Walking With The Shepherd

Welcome to “Walking With The Shepherd,” the inaugural sermon in our enlightening new series, “Journeying With The Shepherd,” presented by Pastor Mark Medley. This profound discourse takes us deep into the pastoral imagery of Psalm 95:6-7, unveiling the layers of our spiritual journey with God through the dynamic of shepherd and sheep.

In this sermon, Pastor Mark Medley delves into what it means to walk with God daily, exploring how this continuous spiritual journey influences every aspect of our lives. The concept of walking with God, which originates from the earliest stories in Genesis and extends through the New Testament, symbolizes our ongoing, day-to-day choices that must align with God’s divine path.

Drawing from personal experiences, Pastor Mark shares captivating stories from his pilgrimage with shepherds in the mountainous regions of Poland. These narratives not only bring to life the traditional shepherd-sheep relationship but also illustrate profound truths about our relationship with God. By observing the trust and communication between shepherds and their flocks, Pastor Mark draws powerful parallels to how we, as followers of Christ, should interact with and depend on our divine Shepherd.

The discussion deepens as Pastor Mark introduces insights from Magda, an expert in leadership training who utilizes shepherding principles to teach effective leadership to corporate teams. Her experiences underscore the importance of clear, consistent communication in building trust—a vital component in both earthly and spiritual leadership.

This sermon also revisits the timeless Psalm 23, breaking down its promises of guidance, provision, and comfort from the Lord, our Shepherd. Pastor Mark reflects on the life of David, emphasizing the steadfast nature of God’s care, even in our darkest moments. Through this exploration, we gain a richer understanding of how God shepherds us through various life challenges, guiding us on paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Furthermore, Pastor Mark discusses how these biblical insights apply to our modern roles as leaders in our families and communities. He challenges us to embody the characteristics of a good shepherd—compassion, vigilance, and unwavering guidance. By adopting these traits, we not only walk closely with God but also lead others along the path He has set for us.

Join us in “Walking With The Shepherd” for a transformative experience that will deepen your understanding of what it means to be part of God’s flock and how to live out your faith authentically and courageously. Whether you are well-versed in your spiritual journey or just finding your footing, this sermon offers valuable lessons on leadership, trust, and the profound relationship we are called to have with our Shepherd.

Tune in to this powerful sermon and be inspired to reflect on your own spiritual walk, making every step count under the watchful eyes and skillful hands of our Good Shepherd. This journey promises not only to enhance your understanding of God’s role in your life but also to empower you to lead and nurture others in the way of Christ.

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Chapters

• 0:03 Walking With Shepherds and Sheep
• 14:46 Building Trust Through Shepherd Leadership
• 26:04 The Shepherd's Care and Guidance
• 42:08 Trusting the Shepherd's Hands

Transcript

Mark Medley: 0:03

I think the Lord has orchestrated something this morning. Worship was beautiful. There was specific words, I think, through the worship, that go along with what's going to happen in this sermon. So if you'll read with me, psalm 95, verses 6 and 7. This is where we're starting this morning. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand. He is our God, we are the people of his pasture, we are the sheep of his pasture, we are the sheep of his hand.

Mark Medley: 0:50

And there are two biblical pictures, if you look through the Bible, about our relationship with God that kind of stand out and they go through the whole the thread, through the whole scriptures, and one of them is a walk. God calls our relationship with him a walk From the very beginning. It says that God walked with Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day in the garden. And it says that Abram, was told, was called by God out of his idolatry and he said walk before me and be upright or be perfect, and I will lead you into your destiny. And in Deuteronomy 5, it says that we should walk in his ways that he's laid out for us. And in Psalm 84, it says blessed is the man who walks with you. No good thing will you withhold from him, who walks uprightly before you. And then we see over into the New Testament the same thing we see. Galatians says we should walk into spirit. And then we see over into the New Testament the same thing we see. Galatians says we should walk in the spirit. Ephesians says that we should walk in wisdom and in light and in love and walk worthy. And then John tells us we should walk in truth. And Jesus molded his disciples as they walked together with him. They walked and they heard his voice. And a walk is making decisions, day by day, that are consistent to God's commitment to us and to our commitment to him. It's daily decisions, it's step and a step and a step. That's one of the pictures that we see in the scripture, a metaphor of our walk with God, our relationship with God.

