Midweek Lenten Service - 500 References to Sheep and Shepherds in the Bible

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Tom Fisher's sheep and guard-dog.

The Hymn # 536         The Lord's My Shepherd
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41

The Psalmody            Psalm   14                           p. 124
The Lection             John 10
  
The Sermon Hymn #179   On My Heart  

         

The Tender Nature of the Good Shepherd

      Doubtless the greatest opposition and ridicule against the Christian Faith is Jesus Himself, as the target, even though He is our Good Shepherd. One fact that we can find easily is the divine/human nature of Jesus. When He was conceived of the Virgin Mary He took on our human nature and combined it with His divine nature, which was never again changed.

     This led the opponents and the politicians to attack Him and take advantage of His humble nature, but it also teaches all of us to try to be as gentle and understanding as He was and is. He never attacked anyone but they gladly attacked Him for no reason other than their hatred and their fears. 

     We appreciate the Savior because He is the Shepherd who guides and protects us, watches over us, and nurtures us. It took about a thousand years for people to understand Psalm 23 - "The Lord is my Shepherd." I just told a student that he should go ahead with Hebrew because - for instance - that line has 4 words in Hebrew while we take 9 words in English. You can try this at home.

     Judaism held the entire Christian Faith through the Old Testament writing, so when Jesus was the sacrificial lamb in Isaiah 53, and with Isaac, and also in Psalm 22, the evidence was overwhelming. And there was so much more. Judaism became Christianity but not all the same or at once. The entire Bible has at least 500 references to sheep and shepherding, which helps us understand His role as the Shepherd and as the sheep as well. 

     Once we see the overwhelming portrayal of shepherding and sheep in God's Word, we understand how Jesus' kindness and forgiveness teaches us, to spread His Gospel and give us peace within ourselves. 

    

The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer                         p. 44

The Collect for Peace                                           p. 45

The Benediction                                                   p. 45

The Hymn #552     Abide with Me

In Our Prayers

• Pastor Jim Shrader, Chris Shrader, Sarah Buck.
• Tom Fisher is one of many farmers dealing with savage weather.
• Thursday - Reformation Seminary Lecture - Acts 1, part 2. 10 AM Central.

Ewe and lamb, Tom Fisher farm.

Luther's Condemnation of the Big Five Apostates - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic)

 

"Thus he lets us also disgrace ourselves and labor with human doctrines, that we may see and understand how necessary and precious God’s Word is and how doctrines do not help the least without God’s Word." Luther's Sermons, Lent 4

The Big Five substance is based upon ELCA, because the smaller sects are yearning to be more like their Big Angry Sister. There is not much difference. The executives who grab all the loot are more efficient if they quietly go down to the Caribbean in January and enjoy a free vacation with Thrivent. They share the same nonsense among each other because they follow the mainlines, which are even more extreme, enjoying the fruits of DEI without naming it.

WELS even has a coaching business, "training" coaches for great success and 

giving birth to more coachlings who pay to become coaches. All this is done without the Word of God because their focus is on their own fragile egos. Two coaches took laity to court for hurting their pastoral egos. The judge laughed the coachlings out of the courtroom.

Clergy training sessions deal with everything except the efficacious Word, faith in Jesus Christ, and Justification by Faith. Luther experienced the nonsense and corruption of Romanism. Now the "Lutherans" are doing their best to become priests with pretty dresses and papal scowls. I was reading some nonsense from the Ovaltines - the ALPB Online Forum. Sure enough - the author belonged to STS, Society for the Holy Trinity (in Latin). The STSians have to add their title (or shame) every time they post something near and dear to their Jesuit pope. ELDONUTs are similar, secretive and sly, the maggots of Almy.

The issue is not papal dogma or Fuller toxins, as long as they avoid the Word itself, faith in the Savior, study of the Scriptures (not the corrupted versions).

Apostasy, the life-blood of the Big Five, unites those who universally hate the actual Scriptures. They can do or say anything, as long as they avoid the core Scriptural values and embrace the corruption.

These two close friends provided a corrupt Greek New Testament for those creating the Revised Version, a disaster yes, but the corruption has continued ever since. Your sect embraces every Bible except the King James Version.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Lent 4 Laetare - "Thus he lets us also disgrace ourselves and labor with human doctrines, that we may see and understand how necessary and precious God’s Word is and how doctrines do not help the least without God’s Word."

 

Laetare. Fourth Sunday in Lent. John 6:1-5. Jesus Feeds 5000 People 

9. The two fishes are the example and witness of the patriarchs and prophets, who are also in the basket; for by them the Apostles confirm and strengthen their doctrine and the believers like St. Paul does in Romans 4:2-6, where he cites Abraham and David etc. But there are two, because the examples of the saints are full of love, which cannot be alone, as faith can, but must go out in exercise to its neighbor. Furthermore the fishes were prepared and cooked; for such examples are indeed put to death by many sufferings and martyrdoms, so that we find nothing carnal in them, and they comfort none by a false faith in his own works, but always point to faith and put to death works and their assurance.

10. The twelve baskets of fragments are all the writings and books the Apostles and Evangelists bequeathed to us; therefore they are twelve, like the Apostles, and these books are nothing but that which remains from and has been developed out of the Old Testament. The fishes are also signified by the number five (Moses’ books); as John 21:25 says: “Even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written” concerning Christ, all which nevertheless was written and proclaimed before in the Old Testament concerning Christ.

11. That Philip gives counsel as how to feed the people with his few shillings, and yet doubts, signifies human teachers, who would gladly aid the soul with their teachings; but their conscience feels it helps nothing. For the discussion Christ here holds with his disciples takes place in order that we may see and understand that it is naturally impossible to feed so many people through our own counsel, and that this sign might be the more public. Thus he lets us also disgrace ourselves and labor with human doctrines, that we may see and understand how necessary and precious God’s Word is and how doctrines do not help the least without God’s Word.