The Shepherd You Can Trust | Why Jesus is "The Good Shepherd"

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- Good morning. Welcome to Crossroads. I'm Jen.

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- Hey, and I'm Andy, and if you're in the US,

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happy 4th of July. - Happy 4th of July.

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- That's right. Wherever you are, hey,

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thanks for spending part of your weekend with us.

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Whether you're tuning in from your living room

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or the lake or driving home,

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or just recovering from a crazy weekend.

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Hey, we're so glad you're here.

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- Yes. Crazy weekend.

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Lots of fireworks all through the night.

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Seriously, whether it's your first time joining us

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or you've been with us for years,

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you belong here and we're excited to be together today.

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- Yeah. Hey, we're actually wrapping up our series

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called The Jesus Exhibit.

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We've been looking at these seven bold statements

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that Jesus made about Himself and asking

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what do those mean for us right now.

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- Join us like we do every weekend singing some songs.

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- Here we go.

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- Let me pray for us.

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God, thank you for all that you've done for us.

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When I sing these words of this song,

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it helps me just to be grateful

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that I don't have to figure it out on my own,

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but that at the name of Jesus, my life has been changed.

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So God, thank you for all you've done,

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for laying your life down for me,

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for seeing past all of my shortcomings and saying,

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"No, you're still my son and I choose you

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and my arms are open to you."

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I believe you're saying that to every one of us in this room,

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that your arms are wide open.

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So would we take a step toward you today

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because you're good, you're faithful, and you care for us.

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It's in Jesus's name we pray. Amen. Amen.

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Yeah. You can clap for that.

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So good to be in this space.

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Happy holiday weekend.

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Why don't you turn to a couple of people around you,

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give them a high five, tell them your name.

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You can have a seat.

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- Join us online today.

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Now, Crossroads Anywhere is a community

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made up of people all over the world.

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And I don't know where you are right now,

00:17:02

but here in Ohio,

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it's been about a bajillion degrees. So hot.

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- Bajillion degrees.

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- Which is why you wore your sweater apparently.

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- If you're somewhere that --

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If you're somewhere, maybe that's cool in 70 and sunny,

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we're so happy for you. - So happy.

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- My AC has been out all weekend, so you know.

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But anyway, in other news, we love that Crossroads

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is a church where you can stream the services

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and take the church with you anywhere.

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It's also nice to meet people face to face sometimes.

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So if you want to be a part of something,

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August 28th through the 30th we're taking

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Anywhere on the road to Sandusky, Ohio for the weekend.

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- Yeah. Why Sandusky?

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Well, because it's a quick drive,

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and there's lots of you who stream from that area,

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from the whole Great Lakes region.

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- Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo.

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- Fort Wayne. - All over the place.

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- All the places. And it's going to be

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an incredible few days designed to help you

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understand your God given purpose

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and get to know some great, great people

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and have a good time.

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- Yeah. More details to come.

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But most importantly, we're making it

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as simple as possible for you.

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All you have to do is get yourself to Sandusky.

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We'll take care of everything else:

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lodging, meals, sessions, worship experience,

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activities throughout the weekend. It's going to be great.

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- Yeah. And if getting there feels difficult

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for any reason, we'd love to help make it happen.

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You can register today at crossroads.net/anywhere101.

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- Yep. Another way many people stay connected

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to what God is doing here is through giving.

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For a lot of us who call Crossroads home,

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this is a one way that we can practice our trust in God

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and participate in how we can participate

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in seeing lives change inside and outside of these walls.

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If you'd like to be a part of that,

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head to crossroads.net/give.

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Thank you everyone who gives so generously.

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It's because of that that we can do Sandusky event coming up.

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- And stuff all over the world.

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- Yeah. Weekends like right now, today.

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- Hey, and next weekend we're actually kicking off

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a brand new series I'm really excited about

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called Origin Stories.

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And I'll just say my favorite part

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of any superhero movie is the origin story,

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how Somebody Normal became something great.

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In this series, we're looking at how the spiritual giants,

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the heroes from the Bible, started out

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as normal, flawed people

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who experienced extraordinary things.

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- Yeah. Which honestly is encouraging because

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that's where most of us live in our lives, ordinary, normal.

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But first, we're going to wrap up the Jesus Exhibit.

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We're going to hear from one of our teaching pastors

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and a friend of mine, Alli Patterson,

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as she unpacks Jesus's final, I am the Good Shepherd.

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- Where are we in the Bible?

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We're in the New Testament, in the gospel according to John.

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This is a first hand biography of Jesus

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by one of His closest friends.

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In it, John records seven iconic I am statements

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that Jesus made, seven metaphors,

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seven self portraits of the living God.

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This week Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd.

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Here's how it goes in the book of John 10:

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I am the Good Shepherd.

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The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

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He who is a hired hand

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and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep,

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sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees,

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and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

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He flees because he is a hired hand

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and cares nothing for the sheep.

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I know my own and my own know me,

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just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

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and I lay down my life for the sheep.

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- Happy Independence Day, everyone.

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So good to be with you here at Crossroads

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on this 4th of July weekend.

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Thanks for gathering with us.

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Anyone else a little bit more grateful

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to live in this country after watching videos

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of World Cup fans?

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They're discovering Bucky's and Walmart.

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I mean ranch dressing. Their eyes have been opened.

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Free refills.

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They're just sitting in restaurants, free refills.

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I kind of got what that was about because I spent --

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I just took a trip over to Europe

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and went a couple different places.

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And I've got to tell you, worst heat wave

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in recorded European history.

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That's when we took our trip.

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And so I will be celebrating this weekend

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by asking for a table inside

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the 62 degree air conditioning that we enjoy here

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in the United States of America.

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So that is my plan for the weekend.

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I hope yours have been that good.

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We are in our last week of this series,

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and I truly think this has been one of

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my favorite teaching series that we've done for a while.

