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[ Pause ] [MUSIC - "GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO"] ♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo ♪ ♪ Come to Bethlehem and see ♪

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♪ Him whose birth the angels sing ♪ ♪ The Lord of liberty ♪ ♪ Christ, the Lord, the new-born King ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪

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♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ In excelsis Deo ♪ Let us pray. Speak to our hearts, O God. In the strong and perfect name of Jesus Christ,

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our Lord we pray, Amen. Return, faithless people, declares the Lord, for I am your husband. I will choose you, one from a town and two from a clan and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. Jeremiah chapter

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3 verses 14 and 15. The gift of good shepherds. The gift of good shepherds. This is another sermon related to a series based on the book of the prophet Jeremiah. So we will be in this book for some time, the pastor is endeavoring to preach through this book. God's gift, or the gift of good shepherds. This is the promise of Christmas. It is a gift from God. It's

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It's good during this particular season when our attention is focused on presents, on what gifts are under the Christmas tree, what we expect to receive at Christmastime. It was good for us to focus not just on getting, but on giving.

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We think we are ahead of the game when we get more than we give. I remember as a child in elementary school, We had the practice during this season of writing your name on a slip of paper and dropping

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it into a hat or something, and there was a drawing, and you were to give a gift to the person whose name you drew. I recall that in this particular case, I drew Vera's name. David drew my name.

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And Vera drew David's name. Well, the time came when we presented our gifts, or we brought our gifts, and they were given that I had gone without lunch and purchased a box of handkerchiefs for Vera.

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And David gave me an old dirty tie. And he received a very expensive gift for those days from Vera. And he laughed at how well he had done in that transaction. And I was quite disturbed.

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[Laughter] But I kept the tie. And believe you, I kept it. Another year came, behold I drew David's name.

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(audience laughing) And I gave him his tie. So what you send out to others will come back to you. So it's a good thing for us to recognize

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to recognize the real meaning of Christmas. There's a great deal of wrapping, you know, that goes on here, Christmas wrapping that goes on. And we need to sort of get rid of that to get

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to the real meaning of Christmas. I remember as a teenager I had a girlfriend and I bought her a box of chocolate coated cherries. It cost 25 cents.

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And I paid to have it mailed from Dallas to East Texas. And I had it insured. (audience laughing) And it costs more for all this wrapping

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and having the wrapping and the mailing and all of that. That costs more than the gift. So in our unwrapping of the gift, of the packaging that we give to Christmas.

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Let us be sure that we do not focus primarily on the wrapping. I shall never forget that one Christmas my aunt sent me a watch and there were other gifts in there for other members of the family I went through it and there was a lot of straw, paper and the like in this box.

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And I went through it and threw all the box and all those other things into the garbage. And I got a letter from her the next day or so asking me how I liked the watch. I cannot tell you how quickly I tried to go back to the garbage can and find that watch. So here we are facing another Christmas and the prophetic word comes to us from Jeremiah

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about God's gift. It comes during an impending national crisis. It is a promise to furnish, or to rather punish Israel and Judah for their sins. Then God, after notifying them of their punishment, promises to give them pastors after His own

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heart. In other words, pastor may be interpreted as shepherd and one interpretation is that it embraces rulers. Rulers are often referred to as shepherds or sometimes referred to as shepherds in keeping

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with their responsibility to lead the people of God, to provide for their welfare. The kings of Israel and Judah had failed to live up to their duties. They departed from the commandments of God. The marriage between God and people had grown sour and ended in divorce.

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Now the Lord says, "Return, faithless Israel. "I will frown on you no longer, "for I am merciful. "I will not be angry forever.

