More Leadership in Life | I Am More | Pastor Joe Coffey

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John 1010 through 15.

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The thief comes

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only to steal and kill and destroy.

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I came that they may have life

and have it abundantly.

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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

and not a shepherd, who does not own

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the sheep, 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

and cares nothing for the sheep.

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I am the good Shepherd.

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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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Everybody, good morning

and welcome to Christ Community Chapel.

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My name is Joe.

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I'm one of the pastors here.

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And, thanks for coming.

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Listen, we have people

that are still trying to find seats.

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If you could squeeze

in, that would be great.

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If you have a seat next,

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you could raise your hand,

let people know that they can sit there.

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All right.

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It's good. It's

a great. It's a great weekend.

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We are baptizing,

68 people, over this weekend.

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Yeah.

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You can run.

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And we'll get to that in a minute.

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But, we are in the middle of a ten week

series.

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We're actually looking

at what Jesus says about himself.

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This is the second week

where we have been looking

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at the word picture of a shepherd

with sheep.

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It's actually one of Jesus

favorite metaphors.

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In the Gospel of Matthew,

he tells his disciples

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that he has been sent

for the lost sheep of Israel.

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In Luke chapter 15, he tells the story

Luke 15 · chapter mention

of a shepherd at 100 sheep,

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and one wandered off, and the shepherd

left the 99 to go after the one.

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And then here in John chapter ten,

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he calls himself the good Shepherd.

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And as soon as he would say that,

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everybody in his original audience

would think of the same thing,

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all their minds

would go to the same place,

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which was the most famous psalm,

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which is Psalm 23.

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The 23rd Psalm is still probably

the most beloved psalm.

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It's the most requested psalm

for funerals.

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And there's a reason for that.

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There's something, soothing, something

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wonderful about Psalm 23.

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It's like a goodness

that settles into the room.

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And because it was in the minds

of the original listeners to Jesus,

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I want it to be in your mind as we talk

about Jesus being the good Shepherd.

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So I'm going to try something.

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I'm going to read Psalm 23.

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But I'd like to ask you

just to close your eyes

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and let the words fall on

you like a gentle rain.

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Listen to Psalm 23.

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The Lord is my shepherd.

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I shall not want.

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He makes me lie down in green pastures.

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He leads me beside still waters.

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He restores my soul.

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He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

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Even though I walk through the valley of

the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

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For you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

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You prepare a table before me

in the presence of mine enemies.

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You anoint

my head with oil, my cup overflows.

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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life.

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And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

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There's something just wonderful

about that.

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I didn't grow up with sheep.

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You probably didn't either,

but it doesn't really matter,

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because there's something about that song

that strikes a chord that runs

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very, very deep inside of every one of us.

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There's a longing that we have

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for someone to lead us

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and guide us

and bring us to something that is good,

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somebody who will

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walk with us when life gets dark,

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someone who will restore our aching

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and weary hearts.

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And that runs so deep

that if we if we don't find it in Jesus,

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we will spend our entire lives

looking for it.

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And Jesus,

when he's talking to his original hearers,

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he is saying that Shepherd

who you long for

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to lead and love you,

to protect and provide for you.

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I'm the one.

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I am the good shepherd.

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The passage we're looking at in

John chapter ten is only six verses long.

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Let me read it again, and then I'll give

you the three points that I want to cover.

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Sweet Jesus says, the thief comes

only to steal and kill and destroy.

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I came that they might have life

and have it abundantly.

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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 was a hired hand and not a shepherd

who does not own the sheep, sees

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the wolf coming,

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's a hired hand

and cares nothing for the sheep.

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I am the good shepherd.

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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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My three points are really three truths

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and the three truths,

if you will affirm these three truths.

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If you wake up tomorrow morning

and you affirm

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and live by these three truths,

your life will get better.

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All right.

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Here's the first truth.

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I'm a sheep.

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That's it. That's person. I'm a sheep.

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Second truth Jesus is the good shepherd.

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And the third truth is I am Jesus sheep.

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I first.

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I'm a sheep.