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I love all of the different statements

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that we've been exploring.

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And Jesus says things like, I am the bread of life,

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I am the resurrection, I am the light of the world.

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And we've gone into all of those.

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Today we're doing I am the Good Shepherd,

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and it's our final one.

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And I've been noticing something as we've gone

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through the places in the Gospel of John

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where these statements are recorded.

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Oftentimes Jesus was doing them, saying them

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in a moment where he wanted to elicit a response.

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That there's lik, a question under the statement

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for whoever is listening.

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And it's the same question for us today is

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do we really believe Him?

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John actually tells us in chapter 20 of his gospel

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that's why he wrote down his entire gospel,

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to ask the question:

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do you believe that this is who Jesus is?

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So today we're going to look at what did he mean

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when he said I am the Good Shepherd

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and do our lives look like we believe Him?

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Let me pray for us.

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Jesus, show us who You are today.

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Just teach us a little bit more about Your heart for us,

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and help us to follow You as the Good Shepherd.

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It's in Your great name that I pray. Amen.

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Well, when I say this statement, I am the Good Shepherd,

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I actually think it sounds like one of the nicer ones,

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you know, the softer ones, like you kind of go like,

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oh, that's nice.

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And I think we have that reaction because,

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well, at least I do, I'll just own this.

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I've been around church, and so when people say

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the word shepherd in a church,

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let me see if I can get this tone right.

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Here's how they sound.

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[soft tone] Oh, He's such a Good Shepherd.

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Oh, He's such a shepherd.

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You know, it's soft, it's sweet.

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We usually accompany it with

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what my friend calls Christian mooing.

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We go, Mhm, Oh.

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She's like y'all when you pray and you,

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like, listen to people, you moo.

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She's like, mhm.

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That's what we do when we say shepherd, we go,

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oh, it's so Shepherd. Mhm.

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And let me just tell you, that's not even close

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to what the listeners of this statement

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would have responded like.

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It was actually a bit of a controversial moment.

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Nobody was going to respond with,

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"Oh, how nice this was of Jesus."

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As a matter of fact, there's a word that isn't shepherd

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that I think the emphasis was more than likely on

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when these words came out of His mouth.

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So let me say it how I think he might have emphasized it,

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"I am the Good Shepherd," as in not the bad one.

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Let me read this passage again and see if you hear it.

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The hired hand is not the shepherd

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and does not own the sheep.

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So when he sees the wolf coming,

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he abandons the sheep and runs away.

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Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

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The man runs away because he is a hired hand

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and cares nothing for the sheep.

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I am the Good Shepherd;

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I know my sheep and my sheep know me,

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just as the Father knows me and I know the Father,

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I believe the word that would have elicited

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the most controversy in this statement is good.

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I am the Good Shepherd,

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because of who he was primarily talking to.

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If you go back a few verses, you learn that His listeners,

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his most direct listeners in this statement

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are the Pharisees, they're the spiritual leaders

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in the nation of Israel at the time.

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And Jesus looks right at them and He says,

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"I am the Good Shepherd."

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And He contrasts that with this, what He calls the hired hand.

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Now, this would have elicited some controversy,

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some offense, because of who He was talking to

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because when He used the word shepherd,

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when He chose that as the metaphor,

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He automatically conjured up the context of leadership.

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This was a very, very commonly used term and metaphor

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for all kinds of leaders, not just religious.

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This wasn't religious language.

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This was cultural language.

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Military leaders, leaders at home,

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teachers, religious leaders, all of that

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would have been commonly referred to as a shepherd.

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So when Jesus looks at the leaders

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of the nation of Israel and He says,

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"I am the Good Shepherd,"

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He puts them on the hook as the bad ones.

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And it gets even worse, because Jesus also knew

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that the background music that would be playing

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when he used this metaphor to those people

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would have been a passage from the prophet Ezekiel.

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There was a great prophet.

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There's a book through the Bible,

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and there's a chapter in that book, chapter 34,

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where God had tired of bad leaders.

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And He sends the prophet Ezekiel to deliver some words

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to his leaders in the nation at that time.

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And the Pharisees,

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the ones that Jesus was speaking these words to,

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they would have intimately known this passage.

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Let me read a couple of verses right out of Ezekiel 34.

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This is God speaking through Ezekiel to his leaders:

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Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves!

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Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

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You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool,

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you slaughter the fat ones,

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but you do not feed the sheep.

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The weak you have not strengthened,

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the sick you have not healed,

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the injured you have not bound up,

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the strayed you have not brought back,

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the lost you have not sought,

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and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

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So they were scattered because there was no shepherd.

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Thus says the Lord, "Behold, I am against the shepherds.

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I will rescue my sheep from their mouths,

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that they may not be food for them."

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This. This is the context that Jesus steps in,

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looks these guys in the eyes and says,

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"I am the Good Shepherd."

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So He's not only at the peak of His controversy,

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His conflict with the religious leadership of Israel,

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He actually calls up this previous context

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where it's not only the heavy judgment of God

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upon the leaders that have been leading His people badly,

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it's also a proclamation of His own identity.

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At the end of that passage, in the words of Ezekiel,

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God says, "I will rescue them.

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I will come rescue my sheep.

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I will take them out of your mouth

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so they won't be food for them."

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So Jesus is saying, "Here I am. I am the Good Shepherd.

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The contrast to the shepherds of Israel, including you."

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So this was not a friendly moment.

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This was not a nice churchy statement.

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This was a heavy indictment on the leaders

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and a proclamation of who He actually was.

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Now, this is about the time in His ministry

00:28:31

where that group of people begins plotting to kill Him.

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They're done.

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They are like, that's enough from this guy.

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We've got to get rid of this guy.

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Because not only was He claiming some crazy things

00:28:44

in their mind, He was also firmly against them.

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And so this is really what's behind I am the Good Shepherd

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and the Pharisees decide on the spot,

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we don't believe Him.