Mark Medley: 2:23

The second thing is this idea of sheep and shepherd, that we are the sheep of his pastor. And so, and you think about that idea of shepherd and sheep, you read about it in Ezekiel and other prophets. You read about it also in 1 Peter. You read about it Jesus himself said I am the good shepherd, and he talked about us being sheep and hearing his voice. And then, probably the most beloved passage and the most well-known passage about shepherding is Psalm 23,. Right, and so we see that idea, that metaphor. But I think the Lord uses this metaphor of sheep and shepherd in the Bible because it accurately, maybe most accurately portrays his heart for us. He's a shepherd that cares for his sheep. So, and not only his heart for us, but also the heart that we're supposed to have for those who are in our flock.

Mark Medley: 3:20

So this week and next week we're going to have a little different kinds of sermons. Okay, it's not going to be the normal expository teaching out of scriptures that you usually get. It's going to be stories. It's going to be stories of an experience that I had, walking with sheep and shepherds in the south of Poland, and I was invited two years ago to walk with these shepherds on their annual pilgrimage from the villages in the valley up over to the top of a mountain into the grazing lands and the highland grazing grounds and then up in the spring and then back down in the fall. I happened to be there at the right time, both times, pretty amazingly. So those two journeys, while walking with the sheep and the shepherds, I saw real shepherds and real sheep living out these real principles of the Lord and how he deals with us, this incredible relationship between the two that parallels our walk with God, and they're astonishing. So I want to share this with you in hopes this morning that you will leave here understanding more about your good shepherd's heart for you and that you're so cared for.

Mark Medley: 4:36

So this week I'm going to talk about being a sheep and having a shepherd. Next week I'm going to talk about being a shepherd and taking care of your flock, and we all have flocks. It could be our marriage, it could be our family, it could be spheres of influence in our job or in our community, but we all have flocks. Okay, so, shepherds and sheep. So in Hebrew there's a word commonly used for shepherd and it's taken from a root word, and the root word is ra'ah, and ra'ah is the Hebrew word for best friend. I know it's like an oh, it's beautiful. The shepherd is the best friend, and they take that word and they make the actual word. Unique term for shepherd is rotzon. Rotzon means lover of the flock. So this shepherd is not just an administrator, and so he's not just like an overseer, but he's a caring, like a father figure to these sheep and he's tending his flock out of this deep sense of love.

Mark Medley: 5:39

So, as I walked in Poland with these shepherds and these sheep, what I saw is I saw three things I saw heart, I saw eyes and I saw hands. More specifically, I saw a compassionate heart and I saw watchful eyes and I saw able hands. And you know what, when you've got someone looking over you that has a compassionate heart and is watchful, and they're capable, you're pretty good, you're doing all right. So each year in the mountains of South Poland, near the Slovakian border and many other places in the world, there's a tradition that's been happening for centuries, that goes on, and in South Poland it's called the reddick. A reddick is just a Polish word for walking, walking up the mountains and so I was invited to go, and this is a picture of most of these pictures that I'm showing this morning I took, or the people on the journey took. About 90% of the pictures were while we were there. So what you see here is some sheep and you see these mountains in the back. These are the Tatra Mountains, part of the Carpathian Mountains. If you're a geography person, they are the mountains in the South Poland. Right at the top of those mountains is the border of Slovakia.

