Who's your shepherd? I have chosen Jesus Christ!

Hello from J’town, Kentucky, your friend, Mickey Burleson, and the Watterson Trail Church of Christ.  I’m glad you’re checking out “Proclaiming His Praises.”  I am so very happy to share my thoughts about life and living with you.  I pray that you will come to believe in Jesus Christ.  And you will when you decide to open the Bible and your mind and heart to God’s direction for you.  Regardless of your Bible knowledge, you probably can quote at least part of Psalm 23.  “The Lord is my Shepherd.  I shall not want.”  You may need to look into the Bible to be remind yourself of just what this psalm says.  Psalm 23 is written in beautiful literary language.  It is actually a song that we sing. 

Ever see cattle lying down in the field?  They are full, at peace, and secure.  Ever walked beside still waters?  Can you remember how peaceful you felt as you looked out over the water, maybe a lake or a place in the river?  Maybe you stopped, looked out over the water, and took a deep, deep breath, then sighed and smiled.  Ever felt down and out? Maybe disappointed or depressed?  When the Lord is my Shepherd, He promises to restore my soul.  Of course, I must follow Him to restoration. 

How about those “paths of righteousness”?  We all have walked in the paths of sin.  Know that God did not lead us down those paths.  We walked down those paths under the direction of one who only seeks to kill, steal, and destroy, the enemy, the thief (John 10:9-10).  Sin always takes us farther than we ever wanted to go.  Sin always costs us more than we ever wanted to spend.  Sin always keeps us longer than we ever wanted to stay.  When we are ready to let go of sin, sin is never ready to let go of us.  When we look at sin, we may see fun or pleasure or excitement or an attempt to prove to someone else that we are in control.  When God looks at sin, He sees His One and Only Son, dying on the cross.  When I decide to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, He promises to lead me in the paths of righteousness.  He came to give us an abundant life, a good life, real life, a righteous life. 

When someone we know dies, maybe a member of our family or a friend, fear and confusion can invade our thinking, but when the Lord is the Shepherd of our lives, He is with us and so we have peace and comfort in the fact that the Lord knows, cares, and provides for us all. 

The Shepherd, the Lord has a rod and a staff.  A shepherd uses his rod and staff to correct and discipline his flock and as a weapon of protection to drive away any predator who would want to attack the flock.  We do not look at the Lord’s rod and staff in fear.  We actually find comfort in our Shepherd’s rod and staff.  There is nothing to fear as we follow our Shepherd, the Lord. 

Do you have enemies?  Everyone does, whether we know it or not.  When Jesus walked the earth He certainly had enemies.  As we follow the Lord, our Shepherd He promises provision even in the presence of any enemy. 

Back in Bible times, having your head anointed was a good thing.  Having your head anointed with oil meant that you were chosen, special, accepted.  The Lord our Shepherd anoints our head with oil.  He chooses us.  We are special.  We are accepted by the Shepherd.  

Ever felt like or said, “Life just can’t get any better than this”?  These moments in life are reminders of the cup of blessing or happiness that every Christian has been given.  It is true that sometimes we feel down and out, like our cup has been drained down even to emptiness.  Sin certainly does this to us.  Just living life sometimes drains us of our happiness.  Sometimes we feel like the cup is empty even when it isn’t.  When we follow the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ He promises that our cups will run over. 

What will like be like under the leadership and care of the Lord, our Shepherd?  Goodness and mercy is ours every day we live.  When we die, we have a home prepared for us in heaven, forever.  Amen.

Who is your shepherd?  Who are you following?  I have chosen Jesus Christ as my Lord, my Savior, my Friend, my Advocate, my Helper, my Shepherd.  You can too.  The Watterson Trail Church of Christ is entirely and completely focused on the Shepherd.

SNOW! Mickey Burleson, welcome to Kentucky!

Welcome to Louisville, Kentucky, Mickey Burleson!  The snow is beautiful..and deep…and cold…and still coming down as I write this blog.  Of course, if you have to be outside working or traveling, you probably have a little different “take” on 12 inches of snow.  Then again, if you live in the northeast 12 inches would just be a “dusting” of snow.  Anyway, I am thankful that the winter storm is coming through on Monday and not Sunday.  Speaking of Sunday, we had a good crowd at Watterson Trail yesterday (15^th) even though the temperature was very cold and we all had heard that “winter” was indeed on its way to J’town.  We had several guests with us including a couple of guests from my old Enola, Arkansas home (Steve and Kim Mooningham).  I am happy that they were able to make the trip to visit with us and especially thankful that they were able to get home safely before the wintery weather arrived.  Thank you to the congregation for your care and sincere love for our guests at every assembly.  God continues to bless us.  We want to grow and be what God would have us to be.