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I told you there's a question under these I am statements.

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They clearly answered that question:

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We don't believe Him to the extent that we hate Him,

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we want to get rid of Him. We're going to kill Him.

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The same question is on the table for us:

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Do we I believe Him?

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What would our lives say? What do our prayers say?

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What are we living like?

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Are we living like we actually believe this statement?

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I think if we look at the two times that Jesus says it,

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He repeats it twice in the passage,

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we're going to get a sense for let's say that I did.

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What would that look like? What would He be doing?

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What is there to believe?

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So when he says it the first time,

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let's look at the first time.

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He says: I am the good Shepherd.

00:29:41


00:29:44

A Good Shepherd lays down his life.

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Real shepherds, especially in this context,

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but any kind of real shepherd actually gives us

00:29:54

a pretty good sense for what is He calling on here?

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The laying down of the life.

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Maybe if you've heard that phrase,

00:30:01

you've heard it in relationship to the Cross,

00:30:04

to Jesus dying on the Cross.

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That hasn't taken place.

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Jesus is referring to something else.

00:30:09

He's calling up something else into their mind.

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And it's the context of actually a real shepherd.

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The real shepherds absolutely laid down their life.

00:30:20

They lived with the sheep. They slept with the sheep.

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They fed the sheep 365 days a year.

00:30:25

This was a lifestyle occupation.

00:30:28

This wasn't an 8 to 5 job.

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This was an all day, every day kind of occupation.

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And they laid down also their physical safety.

00:30:39

Their job was to secure the sheep

00:30:43

in a pretty inhospitable environment.

00:30:45

The Middle East shepherding

00:30:46

is not like rolling lush green hills.

00:30:49

It's scarce food, difficult to find water.

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It's confusing, dry, dusty pathways

00:30:56

in confusing hills and valleys.

00:30:58

It is caves where they have to secure the sheep at night.

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As a matter of fact, I listened to a shepherd

00:31:03

that was talking about the predators

00:31:05

that are always after the sheep.

00:31:07

Sheep are prey animals, very defenseless.

00:31:10

They're not even created with a lot of defenses.

00:31:13

And so the shepherd's job is to provide security

00:31:16

and safety for them.

00:31:17

And as I was listening to this shepherd,

00:31:20

I was listening to him do an interview

00:31:22

about what he went through as a shepherd

00:31:25

today in that space.

00:31:27

And he described having, he and another man,

00:31:30

having to check out a cave where they wanted

00:31:32

the sheep to rest for the night.

00:31:35

And it's their job to go into the cave,

00:31:38

which had recent evidence of hyenas,

00:31:40

which are like a number one predator of flocks of sheep.

00:31:44

And there was evidence that there had been hyenas

00:31:46

in the area that they had already seen,

00:31:48

and they thought they might be in the cave.

00:31:50

And so he describes going in, fully understanding

00:31:54

that he may not come out again.

00:31:57

This is the kind of job that shepherding was.

00:32:00

So when Jesus uses this metaphor and He says,

00:32:03

"I am the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep,"

00:32:08

they understood this.

00:32:10

They actually got that it goes

00:32:12

way beyond technical ownership.

00:32:15

It goes way beyond the hired hand,

00:32:17

which he contrasts it with.

00:32:18

It goes to the point that you would be willing

00:32:21

to lay down your actual life,

00:32:24

whether that's every single day what you're doing

00:32:26

or in a moment, your own physical well-being.

00:32:31

The shepherd's interview that I was listening to,

00:32:34

he said something fascinating.

00:32:35

He said that he had sons, but that he was not planning

00:32:39

to leave his sheep to his sons,

00:32:41

even though they knew how to do it.

00:32:43

They technically owned the sheep as a family.

00:32:46

He would not leave the sheep to his sons because he said,

00:32:49

"They don't have the heart for my sheep.

00:32:51

I'm looking for a man who has the heart for my sheep."

00:32:57

So he wasn't planning, even though his sons

00:33:00

could technically own the sheep,

00:33:01

they couldn't full body, full heart,

00:33:05

full commitment own the sheep.

00:33:07

Let me ask you a question.

00:33:10

Do you think this is how Jesus feels about you?

00:33:16

When he uses the metaphor, I am the good Shepherd,

00:33:18

He's calling up this full body commitment,

00:33:23

full hearted commitment.

00:33:27

Lay everything on the line for you cCommitment.

00:33:32

Do you think He owns you like that?

00:33:35

Do you think He feels that way about you?

00:33:39

Do you think He would look past someone

00:33:41

who didn't have enough heart to lead you?

00:33:44

That's why God was so angry with the Pharisees,

00:33:47

because this is the kind of leadership

00:33:50

that He wants for His people.

00:33:53

I caught myself this week.

00:33:55

You know, I got Good Shepherd on the brain,

00:33:57

so I'm just steeped in this.

00:33:59

And I caught myself praying some words,

00:34:01

and it was almost like I heard my own prayer

00:34:05

in a different sort of way.

00:34:08

I've been looking at some life changes

00:34:10

and just talking to God about those,

00:34:12

and they're not coming as quick as I want them.

00:34:14

They're not doing -- you know, I'm just talking to Him

00:34:16

about these these forks in the road

00:34:18

that I'm sort of considering and seeing out ahead of me.

00:34:20

And I found myself saying things like this:

00:34:24

Do You even see me?

00:34:27

Are You really leading somewhere?

00:34:30

Do You know what I need right now?

00:34:35

These are questions you would never ask a good shepherd.

00:34:42

It would be impossible to imagine describing someone

00:34:45

as a good shepherd who did not know

00:34:47

where they were leading their sheep,

00:34:49

who did not wake up with a plan every day

00:34:51

for how are they going to survive the day.

00:34:54

Where am I going to feed them?

00:34:55

How am I going to water them?

00:34:57

What path am I going to take them on?

