just a closer walk with me and the hymns you know later on when i got older i realized jimmy dean was was not really that good of a guy like he was kind of maybe he was i maybe you knew the lord i don't know but later i kind of thought wow i think jimmy needed just a closer walk with the lord when i saw that just just you know not trying to be too judgey i guess but um but he sure sounded good when he sang this and i remember i've got fond memories from the song and just a closer walk with the lord that's that's what we need is to be close to him amen [Music] i am weak but thou art [Music] jesus keep me [Music] from [Music] let me walk close to thee just a closer walk with me [Music] it be lord let it be [Music] is [Music] safely [Music] just a closer [Music] is [Music] let it be walking close to the east [Music] let it [Music] be well we do thank you that you asked us to walk with you lord and today as we open your word would you show us what you have for us and in jesus name amen amen would you guys have a seat as we tune into some video announcements [Music] hey ap creek thank you so much for joining us we've got a couple quick announcements for you today yes we do ladies our monthly devoted live meeting is next saturday the 27th at 9 00 am obviously we will have coffee and donuts perhaps some tea as well but this is a wonderful chance to fellowship with like-minded women and learn together about what it means to be devoted to god's word you can register for free over on our website we sure hope you can join us and that's going to be a blast for the ladies and it's been such a blessing to watch athe grow over the past year and to see more people grow in their knowledge of the word as we study through the bible with that growth comes growing opportunities for volunteers we're always looking for people to serve in areas like our parking crew security team ticket taking or children's ministry just to name a few we'd also love to know if you'd like to volunteer with our front of house team which includes running sound lighting stage setup and tear down in lots of other areas now if you're wanting to volunteer but you don't think you have the skill set don't worry you don't need to be an experienced professional i mean seriously look at us so just go ahead visit our website to get started and with that let's grab our bibles and get ready to study god's word all right james and angela you guys are special did you hear what she said you don't have to be special they're special they are uh james and angela are you uh are you guys willing to uh jump in and help out we got all kinds of those opportunities and uh if you want to jump in you know there's a bunch of people that are discovering some of the fun things like in security team we've got a great crew there and they're they're getting stronger and better and more and more people and you know in these days we live we just it feels good having our security team watching and you know keeping the place safe and leading sean you know sean's just great at leading that team i had some police officers come and say man you guys you guys got sean jewell to be your security lead like he's been training law enforcement for years and uh military and all kinds of people and he's kind of our guy that's training it's really a great great thing to have sean and the team and and our video crew man they've been busy uh you know getting things online for people and it's just been really great so i'm really blessed for all the volunteers and coffee and parking and children's ministry and just tons of stuff so blessed by our volunteers hey let's uh let's get going we are going through the bible verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book and we're studying the book of jeremiah so once you grab your bible turn with me to jeremiah chapter 50. we're getting close to the end of jeremiah it's a long book i've mentioned it before but uh it's it depends on how you count it it's the second longest book in the bible psalms is first but there's a debate whether it's isaiah or jeremiah and the reason why is because isaiah has more you know chapters and verses but jeremiah has more words so it's a it's an interesting debate but uh long book and it's a heavy book but in the midst of the heaviness of this book i find all kinds of little gems of uh comfort and peace uh jeremiah's time they were troubling times and we see how they really do minister to us in the days that we're living so uh here we go jeremiah chapter 50. um have you ever noticed that um there's a tendency for us to sort of um look at animals for human characteristics uh did you see last week they were showing that dolphins uh more than they knew before have the same kind of personality as people and we already kind of knew that didn't they see flipper uh when they were kids i mean come on uh but they're just finding now that the way they think is more human-like than just about any other animal um but i remember you know over the years there's these personality tests you can take you can you know take the anemogram and find out what number you are uh you can you can before that you know there was the uh spirit-filled temperament the phlegmatic you know melancholy uh sanguine caloric uh different divisions of who are you i always felt bad for people you're you know melancholy uh i'm caloric i'm a i'm a leader and you're depressed all the time like it always labels people and it's kind of brutal um but so they tried to soften that by going with colors you're a red watch out um but you're a blue or you're a green you make me sick or whatever the the color thing didn't work either so then they went to animals do you remember the animals you're a lion or you're a horse or you're a frog like that again doesn't work but it is funny are linked to animals because even if you go you know and watch the nfl which i don't anymore because i'm busy on sundays and stuff like that plus it's too political but you know here's nfl players banging heads throwing tackles snapping bones but they liken themselves to animals have you noticed that let me show you you've got the you know detroit lions and the panthers and the jaguars and the and the you know broncos maybe one of your teams are there maybe not but we like to think of ourselves as lions or broncos or you know but i'm going to make a prediction about the nfl you guys ready mark this down this is a prophecy from pastor brett you will never see this animal on an nfl helmet the nfl lambs not gonna happen that's my prophecy uh i doubt that you'll ever see the the team the sheep i think it'd be hilarious uh you know give them pink uniforms a little sheep on their coke but if they were like tough as nails that'd be really great but uh you're not gonna see this why well because uh sheep are not the the animal we really want to associate with but isn't it funny that of all the animals that god had made the one that he compares you and me to all the time cover to cover in the bible as we're compared to sheep you know we'd like to think of ourselves as panthers or jaguars or lions or or broncos but nope the lord says guess what gang your your sheep me past the cud you know here it comes and there's good and bad with the whole sheep thing uh and we're going to look at this idea of the sheep today as we look at jeremiah chapter 50 uh verse 6. let's take a read of the single verse we'll look at these chapters on wednesday night in their entirety every verse but i just want to show you this little thing that jeremiah says toward the end of his book here about the people of the lord jeremiah 50 verse 6 it says my people have been lost sheep their shepherds have caused them to go astray they have turned them away on the mountains they have gone from mountain to hill they have forgotten their resting place one more time let's read it think