Ezekiel Bible Study: February 5, 2025

Tonight we will be in Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 is a continuation, if you will, of Ezekiel 33, where we were last week. You'll remember we emerged from several prophecies concerning the nations around Israel and Judah, into prophecies that really now are in a section that's going to speak more of the end time than anything that happened to ancient Israel. In chapter 34, we're going to talk about how God looks at prophets—not prophets, but shepherds—that he has appointed over people. Right at the end of chapter 33, you remember that he has some very nice words to say about Ezekiel. That people will come and listen to him. They won't do what he says, but they will take comfort in his words. And when all these come to pass, he says at the last verse there that they will know, Ezekiel, that a prophet has been among them. And then he goes into what we're going to be talking about tonight, about prophets and shepherds. Of course, we know that shepherds are what God—he has that analogy throughout the Bible of shepherds, the ones who look over his people. And of course, we are all sheep in his flock. It's interesting when you look at the physical surroundings that we have around us and what God created on this earth. We learn a lot from the various things that he created and put on earth. Sheep and shepherds and their whole role and interdependence on each other is really an interesting analogy that goes throughout the Bible. That talks about Jesus Christ, talks about those who he puts over shepherds over his people, and all of us who are sheep under his care. You will remember that many of the leaders in the Old Testament—Moses, David—they were shepherds before God ever used them to guide his flock, the people of Israel. They learned valuable lessons about what it meant to be a shepherd. It's not just a job. It was a calling and something that they lived with those sheep all the time. And the sheep they learned needed shepherds. One of the elements of nature is that without a shepherd, they perish. They are prime prey for the beasts of the field. They get diseased easily, so shepherds are protecting them. Shepherds have to lead them into where they can eat, where they can have clean water. Watch out for the disease that can infect them. They're just there to watch those sheep and remember that they're not their sheep.

They're the master sheep, and their job is to bring those sheep safely back to the master and watch over everything that they provide for them. So that whole analogy of sheep and shepherds is so meaningful when you look at it and compare the physical responsibilities of a shepherd to what God's people do today and what you and I will be doing in our roles in the future. When Christ returns and we have flocks, we're looking over and leading and guiding. So before we get into Ezekiel 34, let's look at maybe what the most famous chapter about shepherds and sheep are.

Let's go to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. We'll look at that. You know this Psalm very well. But let's think of it in terms of the spiritual. The spiritual. God is teaching us what he's saying about David because later on in chapter 34, we're going to see that God commends David and actually does when he's resurrected, put him as the king over Israel, the shepherd over Israel, because of how David so wonderfully fulfilled that role.

So in Psalm 23 verse 1, David writes, the Lord, you know, God, he's my shepherd. He's the one who's watching over me. He's the one who I depend on for everything. Without him, I perish. Without him, there is nothing. My life is meaningless. I can become prey to anyone who has anything and any lie they want to tell me. It's his spirit that me and guides me, keeps me from becoming spiritually diseased. From falling off the cliff, he leads me to the truth, as he says here in verse 2.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Nutritious, nutritious food. And you take comfort in that because you know that that shepherd is going to lead you to the truth, the things that you need to survive. He leads me beside the still waters. There's calm and peace when you trust in him. There's not the raging, roaring river that a shepherd will take his sheep to drink out of. It is the still waters, the calm waters, the clean and clear waters, as we'll see in Ezekiel 34. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

So you see the spirit and element of there. The only way we can ever be spiritually nourished is through God and looking to him. David goes on, yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And in those days, you had the wild beasts of the fields that were ravaging everywhere, looking for prey, looking for sheep.

That shepherd had a huge responsibility to keep the lions at bay and all the other beasts of the field that would look at those sheep as easy prey, easy food. So they were always walking through the shadow of the death, but the shepherd kept his eyes open. What is there? What is there that can create a problem for the sheep? Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

David says, for you are with me. God is with us. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And then he says, you know, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Well, that shepherd is there to protect them against their enemies. So even though there are enemies surrounding there, they still eat. They still are fed. They are still and they feel at peace to do that because they know their shepherd is there to protect them from whatever is going on around them.

And then just something I learned in the last couple days, you know, preparing this. He says, you anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Now we know, you know, we know about the anointing of our heads with oil and everything like that. But with sheep in the ancient days, they actually did.

They did actually anoint those sheep. The heads of the sheep with oil, olive oil or some oil, to prevent them from insects getting into wounds to help the wounds heal. And so when David writes this, you know, he would have done that with the sheep. And here God does that with us as well. He anoints us with His Holy Spirit to kind of watch over us, heal our diseases, heal our cuts, our wounds, bind up the broken hearted we're going to see in Ezekiel 34.

And then in verse 6, he says, you know, as long as God is my shepherd, as long as Jesus Christ is my shepherd, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So it's a beautiful, beautiful psalm that, you know, probably so many people the world over have read. Has deep spiritual meaning. And of course, we know that Jesus Christ, He is the Great Shepherd. It tells us in Hebrews 13, you know, He is the shepherd.

We could we could read John 10. We'll turn there a little bit later. But Ezekiel 34, He talks about shepherds and the responsibilities that shepherds have over His flock, His physical people. Brenda, I see that you have your hands up. You got a question or comment? Just a quick comment. We have a shepherdess in the Northern Alberta congregation, and there have been a few posts on her Facebook page about sheep and how much they love to butt. And she's had pictures of her kids where they've needed to have protective garbed on, almost like a hockey goalie, when they're going to be around some of the adult sheep, because the kids are getting butted.

And when you commented about the anointing of oil on the sheep's head, and I think about us as members of the flock, and how frequently we can get butted by fellow members accidentally, that analogy of the oil and the Holy Spirit and the butting just sit. Yeah, there's so many analysis. They do fit. Hello? Yeah. One book you might consider reading if you ever had a chance. It's written by Philip Keller.

I don't remember what the name of it is. I'm looking to see if it's on my shelf right there. I think I have it. I think I have it at the office instead, but it's about Psalm 23, a shepherd's view of Psalm 23 or something like that. Very insightful book that goes through all these things, what a shepherd and a sheep do. You see when you read that book the comparisons to us and what God is talking about in these verses.

Let me say I got Bill and then Tracy. Yes, hi Mr. Shaby and everybody. I was remembering 1 Samuel 17 where David was going to confront Goliath. He was trying to be talked out of going after Goliath, but David came back with in verse 37, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.

So as you were saying about the lions and the bears and the wild animals, David had complete trust in God and gave God the credit for doing the delivery.

Which we always did too. Good point. Hey Tracy.

