John 10:1-18 - Caleb Richardson

So that's going to be a fun text right there.

So if you don't have a Bible, grab one on the

back tables back there. You'll want to mark it

up. There's a lot of stuff to write all over.

This is a really cool, well, you know, all of

Scripture is good, but there are some times where

you're like, oh, that was a lot more fun to go

dig into as a pastor. At least that's where I

live. But before we get into that, I want to

just take a minute. Talk about us as a church.

So we say around here at Radiant that who God

is and what he's done defines who we are. Meaning

who we are as a church, who we are as individual.

It all goes back to looking at who he is. And

then we say it defines our identity. It gives

us who we are. Even though maybe we don't always

live that way. In fact, most of the time we don't,

and actually this text is really helpful because

it kind of talks about us and our struggle a

little bit. But we want to live into who God

has made us to be. And then from there, that

defines how we live. And so we say around here,

just to help get some handholds, that we are

a family of servant missionaries who are a bunch

of disciples. And so we use four different handholds.

Family, servant, missionary, disciple, to kind

of describe our identity in Christ. And then

if that's true, well, then how does a family

live? A good family, not a broken, jacked up,

dysfunctional one. And so then we say, okay,

how does a family of servants live? And the reason

we say it that way is because Jesus came as...

and modeled what it means to be a servant and

so our identity statement says that that's how

we are to live but we don't naturally live that

way do we we don't live as servants we live starting

with myself finding ways to be served not the

other way around but God didn't design us that

way he actually created us to have a servant

mindset And so we say around here that we don't

want to use you to get some sort of ministry

done. We want this ministry or whatever opportunity

you're serving in to help be a part of what actually

fuels and helps get you closer and closer to

being like Jesus. And so your serving is not

about just help finding a need. Your serving

is really about you living into how God has made

you. So my encouragement would be, is that if

you're not finding you don't have a place where

you're sacrificially serving in the church in

this family then i wouldn't challenge you to

move that direction there's not a guilt thing

going on here we just want to challenge because

we know that it actually is for you it's good

um so you know i and i one of my kids years ago

was serving in the church and i won't call it

out because i try not to make object lessons

out of my children um but he was serving and

he said i said something about thanks he goes

no i i love it it's really good for me and i

thought you know that's exactly what that's the

attitude we want and so i just but at the same

time i want to make sure you understand like

opportunities that are in front of you so i'm

going to give you a couple and then but first

of all there's this thing in the back step that

says next steps If you have an idea, a way that

you might serve, write it on there. Turn it in.

We can help you get plugged in. Here's just a

few ways. Every week, because we're a portable

church, we set up and we tear down. And every

week, there's maybe a handful of people that

help. So we can always use help in that area.

We could use help pulling the trailer to showing

up here. Make it consistent. We could use help

with Radiant Kids, always needing help there.

And here's a new one that we're going to begin

to unpack. But if God has given you a gift in

praying, we're actually going to begin to launch

a more focused, and this is really a behind -the

-scenes ministry, a way for you to pray and go

before the Lord. So if you're interested in any

of those, please let that be known. All right,

church, ready to go? Let's pray and ask God to

help us understand these 18 verses that are really

cool. So we're going to go there together. Why

don't you pray with me and we'll unpack this

together. Lord, we're coming to the end of the

summer and life has been busy and our worlds

are spinning. And so I just pray right now as

we open your word that by your spirit you will

calm In a sense, even our minds, to help us see

and understand. Lord, give us kind of that same

presence that when you get up on top of a mountain,

you just look out over the creation and you're

going, wow, so beautiful. Help us to have that

posture as we look at your word today and go,

wow, look at what you're putting in place. Lord,

meet us this morning, right where we sit, and

of all of our stuff that we're wrestling with

or dealing with. And we pray that by your spirit,

you'll do the work in us. Amen. All right, John

10. So if you've been with us for a while, we've

been in John for a while, haven't we? And we're

going to be there for a lot more because there's

more to go. It's an awesome book. But if you've

been here for a while, you've kind of probably

picked up on the main theme of John. And so John

is all about believing in Jesus as your Savior

and Lord, but you don't stop there because a

lot of times we've kind of heard, well, that's

a good thing to get to know God, but it's actually

about you doing believing in Jesus as Savior

and Lord, but actually letting your roots go

deep into that. So no matter where you're at

in your journey, this is a pretty important for

us to walk through John. So where we're at today

in John chapter 10 is a continuation of John

John 10 · chapter mention

7 through 9. So what I mean by that is there

was an event that was happening that started

in chapter 7 that is going to kind of take us

through, and today is kind of the block of time

where it ends the event, okay? So all those things,

if you go back and you read 7 through 18 and

10. It's all one event. And it was called the

Festival of the Shelters or Booths. And it was

a time for Israel, the children of Israel, to

come back and remember what God had done. Remember

that his provision and his protection, when they

were children of Israel, they were children walking

around and being led out of Egypt into the desert,

and God was their provider, his protector. All

of that is the celebration. And it was a party.

