Behold No.3 The Lord is my Shepherd

If you have your Bible with you, I wonder if you'd turn to the first of two readings. The first reading is from the book of Ezekiel chapter 34, starting at verse 1. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, woe to the shepherds of Israel who take care of themselves, should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with wool, and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of flock. You have not strengthened the weak, or healed the sick, or bound up the injured.

You have not brought back the raised, or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly, and brutally, so that they were scattered, because there was no shepherd. And when they were scattered, they became food, all the wild animals.

Now dropping down to verse 7, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, I myself will search for my sheep, and look after them. The shepherd looks after his scattered flock, when he is with them, so that I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places they were scattered, on a day of clouds and darkness.

I will bring them out from the nations, and gather them from the countries, I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them in the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountaintops of Israel will be their grazing land.

There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep, and make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost, and bring back the slaves.

I will bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak, so that the weak and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. As for you my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.

It is not good enough for you to feed on good pasture, must you always trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? It is not enough for you to clear water, must you also sow the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled, and drink what you have dined with your feet? Therefore, for the Lord, the Sovereign Lord says to them, see I myself will judge between fat sheep and lean sheep. Because you shove the flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns, until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be under. I will judge between one sheep and another.

I will place over the one shepherd my servant David, and he will tend them, and be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.

Now we turn to the New Testament, to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John chapter 10, commencing to read at verse 11. I am a good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The hired hound is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

The man runs because he is a hired hound, and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know no sheep, and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have a sheep that are not a sheep pen. I must bring them also, that they will listen to my voice. And there should 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 again.

This command I received from my Father. May God add his blessing to our reading, as we consider it later together. Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness.

Make thy way plain before my face. Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness. Make thy way plain before my face.

For it is thouly that makest me dwell in safety. For it is thou, Lord, thou, Lord only, that makest me dwell in safety. Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness.

Make thy way plain before my face. Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness. Make thy way plain before my face.

The Lord is my shepherd. Perhaps the most intimate name, title, of God that any child god can take on his or her lips with the exhibition of the word Father. Let's just think about these words one by one, shall we? The Lord is the Lord.

The Lord is the Lord. That's the question that the psalmist David asks next in Psalm 24. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord is strong and mighty, the Lord mighty battle.

Who is he, the King of Glory? The Lord Almighty, he is the King of Glory. So he's strong, he's powerful, he's mighty against all his foes and enemies. The Lord of armies, Lord of battles.

And yet more than that, because when Jesus came and announced himself very emphatically, I am the shepherd, I am the good one. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Then we know that the Lord who is a shepherd is none other than the Lord Jesus himself.

That Jesus is to be the Lord who is a shepherd, the Lord of Psalm 23. Who can say the Lord is my shepherd? Well, anyone who knows that Jesus, the good shepherd, laid down his life for him, for her. Anyone who knows that the price that the good shepherd paid for his sheep has been paid for him, for her.

The price not of hard cash, which most shepherds would pay to obtain a sheep, but the price of his lifeblood. And when you know that his own lifeblood was shed for you, then you can know that you are rightfully his. And you too can say, the Lord is my shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd. There are a few psalms, you know, which are solos. But this one has to be sung as a solo.

It has to be a psalm that you have to sing for yourself. You can't sing it on behalf of anyone else. The Lord is my shepherd.

Someone has said if you use your fingers to count out these words, the Lord is my shepherd. That word my is the ring finger. My shepherd.

What the Christian has above everything else is that personal, loving relationship. Whenever the Christian life degenerates into a routine or a mere sort of religious ritual, then you know that you're very impoverished. No, it's about love, it's about love received from our God through the Lord Jesus Christ, his Son, the Good Shepherd.

It's about love written, reflected. Love from him to us, love from us to him. And he is my shepherd.

And no doubt as David thought about all these words and composed this psalm, he would have reflected, well, everything that I was when I was a young man to my sheep, the Lord is to me. And the shepherd really is everything to his sheep, isn't he? He is his owner, manager, companion, protector, provider, guard, guide, physician, everything. It's the Lord everything to you.