through this my people have been lost sheep their shepherds have caused them to go astray they have turned them away on the mountains they have gone from mountain to hill they have forgotten their resting place we'll kind of work through this verse in detail here in a minute but let's consider this idea of you and me in the bible being called and the people of god being called sheep um where does the bible say this about us well you know maybe some of the more famous passages are like this one in isaiah 53 6 all we like sheep have gone astray we've turned everyone to his own way and the lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all um you know again it sort of matches our verse in jeremiah 50 verse 6 where it says you know the the people have gone astray they've been lost sheep the the bible says and here it says in jeremiah that it's the false shepherds that led them astray but all we like sheep not not most of us all of us have gone astray we've turned everyone to his own way and the lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all now this starts to get interesting when we compare what the lord has done and who he laid our iniquity on do you remember when john the baptist saw jesus there as he was coming to the jordan river john the baptist said behold the lamb of god that takes away the sin of the world isn't it interesting that god became and you know forgive me but a sheep why is he called the lamb of god well all through the bible it would be a sheep or a lamb which is kind of speaking of us because we're all sheep so god became a lamb so that he could be sacrificed for us we're the lambs we're the sheep that should have been sacrificed because we've just been evil and wicked um and because of that evil wickedness man the lord jesus came the lamb who would we'll talk about this in a second is the shepherd also what an interesting thing and there's some interesting tie-ins in the bible you see the bible says so much about sheep lambs and shepherds and us that it's actually dizzying how much the bible talks about this but i want to kind of dive into this a little bit because i think it's important for us to understand our relationship why does god call his sheep and who is your shepherd it's a good question to ask because i believe whether you know it or not you've got a shepherd the question is which one are you following and we'll take a look at that psalm 95 says more about this idea of the sheep in psalm 95 verses 6 and 7 it says oh 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 pastor and the sheep of his hand today if you will hear his voice interesting we are the people of his pastor and the sheep of his hand so the idea is we need to worship and bow down because of who he is we are the people of his it's it's his pasture it's his his hand that guides us he's the ultimate shepherd but then the question kind of is posed you know when you think about it uh you know people have been corrupted with sin and we're dumb sheep i i was a shepherd as a little boy i had a couple sheep in our little farm we had five or six sheep over the years and um and we had to take care of them and one thing that i did confirm sheep are dumb oh they're cuddly and cute but they're also really dumb uh and uh and and because of you know the stupidity of sheep and how sheep just go with the crowd you know that's that's an idiom of today if people say oh they're just a bunch of sheep if they say that that means you're just going with the crowd going with the flow did you see that video i showed on one of our prophecy updates a few months ago where they were in the doctor's office and there was a bunch of actors that were in there and as soon as there was a beep the actors would stand up in the waiting room and then they would sit back down and there would be one lady walked in and she saw everybody stand up so she started standing up well then they cleared all the actors out as if they were going to see the doctor and new people came in but the beep happened and then the lady that first walked in she kept standing up and so the other people who walked in also started standing up at the beep uh it was really it's really funny uh you know it just shows human nature we're all we like sheep we just follow each other did you know that there's documented evidence of sheep out in a little field chewing their cud having a nice day when a sound happens and kind of like a cat sheep just bolt but they bolt whatever direction everybody else is bolting and um there's there's documented accounts where sheep have just heard something and the the whole flock is just run right off a cliff in total terror that's human nature that's who we are that's why god says guess what i made a little critter that i'm going to compare you to for all of eternity that's what the lord says uh but but good news he's our god we are the people of his pastor and the sheep of his hand today if you will hear his voice if you don't hear his voice well that might be a different deal it's not just there but also in our in our text today uh and look later there in jeremiah chapter 50 verse 34. you might say well this is bad news because we're rebellious sinful sheeple jeremiah lets up the pressure a little bit in verse 34 where he says their redeemer is strong the lord of hosts is his name he shall thoroughly plead their cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of babylon you see in verse six he says the jews they had forgotten their resting place because they were doing other things following other shepherds worshipping pagan deities and pagan gods and so they had no resting place they had forgotten what it was like to feel rest but then the lord says i will plead your cause you know he'd make a case for you and and then that he may give rest to the land that that's that's something the lord says i'll give back to that rest and so this idea of the lord interceding or intervening on behalf of the people so that they might have rest this this is the jeremiah you know 50 verse 6 is the bad news [Music] jeremiah 50 verse 34 is sort of the good news that the lord is going to intervene for them i love that um and so isaiah chapter 40. another uh you know beautiful scripture about you know the shepherd and us the being sheep isaiah 40 11 he shall feed his flock like a shepherd he shall gather the lambs in his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young man he carries us close to his heart his people he'll feed his flock like a shepherd i love that so what happens here as we look at this idea of sheep and the shepherd and the good shepherd versus maybe a false shepherd what are some of the things we need to know as we dive into this topic well we learn a lot of the just the basic truth in the new testament i want to show you something here today you know and we do this a lot here at 8th grade because we go verse by verse through the bible we like to bounce back and forth and take a look but the new testament gives us revelation while the old testament gives us illustration it's like the new testament is a bunch of truth and doctrine but the old testament shows us illustrations through the people and the stories of the ancient times and you know some people try to read the bible they don't see the two fitting together and so they you'll hear people say i just don't get the bible it's boring or doesn't it's because they haven't connected the dots the old testament stories illustrate new testament truths beautifully so i'm going to show you as it comes to sheep and the shepherd i want to show you the new testament that gives us revelation of who he is and then we'll show you the old testament illustration of what he does as the shepherd okay so let's dive into this you can maybe jot some of these things down first of all the new testament gives revelation of who he is