Hello Mr. Shaby. Everybody else probably already knows this. I'm sorry to take up time, but it says for his namesake, it says a lot in the Old Testament and everywhere else, how does our behavior affect his name? Say, God is God. We're going to must behave. How does that affect his name? Well, when we take God's name, right? When we're baptized and we say we're going to follow him by the example we set, people will look at it and we can either glorify his name by the way we behave and live his way of life or we can profane his name by being not at all what God wants us to be, right? So we do honor his name by the way we behave and live our everyday lives. And the example... Oh, okay. Thank you. Okay, let's look at chapter 34 here. Now, as we go into this, there are some people who would say this has nothing to do with the ministry and the church or anything like that, and it does talk about the physical nation of Israel and things like that, but, you know, God keeps... He does several times here talk about my flock and then in this in the middle of chapter 34 here, it says what Jesus Christ would do as a shepherd, how he would handle things. So as you and I are in the church and are, you know, part of what God is doing and that we're supposed to be committed is to become like Jesus Christ. We take these words instructively. That's the way he will be a shepherd. That's the way we need to shepherd. The ministry certainly here in the church is true ministers. All of us in the millennium, this is the way of life that will be done. It talks more about service, right? The fact that we are here to be servants of each other, serve God, serve each other, bring everyone to the shepherd, teaching his way and yielding our lives for that purpose just like Jesus Christ did. So chapter 34 verse 1, it says, the word of the Lord came to me. This is, of course, Ezekiel saying, son of man, prophesy against—that's not a good thing, right?—prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, woe, woe to the shepherds of Israel, who feed themselves. Shouldn't the shepherds feed the flocks? And then he goes on in verse 3, continuing with that thought, you eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you don't feed the flock.

I think there's a very instructive verse. That's a very instructive verse. What God is saying is, you have shepherds over the flock. He could be talking about shepherds in the world, you know, pastors there could be talking about any of us. You are looking more to yourself and what's in it for me than serving that flock. You know, you are looking at this as a hireling, it talks about in John 10, rather than a true shepherd like Jesus Christ is. He didn't come to earth to glorify himself or to have some acclaim and see what he could do, that he came to serve mankind and to fulfill God's commission. Same thing that all of us and the ministry and the church are there to do today. But in the world, we know there are ministers who become rich and they're looking to see how these things they can do. They're looking more and feeding themselves and saying things that would feed the people or that would get the people to follow them so that they enrich themselves. And God says, uh-uh, that's not what shepherds are. When it becomes more about money and more about what's in it for you, when it becomes more of a job than a calling, God says, whoa, you know, whoa to those shepherds who would be in that what they live with. You want to keep your finger there in Ezekiel 34. There's a verse in 2 Peter 2.

If you have the New King James, it's not as clear. Now, the New King James is really good, but some of the things, the way they've got the same meaning, but the Old King James is a lot more clear in what the meaning of the verse is. I'm going to read 2 Peter 2 verse 3. Here it talks about false prophets even coming in among you, talking about God's church and everything. And in verse 3, it says, by covetousness. So we know right here we have covetousness. It's something in it for them. They're looking for themselves. By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. And it says, for a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction doesn't slumber. The Old King James says that they come in and they make merchandise of you. And I remember reading that years ago they make merchandise of God's people. And God hates that. And he says in the end times here in 2 Peter 2, that's going to be a trait. They look more, what are they going to get out of the people of God than serving them just for service sakes and for the calling that they have? And that's what God is talking about here in chapter 34. Interesting that that's the very first thing when he starts prophesying against the shepherds of Israel, you've made this a job. You become a hireling. You're really not in it with your heart. You're in it for what you can get out of it. Something that, you know, we have to always remember, God is looking at our hearts. He's not looking at what we say and what we do. But where are our hearts? What are we doing with what God has given us? And if we find ourselves more interested in the money and the tithes and offerings of people than we are serving the people, then there's a problem. There's a problem, right? So that's the first thing he says when he gets there, and that is, you know, that's a sign of the end time. People will be more interested. There will be greed that goes out there and looking to those things rather than trusting God. So we go back to chapter 34. Chapter 34, we were in verse 4. He says, the weak, the weak, you know, sheep are like people. Some are very weak, some are very strong, and those things. The weak you haven't strengthened. The shepherd knew who the weak sheep were. He knew who the diseased ones were. He cared for them. He watched out for them. He was helping them through. He says, you haven't healed those who were sick. We can think about the spiritual effect of this, right? Some people, you know, they can wander off and start reading things that aren't true and doubting God's words, and that becomes a spiritual sickness that a true shepherd who knows his flock is, what is being said? What are the people thinking? How are they all doing? He kind of knows the sheep very well, but he's been a shepherd there for a while. Just like these physical shepherds got to know the personalities of the sheep. They knew the ones that were weak. They knew the ones that were strong. They knew the ones who were going to be more tending, butting heads, like we heard earlier. They knew the ones who would tend to wander off, that they had to keep an eye on and bring them always back to the flock and keep them, you know, moving in the right direction.

So it is with shepherds. God expects his shepherds to know his people well and to watch out for those things and to work to keep the congregation and the flock together and on the same spiritual path. You haven't found up the broken, he says. You haven't brought back what was driven away. You haven't sought what was lost. And with force and cruelty, you have ruled them. Wow! There is a lot in that verse. He pretty much lays out there the things that he says are going on. What the shepherds haven't done. They have failed in their jobs because that happens. There's been a lot of attention. Let's go to 2 Peter 5. 2 Peter 5. I saw a hand. I thought I saw a hand up. Nope.

2 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. Here God is talking about the elders, right? And he specifically talks about them being shepherds. Verse 1 says, the elders who are among you I exhort. Verse 2, shepherd. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly. Don't take it for a job. See this as a calling. Do it because you love God's people and you want to help them and leave them. Not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. And then in verse 3, nor is being lords over those entrusted to you, but leading by example to the flock. Not the minister who's going to crack the whip and say do it this way. Do it that way. I mean, that's going to be kind of a lord over them. I, you know, way back whenever. I don't know that we, Debbie and I, you know, have ever had what I would say is a bad shepherd. But I've heard people talk about how cruel some of their pastors were. And this is decades and decades ago. And I would think, wow, how, you know, why would that be? But that's what Peter is talking about. It's not, it isn't the Gentile type leadership that God has called us to. Shepherds are there to serve, just as we talked about, well, I talked about in Cincinnati last week. We are here to serve and to to be servant leaders like Jesus Christ was. So that's what he's talking about there in verse 4, all those things he mentioned in verse 4, we're going to come back to here in a little bit when he kind of what I say gives us the job description of a, his job description of a good shepherd down in verses 11 through 18. Obviously, Bill, do you have a question or comment? You are muted, Bill.

Okay, I was talking to Carl Consello, who was back at some pastoral classes a while back. And he told me now, there was a lot of training, I think, from you and others about counseling. And if it's something you don't know how to handle, you pass it off to somebody else. And in the past, I was pretty young when I first went to church. But I saw some bad situations where people were telling people about things they didn't know anything about that they hadn't been trained in. Yeah, yeah. Another, I saw Benny Hinn the other day, and he was actually apologizing from what I heard about what he got said he got caught up in for just money a few years ago, and basically saying he was getting out of that. Very good. Well, good for him. Yeah, I mean, counseling is one. I mean, there are so many things out there, we can't know at all. I often say Jesus Christ is called Wonderful Counselor, right? He does have all the answers so we can go to him. But there are times you just say, I don't know, I'm going to have to get back to you and not give just any idea that may mislead people. So good point. Good point.