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You have probably been in a group

where somebody has asked the question.

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Listen, if you could be any animal

in the world, what would you be?

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I have asked that question to my kids

when they were little.

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I ask it to my grandkids. Now,

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and let me tell you something.

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No one wants to be a sheep

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like nobody.

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They want to be all kinds of other things.

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But let me give you

my first little insight.

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The reason that no one wants to be a sheep

is the same reason

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Jesus chooses it as a metaphor

to describe you

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and me.

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It's the same reason.

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Let me tell you a little bit about sheep,

because I did some research.

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One of the reasons

that people don't want to be a sheep

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is because sheep don't do

well in the wild.

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There are no wild sheep.

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They are dependent.

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They need someone to care for them.

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Like, I, look out in my backyard.

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I have a lot of wildlife

that go through my backyard.

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I've seen deer.

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I see deer pretty often.

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I've seen, raccoons.

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I've seen a wolf.

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Oh, no, not a wolf.

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I have seen a coyote. I've seen fox.

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If I looked out

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in my backyard and I saw a sheep,

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I would be going, that guy's in trouble.

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Because sheep just don't do

well in the wild.

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That.

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The other thing is

that sheep tend to wander

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and they don't

have a good sense of direction.

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So they can't ever find their way back.

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That was the point of, Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

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The shepherd had 100 sheep.

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The one wandered off,

you know, one coming back.

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So he left the 99 to go find the one.

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Other animals find their way back.

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You know, you've you've probably

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all read stories about people

who've taken their dogs on vacation.

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And for some reason,

they forget their dog.

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And their dog finds its way back home.

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A thousand miles finds its way back home.

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Now a sheep.

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Sheep rounding the corner.

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It's gone and it's not coming back.

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Also, sheep have,

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no discretion over

what's good for them and bad for them.

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A sheep will eat poisonous plants

unless a shepherd leaves them.

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Which is why the psalmist says

he makes me lie down

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in green pastures.

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And then this is something that was funny.

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I read this, that when it rains, and sheep

have not been shorn in a while.

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Their wool gets,

you know, really saturated with water.

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And when it thunders,

the sheep gets scared

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and they will stick their noses

into the wool of another sheep,

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and they can actually drown like that

unless the shepherd

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goes and separates them.

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Nobody wants to be a sheep.

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Nobody wants to be compared

to a sheep, compared to, a creature

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that wanders, that tends to not know how

to get back to what is good.

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A a creature that

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doesn't know necessarily

what's good for them or bad for them.

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A creature that does really stupid things

every once in a while.

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And even though

we have all those similarities with sheep,

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most of us

we don't want to be compared to sheep.

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We want to think of ourselves as being,

you know, pretty good decision makers.

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And and when we do that, even those of us

who are Christians, we tend to treat

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Jesus like he's a consultant,

like he's on retainer.

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So if we ever, you know, we pretty much

are in control of our lives.

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And then every once while,

we might make a decision

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that we know is so important,

we need his help

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or we've made a bad decision,

we need a way to get back.

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We don't know how to get back,

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but this is what's true.

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You will never, ever know

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Jesus as your good Shepherd

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until you're willing to embrace the truth

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that you're just the sheep.

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You're a sheep

that is prone to wander, a sheep

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that needs a shepherd, and the listen,

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you have to embrace the idea

that you're not even an exceptional sheep.

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I think we tend to what you like.

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You want to feel better, like you're

a better sheep than the sheep that you're

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sitting around right?

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Tomorrow morning, when you wake up,

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this is the first truth

I want you to just tell God.

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I want you to just admit to God.

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Listen, I'm a sheep.

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I know I'm very, very similar to a sheep.

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I know that I need a shepherd.

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That's the first truth.

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The second

truth is Jesus is the good shepherd.

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He starts this passage out

talking about other

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shepherds, that there are shepherds

that are hired, shepherds

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that aren't necessarily

good for the sheep.

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One of the things, you know,

when I say that Psalm

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23 hits a chord

that runs really deep inside of us,

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what I mean is that every human being

has this longing for someone

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who will protect and provide for him,

who will love them, lead them.

