Shepherd and Sheep
See Luke 2:8-12
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
When Jesus was born, an angel made the news known to shepherds while they were keeping watch over their flocks at night (Luke 2:8). Shepherds are people taking care of sheep. Sheep are mild animals with short-sight and low intelligence. Their front legs are shorter than the rear legs. So they are easily fallen down and not able to get up by themselves easily. Without protection by shepherds, they become preys of wild animals like wolfs and lions. In Luke 2:8, shepherds were watching over their flocks to protect them from predators. Shepherds use various tools to protect their flocks.
See Psalm 23:4.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
“rod” & “staff” are deadly weapons that shepherds use to strike predators. They are thrown directly to hit the body of lion or wolf, resulting in immediate death.
In 1 Samuel 17:34-37, David testified his experience as a shepherd of his father’s flock:
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
As for David, “sling and stones” might be his weapon to rescue a sheep from predators (1 Samuel 17:40).
In this generation, there are many types of predators that carry off a sheep from the flock. Spiritually speaking, the evil forces that cause “Sin” are the predators (Ephesians 6:12). The evil forces and the followers of the evil may cause sins like (sexual) immorality, unbelief, and worries of life that make sheep slain and result in spiritual death in the end (James 1:15).
A sheep’s life depends on protection provided by the shepherd. Let us protect our sheep from various sins.
See Proverbs 27:23
23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;
Let us keep watch over them and provide adequate protection, swinging the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) (Ephesians 6:17).
You give them something to eat (Luke 9:10-17)
Luke 9:10-17
Musical Animation
[hana-flv-player video=”https://comnc.org/files/OhHappyDay_EasterCamp2014_1.flv”
width=”480″
height=”360″
description=””
player=”4″
autoload=”true” autoplay=”false”
loop=”false” autorewind=”false”
/]
Easter Camp 2014 & Regular Meeting this Friday
Easter Camp (Friday 18 Apr – Monday 21 Apr 2014) is coming soon – Next Friday! Click here for more info.
Our regular meeting at 7p.m. this Friday @ RM389 Law Bldg: Click here for more info.
Bible Conference 2014 Day 3
6:30pm – 8:30pm Friday 28 March 2014 @ Wurth room, Roundhouse, Kensington Campus, UNSW
Biblical view, value and inspiration will help you to lay the foundation of your campus life and beyond.
This could be the best time-well-spent event in the beginning of the year.
Biblical message, music, animation
Biblical electronic game
Click here for more information.
Bible Conference 2014 Day 2
6:30pm – 8:30pm Friday 14 March 2014 @ Wurth room, Roundhouse, Kensington Campus, UNSW
Biblical view, value and inspiration will help you to lay the foundation of your campus life and beyond.
This could be the best time-well-spent event in the beginning of the year.
Biblical message, music, animation
Biblical electronic game
# Light meal provided.
Click here for more information.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
Matthew 25:1-13
This parable teaches us the wisdom of preparation for the coming of our bridegroom Jesus.
In this parable, five wise virgins took a jar of oil along with their lamps. But five foolish virgins only took their lamps. So on the arrival of the bridegroom, the foolish virgins had to go to buy the oil. But it was too late.
What does the lamp mean? See Proverbs 20:27 NASB (New American Standard Bible) “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.”
Also see Matthew 5:14-16.
14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Therefore, the Christian is the lamp that God turned the light on after he put oil in his soul.
But the parable we read today tells that the lamps of ten virgins were going out because long waiting at midnight. Only wise five virgins had extra oil supply with themselves. This is the very difference between wise and foolish virgins.
Then what does this extra preparation mean? What does the jar of oil means?
If the virgin loves the bridegroom and treasures the moment to welcome him, she would not leave it to the chance. She would ensure the welcome moment the success. The foolish virgins left it to the chance. Basically they were not wise enough but it shows that they didn’t really love the bridegroom. True love at heart can create brilliant ideas to please the mate, in common sense, can’t it?