So we're back in chapter 34. Christ lays out all these things. You haven't done any of these things that shepherds do, right? In verse 5, and because you didn't do those things, because you didn't take care of the sheep, they were scattered because there was no shepherd. And they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. You know, back in the physical times, it was the wolves, it was the lions, it was all those things that would be there to attack and devour those sheep. Satan, you know, you remember in 1 Peter 5, 8, he's seen as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So when there isn't a shepherd watching over the people who don't know them, if that lion, all those false ideas, all those things you could be on the internet that create doubt, that can lead people away, devour them and take them away from the truth, that's what it's talking about today. People can be scattered when there's not a good shepherd and they aren't being fed the truth and led by those clean, clear waters and nourishing healthy green grass. But because shepherds weren't doing this, they were scattered. The sheep were no longer in the flock. And we can kind of think back on some of the things where people have left because shepherds have led people astray or allowed things to come in that would devour the sheep. Verse 6, you know, Christ goes on, or God goes on and he says, my sheep wandered through all the mountains. They just kind of wandered like sheep do. They're just kind of looking for a leader. They don't know where to go. They just keep wandering. My sheep wandered through all the mountains on every high hill. Yes, and he calls it my flock. He would call you and me his flock today. Yes, my flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching for them. You know, Israel itself, physical Israel, they departed from God. There was no leader in Israel that turned those people back to God. And even though God admonished them time and sent prophets and whatever to tell them, turn back to him. They never did it. And they were scattered all over the world and no one is searching for them. You know, today we have people who are scattered, who used to be in the truth, who lost their way maybe in 1995 during that whole episode where people were laid astray and probably in your congregations you have people come back and say, we didn't even know where to go. You know, we were just kind of lost. We didn't know where to turn when the shepherd dismissed everyone or turned everything upside down and no longer was feeding truth. And there are plenty of those people who are scattered around today yet who have been wronged in the past by shepherds who didn't do what God had said. And I'm talking about—God's talking about Israel here as well, but we can talk about his flock, you and I, and the people he calls as his flock. So he said they're all over the place. They're wandering all over the place because there was no shepherd to lead them.

Verse 7, therefore you shepherds—and he's speaking to all of us, right?—hear the word of the Lord, as I live, says the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey and my flock became food for every beast of the field because there was no shepherd, nor did my shepherds search for the flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock. What were they most interested in, God was saying? They were more interested in us. It's like, well, the sheep are out there, and for God, that is your primary responsibility. What are those sheep like? They are gods, and our responsibility is to lead them to God. Jesus Christ in John 17—we all remember in that last prayer he gave before that night after the Passover was instituted and he was out in the field. As he prayed to God, he said, not one of these sheep are lost, except the son of perdition that the prophecy may be fulfilled. Not one was lost. He was a good shepherd. Everyone God gave him of those disciples to work with them, they were there. That should be our goal, too, who God gives us. We watch over. We care for. We do what it takes to keep them focused and focused on God and fed with good food and clean water. God says, you didn't. They became prey to those false prophets who came in among them, who brought in heresies, who brought in a little bit of twist on something else that wasn't of God and led people away from the truth because there wasn't a shepherd there keeping and pointing them back to the truth. Of course, we know people make their own decisions, but we have to really try and always point people to the truth back to the Bible.

This is the word that we live by. So in verse 9, after God says that, you know, the shepherds fed themselves. They didn't feed my flock. Therefore, O shepherds, verse 9, hear the word of the Lord. Thus he says, Behold, I'm against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand. I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more, for I will deliver my flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.

So God is saying, you know, kind of a similar thing that we read in chapter 3. Remember about the watchman. He said, Ezekiel, I've set you up as a watchman. Today he sets his church and us up as a watchman, right? And he says, if you, when you see danger coming, if you warn the people, turn back to God, but they just go on their own way, they'll pay for their sin, but I won't require their, I won't require their head on your shoulders, right? But if you don't warn them, if you don't warn them, they will perish in their iniquity, but I will require their blood of you. That's the same thing here, God says, you know, it's like, you haven't done the job, you haven't been a shepherd, you've used them to feed yourself. And that was what you're more interested in. So you won't have sheep anymore, because you won't, I won't let my sheep be your food anymore. Your job is to feed my sheep. God will take care of all of our needs. He will watch over everything and provide everything we need, but we need to do things exactly the way that he said. So when we, so with all that being said, let me see if I've lost missed any things here.

You know, we come down to verse 11. I call this section here kind of God's job description, right? That it's Jesus Christ who says, this is the way when I return, this is how I'm going to shepherd the flock. This is what I'm going to do. Well, we're going to become like Jesus Christ. This is the training we're in to understand how he does things. So I look at this as, well, this is how he would do things. This is better be how we are doing things today. Certainly how things will be done, you know, and when when Christ returns. So in verse 11, then it says, thus says the Lord God, indeed I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. Okay, you didn't seek them out. You let them scatter. You weren't too worried about it. So you know what? I'm going to seek them out. Where are they? I'm going to go look for the lost sheep. You know, we can, you know, that concept of the lost sheep, you know, Luke, Luke 15, you know, Christ talks about Christ talks about that lost sheep and how important it is for, you know, us. Ministry ministers, yes. You know, I guess as we're here just, you know, now just, well, a couple months away from Passover as we read these things to examine ourselves. What are our attitudes toward this? You know, I certainly look at this and it's like, are we doing this? I mean, every minister, regardless of what position he's in, he's a shepherd. He's a shepherd over something. And all of us, you know, these are things that God would expect of all of us who are in training. But in Luke 15, he talks about how valuable that lost sheep is, right? Luke 15, let's look at verse 4. He says, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doesn't leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? The good shepherd will do that. I'm not willing that any will be lost. So you know what? I'm gonna, these 99 are here at a flock, but I have to go off and I've got to find this lost sheep and just say, not think, oh well, let him go, you know. Will he not go and find what is lost until he finds it? And when he's found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. He brings it back to the flock and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me, for I found my sheep which was lost. That's the joy. One came back. I found it. He's back with the flock. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Well, it's good that there's those 99. They've been well fed. They are keeping their contact with God. They have their eyes on who the true shepherd is and that's Jesus Christ and their eyes are on that and they will not allow a false shepherd to lead them astray because they know their shepherd's voice. They know exactly what the truth is and they understand when something they're being told isn't the truth, that's not right. That's not right. The Holy Spirit leads us into truth. So he says, you know, this is great. If one person comes back to the truth, God is glorified and that takes work from us sometimes. That takes work from the membership sometimes. You know, I tell a story and I tell a story because it was, I guess, a few years ago and someone was telling me that they moved to an area and they didn't know everyone in the area and whatever. So they saw this name on the membership list and so they called the person just to say, hi, I haven't seen you at church, and I guess someone had told them that the person was sick and they said, you know, the stunning thing was that the lady said, you're the first person who's called me in six months. I haven't heard from the pastor. I haven't heard from anyone in that church. You're the first one who called me. And the person was telling me, he said, I was just absolutely stunned. I'm stunned too that that could happen at the Church of God. We all have a responsibility to watch out for each other. You know, Hebrews 10, 24 says, consider one another to stir up love and good works. And if we see someone who hasn't been there for a week or two, send an email, you know, send a text message, pick up the phone and call. It's like everything okay, okay, that's a matter of taking care of the sheep. We are all family. We are all interested and committed to, you know, having God lead us to his kingdom, but helping each other and exhorting each other along the way. And not feeling like, you know, we're judging each other. That's not at all. It's restoring someone and helping someone along when they may need help. So yeah, so I, you know, when I read this verse, again, as Christ is saying, this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to go out and I'm going to find those sheep that are lost. That because of your neglect of them, have the scatter and they wandered away, I'm going to find them. I'm going to find them.

iPhone 3. I don't see your picture, so, but I see you have your hand up.

