precious name amen well we welcome you in our savior's name take the word of god please and turn to ezekiel chapter 34 ezekiel chapter 34 i want to read from the verse 11 of the chapter so ezekiel chapter number 34 and let's begin reading at the verse 11 of the chapter the verse 11 of ezekiel chapter 34 Word of God says, for thus saith the Lord God, behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that is scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land. Feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. And I will feed them in a good pasture. And upon the high mountains of Israel shall their foal be. There shall they lie in a good foal. And in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture, and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet. And as for my flock, They eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God unto them, Behold, I, even I, will judge between fat cattle and between the lean cattle, because ye have thrust with the side and with the shoulder, and have pushed all the disease with your horns. till ye have scattered them abroad. Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God. My servant David, a prince among them, and I, the Lord, have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his season. There shall be showers of blessing. We end our reading at the verse 26 of this chapter together. May the Lord add his own blessing upon the reading of his precious word. You know, I must admit that Ezekiel chapter 34 is a chapter within the Word of God that is challenging for any minister to read. I say that because within the verses, and we didn't read them, the initial verses of the chapter, the shepherds of God's flock in Ezekiel's day are presented to us in those verses as those who had failed to perform the duties that God had entrusted them with as the shepherds. off his flock. Instead of tending to the needs off his flock by feeding them, by seeking those who had gone astray, by binding up those who had been hurt, strengthening the weak, these shepherds had tended to their own fleshly needs. They had tended to their own fleshly needs. and their appetites and their desires. And so the challenge is, as we read those initial verses, especially for a pastor and minister, is are you fulfilling the responsibility and the duties to which God has entrusted you with, with regard to my flock, and the feeding of the flock, and caring for the flock, and loving the flock. And so this chapter is most certainly a challenging chapter for any minister to read. And yet as challenging as this chapter is, it is a chapter that lies very close to my heart. Because it was through the words of the verse 23 that the Lord confirmed my call to be the pastor, under-shepherd minister of this congregation in Portland, Owen. the day of the congregational call all those eight and a half years ago. I remember I was before the Lord on that particular day, before the vote took place, and I asked the Lord to give me a word. with regard to the outcome of the particular evening. And this is the word that he gave, the verse 23. And I will set up one shepherd, the word is pastor, over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them and shall be their shepherd. And I've went back to that portion many times just to reaffirm and to comfort my heart with regard to the work of God here. God would set one shepherd over his congregation and that he would pastor them. And even my own particular name falls into the verse, even my servant David. However, it's not that verse 23 that I want us to briefly think upon before getting down to prayer as we think about the new season going into the autumn and into the winter. And then as we think of our gospel mission, in the month of October. The verse I want to consider is the verse number 26 and that'll come as no surprise to you because the hymn that we sung this evening really is based upon this particular text and god is the speaker here and he says and i will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing and i will cause the shower to come down in his season there shall be showers of blessing now in the verse number three of this chapter we read about the sheep and the flock wandering through all the mountains and upon every hill." And it really is that statement there, every hill. Here we have sheep having no home, having nowhere to call home. But they simply find themselves here, there and yonder. And that is not the heart of God. The heart of God is that every Christian finds themselves a home, a spiritual home, a church home to live in. And so here where they were here, they were on every hill the portion says in the verse number three maybe it isn't the verse number three but it is at the beginning there verse number six the verse number six my sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill but here we have in the verse number 26 we have god speaking about his hell and i will make them and the places round about my hell a blessing now there are many ways that we can consider this term my hell what does this my hell Well, many Bible commentators believe that it is a picture of the church of Jesus Christ. He's speaking here about the church, and he describes the church as being, my hell, it belongs to him. Now, there is good grounds to believe that we could consider this term, my hill, as to denote the church. Let me give you a number of reasons why. When we think about a hill as a topographical feature on the landscape, first of all, a hill is elevated. It is elevated. And while the world around us is sunken, is fallen, is depraved, is degraded, thank God the church has been lifted out of the world, been raised out of the world, and it has been given an exalted position