Lampstand Review, July 2018~Julie

Worship:
Julie and Ginny led worship together! This was an exciting and grand experiment for the two of us to sing and play our instruments simultaneously!  We often worship together at TRIHOP meetings with one of us leading a devotional or worship time, and we have even led a couple different worship/prayer times together but we would trade off on our songs and we didn't' try to sing or play along together.  So, we practiced together and felt that this is a blessing to be able to unite our voices and songs in praise to the Lord. 
 
It was a great time of declaring the Lord's goodness.  It was a time of declaring that truly the Lord leads us so well whether we feel it or not. 
 
Message:
Continuing in our study of Psalm 23 using Phillip Keller's book A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm, Matthew shared from Psalm 23:3.
 
  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.  
 
This was an excellent time of looking at Jesus and considering His excellent care and leadership in our lives.  Here are some highlights:
 
1.His reputation is at stake in leading us!  He is careful to lead us well!
2.A shepherd restores a sheep who is cast.  A cast sheep is one that ends up stuck on its back and unable to get up on its own. A shepherd is diligent to look for these sheep and then he is so tender and yet also rebuking in restoring the sheep. 
3.We end up like cast sheep when we go our own way and refuse to follow God's way.  Isaiah 53:6.  His way with us is always to restore us!
4.If we want to walk in His paths of righteousness there are 7 attitudes we should embrace:
1.Love Christ best and others more than myself.
2.Be willing to be set apart from the crowd; walking in holiness and “going against the flow.”
3.Instead of insisting on my own rights, seeking the rights of others.
4.Instead of being boss, I'm willing to be the bottom of the heap.
5.Willing to accept every circumstance believing He is for my good and he is leading me in every situation.
6.Learn to comply with His will instead of asserting my own.
7.Choose and follow Christ's way; Do what He is saying.
 
Response:
After Matthew shared we had an excellent discussion time about knowing the Lord as our Shepherd.  Skip Cone shared about the difference between European shepherds who would drive their sheep from behind with dogs and prodding, and a Middle Eastern shepherd who would lead their sheep.  The difference between the two is relationship!  We want to cultivate that relationship with our Shepherd. 
 
We also discussed the need to know Jesus, His ways, His plans, and ALL His names in order to guard against offense, particularly as we look to the end times.