I find it helpful, both in my personal life and in our family's life, as well as in my
role as a pastor of this church, to step back and to take stock of where we've been in
the past and where we're going in the future.
And for me, the new year is often a time when I do that.
Over the last two weeks, I've had some time to reflect, and I wanted to begin this morning
by sharing some reflections on where I think we are as a church.
Just in the last six months, the Lord has done some wonderful and exciting things in
this church.
Let me just highlight three areas.
First of all, the church plant in New London that we are praying and working towards.
It's been a particular encouragement for me, working with this group of believers from New
London.
Every time I go out there, there are new people who I haven't met before who are joining their
Bible studies and coming to our church plant prayer meetings and discussion meetings.
Friends and co-workers that people have been praying for for months or years have come to
faith in Jesus and are beginning to walk with Him.
In December, they had 40 people come to their monthly co-ed Bible study.
God is doing some wonderful things, and it's exciting for us to be a part of helping a new
movement and laying the foundation for what we pray will ultimately be a new church.
Second, our church's mission to New Haven.
I believe that God is shaping us into a church that is increasingly international.
If you just look around the room on almost any Sunday morning, even today, you can see people
from all over the world, literally.
And this is who we are as a church.
And God has been putting it on people's hearts to be welcoming people from all over the world
and finding ways to introduce them to Jesus, whom we love, whom we love so dearly.
At the same time, I believe that God is also shaping us into a church with a heart for our city,
including the many in our city who are broken and hurting and needy.
And we, too, recognize our own brokenness and our hurt and our neediness as well.
But some of us have been thinking and praying about starting a Christian addiction recovery group.
And that's something that we've been praying and discussing about.
There's a small group of people who have started meeting and praying about starting a Christian
health clinic to provide holistic Christian-based care to people who need it.
God is bringing people to this church.
Some of you here aren't just people from all other parts of the world who have come to New Haven,
but people who have been born and raised here.
Or maybe even more miraculously, people who have come here from other places and don't have
any plans to leave.
And we praise God that God is giving us a heart for the city that he's put us in.
Third, within our church family, we have had an explosion of new life.
We have had 11 new babies in the last six months.
Six in December alone.
Now, that's a record.
And so for that reason and others, we're considering our building space needs.
How we can best use and adapt the space that we do have.
Whether we need to build more space somehow for children's ministry and for multi-purpose
meeting spaces and things like that.
We've also celebrated several baptisms during the past year.
Testimonies to the work of God's Spirit and bringing people to new life in Jesus.
And those are always awesome opportunities.
And there are other people who are interested in baptism and we're talking with them and
preparing them so we can look forward to more.
So it is an exciting time to be part of this church.
At the same time, the last six months, for me at least, have been one of the most difficult
and stressful times in our church.
Many of you have been facing and are facing personal trials.
Whether it's grieving the death of a loved one who's passed away or caring for a child who's
not doing well or struggling in a difficult marriage or trying to survive financially or
simply being wearied by the constant fast pace and the onslaught of life.
Every week at our staff meeting, we pray for a list of people who are sick or recovering
from illness.
And as the list continues to grow, the list continues to grow.
But you know, we're not just a list of individuals who are facing our own struggles.
We're a body of believers knit together in Jesus Christ.
And so when we're a body, when one person is sorrowful, when one part is hurting, we all
share in that hurt and that sorrow.
For many of us, our hearts have been particularly burdened for Pastor Matt and Brandy.
As Brandy's cancer continues to spread throughout her body and recently causing her much pain.
We weep with them.
We pray that God would do a miracle even as we face the reality that we are not in control
of our life or our death.
We face not only trials, physical and emotional, but also spiritual temptation.
And the devil in our trial seeks to exaggerate our sinful tendencies, to drive us to anger
and anxiety and despair, or to sow discord among brothers and sisters in Christ, or to distract
and confuse us in a bunch of different ways.