Mark Medley: 7:05

And so these village farmers, they hire a shepherd family every year to take their flock up to these highland grazing grounds. Okay, so these meadows, they will stay there all summer. They go up in April, they come back in October, so eight months long this shepherd is leading these sheep and in the past these events were held as very dear like. They're like the most important annual events in local culture in the highlands. So there's festivities, there's prayers, there's music, there's religious rites to protect the animals and during the rhetoric of today this has happened for centuries. But today it's not that big of a deal in the village. But what is a big deal is if you're driving in a car behind these 200 sheep. So this is, you can hear a little bit and the sheep and this is actually a sheep dog right there, that's like a Polish sheep dog that looks a whole lot like a sheep. So mostly people are patient with it because it's kind of a tie to their past. But when you get behind in a car. You just wait and it's not fun. So we disrupted a lot of the villages going through them. We also thrilled a lot of little kids and their grandmas were like pulling the kids out and they're like coming up and touching the sheep. It was beautiful.

Mark Medley: 8:35

So I was invited to be a part of a group of 20 or so people who joined the shepherds the shepherds Stasek and Tadek. This is a picture of Stasek. Stasek is part of a family. His family has done this heretic walking up in the hills with the sheep for 50 years. This was the 50th year of their heretic. Okay, stasek is not 50 years old yet, so he's done it all of his life. His dad did it for 50 years. His dad passed away the year before I walked with him on this. He was 83 years old when he passed away. He did this thing into his 80s and when you see later, like next week, you'll see what it's like to go over the top of the mountain.

Mark Medley: 9:19

It is not easy. These guys are rough. You don't want to meet them. You wouldn't want to fight them. They can. They can absolutely take you, I'm sure of it.

Mark Medley: 9:31

But so what happened was they took about 200 sheep from 15 different owners and they were assimilated into one flock. Okay, and these owners trust the sheep completely and the shepherds trust the shepherds completely and the shepherds take responsibility very seriously. So this is really interesting. The sheep do not belong to the shepherd, they don't own it. This is great. This is, let me just tell you, from a pastoral standpoint. We have responsibility over you. We take it very seriously, but we don't own you at all. You have another owner. We're just like an under-shepherd to your good shepherd and he's the one that takes care of you. But we take care of you and we're also charged with that responsibility. So their responsibility is to create an environment that's conducive to well-being of the sheep and also productivity. They have to feed the sheep Really important. They have to care for the sheep and they have to make sure that the sheep are productive. Talk about that in a minute.

Mark Medley: 10:39

So before they begin, they have this meeting with the owners. Everything's discussed, compensation, expectations, all agreed upon, before the journey begins and they always understand what's going on. And after they come. So we joined them on the third day. I'll tell you why in just a minute. And what they do is the first thing that happens is they pull. The first two days they're together. There's 15 different flocks, okay.

Mark Medley: 11:05

And let me tell you something about sheep they're really, really, really dumb there's no way to say it but they're just really not smart animals, okay. And they're really timid, they're frightened. They get freaked out when things change at all. I don't know why God called us sheep because it doesn't sound like you at all. I don't know why God called us sheep because it doesn't sound like you at all. Does it? Anything changes? They freak out, and so they're all fine in their little flocks and then they come together and then there's that flock and all these flocks and everybody smells different and smells a big thing to sheep. And so you smell different than me and I'm freaked out at that and I'm like so they take the sheep and they walk them in this huge circle. It's like a big blender, and next week I'll show you a video that is pretty incredible. And so they take the sheep and, as they're homogenizing them, they're actually the flocks the individual flocks disappear and they become one great big flock and then, after a while, they begin to smell like each other instead of smell different from each other.

Mark Medley: 12:12

But this is what the shepherd does the first two days. He's blending the sheep and he's speaking to the sheep, he's building this relationship. This is one of the biggest things that I saw is his ongoing relationship with the sheep. Okay, so what happens the first two days is you have the shepherd together. So this is a six-day journey. This is six days, 90 miles up over those mountains. Okay, this is not easy. This is really really difficult for the shepherds and for the sheep.

Mark Medley: 12:47

The first two days are the shepherd and the sheep, and then we join for the second two days, so we only walk with them. Actually, two days we walked probably we walked at least 50 miles with them in two days, though. So it was a long ways. Miles with them in two days, though. So it was a long ways, and this is not the beautiful, pretty little pastoral kind of setting. This is hard work. This is through the ridges, down the ravines, all this stuff. So the last two days we don't walk with them because it's too treacherous over the top of the mountains and they won't let us walk, and we probably get in their way too, by the way. So why in the world look at this they're going down these big ravines like this.