And you're muted if you were going to say something.

Okay. When you, maybe just to hit your hand, but if you have something to say, you can kind of just start talking and I'll interrupt, but we'll go ahead here in chapter 34. So he says, I'm going to, I'm going to find you. I'm going to, I'm going to go seek them out. So back in chapter 34, and verse 12, he says, as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep. Now there's part of that job description, right? He is among. Shepherd lived with the sheep. It wasn't a nine to five job where he went out in the morning, kept the sheep together, and then went home for the evening and came back in the morning. He lived with the sheep. When you read about David, you know, in the Psalm, he was a shepherd. You taught, you know, he'll say that he will lay down in the fields tonight. He would gaze up at the stars and he, you know, Psalm, I think it's Psalm 19, where he talks about that. He contemplated on God's way, but he was out there with the sheep all the time. Watching over them, it was a 24 hour day job. Same thing for the ministry. Same thing, you know, when we are shepherds. He is among his sheep. He's with them. He knows them. He understands their traits. He looks to understand them because and he loves them and cares for them all. And that's what this is saying there. The shepherd is there. He is among his scattered sheep. So, I will seek out my sheep, God says. I will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered. I will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on cloudy and dark day. You know, a cloudy and dark day. You know, some of the commentaries will talk about that. That's a day of calamity. A day of calamity where something happened that would scatter the flock. But he says, I'm going to seek them out. And this looks like a kind of like a prophetic verse, right? Because we know when Jesus Christ returns, he is going to gather all of physical Israel back. And on a cloudy and dark day, think of Jacob's trouble. Think of great tribulation. Think of captivity. Think of being moved out of the country that they were native to. Think of all those things when God says, Christ says, I'm going to bring them all back and put them in the promised land. You know, that's prophetic. And that's one that's there. He says, on a cloudy and dark day, that dark day, that day of gloom and darkness, as it talks about in Joel 2, where physical Israel will be scattered all over the world as well because they have continued to neglect God, reject God, not do anything he says. But he will bring them all back. He will bring them all back. And the same thing, you know, in some cloudy and dark days in the church, right? We can think of some of the times in the past history of the church where people have been scattered because of bad shepherds who led people astray and allowed flocks to go all over.

You know, they're still out there. They're still out there searching and scattered and bong a number of places. Verse 13. Verse 13. I will bring them out from the peoples. I will gather them from the countries. I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I'll feed them. What are they going to be fed? They will be fed truth. They will be fed the absolute truth. This is the way you live. This is the way walk you in it, as it says in Isaiah 30 verses 21, 22, 23 in that area that talks about what we will be teaching. This is the way. This is the way to peace. This is the way to calm. This is the way to security. This is the way to joy and harmony. This is the way walk you in it. That's what they will be taught. Verse 14, I will feed them in good pasture. I will and therefore will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. That's a beautiful outcome. They will eat and it will make them healthy. Verse 15, I will feed my flock and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.

You know, when we talk about having nutritious spiritual food, and that is the responsibility of every pastor, right, and everyone who speaks in church, sermonettes, whether you're ordained or not, responsibility to feed good spiritual food, Sabbath services, Bible studies, whatever it is, that the people are pointed to the Bible. Paul, when he was training the young minister Timothy, has some words on that. Let's turn back and say that in a spiritual way. He's talking about Timothy. You've got to teach them. You've got to lead them besides distilled water. You've got to feed them in green pasture. You've got to feed them doctrine. Strong, clear, direct doctrine. In 2 Timothy, not 2 Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, 1 Timothy 4, and verse 1, it talks about the latter times, right, the times that we live in now. Verse 1, as he's talking to Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, 1, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, straying from the truth. Even twisting it a little bit, it takes them right out of the truth, out of the flock, out of the good pasture. They start wandering, and they start being scattered, because they are departing from the faith, and they're not having that strong spiritual food. They speak lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Then he talks in verse 3 and 4 about some of the things that they say. Oh, the Scripture says you shouldn't marry. You can't do this. Or saying things like, you can eat anything you want. The unclean food laws of the Old Testament are done away with, and twisting the Scriptures to do that. Leading people away from the truth. Verse 6 he tells Timothy, if you instruct the brethren in these things, if you instruct them with good food, if you feed them good, green grass, if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But then he says, don't do these things. Don't get involved in these old wives' tales and the Jewish fables and all these other things that can lead people astray. Eyes on the Bible. Teach the way Jesus Christ taught, just the way he said. Teach all things that I have commanded you, Jesus Christ said. In verse 13 of the same chapter, he says, till I come. That means until he returns, right? So this is exhortation to us as well. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Don't neglect. Don't neglect the gift that is in you. The Holy Spirit, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Give yourself to God. Yield to him. He will grow you. He will develop you into who he wants you to be. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Very instructive words in 2 Timothy 4.

You know, he says in verse 2, you know, preach the Word. Preach from the Bible. Preach what God says. Be ready in season and out of season. Give them nourishing food, not all just prophecy, not all just doctrine, not all just Christian living. The Bible is more than just that or those three things, right? Preach a good, steady diet to them. Feed them well that they're nourished. It takes more than one vegetable to be healthy. God gave a variety of vegetables. There's the things all over the Bible, things that you can preach. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. And then he says, it's going to be some hard work, right? Endeavor for the time will come when they won't endure some doctrine. But according to their own desires, I want to believe what I want to believe. I'm the preeminent one. All those feelings of pride that can come up because they have itching ears. They will heap up for themselves, teachers, and turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. We all have that responsibility. Stick to the truth. Stick to the truth and the ministry, and I include myself in that. We all need to examine ourselves. Stick to the truth. Eat of that tree. Hey, Xavier, how you doing tonight? Good night, brother Shavie. Good night, everyone. Yeah, I love how our Lord tells us that all of us are brethren. And then we have Paul's admonition in Acts 20 in regards to the the and for more ourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things.

Oh, there's that warning also. Yep, there is that warning. And we got it. And as time goes on, that's going to heat up a little bit more. Satan will do anything to take you away. You just have to keep our eyes on God. Follow him. Follow him, and the voice that you know is his, as it says in John 10, where Christ says, My sheep know my voice, and they follow me. So, okay, go back to chapter 34, verse 16. There he says, I will seek. I will seek what was lost. Remember, see how he does? He keeps saying that. I will seek what was lost. I will bring back what was driven away. I will bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick. You know, I'll strengthen them. You know, spiritual strength, spiritual well-being comes from the Bible. It's from hearing, reading, and meditating on God's Word. And we can get sick. The longer we are away from healthy food and good, clean water, the more sick we become. We have to be. That's why you have heard from all the time you've been in a daily Bible study, daily prayer. Stay close to God. Meditate on the words. Let it sink into your heart. Examine yourselves and ask God, make this part of me that I live I live. I think. I breathe what you want. I become like Jesus Christ in that mind He had He will put in us. As He sees, that is what we are really doing and the choices that we're making.