And over the last six months, I've been more acutely aware of the reality that every day
we are in a spiritual battle, that we do have an enemy who wants to steal and kill and destroy,
who wants to divide, frustrate and discourage us.
And as I look ahead into this new year, I don't see an easy solution.
I don't see a quick fix to our trials and temptations.
There's a long road ahead.
None of us can see exactly where it will lead.
And so at the same time, I believe this is a very exciting time to be part of this church
that God's brought us together for this purpose.
And yet, it's a hard and difficult time at the same time.
And I don't know how you're feeling individually and in your own families.
You may be feeling one or both of those as well.
But what I want to look at this morning is what we need to know in order to face whatever
may come in this new year.
For our text this morning, I've chosen Psalm 23.
You can turn there in the Bible.
It's page 458 in the Pew Bibles if you're looking at one of those.
It's probably one of the most famous passages in the Bible.
But it's a wonderful passage.
It's well known for good reason.
Now, since it's a psalm, psalms are designed for corporate worship and prayer.
I'd like us to read it responsibly.
We don't usually do this, but I'm going to read verse 1.
Then you can respond with verse 2.
Then I'll read verse 3 and so on.
So Psalm 23.
Let's read together.
The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
For you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen.
Now this is a very rich psalm.
We could approach it from several angles.
We could do a biographical study of the life of David and how God called him to be a shepherd of Israel.
We could do a cultural background study of shepherds in the ancient Near East and what light that sheds on this passage.
We could do a literary study of the grammar and the rhythm and the parallelism of the psalm.
And all of those approaches could be fruitful in their own way.
But today I want to focus on one thing.
I want to focus on how Jesus lived out this psalm.
And what it looks like for us to know and follow Jesus as our good shepherd today.
And in particular I want to look at three pictures of how Jesus is this kind of shepherd.
This shepherd that is described in this psalm.
From three parts, three incidents in Jesus' life on earth.
So the first thing I want to look at is how Jesus feeds us through his word.
And we see this particularly in the New Testament in the feeding of the 5,000.
But verses 1 and 2, it says,
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
Now in the New Testament, there's this story of Jesus feeding this group of 5,000 people.
Actually it's more than that.
5,000 men plus women and children in the wilderness.
And in that passage, before he feeds them with bread and fish, it says that Jesus saw,
Mark 6, 34 says,
Jesus saw that the people were like sheep without a shepherd.
And so he began teaching them many things.
In other words, Jesus recognized that their greatest need was a spiritual need
that could be met by his word, by his teaching.
They were people who were confused.
They were insecure.
They were prone to latch on to anyone who would come their way promising a better life.
And so Jesus taught them with his word all day until the evening.
Now, of course, by the evening time, they were hungry.
And so that's where the food comes in.
Jesus not only feeds them with his word, he also feeds them dinner.
It says he made them sit down on the green grass.
There's actually not many places in the New Testament where the grass is described as green
or where colors are used in the Gospels.
But it's one of the few places that points it out.
You see, Jesus is living out this good shepherd who makes his sheep lie down in green pastures.
And then at the end it says he fed them until they ate and were satisfied.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
In other words, I'm satisfied.
I have everything I need.
You know, I'm told that usually sheep don't lie down if they're hungry or if they're afraid.
They lie down only when they're satisfied and secure.
And that's what Jesus does for us.
He makes us satisfied and secure.
He feeds and provides for us through his word.
Now we think of that story in terms of the food that he fed them, but he spent all day teaching them.
He fed them with his word.
And Jesus feeds us today in the same way.
He sees us.
And like the crowds back then, he sees that we too, apart from him, are like sheep without a shepherd.
And so he comes to teach us many things.
To generously give us his wisdom so that we can feed on him and lay down and rest.
So as we seek to move forward in planting a church in New London,
in coming alongside those who are needy in our city,
in sharing the gospel with people from all over the world,
Jesus' word will sustain us, equip us, and direct us.
