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| Rev. Brian Wilkie |
Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community
Rockland, Ontario
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 28th, 2016:
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Broadcast Notes:
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Welcome to Good News In the Morning...
a program of words and music bringing a Christian message of hope and encouragement to those who are looking for intelligent meaningful and spirited approach to faith and to life.
This program is sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries Post Office Box 184 Rideau Ferry Ontario K0G 1W0. I'm your host today, Brian Wilkie of St. Andrew's Christian church in Rockland. As always I want to start by thanking you our listeners. We are so grateful for your encouragement and support. Please remember that you can always visit our website for materials to encourage and support you in your Christian walk.
If you miss an episode of the show you can go to our website and download the podcast or the MP3 of our broadcast. Details can be found on our website www.gncm.ca
This morning our sponsor for the program is an individual Sandy Davidson and he wants to a salute Christian Counseling Ottawa, a registered charity that has been healing hearts and homes in the Ottawa area for 40 years. Thank you, Sandy, for your strong support of this program and I certainly am with you in saluting Christian Counseling Ottawa which has been doing such a great work.
Today as we start this program - well I've been doing this the program now for about 4 years long with Brent Russett, George Sinclair and Juliet Schimpf. We took over after Alan Churchill and others had been unable to carry it on. Over these four years I'm surprised to see that in all that time I haven't preached a message on the 23rd psalm, so I thought it would be time to bring that up, especially given the the shout out today which Sandy Davidson has made to Christian Counselling Ottawa. I'll say more about that later, but now, here is the 23rd Psalm, a Familiar Psalm to many Christians. It's known as “The Lord is my shepherd”:
‘The Lord is my shepherd’
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides 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 love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. (Ps 23).
The 23rd Psalm is a Psalm that has been an important part of Christian understanding of God's love from the very beginning of Christianity. It's also a passage which has encouraged the Jewish faith for years and years and for more millennia, from the day that David wrote it in the in the days of ancient Israel, so we're going to take a look at this passage and the impact it has had on the lives of Christians and the meaning it has for our lives. But will do that in just a few moments after we listen to this Psalm put to music. This particular version is the hymn “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” and it's sung by Michael Card in this instance, from his album Starkindler.
When I was young Christian I knew most of the older Christians around me seemed to know the 23rd psalm and Lord's Prayer and a couple other brief passage of scripture. I felt a little bit odd that this would be all that some of them knew. So I felt a little bit that people were leaning too much on just a small part of scripture. It wasn't a passage of scripture, this 23rd psalm that took a lot of my attention because of that. I thought it was overdone and I would just kind of look at other scriptures more closely.
That was way it was for me, for some time, but when I was training for Ministry - still quite a young Christian - I was serving in an old age home where the people there had serious deterioration of their mental faculties because of age, and also had previous psychological issues before they became elderly. Those people in there had quite a quite a difficult time with their lives.
One day when I was serving on the ward there I heard someone crying out from another room. She was clearly in distress, but it was that kind of cry that just kept repeating and repeating and repeating. Nobody was answering. It was something that I guess people had decided just couldn't be fixed. She was just going to cry out like that and there wasn't much you could do. Since I had some time on my hands, I thought I'd go in and see if I could calm her down a bit. I started talking with her, started trying to understand what was distressing her, knowing that that it would be a mix between reality and the world she was living in. Just sitting and talking with her and slowly trying to listen, she seemed to calm a bit. I started to see her whole countenance relax a bit. Still she wasn't making much sense. Her complaint was something that couldn't really be resolved and really was hard to understand anyways. But we had made some kind of connection, the two of us and after a time when she seemed to be calm and seemed to have a better peace, I thought we should end the time and I should go on and visit some of the other people on the floor. At that time I thought maybe it would be good to share a piece of scripture with her, be a good Christian Pastoral thing to do, and I decided that I would share the 23rd psalm with her. I didn't have my Bible with me, I had put it down somewhere else, so I just decided to recite it by memory and I started to say the words “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me down to lie in pastures green, he leadeth me the Quiet Waters by. . . I started reciting in the King James version and which is the one that I knew best at the time, and about halfway through I realized I had forgotten what the next verse was. But this elderly lady, with so much trouble in her mind, when I stumbled on the words she spoke up! and then with the first sensible words that she had said in the entire time I had been there she continued reciting the twenty-third Psalm she carried on and I found my place and we end of the song together it was that was probably the first time I realized how powerful it was to have the word of God stored up in your heart, to be able to call it to mind even when so much else was lost. The 23rd psalm was, for her, a place of peace and quiet, a place that she could recall things: the pleasantness of God's grace and love towards her. and perhaps times in her life. That had an impact on me and I must say I paid more attention to the 23rd Psalm after that.
It is interesting that this week’s program should have a sponsor who wants us to draw attention to Christian Counseling Ottawa, because Christian Counseling Ottawa is a service of which I have availed myself in years past when I was going through a deep depression and burned out from work. I went to someone I knew there - Roger Moyer who was the founder of Christian Counselling Ottawa. I spent a couple of months week by week going and visiting with Roger and talking with him. One of the things that that really made a difference in helping me to get a hold of the good and the beautiful in life was learning to meditate upon scripture, to meditate upon God's word. The word that we used so often in that counseling was the 23rd Psalm. That's something I've carried with me for years since.
I remember, when I read it, I remember going on a retreat down to South Carolina in late spring when Ottawa was still grey and dingy and cold. I went down into South Carolina to a retreat center which was in fact beside some Quiet Waters. In fact I think the retreat center was called “Quiet Waters.” I remember lying down underneath some trees near the water there and just spending time remembering this particular Psalm.