I will bind up the broken. I will strengthen. I will strengthen what was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment. So He says, I'll judge. You got the fat among you who may be lording it over people and and butting heads all the time and causing all this furor, no matter what the shepherd tries to do. He says, I'll deal with it. And the strong who may be prideful and think that they have all the answers and kind of promote themselves as, I'm the strongest one. The rest of you should also listen to me. There is the humility that has to be there as well to be part of the flock and not to allow ourselves to become part, you know, enamored with ourselves. You know, we talked last week in a sermon I gave, and Philippians, don't think too highly of yourself. Esteem others better than yourself. Remember who you are.

Christ was probably the most humble man that ever lived, and our job is to remain humble and follow.

Follow Him. Follow Him and His voice. Verse 17, as for you, and here He's been talking to the shepherds up until verse 17, but in verse 17 He starts talking to His flock. You know, before all those words were for us, but now He's talking to His flock, right? And as for you, O my flock, that's us. That's the Lord God. Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. I'll be the one to judge what's going on here. Don't put yourself in that. I will be the one to judge between—I like the way one of the commentaries, I think it was Adam Clarke, put it when he was talking about judging between sheep and sheep. He said, I'll be the one to judge between false and true, and those that only have form and not heart. This is an interesting thing, who are just there, who have a lot of scholarly knowledge, but really haven't taken into heart and missed what God says with all your heart to separate those who only have form and not heart between backsliders and the upright. God knows the heart, and He will judge by that, as He does with us now, and continually cautions us. Love me with all your heart, mind, and soul.

Verse 18, is it too little? This is an interesting verse, too. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture? Okay, flock. You've eaten up the good pasture that you must tread down with your feet, the residue of your pasture, and to have drunk of the clear waters that you must follow the residue with your feet? What I lead you to is clean, clear grass, crystal clear doctrine, crystal clear truth. What are you trampling it down for? Why are you minimizing it? Why are you trying to make it say something is not? Why isn't it clear, direct, and bold? Why aren't you speaking that and eating that? And why are you trampling it with your feet, with your ideas, and your interpretations, and minimizing it? Don't try to be like every other blade of grass. God leads us to the true green grass. Don't minimize that. And he talks about the clear waters. Where I lead you, he says, is the clear, calm waters. That's what I lead you to. You're wondering them. You're muddying them. They're no longer clear because of what you've done. You've muddied the waters. You stick to the truth. It's crystal clear. Don't you muddy it with your ideas and lead others to that as well and make things not crystal clear, but very muddy and very unclear. Clear truth, bold truth, direct truth right from the Bible, clear waters, and we behave and learn as God leads us to behave and act the way that Jesus Christ did. He is the way of peace. He is the king of peace. And in the millennium, the way of peace will be taught. And when people are living by the green pasture and the clear water, there will be peace when it is practiced all over the world. Verse 19. Verse 19, as for my flock, and as for my flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet. They're not feeding them. Crystal clear. You muddied it a little bit. They drink what you have followed with your feet. I take that as a very serious thing that God says.

Keep it clear. Keep it clear. True to the Word. Keep the waters clear. Don't muddy it with your ideas or your interpretations. Continue teaching with a sense of urgency and that we all must have our eyes on God and coming out of the world. That's the future. That's the direction. That's where we're headed. We're all headed back toward the Master who is the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Verse 20. Therefore, says the Lord God to them, Behold, I myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. You know, the fat, the rich and the godly who may think that they are preeminent just because God has blessed them more. But he doesn't look at the amount of money we have in our banks to see whatever is your righteousness. It is what's in your heart. Become rich spiritually.

If he blesses you greatly, great. Enjoy it. But as he warns us that we should all remember Deuteronomy in good times when your bellies are full, don't forget God. Don't forget God. And don't think that the wealth you have is because of anything you did for yourself. He gives it. He gives it and always acknowledge him and credit him for what we have. So he says, Therefore, I will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. You know, we have fat in the churches today, in the world today, because you have pushed. There's the butting the heads, right? Because you have pushed, verse 21, with side and shoulder. Because you've butted all the weak ones with your horns and scattered them abroad.

Is that what we could do? Because we lord it over people and we push them away or cause them to be pushed away? Because we, you know, kind of have these attitudes like the sheep that we've heard about earlier that just kind of butt with their horns and are always pushing at people and trying to have their own way? Therefore, verse 22, God says, I will save my flock and they will no longer be a prey. You shepherds, you've failed. You haven't done that. You haven't watched over them. You haven't stopped that budding sheep. You haven't protected everyone and nourished them. So He says, I'm going to save my flock and they will no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. He'll take care of it. You know, Xavier mentioned 2 Peter 2, 1 to 2. You know, those false prophets says that will come among you, that will come among you, shall be the shepherds. Watch what's going on. If that happens, you know, one of the things we've talked about for the last two years is speaking the same thing. Speak the truth. Everyone should be on the same page and we need to get on the same page. Always go back to the Bible. But there will be those who come in with false doctrines or a little twist on this and that and know more about prophecy than anyone else and whatever else. But you stick to the Bible. Speak to the Bible and God will give us everything we need. 2 Peter 2 is a chapter as well as Jude is for the end time, as it has been for all ages. Then in verse 23, you know, after God talks about all these things about shepherds and how the shepherds of this age, whether it be governors, presidents of countries, mayors, whatever it is, ministers in the world, ministers in the church, shepherds of his people, whether it be physical Israel or spiritual Israel, he comes to the time when he says, you know, there's going to be one. Of course, Jesus Christ is always the Great Shepherd. But in verse 23, he takes us to the return of Jesus Christ in the millennium. He says, I will establish one shepherd over them and he shall feed them, my servant David.

You know, the Bible gives high acclaim to David. He committed many sins, sins that you and I haven't committed, right? Physical sins of adultery, of having Bathsheba's husband Uriah killed and other things that he did. But what he did was when he was confronted with a sin, he acknowledged it. He didn't make any excuses for it. He repented and turned to God with his whole heart. And you read Psalm 51, which everyone should be reading between now and Passover time, to see what that deep prayer of repentance that David is. He turned with God and begged God, don't take your spirit from me. Don't let me be. And he makes the comments that you have judged righteously. I am.

I am a sinner. I did these things. But he wants to turn to God. And he did spend the rest of his life focused on God and doing his will. And God called him, probably the highest condemnation that a human can have, a man after my own heart. The same thing that he will lead us to if we let him create that heart in us. David did that. So he says, I'm going to establish one shepherd. David, David, who learned the lessons of his physical shepherd and through some faults of his own, did turn to God and learned what it meant to be a shepherd there. God says, I'm going to set him over. I'm going to have one shepherd. He shall feed them. He will be their shepherd. And I, verse 24, God says, the Lord, I'll be their God and my servant David, a prince among them.

Jesus Christ is King of kings. David will be there as well. And he says, I, the Lord, have spoken.