As we raise children and seek to live as godly families,
Jesus' word is what we need to be fed and sustained and satisfied.
And it's the same as we face trials and temptations.
As we face uncertainties and spiritual battles,
Jesus' word will comfort us, uphold us,
and keep our eyes fixed on our captain in the fight.
As we walk through the wilderness,
his word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path.
So brothers and sisters, may we sit at Jesus' feet this year and listen to him.
May we come together every Sunday
and every time we gather for small groups or Sunday school classes,
hungry for his word,
anticipating that God will meet with us and speak to us through his word.
May we fight to carve out the time to listen to Jesus' word personally and in our families.
Now, I know it's not easy.
I find it's a constant battle for me to carve out time alone with God
in reading the word and prayer.
It's a battle that I feel like I've never been able to say I've won it.
But it's always something that I'm in the middle of.
Because there are a thousand things in this world that call for our attention.
Think of all the things that call for your attention.
Text message alerts.
Crying toddlers.
Demanding bosses.
Unanswered emails.
Dirty dishes in the sink.
People asking you for help.
All kinds of things.
Good things.
Bad things and different things.
But hard as it may be, we must fight to carve out time to listen to God's word.
So that we can respond to all these other voices
and all these other requests and all these other invitations.
Not just frantically flying from one thing to another
and lurching in all different directions and getting nowhere,
but keeping our eyes on our shepherd
and following him as we respond to everything else that comes into our life.
And what does this look like?
Well, the challenge may look different for each one of you.
A year or two ago, I was talking to a medical resident.
And at that time, he was working literally 90 hours a week in the hospital.
Now, I know there's a law that says 80 hours a week,
but all the medical residents know that that law is not really followed.
And he was in a program that was actually exempt from that law.
So they could require him to work more than 80 hours a week.
He said, the only time I have during my day consistently to sit and think
is when I go to the bathroom.
And so he says, I make it a habit.
I have the Bible on my phone.
And I make it a habit to read the Bible on my phone in the hospital bathroom.
And so that while I'm in the middle of my work,
I can be filling my mind with God's word
and seeking to display the fruits of the spirit in my workplace
instead of falling into some of the negative patterns in my workplace.
Or historical example.
This is a little extreme as well.
But Susanna Wesley gave birth to 19 children in 19 years.
Nine of them died as infants.
But she had to raise 10 of them to adulthood.
She had a rocking chair where she would sit down
and pull her apron over her face
and she would tell her children not to bother her for a few minutes.
And she did this consistently so her children knew.
They knew the drill.
Mommy sits in her chair and puts her apron over her face.
It means she's praying.
And you don't bother her for a few minutes.
So even in the middle of being constantly pregnant
and raising that many children,
she fought to carve out time
to listen to the Lord and to be with Him.
Now, I don't know what it looks like for you.
Most of our life circumstances are not quite that extreme.
Most of us are not working 90 hours a week.
Most of us are not raising 10 children
or being caught pregnant for most of 19 years.
But it's worth the effort
to fight to carve out the time
to read and meditate on God's word,
whether that means getting up early in the morning,
spending time at night,
or setting a routine with your spouse
so that one of you can watch the kids
and the other one can have some time alone with the Lord.
If you need some structure,
there's Bible reading plans on the back table.
It's called More Precious Than Gold.
They're free.
You can pick up one of those
if that would help you to have some structure
in how you read through the Bible this year.
It gives some different tracks that you can follow.
If you've never had the habit of reading the Bible,
ask somebody else who you think might have
and say, how do you do it?
Could I join you maybe once a week
for your time reading the Bible and praying
just to do it with you?
That's how you learn these things
is by seeing other people doing them
and by trial and error yourself as well.
But, brothers and sisters,
let's spend time in the Word of God,
both individually and corporately.
Jesus feeds us and He meets us
and He satisfies us with the wisdom in His Word.
So that's the first way that Jesus is our Good Shepherd.
He feeds us through His Word.