the the good shepherd the great shepherd the chief shepherd we're going to take a look at this who is this good shepherd well jot these scriptures down number one the bible tells us that jesus is the good shepherd in john 10 11 he says for i am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep now now follow with me here why is he a good shepherd because he gives his life for the sheep a bad shepherd does not give his life for the sheep in fact jesus warned about shepherds that were just hirelings he called them hirelings what's a hireling a person who's in it for the money alone and he won't he's not in for laying his life down for a flock you know it'd be like you know uh you being a shepherd and as soon as a a lion comes by you'd say i'm out of here bon appetit mr lyon you know have some lamb chops because who cares i'm out of here pure that's the hireling that jesus talked about when trouble comes that shepherd bales by the way david in the old testament is a great example of a good shepherd because even as a young kid he laid down his life in a sense why because he was guarding his father's flock and we know from the biblical account he killed both a lion and a bear like that's that's no small thing with a slingshot you know it's not like he had a 30 odd 6 or a 308 you know or something like that he he he you know 300 win mag he he he was there just kind of like would you run for your life or you think oh this rock god will do it'd be great lion and a bear like david was was an amazing shepherd he laid down his life in a sense put himself at risk well that's the shepherd that we have in jesus he's the good shepherd because he lays down his life for the sheep number two he's also called in the bible the great shepherd not just the good shepherd why question again quiz time why is he the good shepherd he laid down his life for the sheep but he's called the great shepherd because he rose from the grave check it out hebrews chapter 13 verse 20. now the god of peace that brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant the author of hebrews who i believe perhaps is the apostle paul but i don't know for sure that's my opinion but we don't know really for sure who the author is but hebrews nails a lot of this sheep stuff down for us and the shepherd you know you know idea and the one thing he says he's not just the good shepherd he's called the great shepherd because he rose from the grave the lord brought him again from the dead and boy i hope you understand as a christian that's the whole deal right there remember what paul said in the you know first corinthians he talked about he said oh man if jesus didn't rise up from the grave we of all men would be most miserable why because if jesus didn't rise from the dead we would we would have no verification that christianity has anything to do with truth it'd be just like all the other religions islam and you know um you know confuciusism confucianism or or taoism or or uh you know um you know these these buddhism these cults and things that say we are the true religion but i would ask what is it that proves your religion we as christians we we're the only ones who our founder jesus christ says listen you want a sign i'll show you a sign this is the one sign i'm going to show you if you destroy this body in three days i will raise it up from the dead like that's a that's an impossible test there's only a few people that claimed that would happen did you know harry houdini made that claim he said when i die i shall return and we're still waiting i don't think that's going to come to pass didn't happen but jesus made that claim well how do you know brett were you there back you know in the first century uh seeing the the resurrection of christ i wasn't there but you know if you're in a courtroom how many eyewitnesses do you need to start believing a story you know if you have one good eyewitness two is better how about 500 you see that's what the new testament tells us there were more than 500 people that saw jesus after he rose from the grave the the the truth is jesus dying on the cross and then resurrecting from the grave is one of the most provable facts in all of history and that's what really verifies your and my faith that jesus rose from the grave that's what makes him not just a good shepherd he's also the great shepherd well what does this resurrection have to do with me well did you know because he lives you and i get to live we'll talk about that of course coming up here on resurrection sunday just in a few weeks can you believe it spring is on the way uh it doesn't feel like that really but it's coming it's coming but uh good for us man he's called the the great shepherd because he's risen from the dead but the third thing that he's called there in the new testament is the chief shepherd he's not only the good shepherd question why is he the good shepherd he laid down his life for the sheep why is he called the great shepherd because he rose from the dead but he's called the chief shepherd because he's going to return he's coming back he's called the sheep chief shepherd first peter chapter 5 verse 4 and when the chief shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away man that's going to be glorious when christ comes the first time he came as a humble man and a lowly sheep if you would remember philippians chapter 2 says he he came and he made himself of no reputation he took upon himself the form of a servant and was in the likeness of men but when he comes the second time he's still going to be a shepherd but he's going to be the chief shepherd he's going to really be like when he rides in on a white horse you know in revelation chapter 19 it says he'll come and he'll say on his thigh king of kings and lord of lords man that's going to be a powerful thing to see and he's coming back and we get to receive those that follow him those that are his sheep and the people of his pastor we get to get that crown of glory that fades not away man so many of the other glory things that we have in this world it fades away so you got the blue ribbon when you're in second grade big deal now we can barely walk now and you could run then like if it all fades but the crown of glory guess what that will never fade away the crown of glory that comes from the chief shepherd so we've looked here just at the new testament it gives us revelation about the shepherd he's the good shepherd because he gives his life for the sheep he's the great shepherd because he rose from the grave and he's called the chief shepherd because he's returning he's coming back so that's just kind of a basic new testament revelation but let's talk about the old testament illustration um because that's where i think the old testament just comes to life and man i can spend all day talking about old testament pictures of the shepherd and the sheep but i'm going to give you some of my favorites and at first you might think i don't know if i see this brett but i think you'll see it if you stick with me the old testament you know illustration tells us what he does the new testament you know revelation tells us who he is the chief good you know great shepherd but then the old testament tells us what he does okay so let's take a look at that and let's take some of the pictures there in the old testament the first one i want to refer to is the good shepherd following these three things i want to show you an illustration of the good shepherd then i'll show you an illustration of the chief shepherd and of the great shepherd those three so first the good shepherd is pictured in the story of cain and abel now for you bible students one of the studies that helps you rightly divide and interpret scripture is called hermeneutics a fancy word that just means to rightly divide the word of truth like the bible says we're supposed to do