The LORD is my SHEPHERD // Good Shepherd Series (Part 1) // Pastor Drew

Oh, the Lord is my sheer.

I shall now want he leads me by still to

wers till my fears are gone. Though I

walk through the valley

of the shadow of death, I know you are

with me, my father,

my friend.

Your goodness and mercy will follow me

all of my days.

I know by your still waters I'm safe.

Amen. Who's glad to be here today? Come

on.

I got a I I got a proud dad moment real

quick. That was my daughter. So if you

see

if you see her today, let her know that

that just made the video. Wasn't that so

cool? Uh I had a time with her this last

week actually during bedtime and uh I I

love I I I love the opportunities, these

little moments that you get. And during

bedtime, I was hugging her and she uh we

were talking about one of the things

that we do is we say, "I love you most."

And I I look at her and I'm like, "You

don't you don't understand. Until you

have kids of your own, you will not

understand. you will never be able to

love me to the level that I love you.

You just won't be able to. And she

responded with, "Oh, I don't I don't

think I'm going to have kids."

And I was like, "Time out. First of all,

why at 9 years old? Where are you

getting?" And she's like, "It seems like

it's hard work." And I'm like, there is

nothing that you will find in this life

that is worth your while that isn't hard

work. You will never and I and so I was

just like, this is amazing. IT'S LIKE

HAVING KIDS. I WOULD NEVER NOT WANT

KIDS. This is the greatest blessing. I

NEVER LOOK AT MY KIDS AND GO, "YEAH,

life would be a little bit better

without them." Like I never like

certainly there's times where like

vacations would be cheaper without them.

That's for sure. Going out to eat would

be a lot easier, right? That would be

But man, it's just And then I feel like

the Lord was just like, "This is why I

created you." That thing that you're

feeling that's like, I love this. I

could never imagine it without this. I

want And I'm telling Aria like I I want

you to have 12 kids. Like I want you to

know how much fun and how much joy comes

with children and with the the the joy

of this process. I just I love it. YOU

MAY NOT BE in the same boat as me. I

love it. I love being a dad. And I think

the Lord I know I see the way that the

Lord gives revelation to us that he

feels the same way about us. Is it easy?

No. Is it incredibly frustrating at

times? Yes. Is it some of the most

painful experiences that you go through

may be attached to parenting or to

marriage or to whatever like yes

because it's the closest thing to our

hearts because it means the most because

we invest the most because we love so

deeply. And that's exactly how God I we

just got over a series called

relationships. And one of the things

that we talked about in the last week

was how every relationship that we have

is a powerful revelation

about our relationship with God in some

capacity.

And scripture highlights this in a lot

of different ways. Highlights this as

father and child. Uh but

the there's one aspect of relationships

and a relational what I'm calling a

relational equivalent a like when God's

trying to say this is the type of

relationship I want to have with you.

when he says that there's one that is

the hardest for us to understand because

in our society, in our world, in our

city, in our culture, we just don't

encounter this very much. And that is

the relationship of sheep to shepherd.

It's one of the most powerful

illustrations that God gives of what

it's like to be in relationship with

him.

In fact, it is the fourth most common

relational equivalent in terms of how

frequent we are it we're given these

relational equivalents and father,

child, right? king, uh, a citizen, uh,

master servant, we got friend to friend,

we've got bride to bridegroom, we got

all these things that that and actually

sheep to shepherd is the fourth most

common one. And we have very little clue

about this in our society.

Yet the entirety of the Bible, the vast

vast majority of the Bible was written

from an agricultural person, someone

raised in an agricultural culture to

agricultural communities.

the the the reality of what the world

looked like and how people operated and

the things that they understood was not

going to be you know kind of when you

search on Google and when you look up on

AI and all that stuff it's not that it's

like hey you know how when you plant

something and when you the number of

seeds that you sew impacts the amount of

harvest that you will have so is the

same way with generosity they're like oh

I get that now I get that now right now

we may say the amount that you invest in

the stock market determines how much

you're going to be able to get back in

return. Right? That doesn't make sense

to them. And so in the reality, one some

of the deepest revelations that we get

in scripture are really hard for us to

understand in our culture, in our time,

in in given what we know about

agriculture and about shephering, about

raising flocks and uh and having fields.