You know, become like Jesus Christ. David became like Jesus Christ, even though he lived before. I may have feared myself. Hello. I saw that took my night pills. Gotcha. We've got to become like him. God will lead us to that if we let him. Verse 25, I will make a covenant of peace. I will make a covenant of peace with them. True peace, right? Not just the truce or the ceasefires that we have in the world today that we say, oh, there's peace. This will be lasting peace when they follow God's way, the same peace that we can have in our lives today if we just yield to God and follow his way implicitly. I will make a covenant of peace with them, and I will cause the wild beasts to cease from the land. There won't be those anymore who are looking. The lion that's just waiting, waiting in the bushes, waiting to pounce on someone. They will no longer be there. The land will be cleared. Everyone will live that way, led by God's Holy Spirit, and be following that way. I will cause the wild beasts to cease from the land, and they will do all safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

When we read those verses, if you keep your finger there in Ezekiel 34, we go back to Isaiah 11, where it's talking about Jesus Christ. In that chapter, it talks about him and how he is. In the first couple verses there, it talks in Isaiah 11 about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that's on him, and how he has the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of the fear of the Lord—all those same elements in the spirit that God gives us, the same things that he gave Jesus Christ if we use them. But down in verse 6, he talks about the time when Jesus Christ will return, and the world will become at peace, and the ways of this world will be left behind. In verses 6 through 9, all the violence, all the heartache, all the hurt will disappear. When he talks in verse 6, the wolf will lay down with the lamb, the leopard will lay down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And he goes on to verse 9 down there, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. When God's Word covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, when His Word prevails in our lives, in our bodies, in our congregations, in the flock of God around the world, peace, safety, and security under the great shepherd come to us as it will be in the kingdom that all will have. Let's go back to Ezekiel 34. Just got a few more verses in this chapter, so we'll be able to finish it, because these are beautiful verses that God says, this is what will happen when there are the shepherds ruling over you the way that God has commissioned us to be. Verse 26 we were in, I will make them, God says in Ezekiel 34, and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will cause showers to come down in their season. There shall be showers a blessing. You know, you go, you don't have to turn there, but I'm going to turn back to Leviticus 26.

As God talks about His people Israel, His people, which we are today, He makes promises if we follow His way, and if you look at these blessings that He's talking will be there in the millennium, and you look at Leviticus 26, He makes those same promises to a people if they will just follow Him as people will be taught in the millennium as you and I are being taught today. In Leviticus 26 verse 3, God speaking to His people, then physical Israel, but He's saying the same the same words to physical Israel today when we preach it aloud and preach the gospel the way God wants it taught, and to His spiritual people as well, those of us who are in the church and following Him. Leviticus 26 verse 3 says, if if if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and perform them, then I will give you rain in the season just as we read. The land shall yield its produce and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit as we will read. Your thrashing shall last till the time of vintage and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing. You shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will rid the land of evil beasts and the sword will not go through your land. So you can go on and read those things, but He's saying the same thing here in Ezekiel 34. When people are taught and they are living His way, those are the blessings that will be. Blessings that we can count on that are as sure as you and I are here live together tonight because God says it will happen. So we read, if we go back to Ezekiel 34, we read about the showers that will come in due season. That water of the fields, right? Verse 27, then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. The earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in all of their land and they shall know that I am God. It will be crystal clear. Yes, when you follow God, He's the one. He's the one who does this. He's the one who makes it all happen. He provides the blessings. We follow Him and obey Him. They shall be safe in their land and they shall know that I am the Eternal. When I have broken the bands of their yoke, right? That slavery that we have to our own human nature and wanting to do things our own way and the pride that holds us back. When I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them, who didn't give them the freedom and allow them the potential that they have, but kept them pushed down by whatever it is that they were doing. And they shall no longer be afraid, verse 28, for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. Verse 29, I will raise up for them a garden of renown.

You know, this talks about a garden of renown. This is a garden that you just kind of behold and are in awe of, like the Garden of Eden will be when whatever it is that God lets us to see what was that Garden of Eden look. It'll make all of the things that we've seen on this earth pale in comparison. Some of you are from Canada and we were up in Vancouver in the bootchart gardens, I think it is up there. Absolutely beautiful and other beautiful places on earth. The Garden of Renown will excel even even that. I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor shall they bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore.

Let's go to Isaiah 60 for just a second. Clearly, this is talking of the time when Jesus Christ is. He's pointing us to the hope, the joy, the future we have, the things that should be in the forefront of our mind because it is going to come about in Isaiah 60. Verse 21, he talks about the Garden of Renown here, and it talks about the planting of God. God is the one who created this garden. Everything is because he planted it. Verse 21 of chapter 60, it says, Your people shall all be righteous. Talking about the end time. They shall inherit the land forever. It's not going to pass away. His kingdom is forever and ever. The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. It won't be us who's glorified. We won't be looking at ourselves and say how smart we are. We'll be thanking God that he was merciful with us, and that he led us to that, and that we followed him, and give him glory by the way we live our lives. Chapter 61, verse 3. Christ repeated these in Luke 4, 1 and 2. Then as we get into the millennium, verse 3, we see the rest of it fulfilled. Verse 3 says, To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Why? That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. When you look at verse 29, I will raise up for them a garden of renown.

That's the physical stuff, but also it's the planting of the Lord, the righteousness, the goodness, the beauty, the calm that will be in that kingdom when everyone is living his way. And they will no longer be consumed with hunger or bear the shame of the Gentiles.

Verse 30, chapter 34. Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, and with them, he is the shepherd that is always with us. And they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. Then they will know what blessing it is to be God's people and to know him.

You are my flock, he concludes. You are the flock of my pasture. You are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God. So he concludes that with a very strong and powerful picture of what will be that can be in our lives, even as we live in a broken world. You know, if we will just follow God and let him lead us and always look for those clear, that clear water, that green pasture, and always nourish on that as a flock that is together, that loves each other, all marching toward God. So let me end there, and we will open it up for any comments, questions, or anything you want to talk about. So Becky, Becky, how you doing tonight? Hi, Mr. Shabian. Well, how are you? Good, good. I was looking here in Ezekiel 34 at verse 22, and I think it's 11. They both make the same You're cutting in and out on us, Becky.

I was looking at verse 22 and then verse 12 in Ezekiel 34. Can you hear me okay? Yes, we can hear you now. Just him saying that he'll look after the flock, he'll save the flock, and then I was looking in Zechariah 16, and there's such a contrast, and I just wondered if you knew what this was a reference to, for indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand, and he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.

So like here we have saying I'll raise up one who will be against them in contrast to I want to raise up one who will save them. Where in Zechariah are you, did you say? Uh, chapter 11, and I think that was verse 16. 16.

Yeah, that's in contrast. I would have to read that chapter to comment, you know, on it, but yeah, that is an indirect contrast to what we've just been reading. So, but then God talks about woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock. So, yeah, I would have to comment on that next week and look at that chapter a little more closely. I don't know offhand, so. I appreciate that. I have one more thing if you're there in Zechariah 11th, so because I've just always wondered about this verse. The three shepherds also I cut off in one month, which I know one moon, and maybe I've asked you about it before. I'm not sure. And my soul loathed them and their soul.