But the second way that Jesus is our Good Shepherd
is that Jesus comes near to us with His presence
when we're overwhelmed and distressed.
And in the New Testament where we see this,
one place where we see this,
is in the story that comes right after
the feeding of the 5,000
in Matthew, Mark, and John.
Luke doesn't include it.
But in three of the four Gospels,
they finish this long day
where Jesus had been teaching them all day
and then He makes the disciples feed dinner
to all these guys,
5,000 guys.
Goodness, that's a big catering job.
And then He sends the disciples in a boat
across the lake
and He goes up the mountain to pray.
And so they were already tired before this.
They had a long day out in the hot desert sun.
Then they were feeding,
then they were the catering crew
for a 5,000 person dinner.
And now they're rowing across the lake
and they have a stiff headwind coming the wrong way.
And so they're rowing
for almost the whole night.
And then around 4 or 5 a.m.,
Jesus comes out to them
walking on the lake.
And they did exactly what you and I would do
if we were in that situation.
They totally freaked out.
And they think He's a ghost.
And He says,
Take heart.
It's me.
I am.
Don't be afraid.
And He gets into the boat
and immediately the wind dies down
and the waters become still.
Now, if you notice,
the 23rd Psalm
begins by talking about the Lord feeding us
and making us lie down in green pastures.
And the next verse says,
He leads me beside still waters.
In other words,
He brings peace
in the midst of chaos
and confusion
and overwhelming circumstances.
And verse 4 says,
Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death
or row through the middle of the night
on a dark lake
with the wind coming against me,
even there you are with me
and I will fear no evil.
So in this account,
and you can find it
at the end of Mark chapter 6
if you want to read it,
Jesus sends His disciples
across the lake
into the storm.
And we have to say
that Jesus knew
what they were facing.
Jesus wasn't surprised
by the storm
that they encountered.
He saw how it affected them
on the lake
as He was praying for them
on the hillside.
And you know,
sometimes Jesus calls us
to do hard things
and make sacrifices
for the sake of His mission
to seek and save
more lost sheep.
The disciples had spent
the whole day
in the hot sun.
And then Jesus had asked them
to feed dinner
to 5,000 men.
And then He had sent them
rowing all night in a boat
on a stormy lake.
They were exhausted.
Now we have some exciting
opportunities before us
as a church.
The opportunity to support
a new church plant.
The opportunity to introduce
people to Jesus
from all over the world.
To reach people in our city
who are broken and hurting.
To raise children.
To be godly men and women
in the family of the church.
But none of these things
are easy.
They all have a cost.
Of time and energy and money.
They call for humility and patience.
The word patience can be translated
long suffering.
Now sacrifice and humility
and patient endurance
may sound like noble
and lofty virtues.
But they don't always feel good.
When you're in the middle
of a stormy night
trying to row across a lake.
When you've been awakened
for the fourth time
in the night
with a sick child.
When you're trying to reach out
to a friend
who is in some trouble.
But the promise of Jesus
is this.
That when we walk with him.
That when we walk
in obedience to him
that he is never
far away from us.
He is always
interceding for us.
As Jesus was on the hillside
all night
while the disciples
were facing the storm
he was praying.
And he was praying for them.
You see even when
God seems most far away.
Even when we feel
exhausted.
overwhelmed by life
and far away from God.
When we've made sacrifices
to follow Jesus
and we don't
and we feel burned out.
Jesus comes near
to meet us.
And strengthen us.
And encourage us.
And give rest
to our weary souls
and bodies.
And to let us know
as he said to his disciples
it's me.
I'm here.
You're not alone.
This is how Jesus
is our good shepherd.
He comes near to us
with his presence.
And you know
sometimes Jesus
mercy
to weary disciples
comes in very concrete
tangible
material packages.
Like a good night's sleep.
Or a satisfying meal
cooked and delivered
by a friend.
or a solitary walk
through snow
covered woods.
Or an unexpected gift
when finances
are shorn.
