The Footsteps of the Flock #1 — Stephen Kaung

We are here this morning and we are happy to be here in front of you. We ask you to use your blood to cover us again. Lord, when our hearts turn to you, Lord, we ask you to come and be close to us. We ask you to lift up the path between us and you.

We ask you to say, Lord, today, Lord, God wants us to retreat. God wants us to open up. Lord, let us see the Son of God. Lord, our beloved Lord, let us tell you that he is our beloved Lord. We thank you, Lord.

We know, Lord, that we love you. We also know, Lord, that you love us first. We thank you, Lord, because you are our Lord. You are the one we look up to every day. Today, you have resurrected from the dead, sitting on the throne.

All the kings must acknowledge, all the wives must kneel, acknowledge that you are Lord. You are the king of all kings. You are the Lord of all kings. Today, we ask you, Lord, to come and be close to us.

Let us sit quietly at your feet, close to our hearts, close to our ears, so that we can hear the voice of the Son of God. Lord, let us look up to your hands. We thank you, Lord, for bringing your servant, our beloved brother, into our midst.

We ask you to lift him up. Lord, we not only ask you to break him, we also ask you to break us, so that we can be clean in front of you, so that we can bear the grace you have bestowed upon us. We thank you, Lord.

We ask you to hear our prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ, our brothers and sisters. Please read the Old Testament, the Book of Acts. Let's turn to the Old Testament, the Song of Solomon.

The Bride’s Longing and the Footsteps of the Flock

The Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon. Chapter 1, verse 7 and 9. 7 and 8. Song of Songs, Chapter 1, verses 7 and 8. Tell me, O you whom I love, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon.

For why should I be as one who veils herself by the flocks of your companions? You are beautiful among women. If you do not know, follow the footsteps of the flock and place your yam cake beside the tent of the shepherds.

Let's turn to the New Testament, the Gospel of John. Chapter 10. We read from verse 14. Verses 14, 15 and 16. The Gospel of John, Chapter 10. Verses 14. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my name, by my own.

Yes, the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I must bring them here. They must hear my voice, and they must become one flock, and one shepherd.

Let's bow down and have further words of prayer. Lord, we really thank you and praise you. By your sovereign grace, we are gathered here together. Lord, we are gathering here by your name. We know that you are faithful.

You promise to be among us. Lord, we really look up to you to take away the veil on our face. So that we truly can see your glory and beauty. Lord, we look up to you to draw us again. So that we follow you steadily.

Lord, we put forth your own work under your feet again. We ask that your Holy Spirit quickens your own word. For your word is the Spirit and the life. So that we can truly meet you face to face through your own word.

We will that you do your own work this morning. That your heart is satisfied. In the name of Lord Jesus. Amen. In the Song of Songs, we see a woman. And she has tasted the sweetness of the salvation of the Lord.

For this reason, there is a desire in her for the Lord. And she is willing that she could know the Lord more. And she hopes to have a more intimate fellowship with the Lord. Because she has such longing for the Lord.

And our Lord brought her into the inner chamber. So that she could experience a bit of the preciousness of the Lord. The Lord attracted her heart. So she rose up and wanted to follow the Lord. But when she was so longing for the Lord.

And her brothers did not understand her condition. They thought she was too much. So her brothers loaded a lot of work on her. So that she did not have a good quiet time enough to fellowship with the Lord.

For this reason, she felt very painful in her. Therefore, she had to cry before the Lord. She said, you whom I love. Where do you shepherd your flock? At noon time, where do you put your sheep to rest?

Why today my face is veiled just in the flocks of your companions? You see in the heart of this woman. She really loved her Lord. But it seems at that time she was not able to see him. It seems that she was among the flocks of the companions of the Lord.

As if she had a veil on her face. And in our Chinese translation, it is hard to really see the delicate meaning here. But if you read the English translation. And then she said here, why should I be among the flocks of your companions?

And here companions are plural. Here the flocks are plural too. Down here there are some people who are called the companions of the Lord. And they are probably called by the Lord to be the shepherds.