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And that longing, if it's not met by

Jesus, you'll look for it somewhere else.

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It's why the world is full of shepherds.

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How about this?

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In 2010, The New York Times

came up with a word to describe people

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who fill social media content with

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content

that actually impacts people's behavior.

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They called them influencers.

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That was 2010.

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A social media influencer is a shepherd

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and their followers are sheep.

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They will tell you what to eat.

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Sometimes literally.

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They'll tell you where to go, what to do

in order to get what you really want.

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They're shepherds.

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Have you ever wondered

where like, fashion trends come from?

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I was thinking, you know, I lived through

the 70s, went to high school in the 70s.

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One of the things I was thinking

of what I used to wear, and I remember

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wearing a silk shirt with clocks on it,

and I have no idea why.

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Like, now I wear these.

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I have these shoes.

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These are my cool shoes.

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I don't know why they're cool,

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but they're cooler than the shoes

I used to wear.

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Why do I think that

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I'm being influenced?

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You are being influenced.

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All the time.

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I watched a documentary

called The Social Dilemma,

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and it's about the the power of Instagram

and Twitter and Facebook.

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And I know those are older platforms,

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but the scariest quote

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in that whole documentary was this

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if the product is free,

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then you're the product.

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And what I was saying is

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the world is full of shepherds

gathering sheep.

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I just read this

that one out of eight people

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turn to AI to help them as life coaches.

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People looking for a shepherd.

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Jesus says the world is full of shepherds.

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There are hired hands.

There are two kinds of shepherds.

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What he says is a hired hand.

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And then the owner of the sheep

and the original audience

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that Jesus was speaking

to would know the difference right away.

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They would understand

exactly what Jesus was saying.

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The reason that Jesus said

that a hired hand would run away

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if there was danger to the sheep,

because the hired hand doesn't really care

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about the sheep,

the hired hand is just trying to.

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They're making a living off the sheep.

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But the owners different.

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An owner of the sheep.

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His entire wealth was represented

by the sheep.

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The sheep were his.

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Where his pride and joy,

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his glory and his treasure.

00:13:35:20 - 00:13:38:34

And Jesus says, I am the good Shepherd

00:13:38:34 - 00:13:41:34

who lays down his life for the sheep.

00:13:41:36 - 00:13:46:09

This whole series we are heading

toward Easter, where we celebrate

00:13:46:09 - 00:13:51:11

the fact that Jesus lived in our place,

died in our place, and resurrected.

00:13:51:52 - 00:13:57:02

And we celebrate that because Jesus was

and is our good Shepherd.

00:13:57:02 - 00:13:59:54

Which means that

if you went to the foot of the cross

00:13:59:54 - 00:14:02:54

and you looked up at Jesus

and you said, Shepherd,

00:14:03:28 - 00:14:05:32

good Shepherd,

00:14:05:32 - 00:14:08:32

why are you dying on the cross?

00:14:08:34 - 00:14:11:34

Why is the father forsaking you right now?

00:14:12:24 - 00:14:15:06

Jesus would say,

00:14:15:06 - 00:14:16:20

I'm doing this for the sheep.

00:14:17:35 - 00:14:21:07

I'm laying my life down for my sheep.

00:14:22:05 - 00:14:23:44

And if you were to say to Jesus.

00:14:23:44 - 00:14:28:33

But that doesn't make any sense,

why would you give your life

00:14:29:08 - 00:14:34:17

for witless, dumb, prone

to wander, silly sheep?

00:14:35:00 - 00:14:37:33

And Jesus would say,

00:14:37:33 - 00:14:40:33

because they're my treasure.

00:14:40:36 - 00:14:42:19

They're my treasure.

00:14:42:19 - 00:14:44:28

That's what Jesus feels

00:14:44:28 - 00:14:46:19

when he looks at you.

00:14:46:19 - 00:14:48:11

Listen, that first truth.

00:14:48:11 - 00:14:52:12

You know, I woke up this morning

and I said to God, I'm a sheep.