Mark Medley: 13:30

So why in the world is it worth the trouble and the expense to hire a shepherd to take them up over the mountain when you could just keep them on your little farm? It's a good question and the answer is next week I'll show you a picture of where they go and it is beautiful dense, lush grasses, super quiet. So it's quiet, quiet, quiet. They eat grass, grass grass, and they make milk, milk, milk, which makes cheese, cheese, cheese and cheese is the commodity. This is what they make money on. They take the cheese, they smoke the cheese and they sell it as a specialty. So that's it. The cheese is everything. Okay, they do sell the wool the wool they make almost no money off of, but the cheese is everything. So you have to have them in a place where they're quiet. You have to have them in a place where they're quiet, they're peaceful and they have tons of food so they can make tons of milk. That's the reason you would pay somebody for eight months to take your sheep up over the mountains. Okay, so this is mud and mess and smell and sweat and strain on your muscles. That's what this is, but it's beautiful. So I found.

Mark Medley: 14:46

The most striking thing that I found was this real and ever-growing relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, so this is a picture of Magda. Magda is the lady who actually puts this thing together. So, magda, she is the one that coordinates us being able to come on this journey. She does it twice a year. She also, through the summer, takes leadership teams, like corporations will send their leadership teams up to the highlands, and Magda will teach them about. She calls it leadership. It's like principles of leadership from the shepherd and the sheep. So leadership, brilliant Marketing. She's with Stasek, and Stasek is the only time I remember seeing him smile. I don't know what he was smiling at, but it was something. So what happens in those first two days, though, is there's a relationship established between the sheep and the shepherds. There's a relationship established between the sheep and the shepherds.

Mark Medley: 15:50

The sheep learn to hear his voice while they're walking with him. You guys got to get the parallels here. This is real important. I think you're smart enough, but we learn to hear his voice as we're walking with him. Maybe you're not sure you're able to hear the voice of the Lord very well, you're not confident, it's okay. You will hear his voice as you learn, as you're able to hear the voice of the Lord very well. You're not confident. It's okay. You will hear his voice as you learn, as you walk with him.

Mark Medley: 16:11

So the first two days he's taken all of these sheep, he's homogenizing them into one big flock and he's talking all the time to them. In fact, I have this video that you're going to hear. Okay, now I and we missed the first one One, two, three, four, five, six. He made six sounds in 12 seconds. You can stop In 12 seconds. He's talking all the time. You can stop it and stop that one too. Thank you, okay, you get it.

Mark Medley: 17:10

He's always talking, he's always making sounds and all those sounds mean something different and they're learning what the sounds mean. Okay, the words give them comfort and they also give them direction. They give comfort because words equals presence. If they can hear his words, they know he's near. Okay. The whistles are about encouragement and direction as well. So there's specific things.

Mark Medley: 17:33

When he's whistling, he's saying this way and he's giving a little encouragement. He does these little trills. You'll hear more next, I think next week, but it's little things that he does with his mouth, like rrr, rrr, rrr, like that, and when he goes rrr, what he's saying is gather to me Everybody here right now and it's beautiful, and the cowbells. If you notice the cowbells, they are low-pitched ones and high-pitched ones. The low-pitched ones are to scare off the snakes, especially up in the highlands. But the high-pitched ones they put on these experienced sheep who've been on this journey before. So they are like helping to guide. They're almost like mentors, mentor sheep helping to guide the other sheep. They're walking and so the other ones are hearing the little cowbell and they keep going.

Mark Medley: 18:28

So for two days the shepherd is establishing this relationship with the sheep and then everything is kind of cool. The sheep are like okay, they're kind of calmed down and they're not as anxious. They're all one flock. They're starting to trust the shepherd. And then we show up and we are a mess to them. We make a mess for the shepherds because we are variables and we smell funny and we're something different and sheep don't like nothing different. They like it the way it is. Don't mess with my, don't move my cheese. I don't know where that even came from. Speaking of cheese, don't upset my little cart here. And then we upset the cart. We like turn the cart on top of itself. There's 20 of us and we all smell weird to them. Okay, so there we go. But I want to show you two videos here. But there's two videos of the sheep and they're both videos of them walking across little streams.