But here we see the so-called companions of the Lord. When the Lord put forth his own flock in their hands. Unwittingly these companions divided these flocks to become flocks of themselves. Now here you see originally the Lord has only one flock.

All the companions of the Lord, they are supposed to be shepherding the Lord's flock. They are supposed to be under the great shepherd and feed the flock together. But unwittingly we see that these companions, these many companions of the Lord.

So unwittingly they took the flock of the Lord entrusted to their hands as their own. In another word, these companions consider the work as their primary thing. So they have used the work to replace the Lord.

And this woman belongs to the Lord. Then she feels herself to be in the midst of these companions. But the work cannot replace her Lord. Therefore she feels herself to be a person with a veil on her face.

That is to say that she was not able to see the Lord. In some of the translations this word veil. And it also talks about those people who were roaming. As she was going from place to place having no home.

They don't know where she is going. And I think today among God's children we have the same condition. We also see that there are people who truly long for the Lord. In their heart the outside activities cannot replace their Lord.

They cannot consider the work to be replacing their Lord. In their heart it is like they are roaming from place to place having no home. And there is no rest in their hearts. They feel themselves to be the flock, the sheep of the Lord.

But where is the Lord shepherding His flock? They know in themselves that they need rest. But they do not know where the Lord at no time has His sheep at rest. Therefore in them there is agony. And then they have this cry to the Lord.

And our Lord responded. And He said, O fairest among women. If you do not know where I am. You just follow the footsteps of the flock. And just put your little goats beside the shepherds' tents. Dear brothers and sisters.

Here we see this woman in the eyes of the Lord is the fairest. The fairest, the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. In the eyes of our Lord who is beautiful? In the eyes of our Lord who is the fairest?

It is those who have a heart longing for the Lord. It is not those who have great work. It is those who have a love for the Lord. These people in the eyes of the Lord are the fairest. But the Lord told them, if you do not know where I am.

How can you find me? And the Lord said, just follow the footsteps of the flock. Here you have to see in the original language this word flock in singular. There is only one flock. And the footsteps of the flock is the footsteps of the Lord.

Because our Lord is the good shepherd. He walks before the flock. And his own flock follows the footsteps of the shepherd. Therefore when the woman could not see the Lord. The Lord said, just follow the footsteps of the flock and then you can find me.

The Lord is the good shepherd. He will never depart from his own flock. So wherever his flock is, he is. There you can find me. Here we see. There is only one shepherd. There is only one flock. And this is what we see in John chapter 10.

Because in John chapter 10 the Lord tells us. He said, I have other sheep in another flock. Well of course we know the background of the time. The Jews are a flock. They are a flock, they are not a flock.

But the Lord said, beside the sheep in this flock. We know when our Lord came to earth. He said, I was sent to the house of Israel. In that boat he is going to call out his own sheep. Because his sheep knows his voice.

But the Lord said, besides the sheep in this boat, I also have other sheep in another flock. And that is the Gentile realm. He said, I will bring them in. And not only I am going to bring the sheep out of the fold of the Jews.

I am also going to bring my sheep out of the fold of the Gentiles. Because my sheep hears my voice. And I am going to bring them out into one flock. Under one shepherd. So brothers and sisters. Here we see our Lord is that good shepherd.

Although on earth he has called many shepherds. But strictly speaking there is only one shepherd. And also he only has one flock. On this earth he only has one flock. All those who have been saved by grace who have heard his voice.

Although all those who can know his voice. He says, my sheep knows my voice. My father knows me. I know my father. I know my flock. And my flock knows me. And all these sheep are in one flock under me the shepherd.

Brothers and sisters. So the Lord told this woman. Now if you cannot see me because of these complicated surroundings. All you have to do is follow the footsteps of the flock. There you will find me. Actually what this woman is longing for is not that flock.

What she is longing for is that shepherd. But because she longs, she desires for this shepherd. So she also loves the flock of this shepherd. Now in the footsteps of the flock that follows the Lord. She can find the Lord that her heart desires.