And so all of this chunks, even though we've

been here for multiple weeks, is happening in

a week period of time. And it's all, everybody's

attention is highly focused on this past history

and what God has done. And so what Jesus does

is he shows up on the scene. He's already a person

of great controversy at this point, but he boldly

makes these amazing claims about himself. during

this festival. He says this, a few of these,

he says about himself, is if anyone is thirsty,

if anyone is really like thirsting for something,

like he says, come to me and let him drink. He

says, literally, he's saying, I'm living water.

I'm the thing that will quench your thirst. By

the way, that wasn't planned. I was thirsty.

And then he says, I am the light of the world.

And so he contrasts and he says, in this dark,

jacked up world, I am the light of that world.

So as he makes these claims, what he's doing

is he's saying, I am the Messiah. I am, in a

sense, God. And you can imagine, some people

are like, wow, that's cool. But most are like,

whoa, that's a big claim. Now what we see in

this next story is Jesus does it again. But he

uses a different metaphor. He uses a metaphor

of a shepherd with sheep. It's a metaphor that

if you've been around the church long enough,

I'm sure you've heard. But you've got to understand

there's a lot behind this that you and I just

don't get. So one of the things that was rolling

around in the minds of the people during this

festival, What would become kind of conversation

would have been, it's kind of like Israel was

like this flock of sheep and God was its shepherd

who protected them, who led them and provided

for them. You got the image in your mind? For

the children of Israel during this time that

they're looking back on and going, oh yeah, we

were like a bunch of sheep that needed help,

that were a flock, that God was our big shepherd.

So John 10, Jesus does this crazy thing. He tells

them that he is the good shepherd. Now, I know

you probably heard this verse, but don't let

that one just slide over your head. Like, this

is a pretty significant statement by Jesus. And

there's going to be three parts of this little

chunk of 18 verses. Now, write these down as

you go, okay? Three parts, verses 1 through 6.

We're going to look at this relationship that

a shepherd has with his sheep. The relationship

between the shepherd and the sheep. And then

the second thing from 7 to 10 is the shepherd's

provision and protection for his sheep. His provision

and protection for the sheep. And then third,

we're going to peer into the heart, the shepherd's

heart for his sheep. Okay, three chunks. So let's

just work our way through this. The shepherd's

relationship with his sheep. Look at, we'll start

with verse 1 and go there. It says this, truly

I tell you, anyone who doesn't enter the sheep

pen by the gate but climbs in some other way

is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by

the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gate

Keeper opens it for him and the sheep hear his

voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he

leads them out. And when he has brought them

all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The

sheep follow him because they know his voice.

They will never follow a stranger. Instead, they

will run away from him. Because they do not know

the voice of the stranger. And Jesus gave them

this figure of speech, but they did not understand

what he was trying to tell them. So he gives

them a figure of speech. He gives them a metaphor,

right? And when Jesus is, he's talking about,

he's using this metaphor that they really understood.

When Jesus is talking about sheep, he's talking

about you and me. So we've got to get that really

solid, okay? So we miss this. We really miss

this metaphor in our culture because those that

Jesus was speaking to, they totally got this.

Why? Because their whole world was sheep. Sheep

were in everything. It's kind of like me saying,

you know, If I use an illustration of a bicycle

or a car, be like, yeah, I get it. I know what

they do. I know they work. I know you got to

change the oil. I know you pedal. You know, whatever

it is, you understand a bicycle or you understand

the way a car works. It's in your everyday life.

That's what sheep was. In fact, even more so

because sheep are with them all the time in so

many different facets. So let's try to understand

more about the sheep for a minute. And we're

just going to look at the sheep, we're going

to look at the shepherds, and we're going to

say, okay, what's this relationship look like?