Mark Medley: 19:26

Okay, the first one is right after we got there, just minutes after these pictures I've showed you. We were walking across this little brook and the sheep. What you're gonna hear is you're gonna hear a lot of noise, a lot of talking like meh, a lot of that. You're gonna see a lot of pushing. You're gonna see a lot of impatience and not sure what to do. You're gonna see anxiety. You're going to see a lot of impatience and not sure what to do. You're going to see anxiety. You're going to see them halt when they get to the water and it's like ah, ah, like that. Okay, and we caused all of this because we showed up.

Mark Medley: 20:00

And so go ahead and show the first one that confusion, confusion, like confusion. Wow, there's no way for me to. You're stuck. Listen to the shepherd. He's whistling this way, this way. So everything changes. Everything changes because we changed it all and they're kind of like oh no, I like this, I'm not, this is not good. And then, but they're hearing the voice of the shepherd. The shepherd seems to feel like it's okay, right, and he's moving on. He's not stopping, we're going forward. So I think we trust the shepherd a little bit, so we'll just keep on going.

Mark Medley: 21:03

Okay, the next video is hours later. They're crossing another stream. This is like a totally different flock. You're not going to hear almost any noise, they are not pushy or confused, they're really calm and they just go right across. So check this out, thank you, almost no noise, just patiently waiting.

Mark Medley: 22:37

Okay, so what made the difference? And what made the difference is they were so anxious because of the variables we introduced in that first video. But after walking with a shepherd for a few hours, it's like okay, we're all right, we're okay. You learn to hear his voice as you walk with him and his voice comforts you and you know that he has a compassionate heart and he has watchful eyes and he has skillful hands and you're okay, beautiful, and so I mean the parallel is pretty obvious, right? God calls his people sheep for a reason, right? We get anxious when things change, we're uncertain or we don't know why. We're being led a certain way. Why did we just leave our little farm and why are we going through these ravines? And when we're agitated by outward uncertainties or inward fears, the voice of our shepherd calms us. And Jesus identified as a good shepherd. Right, he said his sheep hear his voice. So we're going to start, we're going to just take a minute and look at this great shepherd.

Mark Medley: 24:13

Psalm, psalm 23, because I want to read it to you again in the context of what we're doing this morning and let you hear it and let's think through it. Just a minute and you know most of it, right. So Psalm 23 says 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 the paths of righteousness for his namesake. 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 and my cup overflows. And surely goodness and mercy shall follow. You understand the heart of the shepherd. You see that he's meeting physical needs here, right? He brings me to a place to lie down in green pastures that's the rest and the food that I need and by quiet waters, and that's the water I need and it's also in a context that stills my soul. So my soul needs are being met as well. I feel safe and this travel can't happen. These sheep will not travel like this. Unless they feel safe, they won't go very far. They kind of mutiny so they and milk cannot be produced unless they feel safe too. So all of this stuff they have to learn to trust their shepherd as they walk with him. And then their spiritual needs. He leads me in paths of righteousness. There's a spiritual leading as well. All of that in those Psalms.

Mark Medley: 26:04

And so we don't know what time in David's life, what period, this Psalm was written. We just don't know. That Could be before he was in Saul's service, when he was a shepherd. It could be after, at the end of his life, we don't know. It could be when he was being chased down. He was hiding in the caves. We don't know. But we do know that he was always cared for by his shepherd and he never once lacked the expert care of his master shepherd, and we can see him out in his field as he's caring for his sheep with his own watchful eyes and skillful hands and looking up to the heavens and saying I've got one that cares for me. Just like that. It's beautiful.