00:14:52:57 - 00:14:54:29

Not even an exceptional sheep.

00:14:54:29 - 00:14:55:46

I'm just a sheep.

00:14:55:46 - 00:14:58:33

That's a hard thing to really grab on to.

00:14:58:33 - 00:15:00:21

That's a tough truth.

00:15:00:21 - 00:15:03:18

But this second truth,

Jesus is the good Shepherd,

00:15:03:18 - 00:15:06:17

is the most wonderful truth

anyone has ever heard.

00:15:07:00 - 00:15:07:44

And that's the truth.

00:15:07:44 - 00:15:09:32

I tell you.

00:15:09:32 - 00:15:11:39

And that brings me to a third point,

00:15:11:39 - 00:15:14:39

which is you are Jesus sheep.

00:15:14:59 - 00:15:16:45

I'm Jesus sheep.

00:15:16:45 - 00:15:20:21

You know, every Christmas,

Christmas morning I pick up my Bible.

00:15:20:21 - 00:15:22:01

I do the same thing.

I've done it for years.

00:15:22:01 - 00:15:25:01

I read the same passage

for my to my family.

00:15:25:23 - 00:15:27:00

It's from Luke chapter two.

00:15:27:00 - 00:15:28:23

It's very familiar.

00:15:28:23 - 00:15:29:15

It starts like this.

00:15:29:15 - 00:15:30:57

And there were in the same region,

00:15:30:57 - 00:15:34:53

shepherds abiding in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night.

00:15:35:13 - 00:15:37:02

And lo,

an angel of the Lord appeared to them.

00:15:37:02 - 00:15:39:46

Glory of the Lord shone round about them.

00:15:39:46 - 00:15:41:30

And then you know the rest of the story.

00:15:41:30 - 00:15:43:36

They end up

going to the manger, finding Jesus.

00:15:44:50 - 00:15:46:11

But that story starts

00:15:46:11 - 00:15:49:59

with shepherds

in the middle of the night, out

00:15:49:59 - 00:15:55:01

with their sheep, because shepherds

would never leave their sheep.

00:15:56:46 - 00:16:00:16

Listen, the Bible gives us a lot of titles

for Jesus.

00:16:01:24 - 00:16:02:28

He's a Savior.

00:16:02:28 - 00:16:05:14

He's our Redeemer, he's our King.

00:16:05:14 - 00:16:07:08

He's even our friend.

00:16:07:08 - 00:16:10:08

But there may be no more

comprehensive title

00:16:10:51 - 00:16:13:18

than the title of Shepherd,

00:16:13:18 - 00:16:15:13

because the shepherd

is intimately involved

00:16:15:13 - 00:16:18:13

in every aspect of a sheep's life.

00:16:18:53 - 00:16:19:27

Get this.

00:16:19:27 - 00:16:25:12

Let me just note this is the the key

to having your life actually be changed.

00:16:25:32 - 00:16:29:29

You can wake up tomorrow morning

and you can believe that you're a sheep.

00:16:30:05 - 00:16:33:05

You can believe that

Jesus is the good Shepherd.

00:16:33:09 - 00:16:37:08

But until Jesus is the shepherd

in every area of your life,

00:16:37:08 - 00:16:38:18

you will not have the life

00:16:39:19 - 00:16:41:10

that you really want.

00:16:41:10 - 00:16:44:44

You will not have the more

the abundant life

00:16:45:17 - 00:16:47:57

that Jesus is talking about

00:16:47:57 - 00:16:50:33

and in any area of your life

where you know that

00:16:50:33 - 00:16:53:49

Jesus wants you to go one way

and you're saying, well, I'm

00:16:53:49 - 00:16:56:53

going to go this way, you need to know

you are following a different shepherd

00:16:57:56 - 00:17:00:55

and it won't take you

where you really want to go.

00:17:02:15 - 00:17:05:13

This is what I would suggest

you do take your life.

00:17:05:13 - 00:17:09:21

And just in every category,

look at your social life,

00:17:09:21 - 00:17:13:18

your sexual life, your financial life,

your professional life, your family life,

00:17:13:18 - 00:17:16:18

your recreational life,

all those different places.