So the sheep, so just remember, as we go through

what these sheep are, use your imagination because

he's basically saying, sheep, you. Shepherd,

me. That's how Jesus is rolling with it, okay?

So we got to first understand what he's talking

about when he says sheep. Okay, so sheep. And

some of this, guys, I almost thought about just

throwing this out as a discussion question, but

again, I don't, we're not really fair when it

comes to sheep. First of all, sheep are not smart.

Oh man, sheep are not smart. They're not. In

fact, of all the different livestock that you

would take care of, they're not the smart ones.

In fact, It reminds me of my bunny, but I think

my bunny, not mine, by the way, it belongs to

my wife and my son. We have a rabbit, and he's

not very smart. And he's predictable because

he's not smart. But I think he might be smarter

than some of the sheep. Like, pretty crazy. Again,

who are the sheep? Me. I'll start with me. I'm

not that smart. Okay, number two. They're really

good at wandering off. In fact, sheep are known

just to wander. No purpose. They wander away.

And so they wander off and they get lost and

not even know that they're lost. Oh, something

new over here. Again, use your imagination. This

is what Jesus said. It's not my story. It's not

my words. I'm just helping. I'm just the deliverer

of this message. So here's the reality. He's

calling you and me. Well, guess what? You're

prone to wander off, Caleb. They were timid and

stubborn at the same time. Timid and stubborn.

Sheep are timid and they're stubborn. I don't

raise sheep. That's what I just, all the research

I show says that about sheep. They wander off.

They're not that smart. They get lost. They're

timid and they're stubborn. And it kind of reminds

me of a video that almost, I guarantee most of

you have seen. So I've asked, I want to show

it. See if you've seen this before. If not, get

on YouTube and just put up sheep, stupid sheep

videos. It comes up, okay? Remember this one?

We could watch it like five times and be like,

what did he just do? So he gets help. He pulls,

show it again. Like he pulls him out of the ditch.

Like how, first of all, how did he get in there?

I would give him some grace there. I mean, maybe

he just fell in accident. He wasn't paying attention.

But no, let's do this again. Wink. There you

go. Okay, you got to have a bit of sense of humor.

This isn't me. They're talking, I do that right

there. Sheep are also absolutely defenseless.

They don't know how to protect themselves. They

can't defend themselves against wolves or any

other thing. I like to say that, like you and

me, we're one step away from stupid all the time.

So, Sheep need help. This is an important point

of this text right here. Sheep need help. They

need a shepherd. They don't need a pep talk.

They don't need a class on how to be a smarter

sheep. They need a shepherd. This is what Jesus

is saying. There is a need for a sheep need a

shepherd. Now, let's turn our attention more

to the shepherd. Thank you. Shepherding was an

intimate occupation. Shepherding, you didn't

just drive your sheep. Now, a lot of times when

we think about shepherding, we have illustrations

in our mind of maybe a dog running around like,

Joe, you guys have a shepherd dog, right? A dog

that actually, and it goes and bites the backs

of the heels or butt or whatever and herds them.

Or somebody's really lazy and they do that with

a four -wheeler. and they've got a huge flock,

and they're pushing the sheep. That is not what's

going on here. So, in fact, it's the opposite.

The way that it went for them is that the shepherd

would get out in front of his sheep, and he would

lead the sheep. It was a very different way.

It was a Jewish -Palestinian style of shepherding,

even to this day. In fact, I was talking to Bob

about this, and I think you were telling me something

about when you were in, was it Afghanistan? And

he saw this happen where the shepherd made something

like, and all of a sudden his sheep went, and

right to him, and he led them out. This is what

is going on. The shepherd would be with his flock

in such a way that he would know them so intimately

and so like he was with him all the time. And

he knew each sheep. He'd give him a name and

he would say, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. All those

sheep had names and he could call their name

and they would come. Highly personal occupation.

The sheep depended fully on the shepherd. 24

-hour day relationship. Not a little bit here,

a little bit there. No, the shepherd and the

sheep had a very close relationship. Not because

the sheep were really good at it, but because

the shepherd never let go. Again, this is a metaphor

for us to attach yourself to Jesus. It was a

relationship. The shepherd's relationship with

his sheep was one of familiarity. It says in

verse 3, he calls his own sheep by name. Familiarity.

Verse 4, they know his voice. They knew his voice.

And different from anybody else's voice. Jesus

is describing how much he cares for us. He knows

us by name. He knows our characteristics. And

we hear his voice and we follow him. He knows

you. Chase, he knows. all the pieces about you.