00:34:58

These questions that I heard myself asking Jesus

00:35:01

were like from the mouth of somebody who does not get this,

00:35:07

who does not actually understand the kind of

00:35:10

full commitment that He has to me and my life.

00:35:13

Are you like that?

00:35:16

I couldn't believe the words when I put this lens over them,

00:35:20

because to me, I just feel like I don't think He's mad at me.

00:35:23

I just think it betrays the fact

00:35:25

that I'm operating out of some kind of belief

00:35:27

that's not quite all the way in there.

00:35:34

And suddenly I heard how deeply, maybe even offensive,

00:35:40

but definitely incongruent that is with a good shepherd.

00:35:45

It just doesn't fit.

00:35:47

And the good news, the literal good news

00:35:50

is that when Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd,

00:35:52

and then we learn the rest of His story,

00:35:56

that He goes on to the Cross to quite literally

00:36:00

lay down His life for us so that He can seek us

00:36:05

when we're far from God, when we are lost and scattered

00:36:08

and away from God, and He lays down His life for us.

00:36:12

And then He rises back up out of that grave

00:36:15

where He has faced down every single predator of our life,

00:36:19

including death itself.

00:36:20

And He rises back up with the power to bind up any injury,

00:36:24

to heal any disease, to save us from anything.

00:36:28

And then we have the audacity to pray and go like,

00:36:33

do you even see me? Do you even really know me?

00:36:35

What are we doing here, God?

00:36:36

And He's like, "Do you not understand how much I love you,

00:36:41

what I did for you?"

00:36:42

This is the gospel, friends, of the good news is that

00:36:45

we get to wake up every day

00:36:47

and we get to live a life like this is true.

00:36:50

It's like crazy, right?

00:36:52

And when we wake up every day and we pretend like

00:36:55

that's not the God that we have,

00:36:58

then we're missing something about His statement here.

00:37:01

We're missing this idea that He's the Good Shepherd,

00:37:06

the full body, full heart, all on,

00:37:09

never leave you, never walk away from you

00:37:13

kind of commitment to you.

00:37:15

It really is incredible that we get to believe that.

00:37:19

So why? Why do we do this? What's up with us?

00:37:22

Why can't we get this through our head?

00:37:24

There's a concept in the real world of shepherding

00:37:27

that I actually found very helpful.

00:37:29

I think this really helps explain why.

00:37:32

Why can't we understand Him like this?

00:37:34

Why can't we deal with Him in the confidence

00:37:37

of knowing Him like this?

00:37:38

And I think it's because of a shepherding concept

00:37:41

called the bummer lamb.

00:37:42

That really is a real term.

00:37:44

I know it's kind of funny. It's called the bummer lamb.

00:37:46

And it's this bummer lamb, when a bummer lamb

00:37:49

is born into a flock,

00:37:52

it is rejected by the sheep that birthed it.

00:37:56

And not just a little bit rejected.

00:37:58

Not just like, "Eh, you don't get as much.

00:38:02

I don't like you as much." Not that.

00:38:03

It is full on total rejection.

00:38:07

The lamb cannot be with its mother,

00:38:10

cannot eat from its mother, and in many cases,

00:38:13

the mom will try to hurt or kill this particular lamb.

00:38:18

And so without intervention from the outside,

00:38:21

the bummer lamb will not survive.

00:38:23

And I started to think about this concept,

00:38:25

and we were talking about it as a team,

00:38:27

and in only the way that God can set something up for us

00:38:31

to see this full on, we learn that there's, in fact,

00:38:35

a woman in our community that has a farm

00:38:37

and raises sheep on that farm

00:38:39

and was actually currently experiencing

00:38:43

a bummer lamb scenario.

00:38:45

So we went and filmed it and I want you to see,

00:38:48

because I think this concept is brought into full color

00:38:52

when you watch what happened with her.

00:39:17

- One day in April, I was working out in the land

00:39:22

and I heard a distinct cry.

00:39:25

And I instantly knew it was the sound of a baby lamb.

00:39:32

So I hurried away,

00:39:35

trying to find where this voice was coming from.

00:39:42

I found the cows, found the hay they were standing by.

00:39:47

And then way, way in the corner I just see this teeny lamb.

00:39:53

Just so fragile, so little,

00:39:56

the littlest thing I've ever seen that's alive.

00:40:06

When I found the mom, I found another baby with her.

00:40:12

And so I thought, okay, I'll put this little one down

00:40:16

and then it'll all be sweet.

00:40:19

But when I tried to put her down, she just sniffed at her

00:40:25

and then would butt her away from her baby.

00:40:31

From the moment I saw the lamb,

00:40:34

I decided to keep the lamb alive,

00:40:37

to shepherd this bummer lamb who was rejected by her mother.

00:40:42

I fed the little lamb from a bottle day and night,

00:40:46

kept her dry and warm,

00:40:50

protected her from the other animals.

00:40:57

Over and over again, I tried to introduce her back to her mom,

00:41:02

only to find her rejected again.

00:41:07

So in a moment like this, where the lamb is rejected

00:41:11

and we call them a bummer lamb,

00:41:14

she will always be very connected to me

00:41:17

as a person who took care of her.

00:41:20

From a shepherd's point of view,

00:41:21

this entire story is breathtaking

00:41:25

because one day the bummer lamb will join our herd,

00:41:30

but I can go out there and when I call her

00:41:34

she will always respond to my voice.

00:41:41

- It's incredible, right?

00:41:43

I think that this concept of the bummer lamb,

00:41:47

it started to help me understand why is it

00:41:50

that we can hear these words, I'm the Good Shepherd,

00:41:52

but we struggle to receive them.

00:41:54

A lot of us carry around just the hurt of rejection

00:41:59

of all different kinds that we didn't --

00:42:01

We didn't ask for ourselves.

00:42:03

Some of us were raised by people

00:42:05

who quite literally rejected us or abandoned us.