And so what I want to do is I want to go

through we got this series that we're

going to be that over the next few weeks

over the next four weeks we're going to

be going over this series called Good

Shepherd as we do a deep dive on Psalm

23.

One of the most powerful illustrations

and pictures of

what it's like to be in relationship

from sheep to shepherd.

And we've got at the doors, we've got a

little print out for you guys. I want

every single one of us to walk away with

this.

And because my challenge is for us to

get the word in our heart and in our

mind and that comes by means of

memorization.

I want to challenge us to memorize a

full chapter of the Bible. It's six

verses, but you can say, "I got a whole

chapter of the Bible memorized." That'd

be pretty cool. And this is so Psalm 23.

Over the next four weeks, I want to

challenge us to be able to do this. You

guys will grab that on your way out. But

in this series, as we talk about what

it's like, there's a there's one of my a

key resource that I want to give you

guys so that you can also study into it

is a book, one of one of my important

resources. It's called A Shepherd Looks

at Psalm 23. And I've got a copy of this

here. It looks a little bit different

here, but this is it's a book written by

in 1970. It's a little bit older, but

still very relevant. It's not like super

old English words. Uh but it's written

by a gentleman who grew up as a shepherd

in East Africa

and then came to the US and studied and

became a scholar, theologian, and a

pastor. And he began to understand these

correlations in the depth. And he talks

about what it's like as a shepherd who

neighbors a bad shepherd and was able to

sees these correlations and what it's

like. If you want to do a deeper dive

into this than what we'll be able to do

uh in this series, go ahead, grab this

book. If you go to Christianbooks, I

think it's Christianbook.com.

It's like it's dirt cheap there. So you

can go uh go there. It's easy. It's also

on Amazon. Uh you can do that for your

own study as you can tell. Small book,

easy read, really fun. But that's a

little resource for you guys. And uh

today I want I want to give as we dive

into Psalm 23. We are going to be having

a powerful and an opportunity to be able

to respond at the end. And I just want

to prep us. I want to prepare us for

this opportunity and for the for the

willingness. What is God? How is God

asking me to respond? But as we do this,

if you guys got your Bibles, digital or

physical, let's open them up to Psalm

23. We're going to be here for a few

weeks, so you can put a little bookmark.

You can put something in there. And I'd

like to do something special. Could we

stand up and read this together? Let's

stand up. Let's honor in honor of the

word of the Lord. If you if you have

your own version on your phone, you can

look up the ESV version. That's the

version that's going to be up here.

It'll make it easy for us to be able to

read this together. I'll read from the

screen with you guys. Okay, here we go.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not

want. He makes me lie down in green

pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. He

restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake. Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of

death, I will fear no evil, for you are

with me. Your rod and your staff, they

comfort me. You prepare a table before

me in the presence of my enemies. You

anoint my head with oil, my cup

overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow

me all the days of my life, and I shall

dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen. Amen. You can be seated.

I think it's important to to honor the

word of God. That's why I want to have

us do that. It's a it's a standing in

honor. It's like when when the bride

walks in. It's a moment of being able to

go like this is pay attention mind. Pay

attention heart. There's something

powerful happening here because there's

more power in what we just read than any

words that I'm going to say.

So I want us to get the word of God into

our hearts as we prepare for Easter and

we and we step into this. I want to

remind us last week we talked about

stepping into preparing for Easter in

mission and loving into the light. I

want to encourage you guys keep praying.

If you missed it last week, check it out

on YouTube or collective

omaha.com/watch.

Uh but this is it. We're taking a time

to prepare for Easter by giving out the

Easter message to pray for your one, to

love your one, and to share with your

one so that they may join us and you may

give them the light of Christ that he

may reveal himself through you and they

may come even join us on Easter Sunday.

Amen.

So here we go. What I want to do, we're

going to dive in here actually to verse

number one. Super short, super easy,

super deep. The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

The amazing thing about this is this

poem is written by King David

who grew up and spent the first about 20

years of his life as a shepherd.