The Book of Acts as the Flock’s Footsteps

Brothers and sisters. We know that the four gospels show us the footsteps of our Lord. In the gospels we see the footsteps that our Lord left on the earth. Now what is the ax? I believe the bible student would all acknowledge.

If the gospels are the footsteps of the Lord. Then the ax is the footsteps of the flock. So when we cannot find the Lord. Then the Lord says all you have to do is follow the footsteps of the flock. Because there you can find me.

Therefore brothers and sisters. That is why we find the book of Acts to be very precious. Because it is not only the history. For example when we read the gospels. When we read the gospels we not only see the history of the Lord on earth.

Now in the gospels we have to see his footsteps. Now through the footsteps we can know himself. So that is the same with the book of Acts. It is not only showing us the history of the first century church.

But it shows us the footsteps of the flock. So when we sometimes feel a little confused. As we don't know where to go. At that time we can find the footsteps of the flock in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts we can find the footsteps of the flock.

And through those footsteps we can find our Lord. We remember in Matthew chapter 16. He said I will build my church on this rock. The gates of Haiti cannot prevail against it. In Matthew 20. And the Lord said wherever.

There are two or three gathered together in my name. And I shall be in the midst of them. And here we see no matter where there are two or three. That they gather together in the name of the Lord. And that is to say that they put themselves under the name of the Lord.

Under the headship of the Lord. And that is also to say that they are following the footsteps of the shepherd. And when they are so following the Lord. The Lord says I am in the midst of them. So when we come to 1 Corinthians chapter 14.

When the church gather together. And when the unbelievers come in. And their condition inside will be at fault. And they will prostrate and say God is indeed in your midst. So that is the church. The footsteps of the flock is the footsteps of the Lord.

Through the footsteps of the flock we can find the Lord that we love. So this time we will have four sessions that we can fellowship together about the book of Acts. Now here when we share about the book of Acts we do not pay attention on the historical facts.

What we hope is through the conditions and the stories of the church in the book of Acts that we can find the footsteps of the flock. And our purpose is to find the Lord himself. Because we only have four times.

So it is not possible for us to share all the footsteps that we can find in the book of Acts. So we find among the book of Acts four churches. The church at Jerusalem. The church at Antioch. The church at Corinth.

And the church at Ephesus. Now we hope that we can learn something before the Lord through the footsteps that are left behind. By these four churches. We remember we were told in the first Corinthians chapter 10.

Those things that were recorded in the past. Those are the warnings for us who live in the end time. Admonition. Admonition. Now the word admonition contains two meanings. One is encouragement. The other is warning.

So here we see from the footsteps of the church in the book of Acts. On one hand we are encouraged. We know how we should proceed forward. On the other hand we got warnings. It tells us if the footsteps are going in the wrong direction how do we come back.

So this is the burden we have before. Before the Lord. I hope that brothers and sisters we have prayers before the Lord. Because indeed if the Lord does not open our heart, our understanding. Then we are totally powerless about the spiritual things.

And we cannot speak and we cannot hear. So we need prayer and more prayer before the Lord. So now let's turn to the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 1. We read from verse 12. 12 through 14. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called the Mount of Olives.

Which is near Jerusalem. A Sabbath day's journey off. They entered the city and went up to a room. There were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, and the son of Elias, James.

And the broken door of Simon and James. And when they were come into the city, they went up to the upper chamber. Where were staying both Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Elias, and Simon the zealot, and Jude the brother of James.

These gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer with several women and marry the mother of Jesus and with his brother. In Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4. And when the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, they were all gathered in one place.

And there came suddenly a sound out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing and filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire and they sat upon each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave to them to speak for. And then chapter 2 verse 42. And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles in breaking of bread and prayers.

The Church Is Built on Christ, Not Human Organization

And we just read those. We remember when our Lord was honored. When he was in Caesarea Philippi. And he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? And his disciples told our Lord what they have heard.

But our Lord was not satisfied with those. And he asked his disciples, who do you think I am? Simon Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Lord said, Simon, but you are not, you are blessed.