00:42:07

Some of us just we had a death that left us completely alone.

00:42:12

We've had a core betrayal of a best friend

00:42:15

or a colleague or something that has like left this hole

00:42:20

where we're supposed to be getting cared for.

00:42:26

And we walk around like this,

00:42:29

like this, this little bummer lamb.

00:42:31

Let me be very, very clear,

00:42:33

that lamb has no chance of survival,

00:42:36

absolutely no chance of survival

00:42:38

out of receiving the care of a good shepherd,

00:42:42

of a good shepherd.

00:42:43

Because if that lamb walks around with her rejection

00:42:47

or his rejection and the wounds of being rejected

00:42:50

by the sheep that was supposed to be taking care of him,

00:42:55

he will die. But she stepped in.

00:42:59

She stepped in and paid the extra cost.

00:43:02

Like, I'm sure that that was far outside of her daily routine.

00:43:06

She looks like she has plenty to do, right?

00:43:08

But every single day, she's taking a bottle.

00:43:10

She's carrying that lamb around.

00:43:12

She's feeding it with her own hand.

00:43:14

She's carrying it with her own body.

00:43:16

This cost her something, but her only motive was, what?

00:43:20

To see that little lamb go on to live life

00:43:24

the way that it was supposed to, to rejoin the herd,

00:43:28

to be healed, to be whole.

00:43:30

This is what happens when we begin to receive

00:43:34

the care of a good shepherd.

00:43:36

Because we walk around with these hurts

00:43:41

and these failures by people and things

00:43:43

that we're supposed to be nurturing us,

00:43:44

that we're supposed to be taking care of us.

00:43:48

And when we welcome Jesus into that space,

00:43:51

we begin to understand, oh,

00:43:53

this is what it was supposed to be like.

00:43:57

This is what it was supposed to feel like.

00:43:59

But I don't know about you,

00:44:00

I don't like to feel like a project,

00:44:02

you know what I'm saying?

00:44:03

Like, I don't want to expose that level of need.

00:44:07

I don't want to have to be cared for like that.

00:44:10

A lot of us feel that way, right?

00:44:13

But the best possible thing is the outcome.

00:44:16

I don't know if you caught this at the end of the video,

00:44:19

she says, "Because I did this,

00:44:21

because I cared for this sheep in the way that I did

00:44:25

in this intimate, personal, extra project level kind of way,

00:44:29

the outcome is the sheep knows her,

00:44:35

the sheep knows her voice.

00:44:37

The sheep is connected to her in a way that

00:44:40

the other sheep might not be, at least not at that depth.

00:44:44

And it's interesting, this fits perfectly with

00:44:46

the second time that Jesus uses the name Good Shepherd.

00:44:50

He says, I am the good Shepherd.

00:44:53

I know my sheep and my sheep know me,

00:44:57

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father,

00:44:59


00:45:01

I know them, I know them.

00:45:04

A good shepherd knows his own.

00:45:06

And Jesus knows us when we allow that kind of care

00:45:09

to take place, when we welcome Him into that space

00:45:12

where where we have those kinds of hurts t

00:45:15

hat prevent us from being able to receive that kind of care.

00:45:19

If we can get over that, we can welcome Him into that space.

00:45:23

We get to know Him and He knows us.

00:45:27

We know as if you're a parent, you know how that works, right?

00:45:31

If you're a mom on the playground

00:45:33

and 50 kids call out, mom,

00:45:34

you know exactly which one is your child.

00:45:36

Your babysitter can't do that.

00:45:38

There's something about the connection

00:45:41

of something that you've been able to care for like that.

00:45:44

Do you know that sheep quite literally know their shepherd

00:45:48

in a way that is highly unusual for other kinds of animals?

00:45:51

It's a beautiful example that all sheep get this opportunity.

00:45:56

The bummers, they're just the first ones.

00:45:58

They're the ones that get it most, fastest, deepest.

00:46:02

But all sheep know their shepherd.

00:46:03

Sheep are one of the few herding animals

00:46:05

that get lead from the front instead of driven from behind.

00:46:09

The shepherd does not come behind the sheep

00:46:11

and drive from the back.

00:46:13

The shepherd leads from the front.

00:46:14

And there's a reason for that.

00:46:16

It's because sheep know their shepherd.

00:46:18

They literally learn his gait, the way he looks,

00:46:22

his profile, his voice, his whistle,

00:46:24

his tone, and they watch for it.

00:46:26

Multiple shepherds can put all their sheep together,

00:46:29

maybe overnight to keep them safe.

00:46:31

And in the morning they can stand up,

00:46:33

separate and call their sheep.

00:46:34

And the herds, the flocks will just separate

00:46:37

to their shepherds because they know them.

00:46:41

That's how sheep are led.

00:46:43

They're led through intimate personal knowledge.

00:46:45

And guess who's at the front?

00:46:47

Guess who's the first one?

00:46:48

It's the bummers.

00:46:50

It's the ones where the shepherd has had hands on care.

00:46:54

It's incredible what happens.

00:46:55

It doesn't seem like that should be the case.

00:46:57

But just a few verses before our passage,

00:47:00

Jesus is describing this very thing.

00:47:02

The sheep hear His voice

00:47:04

and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.

00:47:07

And when He has brought out all His own,

00:47:09

He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him,

00:47:13

for they know His voice.

00:47:15

Wow! This is how it works.

00:47:17

This is what Jesus says when He says

00:47:19

I am the Good Shepherd, He means,

00:47:21

"I want to know you to the extent that I can lead,

00:47:26

and you will follow, because we are that connected."

00:47:29

You know, this whole bummer lamb thing

00:47:32

is kind of why I can't hate my own story.

00:47:36

I know a lot of people have messy stories.

00:47:39

I am no different.

00:47:41

In my 20s, I tried to

00:47:42

basically burn my whole life to the ground.