Seeing myself in that very Place, lying down in verdant green growth beside beautiful still waters, the sun sparkling off the water onto the leaves above my head and just experiencing the peace which this Psalmist expressed: the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want,
Just this year I was listening to a pastor named Ed Searcy speak about this Psalm and he paraphrased, “The Lord is my shepherd what more could I need? The Lord is my shepherd I don't need anything else!” This is certainly the truth expressed in the Psalm. When it says, “I shall not be in want,” it's saying that the Lord is providing the very things I need. Green Pastures and Quiet Waters are all that sheep really need. What are they for you? What are they for human beings? To be given by God what we need for our physical life, to be given by God what we need for refreshing ourselves and to be restored in our souls. This Shepherd doesn't just treat us like sheep, Jesus treats us like human beings. We have an inner being that needs refreshing and restoring and this is what God does for us. God guides us in paths of righteousness for his namesake. This truth [is] that God is going to lead us in a proper way, in the good way, in the right way. He's going to do this, not because we are owed something, not because we've demanded it, but because that's precisely what he wants to do.
If you ever feel like God was going to give up on you because you're having trouble walking those Paths of righteousness, sometimes it's good to remember he's not doing it because you're righteous, he's doing it because he is! Because he is good and he is going to keep on being good! He's going to continue to work with his sheep however far they stray.
The 23rd psalm is full of wonderful messages for us. [It] speaks of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd, or rather, Jesus speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd in other scriptures and I want to speak a bit more about that.
First let's hear about how Jesus, not as the Good Shepherd but as the Lamb that was slain, is able to help us and strengthen us in our walk. This Song speaks about that - There is Power in the Blood of the Lamb. This version is sung by a group called This Hope from their album, Acapella Hymns.
The Good Shepherd is the one who leads us where we need to go, who provides for us what we need for Life both physically and spiritually, who comforts us and strengthens us who blesses us and anoints us - this one is Jesus Christ.
Many people have tried to find other guides and helps in life but there's none like Jesus. Jesus himself says this in the scriptures, when he says in John chapter 10, “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in by some other way is a thief. The man who enters by the gate is The Shepherd of his sheep. The Watchman opens the gate for him and the Sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own Sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought them all out on his own he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow Stranger in fact they will run away from him because I do not recognize the stranger's voice.”
Now Jesus used this figure of speech but they did not understand what he was telling
them, therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth I am the gate for the Sheep all who ever came before me were thieves and robbers and the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved: he will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to kill and steal; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The Hired Hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep, so when he sees the wolf come he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen, I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up. This command I received from my Father.
You see Jesus tells us here that he is the good shepherd, the one spoken of in Psalm 23. He tells us that he is willing to do whatever it takes to help the sheep.
See, the shepherd's job, the shepherd's life is to care for the Sheep The hired hand doesn't own the Sheep, he's got no reason to stick around when trouble comes. But the sheep are precious to the shepherd and Jesus is reminding the people that this is the kind of Shepherd they need.
Now, if you were to take this passage from John chapter 10 and replace the the word ‘sheep’ with your own name, or with the name with someone you're praying, for someone you're worried about. You are able to say, “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for you.” The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns you so when he sees the wolf coming he abandons you and runs away. The man runs away because he's a Hired Hand and cares nothing for you, but, Jesus, as the Good Shepherd says, “I know and you know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for you. I have others that are not of this sheep pen. I'll bring them also. They will listen to my voice as well, and there shall be one Shepherd.”
Do you understand that Jesus is addressing you when he says, “I am the good shepherd.” Are you looking for a new Good Shepherd in your life? Are you looking for someone to watch over and protect you, someone to help you and strengthen you? ...Someone to equip you?
We are not, of course, as I said before, we're not sheep: we are human beings, and God in his kindness toward us doesn't merely feed us grass and lead us to water. He also leads us into righteousness, he also leads us through the ups and downs of Life, and he leads us to serve and bless others, as he works to equip us; as the shepherd helps the sheep. God is calling you and me to allow Jesus, to trust Jesus, as the Good Shepherd. One way to grow in trust is simply to think through the 23rd psalm and John chapter 10, to read them through and think about how this applies to your life, and also the lives of those you are concerned about.
Let's turn our hearts to God In Prayer as we seek this for us and for others.
Almighty God you are the good shepherd. You have cared for us with an everlasting love. Help us to remember your love, to remain in your love, to follow your voice and to receive your blessings, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Once again I want to thank you, our listeners, for your encouragement and support. We do thank you, because you keep us on the air week-by-week. We want to encourage you to support our Ministry financially so that we can continue this broadcast to over 7,000 listeners in the Ottawa River Valley. If you can please make a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries and send it to Post Office Box 184 Rideau Ferry Ontario K0G 1W0. You can also donate through our website by going to www.GNCM.ca, and use the website there to make a donation. Canadian donors will be able to get a receipt at income tax time. I do also want to encourage you to tell others about this program.
Be sure to worship in the church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived out with compassion, integrity, and resolve.
Now to conclude our program I would like to have you listen to a song called The Shepherd of Life by the Canadian singer Steve Bell from his album Beyond a Shadow.
I do pray that the Lord will hold your heart and you would know Jesus personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart and may the Heavenly Father surround you with his constant, abiding and accompanying love.
Good News in the Morning is produced in the studios of News Talk Radio 580 CFRA.
Rev. Brian Wilkie
St. Andrew's Christian Community, Rockland, Ontario
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/45334/good_news_224_aug28.mp3