Mark Medley: 26:51

So in this psalm we see the Lord is my shepherd. That's relationship and I shall not want. That's supply, and he makes me lie down in green pastures. That's rest and he leads me by quiet waters, and that's refreshment. And he restores my soul and that's healing. And he leads me in paths of righteousness, and that's refreshment. And he restores my soul and that's healing. And he leads me in paths of righteousness and that's guidance For his name's sake and that's purpose. It's all beautiful and all these things are what our good shepherd does for us in our times of non-conflict.

Mark Medley: 27:25

But then this psalm takes this dark turn. But though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, there's dark places. Just like life turns dark sometimes, this psalm turns dark as well. And there, in the most difficult times, david finds that we find our shepherd is not changed at all. It's easy to believe that he's caring for us when times are good, right. But when times are dark we kind of forget. He doesn't change his nature, he doesn't change his love for us in the dark times.

Mark Medley: 28:04

Is it possible to have rest in the midst of your dark time? Yeah, in fact, even in the dark time. Did you notice it? The dangerous places. I hear his voice and my relationship grows deeper. There's an intimacy that happens there. That's different, because the it's a grammar lesson. I'm sorry, the pronouns change from third person to second person, from. He makes me lie down. The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me by quiet waters. He to you. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. You are with me. Your rod, your staff come for me. You prepare a table for me. In presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil. This other degree of intimacy happens in this place of dark times when we walk through the valley.

Mark Medley: 29:01

So as I'm walking with these shepherds through these ravines and up these mountainsides, we see that those shepherds oftentimes have to move them up those mountainsides, up those slopes, to get to where they're going. And these are really dangerous times. Without the shepherd, the sheep would get lost. They would be easy targets for prey. And it's in these times that I saw the sheep pay more attention to the shepherd. You could literally see them watching the shepherd, watching where he's going, listening more, pulling in closer to the shepherd, and he didn't drive them. Shepherds don't drive the sheep. Cowboys drive cattle. Shepherds lead sheep because they're different kinds of animals and they watched his back and they listened for his trills and his whistles and his words, and he's loving them right here in order to get them over there where they're going, and it's just a beautiful thing.

Mark Medley: 30:03

So it's interesting when we talk about food, because I asked the shepherd what is the thing you're most concerned about? And he said when they don't want to eat. When they don't want to eat because I know they're either anxious or they're sick, and so feeding them is the most important thing, and getting them to the destination is secondary. Care for them now, and feeding them now is the most important thing. So they spread them out.

Mark Medley: 30:33

If you remember that picture I showed you after they homogenized them, they spread them out. And they spread them out for a reason because sheep are really dumb and sheep only see what's right in front of them right now. Sheep only see what's right in front of them right now. That's it. They're not over there just right here and not five minutes ago, but just right here. This is their whole. Their entire world is right there. So the strange thing is that when there's other sheep in front of them, they're seeing a little sheep behind in front of them. They don't see the grass, and so he has to spread them out in a line. So they see grass in front of them and say, oh, grass, let's eat. They're that dumb, I'm just telling you, yeah, and we laugh because we're like that too, aren't we? We basically only see what's right in front of us right now and we don't even have the vision sometimes. It's funny, we're funny.

Mark Medley: 31:35

But he says this he said it's easier for everybody to feed them in the open fields and find good food for them there. It's easier, it's more inviting, it's easier for everyone, but that's not where the best food is. More inviting, it's easier for everyone, but that's not where the best food is. He said the dark forest is the best, most vitamin-rich, most nutritional food for them. So he leads them when he could go around it. He leads them through these hard places so they can find this food. I have another video there. I think you can see that we're going up beside a. He's whistling, he's yelling and you see that they're grazing all along the way, because this is where really good food is, because this is where really good food is Yep, that's good, yeah.

Mark Medley: 32:34

So sometimes those paths of righteousness he leads us in are through dark and difficult times. Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, it's not always the devil resisting you. Sometimes it's your shepherd taking you through a dark time, because what you're going to get there is good for your soul and what you're going to find out there is. You're going to find kindness, you're going to see his compassionate heart and his skillful hands and his watchful eyes there like you've never seen it, and you get the most nourishing and strengthening food in those dark valleys. So it's a picture of total trust. I mean, they were walking these places where normally they wouldn't walk, they would be vulnerable to getting lost or possibly killed, but they go there because the shepherd goes there and they trust the shepherd.

