"Visiting The Prisoner"

"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away" ~ 1 Peter 5:4

Scripture refers to our Savior as a "shepherd" on multiple occasions. As the Chief Shepherd, He leads us, watches over us, disciplines us, serves us, and lays down His life for us. But sometimes, we go astray, deciding to unfollow our Shepherd and instead pursue whatever our curiosity demands. When this happens, we are acting more like goats than sheep. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that one day, Jesus our King will return to the earth and that when He does, He will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. There are many differences between these two similar animals, but the most relevant one is this: A sheep is led by its shepherd, while a goatherd is led by his goat (borrowed from United Church of God's website). If we claim to be Christians, we must be like sheep and let our Shepherd lead us, rather than expecting Him to follow and bless whatever we want to do. This week at Friendship, we begin a new series called FAITH, LOVE, ACTION that will cause us to consider the things our Savior who leads us desires for us to do, because of our faith in Him and love for Him. And we'll start with one of the things the "sheep" do: "Visiting the Prisoner". We'll also have a chaplain from York County Prison with us to share about his ministry. Don't miss this opportunity to begin to see those in prison through God's eyes, and to learn how He might be calling you to minister to them!