due to its union with its exalted head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the hill is an elevated topographical feature on the landscape. And so the church of Christ has been raised, as we read in the book of Ephesians, we have been made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Not only that, but a hill is firm, stable. The church has not been built on some faulty flood plain. plain it hasn't been built on some sandy unstable foundation but rather the church is built upon one foundation the church is one foundation the hymn writer said tis jesus christ the lord and christ is the rock upon which the church is built and whatever storm comes upon the church thank god she will stand the blast and the fury because she is joined to a firm foundation and so in regard to its stability its firmness we could say about this hill but something else about a hell a hell is visible a hell is visible do you remember the words of the lord jesus christ there about a hill in matthew chapter 5 there when he spoke about A city, a city being set on a hill. He said, ye are the light of the world. Matthew 5, 14, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. A hill is visible to all in every direction. And its point, points, or its top points towards the skies. And Christ's church is visible. We're part of it. We're part of the church. The visible church here on earth. And what do we do as the church of Christ? We ought to point all that look to us and to the church heavenward, just as a hell points the viewer heavenward to the skies, so we the church are to point others to Christ, the glorified Christ who sits at the right hand of the majesty on high. And so those are a number of grounds upon which we could Then apply this to the church and I will make them and the places round about my hell the church as it were a Blessing and it is to this particular hell. We could call it the church that God I believe gives us a a promise in the second half of the verse 26 I will cause the shower to come down in his season there shall be showers of blessing now in the temple realm we need showers of rain showers to produce and help the growth of grass in order to produce pasture in order to feed the flocks and the herds of cattle and the sheep that feed upon them. Showers come down to refresh, to revitalize, to rejuvenate, to revive, to give new growth in the land and to cause it to be moved from that place of barrenness and that place of drought into a place of fruitfulness once again. That's what happens in the physical realm. And so it is in the spiritual realm. There are times when we just need the Lord to send us showers of blessing, showers of blessing upon His church. I believe that we have a promise here that we could plead even before the Lord in prayer this evening. Now as we consider these words in verse 26, there are a number of things that I want to say about these showers. I want you to notice firstly the source of them, the source of these showers. Now when it comes to the physical rain showers that we all know too well within our country, the direction of travel for that rain is always from the sky to earth. I don't need to insult your intelligence to say that rain does not ascend, rather rain descends. If you turn to Job chapter 36, although we don't really need, as it were, these verses to show us that, but Job 36 makes it clear the direction of travel for rain. Job 36 verse 27 and 28, for he maketh small the drops of water, They pour down rain according to the vapor thereof, which the clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly. They pour down rain. The clouds do drop and distill upon man abundantly. And so we see the direction of travel from heaven to earth. They do not ascend, but rather physical showers descend. And so it is with the spiritual showers of God's blessing. They come from heaven to earth. That's where they originate. That's where they're sourced. That's where the fountainhead is. Heaven. Heaven is the source of these showers of blessing. They descend to us from above. They do not ascend from beneath, but rather they come to us from above. And here God says that he will cause the shower. Did you notice? He will cause the shower, verse 26, to come down. I, he said, will cause the shower to come down. God is the first cause. He is the initial cause of these showers. They come to us from God. I will, he says, I will cause the shower to come down. He is the first cause. They come to the church via God and via heaven itself. And brethren and sisters, God's blessing must always be looked for in the right place. I don't bring God's blessing. Visiting evangelists will not bring God's blessing. The blessing must be looked for in the right place. God alone is able to send his blessing upon his church because it is his church. As many of you know, the Reverend Duncan Campbell It was used by God in the 1949 to the 1953 revivals on the Isle of Lewis and the Outer Hebrides. And during those years of blessing upon the islands, churches were crammed, packed full to capacity. Services would last much longer than they had been advertised right into the early hours of the morning. And then after meetings were held in homes, there were times that people went to church then to the after meeting and then from the after meeting they immediately went to work and they did a day's work and then did it all again such was the blessing the the very community became saturated with an awareness of God many were saved and many were brought into the Redeemer's kingdom. However, Duncan Campbell, every time he was asked to testify about the supernatural movings of God during the work of God there on the Isle of Lewis, Duncan Campbell never took any credit for