And the role of a shepherd is incred is

it's a really unique role. It's a very

important role in their culture. But he

got this revelation of who God is. And

I'm not sure exactly when David wrote

this. Was it when he was a shepherd? Was

it when he was serving in the palace of

King Saul? Was it when he was running

away from King Saul for years and years

as King Saul's trying to kill him? Was

it after King Saul dies and he becomes

king and sits on the throne? Either way,

he learns a lot about who God is, about

what leadership looks like, about how I

need to interact with the Lord, and how

that then reflects of how I interact

with other people because of his history

with shephering.

And we see this that that David's not

the only though David became known as

the shepherd king of Israel.

He was not the first shepherd. He was

not the only shepherd. In fact, we see

shepherds all the time in scripture.

Here we have Abel, Cain and Abel, Adam

and Eve's son. He was a shepherd. He was

the first shepherd mentioned in

scripture. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

all shepherds.

Rachel, Jacob's wife, is introduced as a

shepherd. And then his father-in-law

Laban as a shepherd. Joseph and his

brothers are shepherds. In fact, when

they go to Egypt and they say, "We need

some land." They say, "We are shepherds.

Give us land that works for our flocks

and our herds."

And so this is we we see this. Then we

see Moses himself throughout the entire

time that they were in Egypt, the vast

majority of them were shepherds. Moses

runs away from the palace and he goes

out into the wilderness of Midian and he

joins into a shepherd family and he

becomes a shepherd and God leads him to

shepherd the people and lead him out

from Egypt. We see this again and again.

We see even after David, there's a

prophet named Amos who is a shepherd.

And who is the first group of people

that God tells about the birth of

Christ?

Shepherds.

There is something special about this

relationship that is so easy for us to

miss. And I want us to dive into this

because

the Lord is my shepherd

is such

a curious,

hard, weird look at God. It's such an

interesting way to start a poem

because in in in this poem, we got to

recognize first of all our relationship.

The Lord is my shepherd, which means

David is the sheep. We are the sheep.

And there's a lot of equivalents here

that we're going to be getting into

about what that looks like. But

the Lord, the word that David uses for

the word Lord here is actually Yahweh.

It's not just a God or my God. It is the

name of God. It's the most holy,

glorious name of God that there is. It

is the name that God reveals himself as

on Mount Si to his people and it means I

am.

It means it is highlights this the

eternal the all powerful nature that God

is the God who breathed galaxies

into existence

that he is the God that has made all

things possible that created not just

atomic material but then allows for the

birthing of life to come and exist and

then places his soul and his spirit and

his identity and his image on us. He

creates all things. HE IS SO BIG. He

sees all galaxies and holds it in his

hand. He is so small. He is the ONE

WHO'S WORKED SUBATOMIC particles into

existence. HE IS SO MASSIVE. He sees

every single person. He sees every

single star. He is so intricate. He sees

you and cares about what you're worried

about right now.

THAT'S INSANE. THIS God is

extraordinary. And the first word that

David uses in this poem is Lord

Yaheh.

It's a name so holy, so divine that they

would find ways to write around it. As

I'm trying to write this, they would

find ways to remove the the vowels. And

how do I That's where the word Jehovah

comes from is they're trying to like

respect this word. And it's actually a a

weird we can get into like how that word

came through, but but the whole idea is

like in honor. I don't want to even

write his name. I don't want to take it

in vain. I this is this is the name of

God.

This is mighty. This is majestic. This

is eternal. This is so holy, so set

apart, so beyond me. I cannot fathom

this three in one. Yahweh.

And then he says, "The Lord

is my

shepherd."

And we get brought from this picture of

galaxies

to a hillside

of a dirty worker with dirty sheep

in a culture that's not necessarily

known for

being all that clean, all that

righteous, all that holy.

It's not. The Lord is my

priest.

It's not the Lord is my

is is is is my pastor is my which

actually the word pastor comes from the

word shepherd but here's the here's this

picture he he gives this this dichotomy

this two opposites that actually hold

hands of who God is and he reveals

that God is a shepherd

who gets dirty gets down in the mud, in

the work, in the fields, and he comes to

be with us.

That's insane.

The God who created the universe,

knows I exist, is crazy to me,

sees me even crazier,

knows me,

and actually cares

and loves me more than I will ever love

him.

This

this is the revelation that that David

is bringing to us in the first verse of

this poem of this song that he writes.

But see the reality is is shephering was

a very important role and it was a

really hard job as well.