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"Only acknowledge your guilt. "Return unto me, for I am your husband." your husband. Then will I give you pastors, shepherds, rulers, who will guide you in the right way. The nations of the world

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look and wait for better leaders." We've just received of a new ruler in Haiti. He had served the people before and he has been elected now after an interim away from the office. He's been elected and the two major parties were against him but he was elected and he's beginning a new

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term. We've been aware of the fact that in Mexico they have a new leader who is seeking to get rid of the corruption with which that country has been troubled. And here in America we are working through the political process which we hope will enable us to avoid a constitutional crisis. So in the midst of

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the nations of the world this word from the father of all of us comes saying I will give you rulers. I will give you pastors. I will give you shepherds. And the one who speaks, the one who makes the promise is the sovereign of the universe. God says, "I will

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give you. And whenever God gives us a gift, it's a wonderful gift. Wonderful gift. We do not know what is best for ourselves often times. Drug addicts sell food stamps in order to feed the drug habit. We do not know how to give the best gifts. Many

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times we give our children alcohol when they're young and wonder why they grow up alcoholics. I remember we were serving communion on one occasion years ago in my ministry, and as the communion plate was being passed, there was a child there who was a little boy, and with her mother and the child was not a member of the church so they were passing the plate

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around the child as we usually do. And she cried out, "Mama, I want some of that beer." And the mama was saying, "Shh." Because it was a very quiet time.

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But often we wonder why certain things develop when we prepare the way for them. God gives us the best gifts. We often promote profanity and wonder why our children aren't holy. God promises the best gifts for all of his people.

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He promises to be with us. He promises to be in us. And he wants for us the best. Listen, he says, I will give you shepherds

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after my own heart. Now, Ezekiel talks about shepherds and he says to them, whoa, in that 34th chapter, whoa to the shepherds.

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And he points up the fact that the problems that the nation has encountered may be attributed to shepherds who have been more concerned about feeding themselves than feeding the sheep.

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Oftentimes, the first thing a church does when it's in search of a pastor is to form a little group. This group says, "I want this person." Another group says, "I want this person."

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Many times the church finds itself torn into many little cliques because of the differences in what one group wants over against the other. When the first thing the church needs to do is,

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and the search for the pastor is to go to God in prayer. He says, "I will give you pastors." He keeps his promise. And among those who were the first to receive the news

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of the Savior's birth, were shepherds. Shepherds on deer in the hills while they kept watch over their flock by night. And we have what we call a shepherding ministry

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in our church. We call them care leaders. And sometimes I think that we need to reexamine what it really means to be a shepherd,

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to really care, to really provide protection, to really give strength, to give comfort, to give help. What it really means to be a shepherd because these shepherds were out on the field by night

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keeping watch over their flock by night. by night. I was in a meeting yesterday and you know it was a little cool yesterday and this meeting was held outside.

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It only lasted about an hour but I had to speak and others had to speak and we were all somewhat shivering for one hour out there without having an overcoat of some kind. think of shepherds, shepherds out in the open field. I had the experience of seeing a group of shepherds in Scotland and the weather was a little

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cooler than it is today and they had their garments wrapped around them and they were sitting there in the darkness keeping watch over their flock. Watching to see that the flock would not be destroyed by wolves or lions or any kind of beasts keeping watch over their flock by night. Night with all of its fears,

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night with all of the uncertainties that are connected with it. They were keeping watch over their flock by night. So these shepherds that God promises to sin, these shepherds are suffering servants. They expose themselves to all kinds of weather. The Good Shepherd in the parable that Jesus has left for us

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goes and looks and looks and looks until he finds that one that is missing. And he He brings that one back because he recognizes even though he has 99 left at home, he goes out and searches until he finds that one.

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The good shepherd. The good shepherd. This is God's gift. And what it means for us to be shepherds to one another.

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And in fact, we should look upon ourselves as being under shepherds. Because we are under the chief shepherd. Jesus Christ says, "I am the good shepherd."

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And I lay down my life for the sheep. So to be a shepherd, to be concerned, to minister to others in times of sorrow, in times of difficulty, to be a good shepherd.

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This is what God's gift is to us in the gift of Christmas. This is the most precious gift of the church to be shepherd, to provide shepherding care

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for all, not only who are within the fold, but those who constitute the extended family of God. So it's a divine gift. It's the gift that is fulfilled at Christmas.