anything that happened and occurred in the Outer Hebrides. Let me quote what he said in one recording. He said this, and I'm quoting directly from him. He says, now before I begin, I would like to say one thing. That is, I did not bring revival to Lewis. He went on to say, it has grieved my heart time and time again to read articles about the man that brought revival to Lewis. Notices on church boards, come and hear the man that brought revival to Lewis. He says, my dear people, it is not true. I don't carry revival about with me in my pocket. Reverend Campbell, I was personally aware that no man can bring revival. No individual can work up revival. No church can engineer the ideal circumstances for revival. Revival is sourced in God and in God alone. It is his prerogative. When he wills it, it will be done. If he withholds a blessing, so be it. It is God's. to give and in God's alone. In Psalm 68, verse 9, we read something similar. Let me read the verse for you. Psalm 68, verse 9. And notice there in that verse again, this thought, this truth, God sent the rain. sourced in God. It is for him to revive his work. Yes, we need to be in a proper relationship with God. I'm not saying that, but it is God's prerogative. Reminded again in that verse that it is God who sent the rain. Man did not create the rain, but God did send it. And so we have the source of these blessing showers. The second thing we can say about these showers of blessing is the certainty of them. Note the emphatic words in our text. will and shall these are words that are emphatic they ring with a ring of certainty to them he says i god the speaker here i will cause the shower to come down in this season there shall be showers a blessing and those two words they pleased beyond all doubt that the showers would come now it may have appeared to ezekiel as he sat there in babylon among the captives, thousands of miles away from the land of Israel. I'm sure as he looked at his present circumstances and surveyed his and their present circumstances, he never even would have thought that they would have returned to the land of promise, never mind experience the showers of blessing in that particular land, in God's hell, the hell of Zion. I'm sure he thought this is further from reality. This cannot possibly happen, as he looked around at his circumstances. However, the language that God uses here to Ezekiel indicates very clearly that there would be showers of blessing. Ezekiel and the captives had the word of God on it. They had God's word on it. And that made it certain, because God said it. You know, we can look around us and think to ourselves that there could never be a reversal to all that has befallen our nation and the nations of the world. And yet, brethren and sisters, that's when we must begin living by faith and not by sight. Are we not thankful that we can take God at His word? Ah, yes, people, they break their words to us. Sadly, that's just simply being part of being a fallen, sinful creature. They break their words to us. But God never breaks His word. God cannot break His word. To break His word, to feel, to make good on any promise that He has made, you or I, is just something that God cannot do. It is against His nature. Numbers 23, 19, God is not a man. We can say hallelujah to that. Praise God for that. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent, hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Oh, that God would help us to hope again in his word, that God's people would just take God as word again. And so there is a certainty of it, I will. I will cause the shower to come down in this season, there shall be showers of blessing. Not might be, not probably, could be, but will, shall. There's a third thing we can say about these showers of blessing, namely, I want you to note the plurality of them. Look at the text again, I will cause the shower to come down in the season, there shall be showers Now, if you look at the text, you'll see that there are two showers mentioned. First of all, he says, I will cause the shower. It's in the singular to come down in the season. As I think about that, I think about the land of Israel. the land of Israel, they planted their corn and their wheat and they needed what was known as the early rain. That early rain was to initiate the germination process in order for the shoots to start to rise above the ground and for the ground or for the crop to start to grow. And then after the early rains had come, nearing harvest time, then the farmer looked out for the latter rain. And that latter rain was required to swell the grain in the year in order to give a good harvest. We hear on our news that harvest productivity is going to be down this year, especially in England and other places. Why? Because of the drought. There's been no rain. The grain hasn't swollen in the year. And as a result, there's going to be a shortage or at least a decrease with regard to the wheat and the barley. But here we have this thought. We have an initial shower. I will cause a shower to come down in the season. We could think of that as the early rain. And then a subsequent time. When there is showers poured out, there then shall be showers of blessing. And you see, as I read this text, I see that there's not just one shower mentioned, but showers. It seems that shower after shower, wave after wave, downpour after downpour, is going to be bestowed upon the land. There's going to be a shower. I thank God for that. But there's also going to be showers, showers of blessing. And what I learned from that, brethren and sisters, is this. We don't have to live off the blessing of the past. We thank God for the blessing of the past. We thank God for the times when God did cause the