and there's rules of biblical interpretation one is kind of an interesting rule that often times in the bible when something's first mentioned it's a very important thing you might think it's just something mentioned and like whatever but in the first mention in the old testament of things it's it's usually something that points to something even more powerful and that's what makes the bible really fun who's the first shepherd talked about in the bible anybody want to take a guess abel abel uh yeah um now uh uh how long did cain you know endure his brother the answer as long as he was able uh but anyway sorry sorry um so let's go there would you flip over to genesis chapter four i want to show you this little story this is one of those old testament stories that people read and go yeah okay whatever it's kind of a bummer the first murder that's the way they look at this the first murder in the bible it's a dark story of cain murdering his brother and it is but there's much more to it than meets the eye the bible is so great about that the layer upon layer upon layer that's what the bible is so in genesis chapter 4 it says verse 1 and adam knew eve his wife and she conceived and bear cain so she raised cain sorry i just had to say that sorry and said i have gotten a man from the lord and she again bear his brother abel and abel was a keeper of sheep there is the first shepherd in the bible but cain was a tiller of the ground and in the process of time it came to pass that cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the lord and abel he also brought of the first things of his flock and the fat thereof and the lord had respect unto abel and to his offering but unto cain and to his offering he had not respect and cain was very roth and his countenance fell in other words he was pouting verse 6 and the lord said to cain why are thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen if thou doest well thou shalt not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lies at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him and cain talked with abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that cain rose up against abel his brother and slew him and the lord said unto cain where is abel thy brother question did the lord lose abel what what happened to abel there's only four people on the planet let's see adam eve kingdom what happened abel no this is the classic thing where the lord he's he's giving an opportunity for some confession here remember when adam and eve sinned in the garden then they hid themselves the lord said where are you the lord didn't lose the two people on the earth there uh he wanted them to say we're hiding because we've sinned it's a confession moment so he says where's your brother abel and this is really telling he uh you know cain says i know not am i my brother's keeper am i supposed to take care of my brother well by the way the answer is yes but that's a different lesson verse 10 and he said what has thou done the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground and now thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength a fugitive and a vagabond shall thou be in the earth and cain said unto the lord my punishment is greater than i can bear interesting story now you say okay brett so that's just the first murder and and uh what's the deal with the sacrifice and why did god accept abel's over cain's and what's the deal there well the point is this um abel's sacrifice was legit keynes was not i'll tell you why cain gave a bunch of vegetables and abel gave meat and vegetables are not of god and meat is of god um wait a minute sorry that's i'm sorry that's not true i'm a false teacher in that particular point no but what is interesting when it comes to sacrifice unto the lord it was always blood sacrifice remember what the bible says ultimately and i know the world is early with cain and abel but the lord still was dealing with sin remember when when cain brought his offering of vegetables the lord said well if it's good i'll accept it but if it's not you're still there's sin at the door he says the vegetables would never satisfy the repercussion of sin and without the shedding of blood there is what no remission of sin so when abel gives his blood sacrifice of a lamb and gives it to the lord the lord says that's that's it that's the one cain well his was the work of his own hands the tilling of the soil it says here and he did it on his own and there's people still trying to be saved like cain saying i can do it i'm a good enough person my good deeds hopefully will outweigh my bad and maybe i'll get to heaven that way no that's not an acceptable sacrifice there's only one sacrifice that's legit and that is innocent blood being shed for the sinner so really this starts to picture a blood sacrifice pointing us to jesus who's the lamb that would be slain for the sins of the world this is introduction of that in the bible but did you notice what happened the blood was crying out from the ground did you hear that that's kind of creepy isn't it we got kind of a thriller moment here in the bible blood as the mouth of the earth swallows up the blood and then cries out what is the blood of abel crying out well as it turns out it's crying out condemned sinful murderer evil like like it's a condemning blood and that's what it says here if you kind of look at it it's kind of heavy it's that creepy section where it says the lord says the voice of thy brother's blood cries from me to the ground and now you are cursed what happened the blood was cursing if you would from the ground it says now thou are cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand bummer now i believe this is a great picture of the good shepherd why brett how i don't see it would you flip over to hebrews chapter 12 with me real quick again the book of hebrews uh talks a lot about the shepherd and the sheep and all this stuff hebrews chapter 12. this is where i love if you if you read your bible cover to cover you start to see these dots connected don't be bummed by the way if you don't catch all this in the first week this is what makes the bible fun to study for the rest of your life the more i study the bible the more i realize wow i don't know anything and it really is exciting you know here i've been reading the bible since i was a little kid and i feel like i've barely scratched the surface of all the amazing things in the bible but here's one of those little amazing things that starts to connect dots in hebrews chapter 12 verse 24. it says and to jesus the mediator of the new covenant remember we went over that a couple weeks ago the new covenant um jeremiah 31 we talked about that very important jesus is the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of abel see that thou refuse not him that speaketh huh do you understand here this this is amazing it says here that there's something that speaks better than abel what did abel say in his life does anybody have a record of what abel said well the answer is nothing abel said nothing so how is abel speaking well as it says here it says the lord jesus is the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of evil what was what was abel's blood speaking guilty condemnation sinfulness murderer that was abel's blood but our good shepherd jesus the messiah his blood was shed and what does his blood speak of well it says here it speaks of better things what does the blood of jesus cry out to you and me see cain was guilty against the shepherd abel and he killed the shepherd you and i are guilty against the shepherd jesus and our sins killed our shepherd on the cross that's what our sins did but the blood of abel cries out to cain condemnation guilt and sin but the blood of jesus cries out salvation redemption propitiation justification mercy grace the blood of jesus