Mark Medley: 33:22

This is a picture of me, by the way, in the field with the sheep. So your rod and your staff, they comfort me, they protect me. He does have a rod, he does have a stick as well. Right, a staff and a stick. That's what he has, and he does protect them, he does guide them and even though the sheep are naturally fearful and timid, they have this peace because the rod and the staff comforts them. And we have a comforter too. We have the Holy Spirit as a comforter and a corrector too. Right, he leads us, he corrects us with it, but he draws us, he convicts us, he comforts us, he guides us by his spirit so we can fear no evil, for you are with me. And as we learn to walk with him, we learn that he's trustworthy. And if he's trustworthy and he's capable, then I'm okay. It's beautiful.

Mark Medley: 34:20

So we asked this question. It was great, we were able to ask the question. Of course, I speak English. I don't speak their language, and they speak a kind of a Slovakian. They speak a Highland kind of Polish, and even some of the Polish people. It was hard to understand them, but when we asked them questions they had great answers. Usually they're pretty, they're pretty sly people. You know they're simple people, but they sly and they kind of like to play with you a little bit. So their answers were they were taking us a little bit on a ride, but I'll tell you more about that next week.

Mark Medley: 34:52

But we asked this question how do you know what to do. You're a shepherd, you're in charge. How do you know what to do? How do you know what the sheep need? And he just stopped a minute. This minute, this was Tadek, the other shepherd. He said it's just so simple. He said I watch, so I know that's it. That was his answer, too simple, right? He watches and so he sees the needs. He's always watching. They are so vigilant, they are watching all the time.

Mark Medley: 35:24

Sometimes he has to do minor surgery when the sheep needs it. The shepherd does a lot of things. This is a picture of it. He had to take his knife out. There was like an infection in this little hoof of the sheep and the sheep was limping and he was having a hard time. He had to clean it out. And here's the thing about it Whatever's needed, he's capable and ready to do. Sometimes it's major surgery, sometimes it's minor surgery. But the other thing about it is when the sheep are sick or they're struggling, the shepherd will touch them more often. Just walk by and just touch. Not a big deal, just a little, just a touch. He doesn't touch the sheep a lot, but when they're sick or struggling he'll touch them. And he does that for us too, doesn't he? And he's doing that even this morning for some of you guys, and he's doing that even this morning for some of you guys. Already, in the service, you felt his hand just lightly on you. I'm here, it's okay, you're okay.

Mark Medley: 36:39

The second thing that I found out is when the sheep is sick or struggling, and what they did with this sheep here where he did this little surgery, he put the sheep right in the middle of the fold, in the middle of the group, so he's surrounded by other sheep, number one for protection and number two for encouragement. Like, let's go, we're moving forward, you're coming with us, we're beside you, we're going together, we're going together. And when you're struggling and you're hurt in your heart or you're sick, brothers and sisters, we've got to be engaged with the body of Christ. Don't pull away, don't disengage. You have to be in among the saints. When you feel like pulling away, you need to be in the middle of the flock, because God uses his own sheep to help shepherd his own sheep. Right, we need the body of Christ, don't isolate yourself.

Mark Medley: 37:34

So this whole Psalm 23, the whole focal point is the Lord, right, the whole focal point is the one who's watching and initiating the action and who diagnoses and dispenses the care that I need. He sees it right and it's important because the lot in life of any sheep is completely dependent on the quality of the shepherd. There are good shepherds and there are bad shepherds. Jesus said that right. There's some that are hirelings. They don't do anything, they run from danger, they don't protect the sheep. But I'm the good shepherd and I lay my life down for the sheep. This is how you know his heart. He laid his life down for you. He hung on a cross for you. He gave everything for you. This is his heart.