00:17:17:10 - 00:17:20:10

And go to God and say, I'm a sheep.

00:17:20:58 - 00:17:22:38

Jesus is the good shepherd.

00:17:22:38 - 00:17:25:38

If I'm going to be Jesus sheep,

just show me

00:17:25:39 - 00:17:27:43

how you want me to live in this area.

00:17:27:43 - 00:17:29:33

What you want me to do in this area?

00:17:29:33 - 00:17:32:27

If you show me, I will follow you.

00:17:33:53 - 00:17:34:35

You know, because

00:17:34:35 - 00:17:38:39

I've been preparing for this message

every morning I have been reciting

00:17:39:05 - 00:17:42:04

the 23rd Psalm to myself.

00:17:42:08 - 00:17:45:31

And there was something that hit me

as strange I hadn't seen before.

00:17:45:46 - 00:17:47:51

At the very end of that song.

00:17:47:51 - 00:17:50:51

The psalmist says,

surely goodness and mercy

00:17:50:53 - 00:17:53:53

shall follow me all the days of my life.

00:17:54:52 - 00:17:57:18

And I was thinking,

that's the reason that struck me.

00:17:57:18 - 00:18:01:37

As strange as goodness is something

that I feel like I'm that I chase.

00:18:02:18 - 00:18:04:24

That's what social influencers will say.

00:18:04:24 - 00:18:05:59

Listen, if you do this, you will.

00:18:05:59 - 00:18:08:00

You will end up finding goodness.

00:18:08:00 - 00:18:08:59

You will find mercy.

00:18:08:59 - 00:18:11:34

That's not what the psalmist says.

00:18:11:34 - 00:18:14:32

The psalmist says, I follow Jesus

00:18:14:32 - 00:18:17:44

and goodness and mercy chase after me.

00:18:18:45 - 00:18:22:00

I don't know about you, but

I would love to live my life in such a way

00:18:22:00 - 00:18:26:35

that when I slow up or stop, it's goodness

and mercy that hit me in the back.

00:18:28:12 - 00:18:31:12

Listen, tomorrow morning when you wake up,

00:18:31:40 - 00:18:34:06

affirm three truths.

00:18:34:06 - 00:18:36:55

Say I'm a sheep.

00:18:36:55 - 00:18:38:27

Not even an exceptional sheep.

00:18:38:27 - 00:18:41:16

I'm just a sheep and I need a shepherd.

00:18:41:16 - 00:18:44:16

Jesus is the good shepherd

00:18:45:49 - 00:18:47:44

and I am Jesus.

00:18:47:44 - 00:18:49:11

Sheep.

00:18:49:11 - 00:18:53:53

And wherever he wants me to follow,

I will follow and let goodness and mercy

00:18:54:34 - 00:18:57:34

chase you all the days of your life.

00:18:58:21 - 00:19:00:54

You pray with me,

00:19:00:54 - 00:19:04:20

Lord Jesus, we come to you and,

I am grateful.

00:19:04:39 - 00:19:06:26

I'm grateful that you tell us

00:19:06:26 - 00:19:09:30

the truth about ourselves,

that we really are like sheep.

00:19:10:31 - 00:19:12:46

And I am grateful

you don't just leave us there.

00:19:12:46 - 00:19:16:16

But you have come and said that

you are the good Shepherd, the one who

00:19:16:16 - 00:19:20:55

we long for, who can provide and protect,

who can love and lead,

00:19:20:55 - 00:19:26:46

who will walk with us in the darkness,

who restore our aching and weary hearts.

00:19:27:57 - 00:19:29:26

I pray for every person here.

00:19:29:26 - 00:19:32:24

I pray that we will be your sheep.

00:19:32:24 - 00:19:36:41

We will declare that truth

and we will follow you wherever you lead.

00:19:37:20 - 00:19:40:20

And let goodness and mercy chase us.

00:19:40:38 - 00:19:43:34

Thank you. We pray this in your name.

00:19:43:34 - 00:19:44:02

Amen.