cries out far better things than that of abel that's what the author of hebrews is telling us do you understand you and i deserve to be cursed like abel or a pardon me like king but we because our shepherd not like abel abel wasn't perfect our shepherd was a perfect shepherd he's the good shepherd the great shepherd the chief shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep so that when his blood cries out it cries out innocent forgiven cleansed merciful i love that about our lord um also first peter check this out you could either turn there or just jot it down in your notes but first peter chapter 2 let me read you verse 21 through 25. this is great stuff about sheep and redemption and all this first peter 2 21 for even hereto ye were you called because christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled or hated he reviled not again he didn't hate back and when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously who his own self bear our sins on his own body on the tree that is the cross that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you are healed you know the whippings on his back you're healed four verse 25 you were as sheep going astray but now you've returned unto the shepherd the bishop of your souls the word bishop there is the greek word episcopal which means overseer you and i as sinners when we turn to the good shepherd and say we want you to lead us be our shepherd we want to be the people of your pasture then the lord says i'll take you and guess what you're now from being those who have gone astray you're coming back under shepherding of the bishop of your soul the overseer of your soul did you know that your soul in the new testament whenever you say that word soul the the greek word there is psyche that's where we get our word psych psychology and all that stuff it's the inner part of you that thinks and feels and who's the shepherd of your soul it's not dr sigmund freud as it turns out it's jesus our good shepherd who wants to be the overseer of your soul you know that's why david who had trouble in his soul all the time he said oh why are thou cast down oh my soul hope thou in god the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he the good shepherd makes me to lie down you know in green pastures and and besides still waters he is the one who restores my soul the psalmist said about the shepherd too many people have gone to too many other shepherds fall shepherds to help their soul their mind their psyche and they still find themselves frustrated but we have the ultimate answer we've got the good shepherd so we see pictured in the old testament first the good shepherd in the story of you know cain and abel were able in a sense he was the shepherd that laid down his life he was killed but his blood cried out condemnation but the blood of our shepherd cries out mercy and forgiveness the second picture i want to show you is that of the great shepherd the great shepherd is pictured in joseph genesis 37 through 50. uh we won't read all of that because it's a fairly lengthy section of scripture you can read it today when you get home it's a great story and hopefully most of you are familiar with the story of joseph you know the code of many colors the brothers and all this but did you know that that story of joseph is this profound and powerful picture of jesus christ you know it's funny that joseph was favored among his brethren was jesus favored among his father by his father and among his brothers who were jesus's brothers anybody the jews israel and jesus was favored above them remember when jesus was baptized pardon me remember when jesus baptized the the dove came down from heaven and holy spirit and the lord said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and the jews said we don't like him we will not have this man rule over us they despised him and rejected him you know jacob sent joseph to go seek out his brothers remember his brothers were in dothan and he said go seek out your brothers and so so he went and sought out his brothers just like jesus was sent by the father to seek and save you and me but when jesus found his brothers when joseph found his brothers joseph's brothers hated him and despised and rejected him and said let's kill him and when jesus sought out his brothers they said crucify him so they took joseph and threw him in a pit and left him for dead with jesus they slew him on the cross and threw him in a tomb and left him for dead but the picture's interesting with jacob and joseph and the brothers because remember reuben and the brother said man maybe we shouldn't murder our brother let's pull him out of the pit and we'll sell him as a slave and make some cash so before joseph dies in the pit they pull him out and they sell them to a bunch of ishmaelites they're on their way to egypt as a slave and they take his coat and they stain it with some wild blood goat's blood and they they show it to jacob said yeah sorry dad joseph got killed by a wild beast and they were the ones who were really guilty in the same way jesus was put in the tomb left for dead but jesus would rise from the grave unbeknownst to the jews in his plan but what's even more amazing the story continues do you remember you know joseph was exonerated he was taken from egypt as a slave and a prisoner and eventually he becomes the second most powerful man in the world only under pharaoh what an amazing story but even in the same way jesus christ who is the servant of all and died on the cross he will return and he will become powerful you say the second most powerful well in a sense it's it's like remember jesus said i always do the will of my father interesting and so remember the brothers why did they come to egypt again years and years later because they were starving and dying famine and they came to egypt where they heard about this man who was in charge and he had all this food down there it was joseph but they didn't know it and they come and see joseph but they don't recognize him why well by this time joseph is speaking fluent egyptian so he's walking like an egyptian talking like an egyptian he's probably shaved bald like you know you'll bring her and wearing the you know the gold and stuff so the brothers they don't even recognize them it's been years and they all bow down and they say help us and there's a lot more to the story where he tested them and stuff but ultimately what did he do he intervened he interceded on behalf of them and saved them and gave them food and gave them a place to live and put them in a safe place and they lived in rest and prosperity those brothers did for the rest of their lives even though they sinned against joseph joseph sought them out saved them interceded on behalf of them it's an amazing picture by the way they didn't recognize joseph did the jews recognize jesus the answer is no they didn't recognize him as the messiah why because they thought he was worldly they said he doesn't keep the law like us jews he's picking corn on the sabbath day he's breaking law now jesus never was breaking the law those were the traditions that they added two years later in the mishnah and other places where they they added and sort of clamped down some of the rules but jesus never broke law but they accused him of being a worldling egypt is a type of the world and joseph's brothers they say he's not one of us he's an egyptian dude that's what they thought of jesus like the correlation i'm only giving you like the high points there's a million other great things about the story of joseph but the point is about you know you know this this picture of jesus the great shepherd pictured in joseph is we see that you know even as joseph was sort of resurrected and became powerful and the ruler of the land so too jesus raised up from the dead as the great shepherd and lives what