00:47:45

You know? My job, my marriage, my character,

00:47:48

my friendships, like it was all bad.

00:47:51

And the one thing that I did right,

00:47:55

the one thing during that whole time that I did right

00:47:58

was literally to call out to Jesus,

00:48:01

was just to say, "Will You come into my mess?

00:48:05

Will You come and take care of me?

00:48:07

Will You be the one that receives me when everybody else

00:48:11

thinks I'm the worst person they've ever met?

00:48:13

Will You be the one to receive me?"

00:48:15

And I had no idea that by doing that,

00:48:19

what I was setting on course

00:48:21

was the trajectory of a bummer lamb.

00:48:24

20 something years later, I rely on some of the intimacy,

00:48:28

some of the knowledge, some of the ways

00:48:30

that we connected during that time.

00:48:33

You can't unknow that.

00:48:35

You can't unsee it. You can't.

00:48:37

You can't unravel that sort of connection.

00:48:40

And so as I've moved forward.

00:48:42

But what is up?

00:48:43

I still catch myself this week praying

00:48:46

like He doesn't know where He's taking me.

00:48:49

What in the world?

00:48:53

This is our struggle, right?

00:48:56

Our deep struggle to receive Him as a Good Shepherd.

00:49:01

It's really easy to say, "Yeah, yeah, Jesus, Shepherd, done.

00:49:07

Thumbs up.

00:49:09

And it's really hard to live like that's true.

00:49:13

For those of you

00:49:14

that are feeling a little extra right now,

00:49:17

you're a little bit of a project for Jesus,

00:49:20

if you feel like that, let me be the first one

00:49:23

to give you the good news.

00:49:24

You are in the best possible position

00:49:28

to become the one who knows Him the best.

00:49:30

It doesn't seem like it should work like that,

00:49:32

but let me just tell you, it does.

00:49:35

So if you're in that space right now and you're like,

00:49:37

"I am just extra. I am just a lot.

00:49:40

I don't even know where to go.

00:49:42

I don't know if God can unwind all this stuff in my life."

00:49:46

Let me just assure you, oh my gosh, you're so close.

00:49:49

You are so close to experiencing the kind of intimacy

00:49:53

that only a bummer lamb gets to experience.

00:49:57

And if that's not you, that's not you,

00:50:01

please do not wait until you burn your life to the ground

00:50:07

to receive the Good Shepherd.

00:50:09

You can live in the truth every day

00:50:13

that you get to get up and like, jump out of bed

00:50:15

and go, "He knows me. He's got me.

00:50:18

We're doing this together and I trust Him.

00:50:21

I'm growing in confidence in Him."

00:50:24

This is what happens when you get the care

00:50:27

of a really good shepherd, you start to live differently.

00:50:31

You start to live assured and confident.

00:50:33

I saw this take place in my own house.

00:50:36

When my kids were little my husband got in the habit

00:50:40

of keeping snacks in the trunk of his car.

00:50:43

I used to give him a hard time about this

00:50:44

because I'm more I -- you know, kids need two parents, right?

00:50:49

I'm more the one that's like, "You're fine.

00:50:51

Every time your tummy growls you don't need a granola bar.

00:50:54

You know what I'm saying? Like you're going to be fine."

00:50:56

That's sort of my energy.

00:50:59

My husband is like the one that always has Gatorades

00:51:03

and granola bars in the trunk of his car,

00:51:06

and I mean always.

00:51:07

And so what happened over time,

00:51:10

we had kind of a family joke about it.

00:51:12

You know, the kids were little and I'd be like,

00:51:14

"Man, you know, I forgot the water bottle.

00:51:17

It is really hot out here."

00:51:18

And he's like, "I got this, Gatorade," you know?

00:51:21

And he'd go to the trunk.

00:51:22

So we had kind of a joke about it.

00:51:24

But over time, I've watched something happen with my kids.

00:51:28

They count on it. They know it.

00:51:31

When a long time ago, it was like, "Oh, surprise, dad!

00:51:36

Dad's got something for me."

00:51:37

Then it became like, "Oh, he probably does.

00:51:41

He probably does like, oh, I'm really hungry

00:51:43

after the game. I don't have any food,

00:51:44

but I want to go out.

00:51:46

I wonder if dad, I could just, you know,

00:51:47

maybe dad's got something or I, you know, I forgot my lunch.

00:51:51

Whatever. Dad's across the street,

00:51:53

literally was across the street from my kid's high school.

00:51:55

Maybe he's got something. Let's go see. You know?

00:51:58

Yes, he does.

00:52:00

So it was like the question.

00:52:01

And now if you ask them, rock solid confidence, I know it.

00:52:06

I know if I unlock dad's car and lift up the trunk,

00:52:10

there's going to be water and Gatorade

00:52:12

and granola bars waiting for me

00:52:14

because my dad thought about me. My dad knows me.

00:52:18

My dad anticipates that I am not going to have what I need

00:52:21

and he's the answer.

00:52:24

And I've watched this trajectory shift,

00:52:26

and it's gone from a joke to like,

00:52:28

kind of a meaningful illustration to me

00:52:30

of what it looks like to just walk in confidence

00:52:34

that somebody has thought about you,

00:52:36

that somebody is providing for you,

00:52:38

that somebody already knows the color Gatorade you like

00:52:41

and it's waiting for you.

00:52:44

That's the kind of shepherd that we have.

00:52:48

It's just not the one that we think we have.

00:52:51

It's not the one that we get up every day and live like.

00:52:54

But that kind of care begins to change you,

00:52:57

like deeply, deeply change you over time.

00:53:00

But if you never experience it, if you never ask Jesus,

00:53:04

will You be this? Can I follow You like that?

00:53:07

Do I get to believe that?

00:53:08

Can I experience that?

00:53:10

You will receive the care of a bad one.

00:53:12

We are wired as sheep to be led,

00:53:17

to want to know someone that's going to lead us.