You know what? Let me look at Zechariah 11th. I'll have to refresh my mind on that. I don't know, but you know, I'm making a note of it, and maybe what we will start. Chapter 35 is pretty short from what I remember in Ezekiel. Yeah, so maybe we'll look in context with that. Look at Zechariah 11 as we begin next week. Is that okay? Yeah, I appreciate that very much, because he does talk about the two shepherds there and the two staffs, favor and union. It's after. Yep. Thank you. Okay, we'll do it. I've marked it down. We will look at Zechariah 11 as we begin next week, then we'll move into 35. I think that's a good question. And as these prophecies run together, yeah, it's good to tie them together. Okay? And I look forward to it, so thank you. Very good. I do too. I look forward to studying it and refreshing myself on it. So, hey, Marta, how are you tonight?

Hello. Yes, I just wanted to make a comment. Those individuals that will be raised, I couldn't help but think of Adam and Eve, how relieved they're going to be, being that they lost out on the Garden of Eden, and there'll be a second chance. Obviously, we'll see it. Yes, there's yeah.

It was a lot of finger pointing when they lost the Garden of Eden. So, it's just that they'll have another one. Okay, John Flink, how are you doing tonight, John?

There we go. In chapter 34 of Ezekiel, verse 25, because I've read different translations on this, but most of them say, where it says, I will make them a covenant of peace and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. One question I have, because a lot of the fossil remnants that we have, it makes me wonder if they're, you know, because I guess the fallen angels fooled around and did experiments with the people, the nephlon and stuff like that, to where they might have done some genetic manipulation and kind of create their own animals. Maybe what something was going, because I can't, you know, I can't see God making a Tyrex with tiny hands.

You know, there's just some stuff out there that I would think was more something along the lines of Lucifer than God. Yeah, you know, yeah, yes, I agree with you. And the violence that was there is not of God. Yes, exactly. And that's why the very nature of the animals today are going to be changed in the millennium, because that isn't of God. But that's a very interesting thing. When you look back, you know, the Tyrannosaurus rex and all those beasts of the field, there is, you know, that would be an interesting Bible study sometime to go back to the time when was the earth created and lately I've read. Yeah, how all that happened and why these things are still there and the fossils of the earth that get discovered. But that'd be a subject. Like wolves are not there's only one wolf attack in the whole history of Alaska. Just one wolf attack where that happened. That was down on the Alaska Peninsula, because I know I've done some surveys down there.

And Chignik is the name of the village, but there's a long gravel road from the docks in the village that goes out to a spit where they have their runway.

And we'd seen it off and on before, so we knew it was around, but it never bothered anyone.

But then about, I think it was probably around later that fall or early that spring. I can't remember. A girl was jogging from the village. A lot of people do their run out to the runway back.

And that was the only time that there's ever been a wolf attack that we know of.

See, wolves are a very dedicated pack animal. They make for life. To me, they're not an evil animal. Even bears, I don't consider evil or anything like that. But a great white shark, yeah, has evil. I wouldn't want to run into a wolf or a round bear either, though. God has protected me. I've had some bear encounters before.

I think that's for another time. Anyway, let me... Okay, John, Bill, how are you? Bill, you're up.

Yeah, you know, I was watching a sermon that Scott Ashley gave at the feast, and then he did an answer session. And somebody asked him, they said, how long do you think it would take to build a usable temple? And he said, probably less than a month. And then I was listening to your deal last week, the Trump Effect. And all I could think about was peace, and then a sudden fall, and how quickly it could all come together. Yeah, there doesn't have to be a temple built in order for sacrifices to begin. We know that, right? But when you look at the specifications of the Third Temple, we'll be getting into that later on in Ezekiel, right? I mean, that's a pretty quick build for a month to do all those things the way they have. I know they've got all the instruments they say all together over there. It's just a matter of the walls going up. But I mean, anything could happen. But it looks like the temple will be built after the return of Jesus Christ. There's sacrifices before, but they don't need the temple to do the sacrifices.

Okay, let me see. We got Tracy. Tracy, hi. Hello. You were saying earlier, very early in the Bible study, how it is our responsibility as Christians and pastors and such, that we watch out for even one that might be not might you might not have seen them for six weeks or a week or two and to check in on them. And I just want to say that when I first became paralyzed, it was neck down, now it's waist down, through therapy. I knew that therapy was going to be more than three days. I thought I'd be here at least a year now than two. The first thing I said to my best friend, I started crying my eyes out. I said, I'm going to be forgotten. That was such a fear in my heart. She said, no, you won't. I said, I will. I'm going to nursing home. I'll be forgotten. And she said, you will not be forgotten. I will be there and so will God's people. She tried to reassure me. I couldn't be reassured at the time. In two years, I have over 100 cards. I can't count on me to text and phone calls. I can't count how many visits. And I was not forgotten. And even to this day, I'm not forgotten. But I want to say that fear, it was so important to have that. And I really didn't expect that. And God blessed me with that. But with it, I have learned so much faith in God, and the need to write cards, the need to call people, the need to text people. And I didn't used to do that. And I do that now. I call, I text, I send cards, I pray. And I do that because of my own experience with that. The blessing that God gave me, I do that. And I just want to say how utterly important that truly is. Yeah. Thank you for that. I learned that over the course of what the pastor to how important those cards and texts and are. So all of us should remember that people just even just even a text that you don't respond to is just very nice to to know that someone is thinking. So yeah, very good point. Thanks, Becky. Hi, Reggie or Sandy? It's me this time. Okay.

How are you? Good. How are you doing? Fine. Getting back to the temple, you know, in Christ's times, you know, he, actually speaking, he's our sacrifice.

He's our shepherd. I guess the sacrifices will be instituted for the Jews that don't know Christ.

Is that the reason that sacrifices will be or? Yeah, well, I take them though that fact Christ is our shepherd in our sacrifice. Right. Yeah, we know that. But the Orthodox Jews don't, right? So when they feel they need to turn to God, it will be very important that those sacrifices, I understand, are done, right? They need to God to protect them, and they won't be able to do that. Very interesting. I read something in the, I don't know, earlier this morning or last night, something with something with Trump. I mean, he's all I had a lot to say. I mean, a lot over the last couple of weeks, but somewhere along the line, the temple has come up, as well as with Netanyahu being over there. And I haven't dug into that. There's a headline that talks about a temple in Israel and Trump and Netanyahu. So I gotta... No, that's the thing, but I can't talk anymore. Sorry. So let me see. Becky? Becky? I'm here. I'm here. Oh, okay. Actually, what I wanted to ask about the temple, talking about the temple reminded me to ask if anyone had brought in my as a proposal. And I also read an article that called it, they said that he was being internationally condemned. And I thought those were really strong words together, internationally condemned for this proposal. So I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised he's internationally condemned, but, you know, I thought it was quite an interesting proposal. One of the things I read said, you know, the whole world is different because they're thinking about something different just because he made those comments yesterday. So no one expected that, I suppose. I don't even know if he talked to Netanyahu about it before he did it, but everyone is thinking today.

And it's different because he made those comments. So whether it happens or not, I don't know. So we'll see. Hey, Marta? Yes, I have a question. A while back I read that there were five red heifers shipped to Israel or to somewhere in Israel. And that upset many people in that region. Have you heard the same thing? Yeah. In fact, back well before the spring holy days. Actually, we did a biblical worldview on that as well. But yeah, those red heifers are over there. Four of them at that time continued to be perfect specimens without any white hairs or anything like that. But the Arab world, there's a spokesman from the Arab world, the Palestinians, that actually even cited those as the reason they did the October 7th because they wanted to interrupt. And then everything has disappeared about those red heifers. Israel moved into secret places and we have no idea if they ever got sacrificed or what's happened to them.

