1. Welcome to Dingwall & Strathpeffer Free Church Sunday January 18 th 2009 God Calls Us to Delight in Christ and to Share His Hope.

2. Psalm 80a:1-7* (p. 106) 1 Hear, O Israel’s Shepherd, hear us; Joseph like a flock you lead. You who are enthroned in glory, shine upon us in our need.

3. Psalm 80a:1-7* (2/5) 2 Shine on Benjamin, Manasseh, and for Ephraim rouse your might! 3 Turn us once again towards you; come and save us, give us light!

4. Psalm 80a:1-7* (3/5) 4 O LORD God, the Lord Almighty, how long will your anger smoke, Making void your people’s prayers, so that all your enemies mock?

5. Psalm 80a:1-7* (4/5) 5 You have fed us bread of sorrow; tears in plenty we must shed. 6 We are now before our neighbours humbled and discredited.

6. Psalm 80a:1-7* (5/5) 7 Look on us, O God Almighty; let us see your glory bright. Turn us once again towards you; come and save us, give us light! ____

7. Prayer & Scripture Reading

8. Scripture Reading Ezekiel 34:1-16 (p. 865-6)

9. Ezekiel 34:1-16 Shepherds and Sheep 1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 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 only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?

10. Ezekiel 34:1-16 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.

11. Ezekiel 34:1-16 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no-one searched or looked for them. 7 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

12. Ezekiel 34:1-16 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

13. Ezekiel 34:1-16 10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

14. Ezekiel 34:1-16 11 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.

15. Ezekiel 34:1-16 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land.

16. Ezekiel 34:1-16 There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. ____

17. Psalm 44:20-26* (p. 56) 20If we forgot God’s name, or to false gods had stretched our hands, 21Would God not know, for he our hearts and secrets understands?

18. Psalm 44:20-26* (2/4) 22And yet it is for your own sake we face death all the day; We’re reckoned like the sheep that are for slaughter led away.

19. Psalm 44:20-26* (3/4) 23Awake, O Lord! Arise from sleep! Do not reject your folk. 24Why hide your face and quite forget our pain and cruel yoke?

20. Psalm 44:20-26* (4/4) 25For we’ve been humbled to the dust, laid prostrate on the ground. 26Rise, help, redeem, because within your cov’nant love we’re found. ________

21. SERMON: Who is my Shepherd? Ezekiel 34 (p. 865) “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.” Ezekiel 34:11

22. WHO IS MY SHEPHERD? EZEKIEL 34 Ezekiel’s Ministry: Bringing both BAD NEWS and GOOD NEWS to the Exiles… News that tells us, in Lloyd-Jones’ favourite Bible phrase “but God.”

23. 1 – The DISGRACE OF THE SHEPHERD-KINGS (1-10) What did the Pastor-Kings of Israel get wrong? How had they led the nation into captivity in Babylon? The SHEPHERDS = the LEADERS / RULERS / KINGS (see Genesis 48:15, 49:22-25). God chose Moses and David from among the shepherds.

24. 1 – The DISGRACE OF THE SHEPHERD-KINGS (1-10) There were perhaps just 3 consistently good Kings out of 43 in Israel’s history. The Kings’ worst failing: to allow IDOLS. Remove the foundation of TRUTH from life, and structural cracks will appear. Remove the true God, and terrible false ‘gods’ will enslave you. The meaningless despair of a Bertrand Russell, or of a Richard Dawkins.

25. 2 – The GRACE (GIFT) OF THE TRUE SHEPHERD-KING (11-31) What will God do in response? “I will…” He will gather the lost (11-13). He will care for the flock (14-16). He will rule over the sheep with justice and peace. This King can only be Jesus Christ. John 10 – I am the Good Shepherd.

26. Who can take the OATH of OFFICE to be your LORD and your everlasting SHEPHERD- KING?

27. Psalm 28:1-2,7b-9* (p. 3) 1To you I call, O LORD my Rock; Do not be deaf to my loud cry. I’ll be like those gone down to death, If you are silent in reply.

28. Psalm 28:1-2,7b-9* (2/4) 2Receive my plea for mercy, LORD, As now I call to you for grace, As I lift up my hands in prayer And look to your Most Holy Place. To verse 7b

29. Psalm 28:1-2,7b-9* (3/4) 7bMy heart uplifted leaps for joy; My thanks to him I gladly sing. 8 The LORD God is his people’s strength, A saving fortress for his king.

30. Psalm 28:1-2,7b-9* (4/4) 9LORD, save your people, your own flock; Be pleased your heritage to bless. Be their good shepherd; carry them For ever in your faithfulness.

31. God Calls Us to delight in Christ and to Share His Hope.