It was a difficult diligent. It was it

was vital for communities because this

is where you'd get wool, you'd get uh

lambs and goats milk. You get there's a

lot of things about the community that

would revolve around the success of the

flock and the shepherds. It was a really

important job, but no one wanted it. It

was a really lowly job. is really it was

a looked down upon job that that

actually because of this the shepherds

and the sheep ended have a really

special relationship with each other.

In fact, even to this day you talk to

shepherds and they highlight this

difference. So we have a couple

different things that we see from uh the

shepherd. We see first of all the

shepherd is the Lord is my shepherd. I

shall not want. So the shepherd is the

first thing we love about this is he is

our protector.

The role of the shepherd is to protect

the flock, right? Is to walk and to

guide and to make sure that they stay

safe. He is the one who comes in and

makes sure that we are okay. This is I

love this picture of God the shepherd

because he is the one who is protecting.

He is the one who is providing. In fact,

Jesus says this.

He says in John 10:1,

John 10:1

he says, "I am the good shepherd."

And the good shepherd lays down his life

for the sheep.

See, this is first of all, this is one

of those moments when Jesus is claiming

deity.

He says, "You guys know who the good

shepherd is, right? I am the good

shepherd." He's now claiming this deity

in this relationship as God, this

equivalent. And he's revealing to them

that he is not just a man. He is not

just a prophet. He is not just a priest.

He is not just a rabbi. He is not just

this picture of Messiah that they had.

He is God in the flesh. Emmanuel, God

with us. And he reveals himself as this.

He is the protector. Now, now sheep,

sheep need a protector.

If we look at this, not just from the

picture of a shepherd. If I'm going to

understand who the shepherd is, I got to

understand what it's like to be a sheep

because that's my role. The sheep is is

honestly it's embarrassing. It's not a

compliment to say you're a sheep, right?

It's not it's not. Sheep are not smart.

Sheep are one of those one one of these

these things that I I look at and I go

like I understand micro evolution and

the like things change. We get given uh

environments and but but I have a

problem with macro evolution. This big

picture a biogenesis. We can get into

the nerdy science of it later. But the

whole idea OF LIKE THESE SUCKERS CANNOT

SURVIVE WITHOUT having a a person

constantly watching them diligently.

They have no defense mechanism out of

running away kind of slowly

and having a lot of fur on them. So

maybe they'll survive the first bite,

right? Like that this is it is this

crazy picture. THEY THEY THEY CANNOT

SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN. LITERALLY, they

lay down and and if they're too fat or

if they just lay down wrong on a hill,

they'll fall on their back and THEIR

FEET ARE STUCK up in the air and they

don't bleed. They just lay there until

they die.

This is sheep. They are. WE'RE GOING TO

go over this. It is It is crazy. Sheep

are not smart. In fact, I I I found a

video, a couple videos online that

highlight what it's like to be a

shepherd of sheep. So, when God said,

"Can we pull up these videos of of uh of

these sheep?" Here we go. We got a good

shepherd rescuing a sheep from this

ditch that they got. And the shepherd

gets down there, picks up. They're not

light. AND WHAT DOES THE SHEEP DO? AMEN.

THAT IS ME.

THAT IS YOU. THAT IS US. AND NOW HERE'S

THE PROBLEM. He's like, "Whatever. I'm

going to let HIM BE." HERE'S THE

PROBLEM. THIS AIN'T THE ONLY ONE. YOU

CAN FIND THESE VIDEOS. YOU CAN FIND

THESE VIDEOS. AND THE SHEPHERD, THIS

LITTLE SHEPHERD boy is learning how to

take care of his flock. And what does he

do? He rescues the sheep. Yes.

SWAN DIVES.

DIRECTLY into the ditch. Again, as we

watch these videos, recognize this is

the Lord is my shepherd. THIS IS MY

ROLE. THIS IS MY FUNCTION. THIS IS WHAT

I DO. THIS IS HOW I WHEN GOD SAYS, "I'VE

GOT YOU. Don't you worry. I will rescue

you." And then I go, "But I want to try

out that addiction one more time.

But I think this next relationship's

going to be a different one even though

I'm doing it the exact same way.

AND WE JUMP RIGHT BACK into the pit in

the problem. Thank you. We can take that

down.