He knows you, Joel. He knows everything good,

bad, and ugly about you. He knows your struggles.

That's what he's describing. And before we get

to move into chapter 7, I want us to go back

to verses 14, jump back to 14 and 15. Because

we see again this intimate, familiar relationship

between the shepherd and the sheep. John 14,

10 verse 14 says, I am the good shepherd. I know

my own and my own know me. And just as the Father

knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my

life for the sheep. Now this is crazy. Jesus

knows us so well. He knows us so well. He compares

it with his relationship with his Father. He

knows everything about you. How well does the

Father know the Son? That he's one with. Think

about it that way. How well does he know the

Father, the Son, the Father, and the Son? How

well do they know each other? That they are one

with the Triune God? There is no deeper level

of intimacy and familiarity with the relationship

of the triune God. And he says, that's how I

know you. Jesus says, I know my sheep. Just as

the Father knows me, and I know the Father, Jesus

says, I know you. I know you. Now... That can

bring a lot of different emotions up, can't it?

Wow, he knows me. That's so reassuring. Or, oh

no, he knows me. That's scary. But he knows you.

This intimate knowledge of you goes way beyond

birth. David says in Psalm 139, starting in verse

15, my bones were not hidden from you when I

was... made in secret. When I was formed in the

depths of the earth, your eyes saw me. When I

was formless, all the days were written in your

book and planned before single one of them began.

What is he saying? God knows you. He knows you

before you're ever born. Jesus knows you. He

knows your past. Jesus knows your failures. Jesus

knows your doubts. He knows your hurts. He knows

your longings. He knows your personality. He

knows your strengths. He knows your weaknesses.

He knows your highs. And he knows your lows.

He's that kind of God. He knows everything about

you. And he loves you. And he's willing, even

in the midst of knowing all about you, he's willing

to lay down his life for you. And his sheep know

his voice. We hear his voice and we respond.

We follow him, as verse 4 says. How do you know

somebody's a follower of Jesus? They know. They

follow. So the first thing we see is the shepherd's

relationship with the sheep, right? Now number

two. and this is in 7 through 10, we see the

shepherd's provision and protection for his sheep.

Look at verse 7. Jesus said to them again, because

they didn't get it the first time, truly I tell

you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came

before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep

didn't listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone

enters by me, he will be saved, and I will come

in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes

only to steal, kill, and destroy. And I have

come so that you may have life and have it in

abundance. All right. So when Jesus is saying,

I am the gate for the sheep, it's the same thing

as saying, I am the shepherd. it appears a little

different when you read it like that but he's

literally saying the same thing he's saying so

here's what's going on with that okay at night

the sheep would be put into a pen or a fold and

the shepherd would then lay so there'd be like

a big and a small door and the shepherd would

lay down in front of that door and sleep and

at night when the sheep were all in this fold

this is what he would do And nothing could get

out and nothing would come in. He is the gate.

The shepherd is the protector and the provider

of his sheep. And when you come to the gate,

you are saved. And you're safe. That's the picture.

He says, I look at you. I come as a sheep and

I come up and, oh, I'm safe and I'm protected.

Verse 10, he says, from what? Protected from

what? Well, verse 10 tells us. There's a word

there that says a thief. And that's actually,

a thief is a particular type of thief. He's talking

about Satan in this text. A thief. Different

translations would put the thief, meaning singular.

The thief, right? He's talking about Satan. So

let's just take a minute. A few things about

Satan. In a lot of churches, I don't know what

it is, but we don't talk about Satan. We don't

even know what to do with this. You know, like

we have this image in our head that there's a

little angel and they're at war with each other

in our heads, right? So here's a few things about

Satan that the Bible tells us. He's real. It's

not a fairy tale thing. Satan is real. He's a

fallen angel who stood in the presence of God.

And really ultimately wanted to be God. He was

then cast out. Satan is full of sin. He's very

powerful. And he's brilliant. He's smart. He's

not dumb. He's hateful. His mission, and it says

it right there, is to steal, kill, and destroy

you. His mission in your everyday life as a sheep

is to steal, kill, or destroy you. He wants to

take you out. He wants to make you ineffective.

He wants to steal your joy in the Lord. He wants

to take that away. He wants to bring into your

life doubt. So we know what he wants to do, right?