Now being a shepherd particularly in David's day was demanding and dangerous work. He had to be tough, had to stop wild animals to threaten your sheep just as David did. And today you've got to be pretty strong, pretty tough if you're to be a shepherd.

That's why the country in New Zealand breed men with the physique to be second row forward because they're just used to humping sheep around and it's a physical job. Of course, that's why down in Wales these days they're all doing puny day rugby because all the pits are closed. So you have to be strong to be a shepherd and they don't come any stronger than the Lord as we were thinking.

Strong and mighty in battle, well able to look after you, well able to see off any of the threats which come against you, your life and your family. And I suppose if he boils down to it, the shepherd does two things really, doesn't he? He takes care of his sheep and he takes charge of his sheep. And if you say today, the Lord is my shepherd, what you're saying is the Lord he takes care of my life and the Lord he takes charge of my life.

And you can't have one without the other, can you? You can't have a shepherd taking care of your life if he's not taking charge of your life. You can't say, well I can manage my own life and at the same time say the Lord is my shepherd. No, he is your manager, he is your Lord, he is your protector.

Someone was saying to me earlier this week, I like this, it just sort of stuck with me. She said, trust and dependence are the two words that I have to buy. I suppose that was perhaps because of something of her background but it's true for all of us, isn't it? The two words that we as sheep of the good shepherd have to live by, trust and independence.

Well the rest of the psalm really just unpacks this first wonderful statement, doesn't it? The Lord is my shepherd. So we'll just work our way through this beautiful psalm. The first thing I want us to notice in verse 1, we've got 6.6 strings, if you like, marked with six verses of the psalm.

Here's the Christian's contentment. Indeed, the sheep in this psalm is just a picture of contentment, isn't it? I hope your life is a picture of contentment. Because I think that says more about your Lord, more about your shepherd and your confidence in him than any other quality that you might exhibit as a Christian.

If the world is never satisfied, that's the trouble with the world. It's always wanting more and more. Give me, give me.

But you see, the Christian, by contrast, has personally everything that they could want. As far as I myself am concerned, I don't want any more than I've got. Maybe for other people who don't have to have the good shepherd, but for myself I have everything.

Really, the second part of this first sentence is just a flexion of the first clause, isn't it? The Lord is my shepherd. The reflection is, in my own life, I shall not want. You'll not want for anything, my friend, for the Lord is your shepherd.

You'll not want for anything in your old age. You'll not want for anything until you make your way in the big wide world when college days are over. Because he has given us, as Peter writes, everything we need for life and godliness.

And we have everything we need for life and godliness, we just don't need anything else. You see, my friend, the Lord knows how to handle your life. He knows just how to deal with circumstances right now, because he is your shepherd.

He knows how to meet your needs, the needs of your children. He knows what you're going through. He knows how long you'll be going through it.

He'll be with you as you go, and then he'll provide for your needs just as he sees that you need. And he's able to handle everything. We do need to constantly be reminded of that, don't we? It's so easy to lie awake at night, isn't it, worrying? We worry for our own needs, if we have a great need, or our family's needs, if they're in great need.

When I lie awake, I was up one Sunday this week, worrying about the needs of others. So I was there tossing and turning on my bed. It didn't come to me suddenly.

The Lord reminded me again, Well, I'm a shepherd. I'll look after them. I know what they need.

I'll provide it. Yes, we do need to hear this over and over again, don't we? The Christian's contentment. Secondly, the Christian's refreshment.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet water. What I'd like to say to some of you, my friends, is this.

Relax. Relax. He makes you lie down.

He leads you by still waters. He'll relieve you from your tiredness. He'll make you lie down.

You know, it's a lot to make a sheep lie down. Because sheep are, by nature, nervous, restless creatures, aren't they? They're so defenseless. You've got to keep an eye open, really, in the back of their heads.