shower to come down in its season, times in our own nation, times in our own church, times in our own local church here. We don't have to look back to last week's blessing when we think of our endeavors among the boys and girls, or we don't have to think about the blessing that we received at the last gospel mission that we had. or in the early years of this church, the denomination, because, brethren and sisters, God has more blessing to send. He's more blessing. And I don't know about you, and maybe you're quite happy to simply, and you're quite content to have the shower, but I'm looking for the showers. I'm looking for the showers. I hope you are. I hope you are. You see, yes, God blessed and there was a shower came, but then in subsequent days, he sent more showers, showers of blessing, seasons of revival, seasons and times of blessing. Oh, let us look for it, brethren and sisters. Then notice fourthly, the plentitude or the magnitude of these showers, the word shower. in our text comes from a root word that means to shower violently. You know what it is whenever you're caught out in a very heavy shower of rain? Torrential downpour. That's the thought here. A torrential downpour. You know, God doesn't promise to send us droplets of blessing. He doesn't promise to send us a drizzle of blessing. He promises to send us showers of blessing. And you need to get into your mind not this kind of light shower that we get maybe through the summer. You need to understand that this is a torrential downpouring. That's the thought of this very word. Copious showers of untold Divine blessing is what God would have to send upon His church. You see, brethren, sisters, whenever God gives a blessing, He usually gives it to us in a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Oh, that we would look to God for such a blessing, a deluge of blessing that would drench us that would drench us and remove the barrenness and the dryness from the heart of this preacher and from the hearts of all of God's people. Oh, the magnitude of its showers, a torrential downpour of blessing. And then fifthly and finally, regarding these showers, the seasonality of them, the text says, I will cause the shower to come down in his season. God does not promise showers in every season, but in his season, his season. God has his season. God has his set time to visit Zion. And we must remember that in our labors for God, that our time may not be God's time. One preacher remarked, God is not indeed bound to times and seasons, and sometimes His blessings come when they are least expected. There is a seasonality to them. He will cause the shower to come down in His season. Again, that is God's determination. We must be ready for it. Oh, may the set time to favor the church soon be upon us. May we soon experience his showers of blessing upon us as a people. And so in the words of Kuyper, ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds, ye so much dread, are big with mercy and shall break, and blessings on your head. Oh, may it be so. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing. And I will cause the shower to come down in his season. There shall be showers of blessing. May it be so for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. And let me encourage you as we get to prayer, we'll make some announcements after I pray, but let me encourage you just to take this promise to the Lord and ask the Lord to fulfill it even among us, that God will cause showers of blessing even upon the fellowship here, I and further afield for the glory of Jesus Christ. But let's pray. Father in heaven, we now come into thy presence and thank thee for the God of blessing the God who desires to bless his people and bless us, Lord, in a manner that is above our asking or our thinking. We thank thee, Lord, that you not only give a shower, but, Lord, you give us showers of blessing. And therefore, Lord, we thank thee for our past, our heritage. We thank thee for blessings received, even in recent weeks. But, Lord, we're looking for a fresh blessing. We're looking, Lord, for fresh power. We're looking for a fresh visitation. Lord, we're looking for fresh souls to be saved, to be added to thy church. Oh, we're looking, dear Father, to heaven. Lord, that's where we'll find its source. We're looking, dear Father, beyond ourselves and beyond preachers that'll come and preach in a gospel mission or visiting preachers. Lord, we're looking to God, the God of blessing. Lord, grant, dear Father, heaven to be opened. The blessing to fall. Lord, as the little chorus says, the windows of heaven are open. The blessings are falling tonight. There's joy, joy, joy in my heart since Jesus made everything right. I gave him my old tattered garments. He gave me a robe of pure white. I'm feasting on manna from heaven. And Lord, I'm happy. I'm blessed tonight. Lord, may it be so. Send us a blessing for Christ's sake. Amen and amen. just some announcements before we get to prayer just to remind the children's meeting starts at 7 p.m this friday night so pray for this endeavor among the boys and girls please and make it known in the community among your family friends your grandchildren would love to have them friday night at 7 p.m christina logan will be here to bring the word to the boys and girls the lord's day begins at eight o'clock the early time of prayer being the first Lord's Day of the month, 1045 Sunday school recommencement, 12 noon the family worship, 630 the gospel service. And remember these, please, in your prayers. Remember in prayer the children and the youth ministries as they recommence this weekend, and then the youth fellowship the following Friday night. Remember the gospel mission as it commences the 16th right through