00:53:21

And so that's the contrast Jesus makes in this passage.

00:53:24

Let's read it.

00:53:25

He calls this contrast the hired hand.

00:53:27

And I think when us, our bummer lamb mindset,

00:53:32

is what allows us to receive bad shepherds into our life.

00:53:37

Here's what it says:

00:53:38

The hired hand is not the shepherd

00:53:40

and does not own the sheep.

00:53:42

So when he sees the wolf coming,

00:53:43

he abandons the sheep and runs away.

00:53:45

Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

00:53:47

The man runs away because he is a hired hand

00:53:50

and he cares nothing for the sheep.

00:53:53

The core quality of a hired hand, according to Jesus,

00:53:57

is that it will not come through for you.

00:54:01

The hired hand, the other thing,

00:54:03

the shepherd that's leading your life

00:54:05

that is not the good one, that is the other one

00:54:10

will not come through for you.

00:54:11

It's because you don't belong to that, that person,

00:54:16

that thing, whatever it is that's leading your life,

00:54:20

you are not theirs.

00:54:21

They don't own you like that,

00:54:23

and they will at some point walk away from you.

00:54:27

Most of the time, the hired hand,

00:54:31

whatever that is for you, for me, in our lives,

00:54:33

the thing we want to dictate the course of our life,

00:54:35

the thing we're trying to follow,

00:54:37

the thing that we have our eyes locked on,

00:54:40

that we think our life is about,

00:54:42

that is 80% of the time okay.

00:54:46

That's the -- that's the trouble. That's the thing.

00:54:49

We just, we just keep moving with that as our leader

00:54:53

because it works most of the time.

00:54:58

But interestingly, Jesus says, what?

00:55:03

When the wolf comes, it's when the trouble hits.

00:55:07

It's when something happens where you need extra care,

00:55:11

when you need extra protection,

00:55:13

when you need extra nurture,

00:55:15

when you need extra nourishment,

00:55:16

that's when the hired hand shows itself for what it is.

00:55:20

Out of college mine was undoubtedly my career,

00:55:24

career success. I think this is pretty common.

00:55:27

I would venture a guess that a number of people

00:55:29

can relate to this.

00:55:31

What my eyes were locked on is

00:55:33

what can I do to get that career that I want?

00:55:37

And that was my hired hand.

00:55:39

It dictated my time, my priorities,

00:55:42

the state of my marriage, the state of my friendships,

00:55:45

what I did on my weekends,

00:55:47

what I was willing to do after 6:00 at night.

00:55:50

You know, all the things about my life were trained on that.

00:55:55

A hired hand demands that of us.

00:55:58

And then when we become a little inconvenient,

00:56:04

a little bit extra, when we are at our worst,

00:56:09

the hired hand is out.

00:56:13

And I just wonder what other ones are in the room.

00:56:15

What could this be in your life?

00:56:20

I've had conversations with my teenagers

00:56:22

about certain groups of friends.

00:56:24

Easy to imagine that as a hired hand in your life.

00:56:27

I want in. I want in that group of people.

00:56:32

And I will do whatever I need to do to stay connected,

00:56:35

to keep charting the course toward that,

00:56:38

because there's something I want there.

00:56:40

Maybe for you it's not that.

00:56:42

Maybe you were handed like a narrative from your family.

00:56:46

I have 1 or 2 of these, um, people in my life

00:56:48

whose family is like, that's the way the family does it,

00:56:51

you know what I'm saying?

00:56:52

Like, we either go to that school

00:56:54

or we all work for grandpa

00:56:56

or we never do this, we always do that.

00:56:58

We only live in this particular place.

00:57:00

Like whatever that narrative is,

00:57:02

that's what's dictating your life.

00:57:04

That's what you trust. That's what will protect you.

00:57:06

That's what will provide for you. That's what you do.

00:57:09

We have these hired hands and we don't,

00:57:11

we don't even really see them as anything wrong.

00:57:15

And some of them are not wrong.

00:57:16

They're fine until, until the wolf comes,

00:57:21

until there's something more that you need.

00:57:28

There's a part of that Ezekiel passage.

00:57:31

I read it before, I'm just going to read it one more time,

00:57:33

where God calls out the behavior of the bad shepherd

00:57:37

and makes it clear that it's when you're weak

00:57:41

and injured and sick that the bad shepherd shows itself.

00:57:43

The weak you have not strengthened,

00:57:45

the sick you have not healed,

00:57:46

the injured you have not bound up,

00:57:48

the strayed you have not brought back,

00:57:50

the lost you have not sought.

00:57:51

His issue was that the hired hand, the bad shepherd,

00:57:54

leaves his sheep when they most need them.

00:57:59

When you are down, the hired hand is out.

00:58:04

You know, when we started this series, I kept thinking,

00:58:07

"Oh yeah, this is going to be so cool.

00:58:09

You know, we get to talk about all these statements

00:58:11

that Jesus made, and I know there's like

00:58:13

richness behind them and they link to the Old Testament.

00:58:16

And He said them in interesting times and ways and places,

00:58:18

and I love all that."

00:58:20

But every single week,

00:58:22

what seems to have happened instead,

00:58:25

I should have seen this coming,

00:58:26

is that we land in this deep, rich, personal place.

00:58:31

We land in this territory because that's who Jesus is.

00:58:35

He's this combination of, like, passionate about you

00:58:39

and brave enough to come after you.

00:58:40

And also this gentle, lowly, kind hearted shepherd.

00:58:48

And we seem to land in this really kind, good,

00:58:52

deep pastoral place every week.

00:58:55

So the series that I thought was going to

00:58:57

almost start in the head, as ended up in the heart

00:59:01

every single week, because that's what Jesus wants.

00:59:06

He wants to lead your life as the Good Shepherd.

00:59:13

I want to give you the chance right now if you're willing

00:59:16

to just have a moment with Him.