You know, dogs, or, in David's time, bears and lions. And then, of course, there are the pests up there. Well, how would you like a load of flies and ticks buzzing round your nostrils and your underarms? No, it doesn't really make for a very relaxed time, does it? And then there are competitors in the flock.

You know, the man who wrote Ezekiel 34, he knew a fair bit about sheep psychology, didn't he? And all that licking and shoving and hitting that goes on. And if you're a sheep, you've got to watch your back. Because the sun in your flock might not want your place in the butting order.

And then, of course, sheep are restless because they're always off in search of pastures new. The grass is greener on the other side. And you'll always find some silly sheep sticking its nose through the barbed wire because it thinks the grass on that side is better than the grass this side.

And you'll always find some silly Christas always hankering after this or that or more of this or more of that. How silly, when the Lord has made us lie down in green pastures. The grass can't be greener in the world.

I'll get them the pastures which he gives to us. You know, my friend, only Jesus can steal restlessness. Only he can make you lay down so you can have no worries, no sweat about the future, no panic.

You see, with him around, no one can get at you. Those pest pests don't irritate you anymore because you see them for what they are. When he's around, old rivalries and petty jealousies are shown for what they are.

Petty and silly. You see, when he's around, you're quite safe because he'll look after you from the bigger threats to your life. So you can lie down and be still.

And you can feed. Let me ask you, are there those regular times where you just lie down and feed on him and his love for you? I like the, uh, preface of Charles Wesley. He wrote this in his diaries.

He said, Here I am. Far, far busy ways of men. I sit down alone.

Only God is here. In his presence I open. I read his book.

There is that great hymn of feeding and feeding and that's why he could give us these magnificent hymns. Not only is there relief from sadness, there is relief from thirst. He leads me by its still waters.

You know, sheep won't drink from running water. I thought I'd perhaps get a bit of those. It's still waters and the shepherd needs to find them these still waters.

You know, up on the mountains there are the old dew ponds which the shepherds made and lined so the sheep could just go on those mountains and drink from the water in the pond. One of my favourite stories actually concerns a dew pond, one of my favourite Sussex stories anyway. There was a shepherd who would take his sheep up to the top of the downs and stay with them for long periods.

He knew so that the old sling gangs, they used to use the dew ponds to deposit it and hide their dead brand there. So one night he was up there in the moonlight with his sheep and the sheep were drinking and there he was with his fishing net. He was trying to get his contraband and the old smuts, they crept up and they saw what he was doing and they said to him, Hey, what do you think you're doing? And the shepherd thought very fast and he said, Well, you see, the stupid old moon's gone and fallen in that pond.

I'm just trying to fish it out. And the smugglers, of course, thought that they'd got some wit there, so they left him alone. Well, the shepherds just leave the sheep to the still waters and Jesus will lead you to still waters.

I wonder if you're thirsty Steve? You thirsty today? Thirsty for the reality and joy of the Lord? Well, he knows that. He knows you need to drink him in. He wants you to drink him in.

You see, the Christian life is meant just to be one long mad rush. Tearing around, ministering to this person, ministering to that person, leading through, taking that meeting all night long, that you're out every evening and you never have five minutes just to sit down with him. Have a drink, my friend.

You see, if you're all tearing around in a mad rush, the only thing you'll minister in the end to people is your own tension. Rather than the peace and balm, the good shepherd, he makes us lie down, he makes us drink by these still waters. And yet, later on, there's a time to move on because the past don't stay green if the sheep stay around for too long.

So, verse three, we think about the Christian's management. He stores us, my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

We lie down, but then we have to move on, too, because the shepherd knows that we can take him for granted so easily. But when we get too settled and too comfortable, well, sometimes we just get too toothed and then things start to happen to us and they go wrong. And one of the things that happens to fat sheep is that it topples over and ends up on its back.

With its leg in the air, bleeding pathetically. I don't know whether you've ever seen a sheep in this rather sad condition. I remember when I was a boy, I was walking in the Sussex countryside with my uncle, and we saw all the sheep in exactly this state.