Jesus feeds us
with his word.
We need to see that.
And in some way
that's a primary
and important
and essential.
But Jesus also
knows and cares
for our very
concrete
bodily
weaknesses.
when we're just
exhausted
and can't
and feel like
we can't
make it any longer.
He reassures us
sometimes in very
concrete ways
of his love
and his shepherding care.
There's a story
in the Old Testament
of the prophet Elijah.
And the prophet Elijah
had endured
an intense conflict
with the wicked
king Ahab
of Israel
and all his
prophets
of the false
god Baal.
And Queen Jezebel
hated him.
So she
vowed to kill him
and so Elijah
ran away
into the desert
and he just
crashed.
He had been
standing for God
and proclaiming
his word
amidst
intense opposition
and he finally
it just
got too much
for him.
He was exhausted.
He was burned out.
He was depressed.
He said,
Lord,
I don't want
to be a prophet
anymore.
I don't even
want to be alive
anymore.
It's enough.
Just
take my life.
And you know
what God said
to him?
God said,
you need some sleep.
Go to sleep.
So he slept
for a long time.
And then you know
what he did
when he was sleeping?
God sent an angel.
But the angel
didn't come with
a message.
The angel came
to cook him dinner.
And he said,
Elijah,
wake up.
Your dinner's ready.
Here you go.
Hot off the fire
with a glass
of cool water.
Then go to sleep
again.
Then the angel
came back
and cooked him
breakfast.
And then Elijah
took a long walk
for 40 days
and 40 nights
through the desert.
And after that
long walk,
he was finally
ready to hear
God's word.
Do you know
that sometimes
that's how broken
down we can get?
I don't know
if you've been there.
But sometimes
that's how broken
down we can get.
We're so exhausted.
We're so burned out
that we can hardly
hear the word of God
and find comfort
in it.
And Jesus
is very merciful.
He sends
his messengers
to cook us meals
and let us sleep.
You know,
sometimes the best way
to come alongside
someone who is
really suffering,
who's totally
overwhelmed,
who's fighting
a hard battle,
is not to go to them
and preach a sermon
or quote a long list
of Bible verses
or give them
lots of advice,
but to bring them
a meal
or bring them
a plate of cookies
or shovel their walk
without asking
or offer to babysit
their kids
for two hours
just so they can sleep
or so they can go
for a walk
in the woods
on a beautiful
snowy day.
If somebody offers
you a gift like that,
don't refuse it
out of pride.
You know,
sometimes we refuse
help from others
because we're proud
of being self-sufficient
and never needing
anything from anyone.
But you know,
as Christians,
in Jesus Christ,
we've all received
salvation,
which is a gift
that we can never deserve
and that we can never repay.
So don't be ashamed
to receive
much smaller gifts
from another person.
It's all part of Jesus,
your Good Shepherd's,
provision for you.
He's sending
someone your way
to let you know
that he sees you
and that he loves you
and that he's with you
and he hasn't abandoned you.
If you really don't need
what somebody else gives you,
pay it forward.
Right?
Find a way to give it
to somebody else.
Offer the same thing
to them.
Pass on the blessing.
Jesus feeds us with his word.
He comes to meet us
with his presence
in very tangible
and concrete ways.
And he says,
take heart.
I'm here.
Don't be afraid.
Finally,
the last thing we see
is that Jesus
pursues us
to shield us from danger
and bring us safely home.
Verse 3 says,
he restores my soul.
That word restores
means repairs
or it could mean
brings back.
In other words,
Jesus comes to bring us back
when we've wandered away,
to renew us
when we've,
when we're,
the flame is flickering low.
He leads us
in passive righteousness.
He prepares a table for us
in the midst of our enemies.
And verse 6 says,
surely goodness
and steadfast love
will follow me.
In other words,
that means
God's goodness
and steadfast love
in Jesus Christ
will chase us down
for the rest of our lives.
You see,
God doesn't merely respond
to our requests.
