“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters” (Psalms 23:2). Looking at verse 2, we need to look at another Hebrew translation of the word shepherd ¾ Yatsa means to go or come out. It appears that the flock is in transit. That the shepherd is leading the flock through the wilderness. At the same time, it is true that in the last verse of this Psalm, we see the sheep safe in the sheepfold. Yet this is not so in the earlier verse, which presents the sheep in transit on a wilderness journey. This shepherd, this goer forth, does just that. He goes before, meaning nothing can happen to the sheep unless it happens to him first. For the believer, Jesus is our shepherd or goer forth, for He leads our way.
On our journey, the Good Shepherd has led us to a place of nourishment, green pastures. People do not come to church to hear about what they have lived for six days. They want to hear what God has to say. The green pastures are the Word of God because they are the only thing that can feed a hungry soul.
Do not feed the sheep the husk of discarded everyday stuff. While such might be alright for swine, it is not food for sheep. Sheep want to graze in green pastures.
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “Last Tuesday during the Old Testament class, Jose Luis Galeano expressed his interest in starting a discipleship group for men on Wednesday nights. So, from this week onward, we will serve the men, women and youth.
We still need someone to care for the children. This week, we will propose to Karla that she care for the children and receive discipleship on another day. We thank God for this new generation of disciplers who are rising in the church. Let us pray that these new groups can be established.
“During the Sunday service, Dani, who was visiting us for the first time with his family, decided to reconcile with the Lord. Betzabe, on her third visit to the Sunday meeting, also chose to reconcile with God. Both will be joining the discipleship groups on Wednesday nights and will bring their families with them. What a blessing for them as they rebuild their relationship with God and for the church, which has the opportunity to support them in their spiritual growth.
On Sunday night, Wilmer and Karla visited us along with their children, Christopher and Sofia. After dinner, Wilmer proposed to Karla, and naturally, she accepted. It was a beautiful evening where we could witness God’s work in the life of this family, their desire to honor God, and their commitment to organizing their lives according to the principles of God’s Word.
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “Thank God Chiquinquira and Armando’s baby was born healthy; they named him Sebastian. I visited them in the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a cesarean birth, and something she said caught my attention: “In these moments, I miss my mom very much.”
They are alone in this country as a couple. It’s wonderful that Ebenezer can adopt them as a spiritual family — separate from their blood family but not lonely in terms of their spiritual family.
“This week, our attendance is down a lot; many at Ebenezer are sick with colds and allergies. Pray that God may heal them.
“Last Sunday, we finished taking an offering for global missions; we are not only giving, but also praying. I desire Ebenezer to be involved in their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
“There are two community ministries we are trying to get involved. One is a Pregnancy Center and with the Baseball Chapel ministry. We have a lot of work to do. Thank you for your prayers and support. To God be the glory!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “What a great week we had at Faith Chapel! The jonquils are blooming, the grass is greening and the temps are like spring; it is my favorite time of year!
“A lot of our folks are back from being sick or traveling, but others are taking their turns, and we still had a great time of worship and a really good number with three first-time visitors, one of them a teen and another a pre-teen. We are getting a pretty good group of young people, and we want to keep that going. Some of our mothers want to start a midweek youth program that will teach and help them grow. We are not sure yet what that will look like, maybe AWANA or something similar. If you are experienced in this, we would love to hear your ideas/input. You can message me on our Facebook page or call me; my number is in the footer of this page. We really want this to be successful. We have some experienced teachers, but we would also like to hear from you about what works and what doesn’t.
“We have been working on the classroom additions and are making some progress, but I have not been much help since my shoulder surgery. It is hard for me to watch other people work. And this week, we had to make our parking lot bigger. Praise God, that is a good problem to have! All things considered, it has been a wonderful week!
“Thank you all for your prayers and support; it means so much to us!”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “Faith Journey has been enjoying this week’s beautiful weather! We may still have a few more cool temperatures, but it’s been a nice few days to get us looking forward to Spring!
“After a short break for the holidays, we restarted our men’s Bible study this week. During this first meeting, we spent time catching up with one another and choosing our new study, which will be over the book of James. It was great to see this group of men returning and being faithful to learning more about God. We are praying that others will join us as well.
“We had a good time with our Faith Journey family during our service this week. We studied Acts 10 and discussed what we can take from this passage. The underlying message is that our God is a God for all people and He sent Jesus to us as a sacrifice for all our sins. He is our Savior, and we are His children, so we should share this good news with everyone!”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, “It was a very productive week for our mission. On Wednesday, we continued to pray for the needs of our members, focusing on brothers who want to commit to equipping themselves for the work of the ministry.
We are also very excited because since we started as a church more than two years ago, we had talked with Iris about a missionary project to offer English classes in the community. From that moment, we began to pray and thank the Lord because the time has come. Therefore, on March 18 at 7 p.m., with the help of Kimberly Williams, we will begin offering English classes to the community. Many people are interested, and we are confident this will be a way to reach more and more Hispanics in the area, aiming to build relationships to present the gospel. So please pray for this project, as we still need some things, including a large whiteboard with wheels.
“We received sad news that a family of those who first joined our church will not continue to attend. Rick and his family plan to move to Tennessee, where his family is. Despite this, the Lord brought three new families to the church.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “Finally, the weather was clear, and our host families weren’t sick, and we could have all our Connection Groups meet and hold our Collective Worship Gathering. On Wednesday, we filled my living room with 27 people in our monthly Collective Gathering. We had members of both Connection Groups.
It was an incredible night. Our worship leaders, Marty Stewart and Charles Wright, did a great job leading us in worship. They each had selected songs that were meaningful to them. This was to introduce a new initiative where we have an online form for members to write in worship songs that have been important to them that week or in their life. We are working for our congregational worship to flow out of our everyday walk with Christ. I preached from Matthew 11 and talked about Jesus saying His burden was light. It was a great night.”