And it was a very pathetic sight. It was bleeding away there, and its little hooves were sticking in the air. And so, feeling rather sorry for its poor future, we decided to do the evil thing and go to the farmhouse.

And we went to the door, and then the farmer came out and said, Oh yes, I know the one, he said. I only happened to say the same one last week. And so off the farm we go to restore sheep.

As you know, the technical name for a sheep that's on its back is a cast sheep, or a cast-down sheep. And I gather it's a very, very tradition, writing a cast sheep. It can easily break its leg if you don't know what you're doing.

There'd certainly be no point in my uncle and I going over to help put this sheep on its little legs again, because it would have scared the poor thing out of its silly little brain to see a stranger going up to it in this way. But the farmer, the shepherd, well yes, he could restore the sheep. And perhaps you're on your back, and you feel as though the life has been knocked out of you, and you need to be turned in just the right way up, and you need to have your soul restored.

This may be for all kinds of reasons. It may be for indiscipline. It may be that something has crept in just because your defenses have spiritually been down, and it's thrown you suddenly.

It may be sheer exhaustion, and a neglect of God, and a business in other areas. But you need to be restored. Well, Jesus is an expert at returning joy to the life of the Christian, you know.

When the joy goes, it's a terrible feeling, isn't it? And you wonder, well, am I ever going to experience the joy of the Lord again? The good shepherd comes, and he restores you, and restores your soul, and joy floods back, and it's wonderful. Jesus is not of the little-boast-peep school of sheep management. He doesn't believe in leaving his sheep alone and letting them come home, because they won't come home bringing their tail behind.

A dog, but not a sheep. No, he'll go to you, and he'll restore you. And after he's corrected you, he will direct you.

We do need direction so much. We need direction, don't we? I lived in a country where sheep were just allowed to roam around at will. There were no shepherds, and that's why I in Africa saw so many dead sheep by the side of the road.

They'd just carry off in their own silly little way. And do you know the cause we plot for ourselves? Very much like sheep tracks, aren't they? The cheek of personal whim or pride, so that we have to prove ourselves. We have to do that thing we've always wanted to do, amuse ourselves in this particular way.

Like sheep, we can just be plain aimless creatures with a habit of wandering over the same tracks over and over again. Going anywhere, but going somewhere. You know, I think God really must have had a laugh.

He must have chuckled when he made sheep. Don't you think so? Because the semblances between sheep and us are just too close to be coincidentally. I'm sure he made sheep to teach us endless lessons about ourselves.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone's own way. And we need paths of righteousness, and need to be pointed out to us, need to be led on them.

And at times we need the crook of the shepherd just to guide us and to make sure we keep on track. Because paths of righteousness can be rather like those mountain tracks on the top of a ridge. You know, it's scary.

There's one way down that way, and there's one way on this way, and you've got to stay on the top. And you need a shepherd to guide you, because it's so easy to go over the edge. We need leading.

You know, the most important guidance that God will give you, that the good shepherd will give, is in the paths of righteousness. Not the paths of success. He's not so interested in that.

Not the paths of seeing everything work out wonderfully, so that you make a great career, a family, or grow up into nice children, and everything like this. But the paths of righteousness, doing the right thing at the right time. The reason why the shepherd will lead his flock in the paths of righteousness is not just to keep them out of trouble, but because his own name is at stake.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his sake. You see, if a shepherd ever lost his pip, his reputation would be absolutely ruined. And don't you realize, my Christian friend, that God's name, Jesus' name, is actually bound up with your life.

That's quite a thought when you're straying, isn't it? But actually, it means in the end, your good shepherd will get you back. By hook or by crook, he will get you back. Fourth, the Christian's encouragement, verse four.

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 cross, they comfort me. You know, true encouragement is to give courage, isn't it? And we need courage, because there is shadow as well as sunshine in the Christian life.

And the shepherd knows that he has to take his sheep through mountains and passes, the deep, rocky, rugged ravines where it's dark, and there are predators lurking, and they could spray down at you at any time, and there's danger and uncertainty afoot, and there's no place to run, and you're chased. Well, you'll go through these times. I can't avoid these dark times.