did jesus come to do he came to make intercession on our behalf there's some scriptures i want you to maybe jot down for example hebrews 7 25 wherefore he jesus is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto god by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them just like joseph made intercession for his brothers and saved them that's what jesus our messiah does i love the picture of the old testament it just comes to life as we see the story of joseph as little kids if you were like me growing up in sunday school you loved the story of joseph why it was just the ultimate great story of a guy who was wronged on every level but then he it was made right and he became powerful and instead of getting vengeance he showed compassion and forgiveness and love it's an amazing story but guess what it's our story only guess who we are in the story we're the ugly brothers we're the sinful wretched miserable brothers that deserve death and destruction but because are better than joseph jesus our good shepherd our great shepherd he rises up from the dead and he ever lives to make intercession for you and for me i love our messiah i love our great shepherd but there's a third and final picture i want to show you and that is the chief shepherd pictured in moses what an amazing story that is and you guys again i'm hoping that you kind of know that story but if not you can always read the whole book of exodus it's a great story it'll just take you half a day it's great um but uh you know think about the story 40 years in the wilderness was apparently in the desert first uh pardon me in egypt then he went to the desert so 80 years of his life the first 40 years in egypt and and josephus the ancient historian from the first century talks about moses his role there in egypt and he says he was raised like the bible says as the prince of egypt under pharaoh's daughter but even josephus talks about how he was a war hero by the age of 20. that you know moses conquered many countries and lands including ethiopia and brought great wealth into egypt and like by the time he was 20 he was living large in the palace he was next in line to be the next pharaoh but then what did moses do he he forsook egypt and he traded the glory of the palace for the backside of the desert now let me explain something this is something that um hieroglyphics and egyptian writings and stones that they found tell us did you know that the egyptians we know what their most hated despised low-life job was it was to be a shepherd a shepherd was in the egyptian mind that was like for the lowest of the low that's why they usually had slaves do it what are our low jobs i mean i think about jobs people have i think oh man i don't know if i want that job like like my uncle when he was in college he had a job that i think of about when i think of the worst jobs people could have his job was in the summer during his college years my uncle was a pastor now by the way he uh he was down in san diego and he would he would you know they'd dress them up in this like toxic suit like an intel type suit and they'd lower him into these huge tanks by the the um the docks because these big military ships and stuff would come in and load their sewage raw sewage and these huge tanks like the tanks that are like you know almost as big as this room huge and and um the problem is you know in that 80 to 90 degrees you know san diego weather those tanks would get like 130 degrees and and it would just kind of be gross and so they had to pressure wash inside those tanks once in a while and that was his job they put a suit on him lower them in there with a rope and just leave them in there all day and just be there and you see the the debris if you know what i mean would sort of um harden there on the sides and like concrete he had to kind of just go in there and and it was like 130 degrees in there spraying that stuff all day and i'm sure he got paid minimum wage which young people that was probably about two dollars and fifty cents at the time an hour uh that's a horrible job but isn't it funny that you know the egyptians that the worst job in the world is to be a shepherd so what does moses do this is amazing this kind of speaks to the parallel moses who was in the palace decided to not live in the palace but chose to be a shepherd in the backside of the desert with the people of the midianites what an amazing thing how do i know that well again the book of hebrews check it out in the hall of faith of hebrews chapter 11 verses 24 through 27 it says by faith moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter by the way the word the there is in your bible in italics because um it was more of a title he refused to be called son of pharaoh's daughter it was a title of being the prince choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of christ greater issues than the treasures in egypt for he had respect under the recompense of the reward by faith he forsook egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who's invisible you see here we see that moses forsook the palace of egypt to become a shepherd what did jesus do for you and me he if you would god became a man that's what the bible says he's called emmanuel god with us so god became a man moses became a shepherd god became a man and and god when he became a man he became not only the shepherd but he also became the sheep as well how big of a step was it for god to step down from heaven in his glory and his fullness to become a man and live among us how big of a step is that i don't think we'll ever fully fathom that maybe when we get to heaven and we see god in all his glory and we'll say wow from god to humanity that was a massive massive step down um would it be a bigger step than like let's say god comes to you after church today you're feeling really encouraged man we've been worshiping and getting in the word and the lord on your way lord says hey uh i i really i have a job that i want you to do he just speaks to your heart and you say okay lord yes here am i lord send me lord well here's what i want you to do i need you to become a slug i'll turn you into a slug now you'd be uh wait wait a minute a slug lord you want me to be a slug why would you want that well see in the in the woods back up in you know um the tillamook forest over here there's a bunch of slugs and i love them but they hate me they don't listen they don't know me they just you know slime around and i need you to go tell them so suddenly you're a slug and there you are kind of oozing and and and you go to the woods there and you go to talk to those slugs now that's a big step down but you have to understand for you as a human to become a slug is not as big of a step as for god to become a man you have to understand this so there you are you go find the slugs in the tillamook forest and you say hey slugs and they say we hate you crucify that slug and they start pouring salt on you and there you are bubbling and gooeying and oohing and and you're in pain ah but the lord loves you slugs we don't care there's more salt and and they kill you um you say brett that's a horrible story i brought my grandma and you're talking about sewage tanks and slugs and well here's the thing do you understand jesus was god in the flesh god became in the beginning was the word the word was with god the word was god and the word became flesh and dwelt among us jesus came and not only was he living amongst but he was despised and rejected and he was crucified on the cross like for us to really fathom you know moses is a great picture really of the shepherd who would lead israel out of egypt into the promised land or at least to the border of the promised land and jesus is pictured there as well i think because jesus is the shepherd that leads us out of egypt he left his throne in heaven if you