Search For The Lost

BRING BACK THE STRAYS Ezekiel 34:1-16 "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 love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:1-6 I have always loved Psalm 23, and I love to think of God/Jesus as my good shepherd as the one who watches over me. Both day and night. It is special to me th kniw that while I sleep He is in guard with staff in hand. Both Ezekiel and Isaiah also depicts God as a shepherd: “He tends his flock like a shepherd” (Isaiah 40:11). In Jesus, God appeared in the flesh as both a shepherd and a lamb. The Gospel of John says, He’s “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and “the good shepherd” (10:14) who laid down His life for us. (Revelation 7:17) paints a picture of Him as a lamb and a shepherd, He is God, He can be both. First He is depicted as “The Lamb at the center of the throne, in this picture He is a shepherd, who will lead us to springs of living water. But on the other hand He is with us now,for today, Jesus, as our Great Shepherd, brings salvation to our souls and gives us spiritual food and spiritual drink that satifies our souls. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:2-4) As a cowboy, I understand the shepherding part of who Jesus is, I have had cows and calves separarted and the calf seemingly lost and on its own, and I have slowly taken either the calf to the cow, or the cow to the calf. Watching them get back together and the delight in the calf as it cuddles in close to its mom and nurses with tail swaying back and forth as it drinks the warm milk, bringing comfort to it and soothing its hungry tummy. God/Jesus is even a better sheperd than I was a herdsman, He is even more intentional in caring for His people and providing the freedom we need. The people of Israel had stumbled in their sin and were trapped in exile in Babylon. Just as you and I are caught in the traps the devil has set for us, and we need to have that trap released so we too can go free.. Jesus came to unset the traps and to set us free. Yes, God promised, “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them” (Ezekiel 34:11). We see that Israel’s leaders had allowed Gods people to be “scattered” (v. 12), but God in His great love for His people, His sheep, said, “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays” (v. 16). My special friends and readers, as a believer is Jesus we see God’s great love and the care He has for us as He searches in His rescue mission for us. I love the story of the Good Sheperd and have shared it with children many times over the years, Where, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” Jesus said (John 10:11). If you are still lost, Jesus is out searching for you. Yes, when we were lost in our sins and captive to them, Jesus chooses to search for and rescue us at great cost. "HIS LIFE FOR OURS" the bible says in Romans "The wages of Sin is death, BUT, the gift of God is eternal life."(Romans 6:23) All of us need to know that Jesus is still searching and will continue to search until the day He returns to take us home Friend, I am here today to tell you, He will return very soon, as I watch the news and watch the weather, that happening right now, I would say He is coming soon. On this day and all days, freedom is precious and is still available if you will come to Him. Accept His hand of forgiveness and allow Him to lift you down from that cliffs edge, where your sinful life has taken you. If you will, we can celebrate the Good Shepherd, who has set us free! Father God, thank you for being the Good Sheperd that came to lead us by the still waters and into green pastures. Father God, Your Son Jesus is so good to us. We love you and praise You and we want to lay down in those green pastures and rest. Thank you that your arms are open wide. In your name I pray AMEN