Because this is not shown to you by the flesh. It is what my Father in heaven revealed to you. You are Peter. You are a little stone. And I shall build my church on this rock. The gate of Hades cannot prevail against it.

And the Lord says, I will build my church on this rock. In another word, when our Lord said that, he was not building his church yet. When he was on earth, he was not building his church yet. But his desire is to build his church.

All his work is for him to build his church. But when he was on earth, he did not build it yet. Because his work was not accomplished yet. He has to go to Calvary and he has to be crucified. Then he has to accomplish the work of redemption.

And then according to the work of redemption, the church can be built. So according to history, when was the starting point of the church on earth? It was the day of the Pentecost. When our Lord accomplished the redemption, he was resurrected.

He appeared to his disciples for 40 days. And he rose on Mount Olive. And when he arose unto heaven, God anointed him to be the Lord and Christ. So according to Psalm 133, verse 2, as the precious oil came upon the head of Aaron, and to his whiskers, and to the skirt of his garment, so when our Lord rose to heaven, and God set him to be King, to be Lord, and to be Christ, God anointed him.

So the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost to the earth. And there were 120 disciples. We know that the Lord now has more than 120 disciples on earth. Although in John chapter 6 we are told when our Lord said that my flesh can be eaten, and my blood can be drunk, and those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and at the end time they will be resurrected.

When people heard of this word, even some of his disciples said that this is too difficult. So they left the Lord. But when our Lord was resurrected, when he appeared to his disciples, and the Bible tells us when he appeared to 500, but on the upper chamber of Jerusalem there were only 120.

And there were 11 apostles. There are women. We know that these women were those who when the Lord was on earth, they followed the Lord. They also used their own money to serve the Lord and serve the Lord's disciples.

And they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the servant of the household of Herod, and Susanna, and Mary, the mother of John and James. And there are other women who followed the Lord. They really are faithful to the Lord.

We know when our Lord was carrying his cross on the way to Calvary, many women were following him, weeping. We know that when our Lord was crucified, many disciples just disappeared, but these women were there.

And because of the resurrection of the Lord, we also see that the Lord's own brothers in his flesh also now return to him. There are 120 gathered on the upper chamber. For 10 days they remained in Jerusalem according to the command of the Lord, waiting for the Holy Spirit.

On those days they continued in prayer in one unison. And on the day of Pentecost, suddenly a great voice came in. And according to the original language, the description is like one person who has a very hard, deep breathing.

And the voice of that deep, hard breathing filled that room. And we see that there are people who are like flames, like stones, falling on the heads of people. They were all filled by the Holy Spirit.

They lost their tongue. Brothers and sisters, on that day, that is the day the Church was born on earth. We know that many people when they see the second chapter of Pentecost, the second chapter of Acts, they are only attracted by the sound and the sight.

And that's where they pay attention to. And they just pay attention to the sound and then also the sight of this fiery tongue. So this is the Pentecost. So today we shall seek the sound and the sight.

But, Francis, this is only something tangential. What is Pentecost? Now, what is what the Holy Spirit has done on the day of Pentecost? When we read 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, we see that in one spirit we are baptized into one body.

Whether it's the Jews or the Greeks, they drink of one spirit. And this is the true meaning of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes, He has made us see that on the one hand the Spirit shows us that God has established our Lord to be the Christ and the Lord.

He is now the head. And on the earth He has a mysterious body. In one spirit they are baptized into one body. It was 120. And these 120 may be the best of the disciples. But they were 120 individuals.

As if it's a congregation of 120 members. But on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes. And in one spirit they are baptized into one body. There was no more 120 members. There are now 120 members of one single body.

And this is the flock. Those are not just individual sheep. And maybe these 120 are the fattest, most beautiful sheep. But now they are one flock. They are one body. And the Lord is their head. The Lord is their chief.

And one shepherd, one flock. And this is what happened on earth on the day of Pentecost. Brothers and sisters, and this is indeed heaven comes down on earth. Here we see a flock, one flock of sheep. And here we see a body of Christ.