would and he became a man a huge step down and let us moses is i think a good reminder of what jesus did for us now we've been sort of thinking on and you know excited about who our shepherd is but now i need to kind of bring it full circle and take a look at our verse again jeremiah chapter 50 verse 6. would we take a look at that again in light of everything that we just looked at i want us to think about what these people are accused of and what is it that you and i need to be careful about it says here in jeremiah 50 verse 6 my people have been lost sheep their shepherds have caused them to go astray they have turned them away on the mountains they have gone from mountain to hill they have first they have forgotten their resting place how sad is it that the people of jeremiah's day they had god as their shepherd but they forsook him and they went for false shepherds by the way jeremiah would have been called a shepherd of the people because he was a prophet just like in the new testament did you know that pastors are supposed to be sort of under shepherds i would never presume to be called the good shepherd or a great shepherd or a chief shepherd because there's only one you can call good and that's jesus but as it turns out the word pastor if you look at the greek word it means feeder of the flock so i would say a pastor is supposed to be an undershepherd under jesus the problem is there's there's good ones and bad ones false ones and true ones and i believe in the days you and i live it's becoming more and more difficult you see jeremiah 50 verse 6 gives us three things that these people did that i think are good for us to think about today as jesus is our shepherd first of all we look and we see their false shepherds led them astray question are you a critical thinker when it comes to things of god man i hope you are i hope that you don't just listen to a teaching that i give and go well brett said it so it must be true that'd be horrifying to me i always say this and people don't believe me but it's true i don't even believe everything i say like i'll teach things and i'll think man i don't know be careful your favorite podcast or your favorite you know uh woman ministry podcast person or you know be careful there's all kinds of shepherds out there the question are they good shepherds or un good undershepherds or are they bad under shepherds do you remember what was going on during the time of jeremiah jeremiah was the only prophet telling the truth all the other prophets were telling lies ah it's gonna be awesome things are great the babylonians are just a flying fancy they'll be gone in a few weeks no big deal and jeremiah's like no that's not true they're gonna crush jerusalem and we're all gonna be killed or taken into captivity repent from your sins and follow god but nobody listened to jeremiah one not one person listened to the right guy but they sure listened to the false shepherds that led them astray that's what jeremiah is saying and i believe today we have to be ever so careful to search the scriptures to see what's being said as true or false like the bereans acts 17 11. make sure that you're listening to what the bible says you know paul said be like the bereans and search the scriptures daily to see if what that person that pastor teacher prophet whatever whatever they're saying make sure it's coming from the bible you and i have the bible to measure everything that we say that's why i try my best to pack as much scripture into a teaching as i can i'll tell you why because everything i say that's the bible is absolutely true my opinion about the the nfl and if they're ever going to be a sheep that could that could come or go maybe not um but but as far as what the bible says man watch out for false shepherds there's plenty of examples today i can't believe how many churches are being sucked into an anti-biblical worldview when it comes to black lives matter that's just one example but black lives do matter of course they do what a crazy thing to think that they don't but the name black lives matter is an organization that's marxist anti-god anti-family pro-you know lgbtq totally everything that kind of stands against the bible the bible is into the family unit as mother and father and children black lives matter stands vehemently against that they used to have it on their website until a while back they removed that from what we believe because it was inflammatory and they were losing money and support so they took that off but i believe as you look at it black lives matter has less to do with racism and more to do with a political agenda that is quite anti-biblical so am i against racism of course and everybody i know is radically against racism but it's amazing how they've sort of sucked in churches there's churches on their website promoting white fragility the book that's pretty much from the pit of hell why are churches putting this stuff out there like i i just marvel that many many people are listening to this and the reason that they're doing this are following these false shepherds who are teaching false things i'm not trying to be a jerk but i'm sure jeremiah felt like that too but beware that's what this verse does for me beware of their false shepherds that we're leading them astray number two lesson we're almost done they've gone from mountain to hill what does that mean in the context of sheep well i've been to the middle east a lot of times spent a lot of time there in the west bank and where these shepherds of this time were and the mountains were the place where the good stuff was that's where the good grass was growing the higher the mountain the better the grass you get out of the mountains and go to the hills suddenly you've got a bunch of dead weeds and if you go even further you're in the negev desert you end up with just dust it's that way today it was back there in jeremiah's day as well and what was happening was they went from the mountains of greatness and these false shepherds were leading the sheep astray and they were once eating plentifully and now they're going from mountain to hill less food less nutrition less nourishment i see us making that mistake as well we're trading good biblical topics for topics that are popular or relevant today instead of talking about jesus the good shepherd the great shepherd the chief shepherd it's a temptation to talk about how to balance your checkbook how to you know win victoriously in your you know your occupation or this or that they're all topics that are nice and good and fluffy and everything but are they biblical solid theology that we're getting are we going from mountains theology doctrine to the hills fluffy stuff that's not even that filling cotton candy that's what was happening in those days the sheep were hungry and they were led astray that's what jeremiah says finally lastly the third thing and they have forgotten their resting place they had forgotten what it felt like to have a place at rest what does it require what does a sheep require to be at rest as an old shepherd myself i know what do they need there's two main things sheep need number one is food which these sheep were long gone off the mountain so they were lacking for food but the second thing that she needs to be resting is protection you know security to know that they're safe and that's why sheep need a shepherd because they need to be protected from the wolves the lions and the tigers and bears oh my and so the shepherds were always there and at night time the shepherd would bring them into the sheepfold and remember in bible times the sheepfold was like a rock wall and then the shepherd would stand in the doorway of that to keep the predators or the thieves or whoever was wanting to mess with the sheep keep them out he was he was the door isn't it interesting in the shepherd chapter