We really enjoyed visiting with the group of “seniors” at the Forum at Brookside this past Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  The Forum’s activity room was filled to capacity with residents from the complex and Christian brethren from Watterson Trail.  Brother Spencer Clark, Brother Dr. Anthony Remson, and Brother Dan Isenberg led the entire assembly in singing.  Outstanding!!  Brother Bruce Fowler led the group in prayer.  God blessed me with the privilege of preaching a lesson on the importance of small things.  I enjoyed using a few props to illustrate the points of the lesson: booster cables, water, a dollar bill, a handkerchief, and a band aide.  Think about it.  Has there been a time in your life when you really could have used one or more of these items, items that seem very small and insignificant, but at the right place and the  right time not small and insignificant at all?  I keep a supply of band aides in my wallet at all times.  I think that most grandparents do.  They come in handy in the lobby of the church building when a child scrapes a knee or when I’m doing a little “handyman” work.  Those booster cables really come in handy when someone needs a “jump.”  Not too long ago I had the privilege of using them to jump start a 2012 Chevrolet Corvette.  Just ready to serve when and where God provides the opportunity, right?  When you think about it, God gives us so many examples of the importance of small things:  a little boy in a basket, a widow with two small coins, a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish, the boy who killed a giant with a sling and a stone, a little boy born in a manger…we could go on and on.  What about you and me?  We may think that we are small and insignificant, a maybe we are in ourselves, but in the hands and plans of our Almighty God, we can be great.  Are you in His hands and plans?  Get in there.

We have a very busy schedule this week:  Elders/ministers meeting tonight (16^th), Leaders meeting on Tuesday, Bible study on Wednesday, AHG on Thursday, Activity Night on Friday, Teacher’s Workshop on Saturday, Special Pot-luck “Sendoff” for one of our elders Brother Bruce Fowler on Sunday followed a Singing in the area followed by our Birthday and Anniversary Get-together at our house.  Whew!  What a wonderful life we live as Christians.

We have some wonderful and exciting times ahead at Watterson Trail…

Ladies Day at WT – Saturday, March 21^st

Tuesday Summer Series (June, July, August) – 12 Area Preachers coming our way to preach on our theme “The Christian’s Confidence – Christ.”

Vacation Bible School – October

Weekend Worship Event (WWE) – October - Al Simmons, Statesville , NC preaching

I just love Sunday's! Don't you? God is so good to us!

Hello my friends from beautiful Jeffersontown, Kentucky!  I just love Sunday's. Don't you?  It is so good to have the opportunity to meet together on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week.  Sunday is the day we will study the Bible together as a congregation of the Lord's people.  When we study God’s word together our faith is stronger, our mind is sharper, and our confidence in Christ is reaffirmed after a week of life and living. 

 

We pray together on the Lord's Day.  A family that prays together stays together.  I know this sounds cliché, but true.  We want to stay together and “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10).  

 

On the Lord's Day we sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs together.  We sing without an organ, piano, a band, or an orchestra.  We sing together as a congregation making melody in our hearts to the Lord.  Some people don’t understand why we do not worship with instruments and think maybe we can’t afford the instruments or that we just don’t like the sound of instruments or that we are simply behind the times.  We sing because Jesus sung (Matthew 26:30).  We sing like Paul sang; with the spirit and with the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15).  The church is to “speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).  We are to “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).  In many churches today people gather because they enjoy the music, they enjoy hearing a good band perform, they want to entertain and be entertained.  “Worship” can become and for many has become more about us, what we want and what pleases us rather than what God wants or what pleases Him.  We must remember who the audience is in worship.  The audience is not us.  The audience is God. 

 

Every Sunday we share in the Lord’s Supper, the bread representing Jesus’ body, the fruit of the vine representing Jesus’ blood.  Many churches remember Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection only occasionally.  We have communion together every Sunday.  The church met to “break bread” on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).  There is one "first day of the week" every week.  We are continuing steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42).  Not very difficult to understand, is it?  

 

On Sunday we will “lay something aside” giving as we have prospered as we have purposed in our hearts, not grudgingly or of necessity, but cheerfully and bountifully for the work of the church (1 Corinthians 16:1, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8). 

 

Come and let us worship God our Savior our Lord our King.

We welcome our members and our guests every Sunday at Watterson Trail.  This coming Sunday (8th) we especially welcome the American Heritage Girls and their families on “Scout Sunday.” 

 

The sermon this morning is entitled “The Power of Positive Expectation.”  Begin each day with faith, not doubt and fear.  Look for something good in everything.  Watch your words and expressions.  Associate with positive people.  Be thankful to God in advance for His blessings.