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God is the eternal shepherd because he feeds us, he protects us, he provides for us, and most of all, he knows us. It is said that the Oriental Shepherd

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knew every member of the flock. And so when the hundred were there and he saw one was missing, He had given names to each one of them,

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and he missed this one, and he went out searching for it. God knows us. He knows not only our address. He knows us through and through.

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God knows us, and he understands us. And what a wonderful gift. It's really the gift of God himself. God gives us himself, and that's enough.

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We've come through almost another year and God has been with us on this journey and we know not how much more miles or how many more miles we have to travel but we know that if God be with us we need not be disturbed. We need not worry because God provides everything that we need and we can trust him for the future.

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It's an old story, but it's true to life. Young man was assisting an older man in the pulpit and he read the 23rd Psalm. And when he read it, he read it perfectly.

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His voice was used in a manner that when he came to a period, that his voice dropped. When he came to a comma, he paused. His diction was perfect and he sat down after having read it.

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Then later the older man got up and he said, the young man read this psalm earlier in the service, but I want to read it. And he read the psalm and when he sat down,

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every eye in the congregation was wet. people were weeping. And the young man asked him after the service, he said, "How is it that when I read that passage that people didn't say anything, but when you read it, everybody said amen, and there was not a dry eye in the church?" He said, "Well, young

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man, you knew the psalm, but I know the shepherd." And that's what really matters, whether or you know the shepherd. May not be a scholar, you may not be rich, you may not have many other things in the world that you'd like to have, but if you know the shepherd, if you really deep down in your heart know the shepherd, that's enough.

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That's enough to carry you over the hills. That's enough to strengthen you in in the midst of sickness if you know the shepherd. Thanks be to God, I know the shepherd. Thanks be to God, I met him early in life

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and he's been with me all along the way. My feet are a little slower now than they were then, but the shepherd is there, I know the shepherd. And I thank God that he gives us this gift,

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which he fulfills every day of our lives, I will give you shepherds. And he provides for us that care that we all need. So as we come to the invitation

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that he extends to his people, that's what he's really doing in this passage during Jeremiah's time, saving like a shepherd leadeth.

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Every one of us, would you get a hymnal? Not just look around to see whether someone is. If you can't hold a tune, just hum it anyhow. >> Yes.

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>> Savior like a shepherd lead us. Much we need his tender care. So as we sing, we extend the invitation to Christian discipleship, become a member

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of this church family by letter, by Christian experience, on professional faith. Let us all join in singing. And if you're here this morning without a church home,

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we invite you to come. ♪ Savior, light the chamber, lead us ♪ ♪ Touch me, be kind to me again ♪ ♪ In thy hands, O precious, we yield ♪

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♪ For thy peace the foes prepare ♪ ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪ ♪ Thou hast borne us, thy dear Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪

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♪ Thou hast brought us back to Thee, O Lord ♪ ♪ Be our guide and guide us ♪ ♪ Be our guide and guide us ♪ ♪ Keep thy fire from sin defending us ♪

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♪ Sing us when we go astray ♪ ♪ Blessing Jesus, blessing Jesus ♪ ♪ Hear, oh hear us when we pray ♪ ♪ Blessing Jesus, blessing Jesus ♪

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♪ Hear, oh hear us when we pray ♪ ♪ Thou hast promised to receive us ♪ ♪ Poor and sinful will we be ♪ ♪ Thou hast mercy to relieve us ♪

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♪ Grace to mend and power to free ♪ ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪ ♪ Early let us turn to Thee ♪ ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪

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♪ Early let us turn to Thee ♪ ♪ Early let us seek Thy faith, O Lord ♪ ♪ Early let us do Thy will ♪ ♪ Blessed Lord and Holy Savior ♪

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♪ In Thy love have mercy ♪ ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪ ♪ Thou hast done us, done us dear ♪ ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪

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♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ How has love ♪ ♪ Lost its power ♪ - We come to the Lord's table.

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We extend the invitation to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. [ Silence ]