john chapter 10 and jesus said i am the door of the sheepfold i love that one of the i am statements i am the good shepherd but i am also the door of the sheepfold so that the enemy can't get into the sheep i love that jesus is our protection and because of his feeding and his protection guess what jesus is where you and i as sheep will find our greatest rest do you feel that you need to be restful have you forgotten your resting place because as far as i see it today we are a people who are lacking resting we have forgotten i think a lot of christians have forgotten their resting place they will not find rest with cnn and fox news wolf blitzer and sean hannity you will not find rest your soul there you will not find rest your soul at the bar with your bros and hanging out there that's not where real rest is found you will not find rest at cabo san lucas ask um who's the congressman cruz yeah asked ted cruz is that where he went cabo bad choice at this time while his state was suffering but um yeah you won't find rest there where do you find rest the true rest jesus said it best you know there in matthew 11 28 come unto me all ye that are laboring and heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light man our shepherd brings us to protection and food and because of that he's our resting place and i wonder if some of you old-timer christians here today you've lost your resting place because you don't look at the good shepherd like you once did maybe you've gotten to where you're so into politics now that you find your soul just constantly churning and struggling and and you need to just say you know there's a point where i need to kind of bail out of some of that and just go back to my good shepherd eat of his word and be protected through the good shepherd who's the door of the sheepfold and as you rest in christ did you know that the bible tells you to work at being restful it says that book of hebrews again says labor that you enter into his rest isn't that a funny thing it's like an oxymoron labor to rest jumbo shrimp microsoft works sorry that's not even a thing anymore is it um you see it's such a weird thing labor to rest if you're going to work at something the bible says work at this resting in christ letting jesus be the place where you find your rest not in all the other things people are trying to be rested in man i learned so much just from the single verse their false shepherds let them astray they've gone from mountain to hill and they've forgotten their resting place may the lord give us ears to hear that we look to and love on and follow after the good shepherd the great shepherd the chief shepherd amen amen let's pray i wonder if there might be just with an attitude of prayer and those of you that are christians just be in prayer right now is your head's bowed but i wonder if there's a couple of you like there were at the two services last night both services people who just said you know what i'm not sure i've ever been in the rest of christ i've never been in a place where jesus is my shepherd when the psalmist wrote psalm 23 he said the lord is my shepherd can you say that do you know if the lord is your shepherd because if you're not a christian he is not your shepherd you're still in your sins the bible says like cain and your guiltiness is being cried out by the blood of your sin if you would but i've got good news for you if you just say man i i'm a sinner and you repent of your sins repentance means to acknowledge your sin before god and say lord i have sinned against you i have done sinful things and i admit that and i repent of my sins change my mind about those things repentance by the way doesn't mean that you're perfect repentance means that you're perfectly forgiven when you acknowledge your sin to god and then you say this because the bible says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the lord jesus christ of god raised him from the dead it says you will be saved i love how easy it is for a person to accept christ and to become a believer and have your sins forgiven and have the future in the hope of heaven it's so easy because jesus did all the work that's that's the thing anyone who will accept the work of jesus on the cross will be saved by his grace through faith not of your works lest any man should boast not of yourselves it says so if that's you and you're saying brad i i don't know if i've ever accepted christ but today i want to follow jesus and believe and be forgiven of my sins man then the blood of jesus will cry from the ground and say forgiven no more condemnation no more guilt that burden would be lifted off your shoulders and you're free to go from this place and you don't have to be tangled up in sin anymore you don't have to go and do those things that are wrong and contrary to god and even when you do because we do we still sin and make mistakes the lord is faithful if you just confess that sin the lord is faithful just forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness that's what the bible teaches so if that's you would you acknowledge that between you me and the lord right now and just say brett i want to accept christ today would you just lift your hand so i can see you uh i'll just acknowledge you and then we'll finish up the service let me look around for a second if you're online by the way i know we have a bunch of you out there if you're one to raise your hands and bread i want to be seen uh you can you can text us there's a number there you just text and say i'm a new believer today and if you text that all no we're not gonna you know track you down or keep your information or do anything like that cool i see you right there that's awesome good let me just look around for a minute don't let me miss this if you want to accept jesus man this is your time this is your moment good awesome over there okay cool good right there awesome good choice i've never ever regretted accepting jesus it's the greatest thing by the god god's grace and the greatest thing i've ever done is to become a believer in jesus i'm going to pray this prayer of confession and i'm going to ask the whole church family would you guys pray this out loud all of us together with these three or four who are saying yes this morning and um and maybe with those online just say this out loud to the lord and he'll hear this prayer confession dear father in heaven i believe in your son jesus i believe that he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose up from the grave and then i'm forgiven me to walk with you thank you for saving me in the name of jesus christ and lord how i pray blessing upon these people who just confessed you lord people who have just raised their hands the lord i know that it seems so simple and such a small thing but this morning we acknowledge what a huge magnanimous thing you've done for humanity dying on the cross for our sins for these who accepted you today lord i pray that you just show them your love and your forgiveness just somehow lord reveal to them the forgiveness that the burden of sin is no longer on their shoulders but they're forgiven and saved by your goodness and like we prayed lord i pray you'd help them to walk with you and and find a good church to plug into and be linked up with other brothers and sisters and taught in the things of scripture lord may they hunger and thirst after righteousness just bless them we pray and lord for all the believers in here as we have taken this time to look at what your scriptures say about shepherd lord i pray that we'd appreciate and be rejoicing today more and more in jesus name amen let's stand together

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 6,485

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: RxoNtaUeKw8

Length: 85min 57sec (5157 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021