But he initiates with us
and he follows through
all the way to the end.
We see this in Jesus' life
most particularly
at the end of his life
and the events leading up
to his death on the cross.
Mark chapter 14,
verse 27 and 28,
Jesus said to his disciples,
he said,
you will all fall away
for it is written,
I will strike the shepherd
and the sheep
will be scattered.
But after I am raised up,
I will go before you
to Galilee.
In other words,
Jesus goes before us
in his death on the cross.
And he also goes before us
in his resurrection
from the dead.
In his death on the cross,
Jesus is the good shepherd
laying down his life
for the sheep.
And he goes before us
in his resurrection
when he takes up
his life again
as the triumphant victor
over death
and the grave.
Jesus has overcome
our greatest enemies
in his death
and resurrection.
He has overcome
the world
that seeks to allure us
with false hopes
and false promises.
He has rendered powerless
the devil,
the accuser
who seeks to condemn us.
He has defeated death
like no one else
ever has.
But Jesus has not only
defeated the world
and the devil
and death,
the enemies
outside of us,
he's also
conquered our sin.
Because you see,
sometimes we
are our own
worst enemy.
Sometimes our own worst,
sometimes our circumstances
are not our greatest enemy.
Other people
are not our greatest enemy.
Even Satan
may not be
our greatest enemy.
Sometimes it's
our own sinful nature.
Our self-destructive habits
that we get into.
Our pride
that we refuse
to let go of.
But you know what?
On the cross,
Jesus has conquered
even that.
He died
to free us
from the penalty
that we deserve
for our sin.
And he has placed
his Holy Spirit
within all
who believe in him
so that we can be free
from the power,
the enslaving power
of sin.
And he perseveres
with us to the end
until a day
when we will one day
be free
from any sin at all.
When we see him
face to face.
You see,
Jesus is our good shepherd
from beginning to end.
Who protects us
from our enemies
outside us
and our enemies
within us.
From our own
worst tendencies.
It says,
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You know,
as a shepherd,
part of the purpose
of a rod
is to beat off
predators,
bears,
and wolves
that want to come
and eat the sheep.
But part of the purpose
of a rod and the staff
is to keep the sheep
in line.
to discipline
the sheep.
To bring them out
of thorny bushes
that they've got
themselves in
and pull them out.
Apparently,
I've heard
that sometimes
a shepherd
will even
injure a sheep
temporarily
if that sheep
is prone
to wander away
into fatal danger
so that the injured
sheep would stay
with the flock
and stay with the shepherd
and therefore
be protected
even though
the sheep
is limping.
You see,
Jesus knows
the tendencies
that we have
to sabotage
ourselves
to...
Jesus knows
our own
worst tendencies
and he will
even shield us
by his grace
from those
as our good shepherd.
He has come
to shield us
from danger
and bring us
safely home.
So whether we're
going forth
boldly
in mission
for Jesus' sake
or whether we're
struggling through
trials and temptations
for Jesus' sake,
we can be confident
that Jesus,
our good shepherd,
has gone
before us
and that he
pursues us.
to shield us
from danger
and bring us
safely home.
And that is good news
that we can count on.
We can count on that
in life
and we can count on
that in death
that Jesus has gone
before us.
I want to close
with a verse
from the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul
went forth boldly
proclaiming Jesus
throughout the world
and the Apostle Paul
faced more trials
and temptations
than probably
almost any of us
will face
in our lifetime.
Fightings within,
fears without,
he says.
And when he was
sitting in a cold
Roman prison
facing the prospect
of almost certain death,
he wrote the book
of 2 Timothy,
which is probably
the last letter
that he wrote.
And in the book
of 2 Timothy,
he speaks confidently
about the promise
of life
in Christ Jesus,
the grace
given us
in Jesus
before the beginning
of time
and revealed
through the appearing
of Jesus
who destroyed death
and brought life
and immortality
to light.