The dark times, worrying times. You know, there are many worrying times, dark times, dark paths on the way to the deepest and darkest valley of all, death. And I think they're all encompassed by this.

And yet, death, I suppose, is the deepest and darkest. And yet, for the Christian, it's not the valley of visit, but it's the valley of shadow of death. Death, Christian, is actually a mere shadow.

Oh, yes, it may loom behind us and look very dark, menacing, but it can't actually hurt us, more than a shadow can hurt us. You see, death, for Christian, is the ultimate terror, or the final taboo, is it, as it is for the world, but it's the gate which opens up the house of the Lord into the very presence of the King of Love himself, just as the psalmist sees the deep ravine to the banqueting suite of heaven itself. And no wonder he can say, I will fear no evil.

Why not? Well, you're with me even there. And death, the loneliest experience of all for the Christian, and the loneliest experience we will go through if the Lord does not come back before, is still not one that we face in Bali alone. Jesus died alone, but you won't die, my dear friend, because your good shepherd will come with you, and so there is no need to fear.

So we see Simon Peter in the condemned cell in Herod's palace, spending as far as he's concerned his last on earth. And what's he doing? He's fast asleep. To use very inappropriate expressions, he's sleeping like a baby.

There are angels there, and the angel has to dig in the ribs and say, come on, wake up, man, you can't stay here all night. Amazing, isn't it, that man can sleep on the very last night as he knows his life on earth. But Christian can, because there is no need to fear evil.

And as I've said, what is true of the deepest, darkest valley is true of all of the other lesser valleys. Some of them have had brushes with evil, and honestly, it scares you. And you feel in some ways persuaded by it.

But there are two things that you must say to the Lord, shouldn't you know? The first is to say the petition of the Lord's Prayer, deliver me from evil. And if you pray that, you can say verse four of Psalm 33, I will fear no evil for you are with me. And don't you think that it's during those black times those anxious times, during those times where, well, you hardly know what to do with yourself, that you stay close to the shepherd, and you find that he is closest to you.

So don't fear, not really. You know that he is there. He's got his cudgel to guard you, he's got his crook cutting you if necessary.

You don't need to fear. Because neither death, nor life, or anything can separate you from your shepherd, and from his love for you. Let's leave it to the Christians' enjoyment.

So we come out of the valley, and we come to the table. The pleasure that are at the right hand of God. Prepare a table before you anoint your head with oil.

My cup runs over. And now the picture changes, and we have the generous host and the honored guest. You see, David himself must have thrown many banquets.

He must have honored a special guest in this way. And when David threw a party, there was no expense spared. And that is certainly true of heaven's host, isn't it? He didn't spare one expense for you.

To spread a table of his goodness and love for you. Because you know how much it costs Jesus to get that table ready for you, don't you? And we've already said it. A table laden with things.

And yes, a table which made that he, the shepherd, become one of the sheep himself. And not just sheep lined up for slaughter. And a sheep went through that slaughter.

But now here we are, we sit at his table with him. We know his peace in our hearts and in our minds. We know his forgiveness.

We know his purpose. We know that he has our life in his hands. And when we turn up the table, we find that there's the Eastern guest.

Because you would wash your hair before you went out to dinner if you were in the East. You would have it done for you by the host when you got there. And you find that he just pours out oil over your head.

Now oil is such a lovely picture of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? Oil smooth and soothing. To ease our wounds and our hurts. To ease that tension, that friction that creeps into our relationships.

So that we can relax and laugh together and love one another. Oil bright and sparkly in the sunshine. Oil of gladness, the joy of the Holy Spirit.

The exhilaration which he brings to the soul. Oil is fragrant and aromatic and we can breathe deeply. And everything in our lives has to have that sweet smell, that savour.

Where the Holy Spirit is poured out in our lives. We need this daily and anointing oil. We need to come every day that our good shepherd will oil our head with oil.

