God’s Shepherd and his Sheep

I was at the Adelaide Show and somehow found myself in a sheep pen!

Well, not quite in the pen, but in the hall where they were auctioning off the sheep – merino bulls to be exact.

Reading Ezekiel 34 – God’s Shepherd and his Sheep got me thinking. Is it derogatory to be compared to a sheep? After all, in Ezekiel 34 it is clear that there was the one true Shepherd and that would be Jesus – and he cared for his flock – his sheep. Now if we each are following that shepherd, then we are the sheep! Is it a bad thing to be labelled a sheep?

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Then they will know that I am LORD

‘Then they will know that I am their Lord’ (Ezekiel 28:26)

One of the clearest ways that we know that God is Lord is when we feel the consequence of his judgement. We are in common company here. Time and time again throughout the Old Testament, both Israel (God’s people) and the foreign nations felt the wrath of God as a consequence of his judgment – and in it realized that the God of Israel was in indeed Lord.

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A Call to Repent

Ezekiel 18 showed us how the nature of sin tempts one to blame others rather take responsibility for one’s own sin.

Israel were slow learners and we should make sure that we have not missed the same lesson.

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A Convenient Sinner?

I am a sinner and so are most people I know! I do not want to sin, I don’t aim to sin, yet despite my best efforts I do sin! Thank God for Jesus.

I have been thinking this week about my sin!

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Cross Shaped Thankfulness

How are you so influenced by the gospel, that your ‘walk in the Spirit’ demonstrates your thankfulness?

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Love that surpasses Knowledge!?

‘to know this love that surpasses knowledge’ – what a strange expression.

The Apostle Paul in closing his argument in Ephesian 3:19 makes this statement. I can understand how wonderful it is to ‘know love’, but how can you know something that ‘surpasses knowledge’?

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Standing in the midst of Battle

Ephesians closes with the very colourful passage – a battle between the spiritual forces of evil and the Christian soldier who has put on the full armour of God (Ephesians 6).

In Ephesians, Christians have been told to sit, walk and stand!

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Salvation by God

This week I was reading Exodus 14 with one of my kids. It recounts the passage of the Israelites from Egypt through the crossing of the Red Sea.

The Lord, hearing the cries of the Israelites secured their release (by way of several plagues) from slavery. They flee into the desert guided by the Lord (a pillar of cloud in the day and fire in the night). Arriving at the shores of the Red Sea they turn to see the Egyptian army in pursuit. Despite all that God had done they are terrified and cry out again ‘It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’. The answer is glorious. Moses says to the people ‘Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today…the Lord will fight for you; you need only be still’ (Ex 14:12-14). As you probably know, God then parted the waters and they safely crossed the Rea Sea on dry land.

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Predestination

How awesome it is when you are given a gift!

What makes a gift so awesome is that it comes to you free and comes to you when someone has put thought into a gift that would best suit you.

Let’s think though the topic of ‘Predestination’.

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Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness

Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness (Gal 5:22).

Have you considered that faith is the mark of being human! We all live by faith. What is important about faith is not that you have it, but that you place it!

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