00:59:19

I think there's something else likely

00:59:21

in His space at the front of your life,

00:59:24

in His place, out front that's leading in your life.

00:59:28

And I just want to give you a moment to ask Him

00:59:31

to come into that space instead.

00:59:32

So would you close your eyes with me?

00:59:37

And the first thing I want you to do

00:59:39

just between the two of you is just name that for Him.

00:59:44

Jesus, this is --

00:59:45

This is the hired hand that's been in your space.

00:59:48

Just tell Him what it is.

00:59:53

And I don't pretend everyone is ready

00:59:55

or willing to say this, but if you are,

00:59:57

I believe there's a lot of people that are,

00:59:59

maybe even brought you here today just to do this.

01:00:05

You're ready. You're ready to stop following that shepherd.

01:00:11

So just tell Him I'm done.

01:00:16

That's not who's running my life anymore.

01:00:21

And invite Him into that space.

01:00:27

And would you put your palms up on your lap?

01:00:29

Just open up your hands and set them on the top of your lap,

01:00:32

because the posture of sheep is to receive, to receive.

01:00:37

And so just ask Him, as a Good Shepherd, Jesus,

01:00:41

would You, and maybe it's lead, maybe it's feed,

01:00:46

maybe it's take care, maybe it's come find you,

01:00:51

maybe it's heal you. What does that care?

01:00:55

Even if it's extra. He's the good one.

01:01:03

And as you sit in that place with Him

01:01:05

I just want you to hear these words sung over you.

01:01:09

This is how He thinks about you. How He feels about you.

01:03:42

- You are not too much of a project for Him.

01:03:45

You are not too extra for Him.

01:03:48

He delights in the care of you.

01:03:50

He delights in the outcome.

01:03:52

Remember, He says, "I know my sheep and my sheep know me."

01:03:58

Let me pray that as you go forward this week,

01:04:00

that you be confident in His care for you.

01:04:03

Lord, gosh, thank you.

01:04:06

Thank you that you are a Good Shepherd.

01:04:08

Would You teach us to believe You?

01:04:10

Would You teach us to live like that,

01:04:12

to leave behind the things that are not good

01:04:16

and to come to You, the Good Shepherd.

01:04:19

It's in Your beautiful name that I pray. Amen, Amen.

01:04:25

- Amen. I loved the analogy she shared about

01:04:29

her husband, Bill, having the Gatorade

01:04:31

and the granola bars, because it's not --

01:04:34

It's just such a great example of God not only

01:04:36

has what we need, but we need to come to Him

01:04:39

and ask for it.

01:04:40

And that's something I certainly need to work on more

01:04:42

is like, He's got it. We just gotta ask sometimes.

01:04:45

- Yeah. Yeah. And I just encourage you

01:04:48

maybe spend a few minutes right now

01:04:50

or over the coming week, like just reflecting,

01:04:53

what would it look like for you to experience Jesus

01:04:55

more as a Good Shepherd in your life?

01:04:58

Okay, I've got one thing, one thing

01:05:00

that I want to do before we go

01:05:02

is I want to tell you what I think is

01:05:03

maybe the best kept secret at Crossroad.

01:05:06

Seriously, it is a good one, but best kept secret.

01:05:08

I want to set it up for you.

01:05:10

I've been trying to follow Jesus for a few decades now,

01:05:12

and one of the things that I feel like

01:05:14

I've just learned the hard way is that

01:05:15

we're not supposed to figure it all out on our own.

01:05:17

Like your faith, your walk with God

01:05:20

is not just supposed to be this DIY thing

01:05:22

that's going to lead towards faith,

01:05:24

humility, and peace on your own.

01:05:27

- God did design us to receive the gift

01:05:29

of other people's wisdom, experience, a listening ear.

01:05:33

That's why we have real people ready to help you

01:05:35

take your next step.

01:05:37

One example from last week is I had

01:05:39

a 30 minute no pressure conversation with Brandi,

01:05:41

who's a part of our Crossroads Anywhere team.

01:05:44

She was at -- not team.

01:05:45

She's a part of Crossroads Anywhere.

01:05:47

She attends and watches online,

01:05:49

and she was at our women's Ignite Conference,

01:05:51

and she just wanted to process some of the things

01:05:53

that she feels like God is calling her to next,

01:05:56

and also the things where she's like,

01:05:57

"I need more of Him in this space."

01:06:00

So that was really fun.

01:06:01

And those conversations are great connecting points

01:06:04

and that's why we're here. This is fun for us.

01:06:06

- This is fun.

01:06:07

- But that.

01:06:08

- Yeah. That is what's really fun for us

01:06:11

is helping you and with your journey with God.

01:06:15

- Yeah. Hey, for some people, it's a 30 minute phone call,

01:06:17

but for most of the time, it's might be a few emails,

01:06:20

it might be a few text messages back and forth,

01:06:22

it might be a quick Zoom call, whatever,

01:06:24

to help you find the right group or resources

01:06:26

or just get unstuck.

01:06:28

But this is like Jen, myself, the Anywhere team,

01:06:30

a small group of people who are trusted,

01:06:33

who want to help you come up with a custom plan,

01:06:35

a custom next step for you to move forward

01:06:38

in your relationship with God.

01:06:40

And we'd love to do that for you too.

01:06:41

- Yeah. And you can head to Crossroads.net/Anywhere101.

01:06:45

There's a button that says "connect with our team,"

01:06:48

click that, answer a few questions,

01:06:50

and we will be in touch with you

01:06:51

with a customized response, recommendations

01:06:54

of how you can get connected with our church,

01:06:57

how you can grow in your faith. - That's right.

01:06:59

- So we'd love to see you back here next week

01:07:01

for the start of our new series.

01:07:02

We love having fresh new series every couple weeks,

01:07:06

so we'd love to have you back.

01:07:08

- We'll see you next week.

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