That's the enemy that... is real. He wants to

steal, kill, and destroy your holiness. He wants

to steal, kill, and destroy your purpose. He

wants to steal, kill, and destroy your sense

of urgency around the gospel. He wants to steal,

kill, and destroy the importance or priority

of a church in your life. He wants to steal,

kill and destroy unity in the body of Christ.

And you could go on and on and on, and everything

is about everything against God and his purpose.

He wants to get you. So how does he do it? What

are Satan's methods? Well, first of all, we know

that he's sneaky. He's sneaky. We know that he's

a liar, that he takes the truth of God and he

twists it. And probably one of the most powerful

tools, methods for Satan is that he tempts you.

He tempts you with sex. He tempts you with money

and with power and control and sometimes all

of them at once. What is he doing? His method

is he's an accuser. He looks at you and says,

you're worthless. He brings condemnation. You

know the difference between the work of the Holy

Spirit in your life as a Christian and the enemy?

The Holy Spirit brings conviction. The enemy

brings condemnation. He's the accuser. Satan

is not, though, and this is important to understand,

Satan is not omnipresent. That means everywhere

at all times, he's not. Satan is not, meaning

all -powerful and over all things. He is not

that. He is not omnipotent, meaning knowing everything

about everybody at every moment. You know, all

three of those things are reserved for God himself.

You don't have to fear the enemy. Daniel Adam

Flint said that Satan is not the yin to God's

yang. There's a difference. God is here, way

up here in power, and Satan is down here in power.

Big difference. And so, Satan has limited power.

He does not have to control. And if you are in

Christ, you don't have to be controlled by him.

Satan is defeated, and he's a loser. And on the

cross, his head was crushed by Christ. On the

cross. It predicts that happening back in Genesis.

On the cross, Jesus conquered Satan, sin, and

death. And we have victory in Jesus. He can't

take your salvation away. He has no future. He

will be bound and cast away forever. There's

coming a day. And you have every weapon to defeat

him in your life. So here's a few. You have every

weapon, church. You are a follower in Christ.

You have his word. And it is powerful. And so

what are you doing with his word? Is it a weapon?

You know what the Bible calls this weapon? A

sword. Pick up your sword. Jay gave me this.

I almost brought it in. I forgot when I got here.

But Jay, for my birthday, he gave me this machete

and it's bad looking. You pick this thing up,

it is sharp. And I'm like, what does somebody

do with this? Well, you kill trees. Because that's

all I know how to do with it, right? But man,

if you were to strike something with this, like

it would mess you up. This is a sword. This is

a sword. Pick it up, learn to use it every day.

in your life. That's a weapon. You have prayer.

Fight like men and women on your knees. Because

God has conquered Satan, sin, and death. You

go to him with every situation, every scenario,

and you say, I'm a sheep. I need my shepherd.

You have an amazing army of worshipers around

you. Look around. This is what the body of Christ

is meant for. You're struggling. You're being

hit. Go to others. Help me. Pray with me. Bathe

me in your word, God. Like, help me walk through

this, but I'm not doing it alone. I'm doing it

with each other, and we're doing it with a community

of people that live their life around the gospel.

That's how we do it. And then most importantly

is you have the Spirit of God that lives in you.

You do. If you are a follower of Jesus, the Spirit

lives in you. And so Jesus says to you in verse

10, I have come that you may have life and have

it in abundance. Do you believe that, church?

Do you believe that with your relationship with

Jesus, that he has come that you may have life

and have it in abundance? Abundance is not health,

wealth, prosperity. That's not what it is. Abundant

life is what we call a full spectrum life. A

spiritual life that is more than you could ever

hope or dream or imagine. We get Jesus. We get

abundant life. And it's not just life for this

temporary world. It's beyond. Again, Adam Flint

heard some stuff. He said, we don't follow Jesus

to have a better life. We follow Jesus because

he is better than life. That's why we follow

Jesus. Now, let's pick up verse third point,

roll through this and look at verse 11. We see

that Jesus, or the shepherd, we see in this the

shepherd's heart for his sheep, starting in verse

11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd

lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand,

since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own

the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he

sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and

scatters them. This happens because he's hired

to hand and doesn't care about the sheep. I am

the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own

know me. Just as the Father knows me, I know

the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

But I have other sheep that are not from this

sheep pen. I must bring them in also. and they

will listen to my voice. Then there will be one

flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves

me, because I lay down my life so that I may

take it up again. No one takes it from me, but

I lay it down on my own. I have the right to

lay it down, and I have the right to take it

up again. I have received this command from my

Father. A hard hand doesn't care about you. Wolves

don't care about you. The world doesn't care

about you. Only Jesus cares about you. That's

the point. Your friends don't care about you

like Jesus cares about you. Notice that for four

times, Jesus says he lays down his life for the

sheep. In verse 16, he tells us there's a bunch

of non -Jews who need to be brought into the

fold. That's what he's talking about there. He

says, I must bring them in also. He says, there's

this mandate and this purpose to rescue sheep.