To ensure that we are ready for our bridegroom, we want direct and strong relationship with God. In the difficult time, how easily do our lamps go out? For example, when someone invokes our anger, we may easily lose Christian attitude. The oil was choked up and the fire was (almost) gone out! Jesus said “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). We are living in wicked generation. We need enough oil to keep our lamp on while we are living in this world until Jesus comes back. How? Read the Holy Bible every morning before facing this wicked world. Pray to God every day. Do evangelism. Tithe. Make disciples. Teach the Holy Bible. Love your neighbours as yourself. Obey God’s Word. Bear the fruit of Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Bear the fruit of life – spiritual children… so that our lamp may not go out in the most difficult time.
Also, oil is something that can’t be shared. Purity, faith, and love toward Jesus can’t be shared with others.
It is essential that a Christian has Christian faith, Christian life, Christian attitudes and is full of Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t let the lamp go off.
Let’s always prepare enough oil throughout today, this week, this month, this year, our whole life through sufficient prayer (spiritual breathing), reading (spiritual eating) and evangelism (spiritual exercise)!
Man-made rules vs the Holy Bible
I am reading the Gospel of Matthew these days. In the recent 3 days, I read Matthew 23. I remember decades ago when I read this chapter first time in my life, it was mind-blowing. Today I would share one important point in this chapter.
Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
The religious leaders created too many man-made rules to follow. Keeping all these rules was too hard. And these rules altered the real meaning of the Holy Bible (Proverbs 30:6, Deuteronomy 4:2, 2 Peter 3:16).
The issue is summarized as “Man-made rules vs the Holy Bible”.
It is easy for us to create man-made rules as they did.
Check whether you keep “man-made rules” or “the Holy Bible”. Some might think there was no difference but there is big difference between them.
Think based on the Holy Bible. Examine whether the man-made rules you blindly follow are biblical. And start to follow the Holy Bible.
Enforcing “man-made rules of religion” is a great sin (15).
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Animation based on Isaiah 9:6-7a
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand with the Five Loaves and Two Fish
Luke 9:10-17
In Luke 9:1-9, Jesus sent His twelve disciples out for a mission trip. They returned and made the mission report to Jesus (10a). After this, they went to Bethsaida by themselves (10b). But the crowd learned about it and followed Him (11a). Jesus welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing (11b).
Now it became late in the afternoon (12a). The twelve came to Jesus and said,
“Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” (12b).
The disciples thought the crowd should find their own means to eat and rest. But what is the answer of Jesus? See v13a.
13He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
Jesus asked His disciples to give the crowd something to eat. This teaches the leaders the responsibility for the crowd. Also this teaches us the heart for the crowd. When we don’t have the heart to feed the crowd, we can’t give anything even though we have something to give. But if we have the heart to feed the crowd, we can find the way to feed the large crowd.
But what is the response of the disciples? See v13b.
They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”
The disciples had only five loaves of bread and two fish, which are not enough for themselves and far too few for the crowd – 5000 men and their women and children. Also it would cost too much money to buy food for all the crowd. According to the gospel of John, the five loaves and two fish were with a child (John 6:9) [1]. It could be a lunch box of the child.
When they see what they have, it was not possible to feed them. How did Jesus solve this problem? See v14-17.
Jesus instructed the disciples to have them sit down in groups of about fifty each (14b).
Then, Jesus took the available food, looked up to heaven, gave thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the people (16).
As a result, they all were satisfied and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over (17).
Jesus blessed the lunch box of a child and fed the five thousand with it.
Here, we learn that we shouldn’t ignore what we have even though it looks very few or small.
Instead of looking down on what you have, we can look up to heaven and give thanks by faith. And what you have can satisfy not only a child but large crowd!
You may say, I studied the Bible very few and I know very few. But in Jesus, your Bible knowledge could be used to feed 50 million people.
What is your talent? What is your education? What belongings do you have? Do not despise or ignore them. Bring them before Jesus. When you have the heart for the crowd and do not limit God, you can see the miracle.
[1] John 6:9 9“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