And not only that, but he fills our cups. He fills them trim full as Luther translated this verse. You see, when the Lord fills your cup, there is no setting of the contents of his blessing in transit from heaven to earth, is there? His thing is pressed down, taken together and running over even then as Jesus described it.

Running over, is that your cup running over into the lives of others? Well of course, if you're going to keep your cup permanently running over, you've got to keep it underneath a fountain or a spring, haven't you? That's the only way it'll keep running over. Otherwise it'll just fill up and stay there. We need to keep in daily touch with our shepherd, don't we? With him who can fill our cup.

You know, it was said by Spurgeon. And as I think said from this pulpit, he said that he went for more than a quarter of an hour thinking about Jesus. That's the way to keep your cup overflowing, isn't it? His holiness, his perfection, his mercy, his compassion to people, his courage.

That's the way to make sure that your life will overflow with his peace, and his patience, and his perseverance when you need it. The Christian's endowment, and secondly the Christian's endowment, the last string of cord. Our endowment, our opponent's means of support.

The Christian's endowment is a place that's at the king's own table. Goodness and love will follow me. Goodness and mercy is the ocean, says it.

Pursue me all the days of my life. See, sheep used to be chased, don't they? Chased by predators as dogs, whatever. And David had been hounded for the large part of his life too.

But David saw that it wasn't only his enemies who were following him, were pursuing him, that all the way, even at those times, it was the goodness and love of his God who knew him. And if you're a Christian this week, you're going to be sued by that same goodness and love. This is translated love here, or loving kindness, and mercy in the King James Version is a very simple word.

It's the word asset. It means covenant love. The friendship, the port, the love, the kindness that you can count on.

They'll always be there. They will be in your last week. Even if times are bad, then God is good.

Even if children are in trouble, even if you can't meet the bus, even if you need to watch someone close to you getting weaker, then even at that time, the covenant love and goodness of God is following you. And so even then, he gives you special grace. Even then, he ministers own comfort to you.

Even then, he hears your prayers and just lets you know that you're special and loved by him. We need this, don't we? You see, without this goodness and love, the best we can do is, with the world to sing, always look on the bright side of life. But life has a number of sides which are not very bright.

Unless the goodness and love of God is constantly pursuing you. Then it's wonderful. And then as we come to our last stand there, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Forever. If it builds to his climax, I think I can hear Paul coming to his climax to those distressed Christians. Where was it? Thessalonica, wasn't it? And then we shall be forever with the Lord.

And the writer has to say this, doesn't he? Amen! So let it be. Yes, let it be. As Jesus said, there's lots of room in my father's house.

There are many rooms in my father's house. And if it were so, I would have told you. Surely, surely you trust.

Surely you think I would have told you if this was all there was. No, there's lots of rooms in my father's house. I'm longing to take you there because there's no place like my father's home.

And it will be your home soon. Yes, there is no place like it. And we shall be face to face with our good shepherd at lust and gaze on him and that intimate commune with him.

For there are tables spread on the way for the people of God and yet none are like the banqueting table in the hall of heaven. And you know in the hall of heaven there'll be total satisfaction. As we dwell with him and he dwells with us.

He will be satisfied because he will look in the travail of his soul and be satisfied as he sees all of his children there with him in his father's home. And we will be satisfied because when we awake we'll see his face and we then shall be fully satisfied. Well all this was from the Lord being our shepherd just as net.

The Christian's contentment. The Christian's refreshment. The Christian's management.

The Christian's encouragement. The Christian's enjoyment. The Christian's endowment.

If the Lord is yours you should and you have all of these things. Wow you're the most privileged person on earth. And so am I. Let's pray shall we.

Lord just once again when we come to you we're just awed by your love to us and for the extraordinary care you take of each one of your children. For the attention that you lavish on each of us. Lord thank you.

We want to say Lord Jesus go on taking care of my life. And just go on taking charge of my life. And this week I pray that on the way to that heavenly banqueting suite that I and each of us here would walk in the paths of righteousness.

That we would be at it nearer to you. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Amen.