All the Gentiles need Jesus. He's talking to

a Jewish world. And he says, it's not just about

you. It's about this world. It's about the Mat

-Su Valley as well. It's about every person needing

Jesus everywhere. And that's why we're always

saying, who's your one more? Who are you sharing

Jesus with? Because we take that same mandate

and mission and we move it forward. We say, everybody

needs to know this great shepherd. And so my

question to you is, do you have one more person

that you're reaching out to? One more person

that you can share Jesus with because that's

what Jesus is about. That's why we want to seek

partners and plant more churches. That's why

this church exists and to start with. That's

why we moved down here and knew four people.

and said, we need a church in this community.

It's because one more person matters. So that's

why Jesus says, look, it's not just about you

I got to go to, and I got to reach out to as

many that can know me. Jesus' heart is that his

sheep would know him. Don't overthink this church.

Jesus' heart is that you would know him. Not

just the first time, but for the rest of your

life. Jesus' heart is that you and I would know

him intimately. Verse 17 and 18, Jesus says,

he's pointing, he says, I love you so much that

I'm willing, I will sacrifice for you and lay

down my life for you. He's talking about going

to the cross. So what do you do with Jesus the

Good Shepherd? Do you run away and jump right

back into that ditch? Now, I have to be honest

with you. As I watched that clip over and over

and over, and there's a couple other clips that

are really similar to it. There's a thing about

a ditch. I don't know what it is, but you can

find them all over YouTube. But I saw that at

first. I was like, that's a stupid sheep. And

I started thinking about... my life all the different

ways I just keep doing that same thing and so

how do you see Jesus is he the good shepherd

in your life you run away from him go right back

to your old patterns or are you running to him

because I know I need him I know He will protect

and he will provide. I can trust him. I know

that he wants an intimate relationship with me.

I see the heart of the shepherd, and it's for

you. If there's areas in your life maybe that

you're like, I love Jesus. I love so many things

about him, but I'm not really willing to give

all of it to him. There's parts of it like, nope.

I got this one. That's like being a sheep just

runs right back to the hole. And so our posture

as followers of Jesus really is, can you follow

Jesus? Will you follow him? Are you listening

to his voice? When he brings about conviction

in your life, are you saying, okay, Lord, I surrender

all. They will follow me, it says. So I would

just say this. If you've never followed Jesus,

you don't have a relationship with him today,

today's a good day to say I submit. I submit

to Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. I don't even

know how it all works, but I'm willing to try.

I want to step forward. If you're already one

of his sheep, He wants you to enjoy the benefits

of being one of his sheep. Enjoy the benefits.

He wants you to continue to draw in closer to

him. You know, I was thinking at the end of the

service, we're going to pray over those college

kids that are going off to school. We released

one or two here. Luke already left. But the one

prayer when you're a parent and you watch your

kid go away that I had, at least for my kids,

is God, would they draw close to you and follow

you? Because all of a sudden I have no more control.

Right, Tammy? We have no control. It's like you

just kind of surrender it up. And so you're saying,

Lord, will you help them draw close to you and

follow you? But guys, that's the same prayer

for every one of us. It matters. Don't wander

off. Keep your eyes on Jesus. As our little braces

say, look to Jesus. That's what it's about. Let

me pray for you. Amen. Lord, I love how simple

this metaphor is. I love that you meet us right

where we're at. It doesn't have to be complicated.

I love the fact that you know us, that you reach

out to us, you call us by name. That you are

our protector, our provider. And that your heart

is for us. So much so that you're willing to

sacrifice and lay down your life for us. That

you went to the cross. You suffered in our place.

You died for our sins. You conquered Satan. Crushed

his head. And you conquered death. All because

you love us, your sheep. And so... We respond

to you today because we want to be sheep who

follow you, who listen to your voice. We ask

that you help us with that by the power of your

spirit. Amen.