And this is the church at Jerusalem. On that day 3 ,000 were saved. Now these 3 ,000 not only they were born again, they were also baptized in one spirit into one body. So dear brothers and sisters, this is the beginning of the church on earth.

But brothers and sisters, today we are not sharing on the history. Now through the footsteps that the church at Jerusalem has left us, we want to find our Lord. So brothers and sisters, we want to share a few things here.

Spiritual Birth and the Church’s Birth Travail

Now first, if we see how the church at Jerusalem started, first we want to see that the church at Jerusalem was born. It was not organized. As every one of us when we were born again, we know today that we need to be born again.

Now we cannot say because I was born into a Christian family or because I go to a Christian school to a Christian school or I work in a church organization or I was born into a Christian country, Christian nation.

Therefore I am a Christian. We know that this is not true. The Lord Jesus said you have to be born again. If the Lord said to Nicodemus that you have to be born again then everyone on this earth has to be born again because Nicodemus was an elderly man.

He was the rabbi of Israel. He was a very learned and very moral person. He also had some spiritual understanding. And he was able to recognize that although our Lord has not gone to a rabbi school but he was indeed a rabbi coming from heaven.

He was able to humble he was willing to humble himself to come to the Lord to ask and the Lord said you have to be born again. So I believe in this earth everyone needs to be born again. If we want to enter in the kingdom of God we have to be born again.

What is to be born again? To be born again is to be born by the Holy Spirit. So in John chapter 3 verse 6 that which was born of the flesh is flesh and that which was born of the spirit is spirit. Now if you are born of the Holy Spirit then you have a new spirit.

This is true individually. It is also true for the body. Now when we are a sheep we need to be born again. Now we want to be this flock we also need to have the Holy Spirit baptize us into one body. We thank and praise our Lord.

The day we were born again Now the Holy Spirit has done in us at least two things the day we were born. Now I am not saying other things. On the one hand He He we are born again inside through Him. And the second thing He baptizes us in His Spirit into this one body.

So the minute we receive the Lord not only we were born again we are safe now we become His sheep. Now simultaneously the Holy Spirit has put us in His own flock. We are already in the body of Christ.

We are already baptized with the Holy Spirit. And today people still are there are still people who seek to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. They do not know they have already been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

And I think this can be easily proven Now that we are talking a little farther the minute you are saved is it that the Holy Spirit and your own spirit prove together that you are son of God. And you can call out Abba Father.

Is that true? The minute you believe the Lord when you see another person who also believe in the Lord isn't it that there is an intimate connection between you and that person. Immediately you feel that we are related.

So that relationship is even deeper than our relationship in the flesh. And then we ask him which denomination you belong. And what is your interpretation of this scripture? Then we depart. But if without these things are we one?

Are we in one flock? We are in one body. Because the Holy Spirit has already baptized us into one body. Indeed we need to be filled by the Holy Spirit. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit we have already received.

Therefore we are one flock. So you see here that the church cannot be organized. The church can only be born. If it were an organization you could join and you could leave. But if you were born into it then you could never get out.

So brothers and sisters you first have to see what is the footstep of the flock. We have to see that the church is born. The church is not organized. Indeed when these 120 praying together on the upper chamber Peter stood up and said now we are one short of 12 apostles.

Now we have to choose among us one person that has followed the Lord from the time of John the Baptist to the time our Lord was resurrected to heaven. But you see this is preparation this is not organization.

It is not to organize these 120 into one so called church. They had no organization at all. They were only waiting waiting for the Holy Spirit to bring them out as a body. And this is the footstep of the flock.

So throughout generations until today in that footstep we can find our Lord. So this is the first lesson we have to learn. And the second lesson we have to know that now that it is to be born then there has to be a birth pain a travail.

Without birth travail there will be no birth. So we can not just collect everybody without going through the birth trail and then we can claim that we now have a church. We know that in the in Judaism when they were taken captive to Babylon in that time the temple was destroyed.

Because they were taken to Babylon God wants to cure the problem of idol worship of his own people through this nation which actually is idol worshiping nation. So when they were in Babylon they don't want to worship and they want to worship God.