Mark Medley: 38:29

So what keeps me from trusting him as my good shepherd? Sometimes because we just don't know him well enough. We don't know his heart yet. I haven't figured out who he is yet. I haven't understood his heart. Maybe also we've had other father figures or authority figures in our life that were not good shepherds. Maybe we've been abused there is such thing as sheep abuse, and I'm talking about in the body of Christ. Maybe these people have let you down and maybe you've had a hireling in your life. Maybe it causes you to pull in like this and hold things close and not take risks and have a scarcity mentality and an orphan spirit. But we are no longer slaves of fear. We are children of God and we have a good shepherd. And even the sheep, as dumb as they are, these sheep came to understand that that shepherd was trustworthy Because he had a heart and he had hands to care for them properly.

Mark Medley: 39:44

So I'll end with this one story, and so much more to tell you next week. But this one story happened not on the walks that I took, but on the one right before the first one I took, my friends Jacek and Kasia Sliva. They're my dear friends and they live in Gdansk, but they are the ones that invited me on this reddick. They said you just have to come. You have to come, it'll change your life. And so Kasia was on the reddick the first one I was on and she saw this story firsthand and she told me about it. So they're moving together as a group of sheep.

Mark Medley: 40:22

There was one young sheep that was over to the side and just couldn't go on. I don't know what happened. I don't know if it was sickness or just too weary to go on. It was just laying there and it couldn't get up. It couldn't do anything. And so the shepherd walks over to the sheep and caresses the sheep and lifts the sheep up and the sheep is struggling and wriggling because it doesn't want to be picked up. It just really wants to be left alone and just whatever, just maybe I'm just going to die, maybe this is just the end. Shepherd picks it up and it's anxious and struggling and the shepherd holds it and turns its head so he can make eye contact and he looks at the sheep and he pulls the sheep in to his chest so the sheep can feel his heartbeat. And when the heartbeat of the sheep felt the heartbeat of the shepherd, it calmed and the shepherd could do what it needed to take care of it. Isn't this what we need to make eye contact with our shepherd in our dark times? If we can see his face, if we can feel him pull us into his heart, if we can just feel his heartbeat, if we just know his heart, we're okay.

Mark Medley: 42:08

So I want to encourage you, maybe even challenge you, today, when we talk about a compassionate heart and we talk about watchful eyes and we talk about skillful hands, I want to encourage you that you can trust these hands, the hands of your shepherd. You can place everything into his hands. These are the hands that made the world. We read it this morning right. It is he who has made us. He's the maker of everything. The hands that made the world, the hands that hold this world together in his providence that he orders all things. Even this morning, he's in control, administrating the cosmos. Hands that healed, hands that touched children. Hands that touched the untouchable lepers. Hands that stretched out and took nails. The hands where my name is graven and your name is graven. You can trust these hands, so I want to pray for you.

Mark Medley: 43:34

Thank you, lord. How amazing it is, lord, that you are so great and yet you're so kind. Amazing it is, lord, that you are so great and yet you're so kind. We are grateful to you, lord, for the kindness that you have shown. Lord, you have the right to be our shepherd because you made us. You have the right to be our shepherd because you redeemed us. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Mark Medley: 44:15

Lord, maybe there's some of us here today who've never really surrendered to that and never put themselves in a place where they recognize your authority as their maker and their redeemer and they put everything into your hands. Lord, I ask you to draw those people to you. And I pray for all of us, lord, who have known your redemption, who have known your kindness in our life, and maybe we need to know it again in a deeper way, in a new context, lord, with new circumstances. But, lord, I just pray that you would open our eyes to see who you are Just. Could you expand our hearts to understand your heart? Could you open our eyes to see your watchful eyes, lord, and could you give us faith to be able to take a risk and put ourselves into your hands?

Mark Medley: 45:04

Lord, I pray for your grace and your peace on everyone this morning. I thank you that you continue to work in our lives this week and show us your heart of a shepherd, and I want to close by praying this prayer from Hebrews 13 over you. And I want to close by praying this prayer from Hebrews 13 over you. And may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do, his will working in you, that which is pleasing in his sight, through the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen, amen.