And he says,
God has given us
a spirit
not of fear
but of power,
of love,
and of self-control.
So don't be ashamed
of the good news
of Jesus.
Go forth
and proclaim it
in season
and out of season
with great patience
and careful instruction.
He speaks confidently
but he also speaks
honestly
about the hardships
of living
as a follower
of Jesus.
He says,
Timothy,
the Christian life
is like being
a loyal soldier.
It's like being
a disciplined athlete.
It's like being
a hard-working farmer.
Not easy jobs.
Not stress-free life.
He says,
God has called us
to share in suffering
for the gospel
of Jesus.
He says,
some people
have abandoned
the faith.
They've swerved
from the truth.
They get caught
in quarrels
about words.
He says,
there will be
terrible times
in the latter days.
But he ends
this letter
with these words.
2 Timothy 4.18
The Lord
will rescue me
from every evil deed
and bring me safely
into his heavenly kingdom.
To him be the glory
forever and ever.
That was Paul's,
one of Paul's last words.
words.
Jesus,
my faithful shepherd,
will rescue me
from every evil attack,
every evil deed,
and he will bring me
safely home.
That's what we need to know
in this new year.
Let us pray.
A prayer for the new year.
O love beyond compare,
you are good
when you give
and when you take away.
When the sun shines upon me,
when the night
gathers over me.
You have loved me
before the foundation
of the world
and in love
you redeemed my soul.
You love me still
in spite of my hard heart,
my ingratitude,
my distrust.
Your goodness
has been with me
through another year,
leading me through
a twisting wilderness
in retreat,
helping me to advance
when beaten back,
making sure headway.
Your goodness
will be with me
in the year ahead.
I hoist,
sail,
and draw up anchor
with you
as the blessed pilot
of my future
as of my past.
I bless you
that you have veiled
my eyes
to the waters ahead.
If you have appointed
storms of tribulation,
you will be with me
in them.
If I have to pass
through tempests
of persecution
and temptation,
I shall not drown.
If I am to die,
I will see your face
the sooner.
If a painful end
is to be my lot,
grant me grace
that my faith fail not.
If I am to be cast aside
from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation.
Only glorify yourself
in me.
Whether in comfort
or trial
as a chosen vessel
always fit
for your use.
Amen.
Well, this morning
we come to the Lord's table.
To the table
of the shepherd
who laid down
his life
for us.
And in the Lord's supper,
Jesus has fed us
with his word
and he comes near to us
in a very concrete,
tangible,
physical way
through broken bread
and poured out juice.
Paul says,
the cup of blessing
that we bless,
is it not a participation
in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation
in the body of Christ?
In other words,
Jesus is present here
at this table,
in this fellowship,
by his Holy Spirit,
so that when we receive
the bread
and the cup,
we are assured
that Jesus' love for us
and Jesus' promise to us
in his death
and his resurrection
is just as real,
even more real,
than this piece of bread
and this cup of grape juice.
Jesus has prepared
his table for us.
So if you're here,
if you're a believer
in Jesus Christ,
if he is
your good shepherd
who laid down his life
for you on the cross
and rose again
three days later,
and if you are part
of his flock,
part of his church,
whether it's this church
or another local church,
take, eat, and drink
and be assured
of his love
for you today.
If you don't believe
in Jesus,
if you're still exploring
and working through things,
we're glad you're here today.
I hope that you'll see this
as an invitation
to consider
who Jesus is.
If you don't believe
in Jesus,
don't take the bread
and the cup,
just pass them by,
it's fine,
but just take this time
to consider
what it would mean
for you
to take Jesus
as your good shepherd.
You can even pray.
Say,
Jesus, take me.
I don't want to live
my life
for myself
anymore.
I want you
to be my shepherd.
I want to be yours
forever.
And he will hear
and answer that prayer.
For those who are
serving communion,
come to the front now.
John,
would you give thanks
for the bread?
Thank you.
Lord,
how precious
the words
of this psalm.
Thank you.