But there was a time, I think it's around the Feast of Tabernacles time or sometime, that they needed to be sacrificed before then. But the world has gone, Israel has gone completely quiet on that. No one knows where they are or even if they've been sacrificed. But I have a feeling they're going to surface in the future. Some story about them right when they need it. So yeah. Yes. Okay. Okay. Hey, Jim. Hi, Mr. Shavey. So I just want to make a comment about this passage of Ezekiel that we're going through. It's always been such a fascinating thing to me and has always spoken to our day in prophecy because of the fact that it's provable that Ezekiel is a type of the church and the commission. And so that was put the shepherds of Israel as the leadership of tribes of Israel in this day and age, namely from Manasseh, from whom God requires that shepherds in the end. And so he charges them and he puts a stamp upon the hula and the hula-ba, you know, a hula meaning his own God and the hula-ba, my temple remains in her. And we see that very clearly in the face of Jacob today. But my comment would be that all of this thing, especially what we discovered, the prophecies there about it fit hand and glove with the situation we face in this day and age. So it's just we don't want to lose sight of that in the face of trying to make personal application of too many things. Very good, very good. Reggie, did I cut you off before? I didn't mean to cut you off. Did you have something else you wanted to say? No, everything I was going to say I did. Okay, okay, okay. I just I thought after that I moved too quickly from you if you had something else. Okay, very good. All right. Just feel free to raise your hand again if I do that. So okay. Okay, okay. Hey, Becky.

Oh, hey, just one more. You mentioned, can you remind me why the heifers needed to be sacrificed by a certain date? Because I can't remember why. I think that they had to be sacrificed before they were, let me see, before their fourth birthday. And I think what I read was that birthday or by a holy day or something, that's why the fall sticks in my mind. I would have to go back and look again. But yeah, they have to be a certain age. Once they pass a certain age, they're no longer the sacrifice. So. And they were all the same age, do we know? The ones that were sent over there, they were just about all the same age. Yeah, they weren't like years apart.

Okay, thank you. Let me see, iPhone 3, you were on before. And yes, go ahead.

You have to unmute yourself.

I think so. Down at the lower, if you're on a computer, your lower left-hand corner, that hit that microphone button. Maybe I can unmute you. Let me see.

Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you, yes. Oh, all right, thank you. I just want to commend you, Mr. Shaby. When I first heard that you were going to be president of our organization, I was really thrilled. And I feel like being pastors and being elders can be brilliant. You guys need to be lifted up. So I totally appreciate how much you are letting God work through you. You are totally a man for the people. And I think God has appointed you at this time. And what you are doing with the church is most wonderful and just how you interact with people in your congregation. So I just want to give you edification and encouragement. And I really, again, appreciate how you're allowing God to work through you. So thank you very much.

Thank you for those comments. It is God who does it.

Exactly.

Bill.

Yes, another thing Scott actually said that I often wondered about. Now, I don't know how many people are familiar with Ron Wyatt. But he claimed that he found the Ark of the Covenant, and there was blood on top of it. And a lot of people, including myself, were kind of taken in by that.

And he said he was taken in by it. But then he said, now, he talked to a lot of people about it. And Ron Wyatt is a total fraud. Is it Ark of the Covenant or Noah's Ark?

What's that? Ark of the Covenant or Noah's Ark?

That both! He claimed he found both. But Ron...

No, honey, please. Ron Wyatt.

Ron Wyatt, yes. I've heard of him.

He claimed he found the Ark of the Covenant and the other Ark. Well, Scott actually said he talked to a lot of archaeologists, and they tried to go to the places he'd been to, and they couldn't even find him. He said he's a total fraud. Yeah, I don't think anyone's found the Ark of the Covenant. There are archaeologists, and we've actually had one in who has some pretty good pictures that we have no idea if it's Noah's Ark. But it's a very interesting thing we're looking more into. So, yeah, just... So, I don't know about that. But he wasn't the one involved in the Noah's Ark, that we've been talking to someone else. Yeah, so, yeah. But let me see. We got John Flink. John. Yeah, I just wanted to say, you got to be careful what you hear out there, because there's a lot of disinformation that they're putting out now to, if they can, make us doubt our fate. Yes. Yeah, right. Mr. White, see, I did some research into him, too.

And there is a spot in Turkey where the supposed Noah's Ark, and the shroud of Turin... See, I don't think that's real. I'm just not bought on that. I just want to say, we've got to be careful what we hear, that we could, like, possess only in 521, prove all things.

That's right. And this one, there's a minister who's followed this one for a long time. That's the only reason we've talked to him. But it is, whatever. Forget I even said anything about it, right? Certainly, we're not going to jump on any bandwagon with that one, because we realize there's plenty of sightings out there that are not, that don't bear out at all. So, Reggie.

My mic is on. Mr. Seagly's done a couple of seminars on Noah's Ark. Yep, yep. And he's who I'm talking about. That's why the other way. Yeah, exactly. So, and he's pretty, he thinks this one has a lot of merit, so.

Hey, Becky. What's the name? Who has done them?

Sorry, who's done this, the sermons on it? Mario. Mario Seagly.

Mario. Mario Seagly. Okay, thank you.

Okay, Tracy.

I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to speak or not, because I talk too much. I'm sorry.

But I just found it important to say I spoke about my son. However, when he first stopped talking to me at 17, I thought, oh, give him a couple months, he'll come around.

And I wasn't in the church at the time because it split, and I was one of those that didn't know where he went.

But I never had hope. I know God can do what he does. I never had hope that God was going to bring my son back. And one day, I read about the parable of the prodigal son. There was an article and it said, don't give up hope. That helped me have hope for a while.

11 years is a long time. I was stunned. But there is a lot of crying, a lot of tears, lack of hope and all this. It doesn't mean it can't be done. But also, I just wanted to say that I read that to my son tonight, because he actually felt as though he had done wrong.

I was his parent. I let him down. He didn't do anything wrong. I did. And he felt like he was not worthy. And I read that to him to let him know what that father did. I don't know if that made an impact or not. I just want to say that it's a long, hard road. But you don't have to give up.

It can and does happen. And something my sister told me, I'm not the only one this happens to.

A lot of parents go through this. A lot of parents go through this. And the children do come back, usually around the 30s. But they do come back at some point.

Always, always, always have faith, but always keep asking God. He will answer those prayers. We just have to be persistent, right? And believe. And believe. So that's a good story, Tracey.

Okay. Okay, let me see what time it is here. 8.36. Anyone else here? We've been on for an hour and a half. We can go longer if you want. So. Okay, let's. Okay, I see Bob and that it. Let me let's go ahead and sign off for tonight then. And you know, we'll be back together next Wednesday night, God willing. So I will say have a good rest of the week. Have a wonderful Sabbath. And we will look forward to seeing all of you next Wednesday night. Okay? Okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye. Thank you for your service, Mr. Shavey. Okay, thank you.