But they have no temple. What do they do? So they invented this system of synagogue. So the system of synagogue started at that time. And this is the genius invention of them. As long as you have ten Jewish men now these ten Jewish men that they have some time they can pay attention to the religious thing.

Then they can just organize a synagogue. Very convenient. So if you just find nine others who have the same thinking as yours and they can organize a synagogue. Now if you don't like this synagogue you can find another nine to create another synagogue.

So you can do this with synagogue. But you cannot do this with the church. You know the church cannot be born without the birth travail. The church can be born onto this earth because our God has gone through travail of earth.

Our Lord Jesus he bled his body was broken on the cross. And he was deserted by the Father when he was on the cross. And he has tasted the pain of hell for us on the cross. And he died and the soldiers used the spear to spear the side of him.

Out comes blood and water. Blood for the redemption of sin. Water gives us new life. Because of this travail of birth then there is this material for the building of the church. So Isaiah 53 says he said that because of the birth travail he went through when he saw his descendants his heart was satisfied.

Not only our Lord went through birth travail our Heavenly Father also went through the travail. So you see at 12 o 'clock the heaven and earth became dark. As the Father just covered his own eyes because he could not see the suffering and the death of his son.

And he bruised his son. But his heart was broken. And this is the travail. Not only the travail of the Father there is also the travail of the Holy Spirit. Because the day of Pentecost it was a hard breathing.

As a deep and laboring breathing of a woman when in labor. And the church was born out of this. So the church was precious in the eyes of the Lord. Not only that we also see that God wants those who belong to him to go through travail with him.

So these 120 for 10 days they prayed together in one heart. They also with one emotion one heart with the Lord. They also went through the birth travail. And then on the day of Pentecost brothers and sisters.

Now the birth of the church there is always a group of people on earth who go through birth travail. You cannot just bring God's people together to say let's organize a church. That's not possible. Our God went through birth travail.

We who have the same heart who want to have the same heart with the Lord. Unless we go through birth travail the church cannot be born. So Paul said to the Colossians he said for the body of Christ I want to make up the lacking of Christ of the suffering of Christ in my own body.

And he said to the church at Colossians he said little children I'll go through the birth pain again for you. Until Christ is formed in you. Brothers and sisters let's not take church to be a very light thing.

The church came out from birth travail. It is God going through birth travail. And there's a group of people who have the same heart with the Lord. They went through birth travail. And then came the church.

So this is extremely precious in the eyes of the Lord. Brothers and sisters and I often hear people to say oh we want to go here we want to go there to establish churches. My heart is painful because what was established is not church.

If this is the church there has to be the footstep of the flock. Without going through the birth travail this cannot happen. This is the second lesson we need to learn. The third lesson we see at that time the church at Jerusalem they started with 120.

The Church as a Family of Growing Believers

And we can say these 120 were very mature Christians. Because they have been following the Lord for three years. They have seen the death the burial the resurrection and the rising of the Lord. And they are indeed the mature Christians.

But on that day 3 ,000 were saved. These 3 ,000 were babies. So here you see immediately in the church at Jerusalem there were the mature Christians and there were many, many babies. And this is a house.

Now in a house it's not always exclusively older people. Then it will be like a convalescent. Now in a household it's not just full of young people. Then it's like a war zone. Now it's not just all full of little children.

Then it will be like kindergarten. In a household there are those who are mature. There are those who need to grow. So you see at the beginning of the church that's the condition. What we wish is this.

If I'm going to organize the church I want everybody to be like me. Then it's very convenient. Isn't that so? Now if there are little children there then it's too noisy. For brothers and sisters we are the flock of the Lord.

In the flock there are older sheep and there are younger sheep. They're all together. What do they do when they get together? And you ask the Jerusalem church what is your life? There's one verse in the scripture and that can represent it.

They continue in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles breaking of the bread and praying. Remember there are 3 ,120 people. There are 120 mature ones and there are 3 ,120 3 ,000 babies. But they were all together continue continue to be in obey the teachings of the apostles and the fellowship of the apostles breaking of bread and pray.