Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition - Mentor's Guide

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lesson we will explore this image, and weigh its importance and impact on us today as we seek to lead God’s people into his fullness. As usual, your attention to the objectives will enable you to stay focused and on point as you discuss the many-sided nature of the pastoral ministry with your students. This devotion focuses on our need to follow the example of our Lord in his role as the Good Shepherd. The image of the shepherd is one of the most beloved and important metaphors to picture forth the kind of care, nurture, and protection involved in leading the people of God. In a real sense this image, although agrarian and not urban, still provides a remarkably powerful image of the kind of devotion God seeks for his leaders. Actually, the term for “shepherd” is also interchanged with the term “pastor” in the Hebrew Scriptures (cf. Jer. 2.8; 3.15; 10.21; 12.10; 17.16). Often the image of the shepherd is used to picture forth the relationship of the Lord to the people of Israel (Ps. 23.1; 80.1; Isa. 40.11; 44.28; Jer. 25.34, 35; Nah. 3.18). This notion is adopted and expanded in our Lord’s attribution of the image of Shepherd to himself, and by the Apostles who employ it of the Lord Jesus as well (John 10.11, 14; Heb. 13.20; 1 Pet. 2.25; 5.4). This image of the leader’s role being compared to a shepherd is both striking and vivid. The responsibility was neither simple nor comfortable. To actually shepherd a flock in a rugged country like Palestine was treacherous and difficult. Read carefully how one scholar summarizes the various dimensions of this task: In early morning he led forth the flock from the fold, marching at its head to the spot where they were to be pastured. Here he watched them all day, taking care that none of the sheep strayed, and if any for a time eluded his watch and wandered away from the rest, seeking diligently till he found and brought it back. In those lands sheep require to be supplied regularly with water, and the shepherd for this purpose has to guide them either to some running stream or to wells dug in

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