Isn't that It's so like us. Do you see

that tendency within yourself? I go to

God. He saves me. He transforms me. He

frees me. And then I'm like that jail

cell actually was really familiar. I

think I'm going to go back.

And I head right back into the same old

things, the same old problems.

And I need a protector.

I need someone who will save me when I

have got myself in trouble.

There are stories of sheep. uh I think

it was 2005 there was a story that made

uh semi national international news of

sheep in Turkey

a herd of sheep 1,500

sheep is in this herd one sheep is

hanging out kind of near a cliff's edge

I don't know what it was I don't know if

it ate some some bad grass and it was

hallucinating with some THC I don't know

what it did it jumped jumped off the

edge of the cliff

and another sheep looks at and goes,

"Cool." Jumps off.

1,500 SHEEP JUMP OFF THE CLIFF.

400 of them die miraculously. The

majority survive because they got this

giant pillow at the bottom.

AND SO THEY THEY THEY'RE THIS IS WHAT

IT'S LIKE TO BE. AND THIS IS THE SAME

THING WHEN THE WORLD SAYS, "WORRY, WATCH

OUT. OH NO." AND WE'RE LIKE, "YES, GET

SCARED. GET ANXIOUS. THAT THING MATTERS.

I'm not enough. I NEED THAT THING IN

ORDER TO BE ENOUGH. I NEED THAT PERSON

IN ORDER TO BE ENOUGH. THAT'S WHAT THEY

TOLD ME. That's what I see there. That's

what their Instagram HIGHLIGHT REEL

LOOKS LIKE. I MUST." AND WE CAPTURE THIS

herd mentality in the same way.

We're sheep. And that's not a good

thing. It's not a good thing. See,

here's the thing. the sheep, the the

shepherd is a protector of the flock.

And when we think of protector, we think

of the wolves and the bears and the

things coming against the sheep and the

she the the the the thieves that are

coming in to steal some sheep. There

certainly are those things. And yes, the

shepherd protects from that. But you

know, the vast majority of the

protection that the shepherd provides is

the protecting the sheep from

themselves.

Sheep ruin everything. They they run out

on their own. They will eat a pasture

until it cannot survive on its own and

it dies and becomes desert land. There

is there's again and again and again

these sheep have no clue how to lead

have no clue how to live have or want to

be in herd and then gather off and do

their own thing and meet themselves in

the in the midst of a a wolf pack.

Right? Like the whole idea of a sheep of

protecting the sheep is actually more

about the protecting them from

themselves.

And man, how real is that? How I lead

myself into terrible places yet the good

shepherd leads me in good places.

So we see the shepherd is protector. We

see also that the shepherd is master.

The shepherd owns the sheep.

The shepherd leads the sheep. The

shepherd is responsible for the sheep.

And this is what I we love. We love God

as protector. Oh Lord, come save me.

But I don't know if I want to submit.

I don't know if I want to

actually

come underneath your shephering and your

leadership. I kind of still want to do

this my way. I see where you're taking

me.

That doesn't look that fun. I'm going to

go this direction. I'm pretty sure that

the grass is green over here. I'm pretty

sure that I can figure things out over

here. I think you clearly cannot see

what I can see. Let me do things my

direction. See, the reality is is I

belong to God. Both because he created

me and because he already bought me. He

paid for my life with the sacrifice that

he gave us on the cross. I am doubly

committed to him by default. And yet he

still says if you want to follow,

please. But if you don't, I'm not going

to force it. He's a good master. He's a

good shepherd. He will allow us to lead

ourselves if we refuse his leadership.

See, if if Jesus says Jesus says, "I am

the good shepherd," there is no such

thing as a good shepherd that lets the

sheep do whatever they want.

The sheep will kill themselves. It's a

it's damnation to them to allow them to

do whatever they want. They will not

survive. They are too we're we're too

fickle. We're too We're too problematic.

We sheep can't swim. They can't solve

any problems on their own. They can't

find the right places that they need.

They can't find the right grass that

they need. They can't find the right

water that they need. Guys, we're going

to get into some stuff as we go through

this series and you're going to be like,

"Wow, that's that's that's bad. That's

bad." We It's us. So he is our master

and we have to recognize him as that or

else we can't have him as protector.

And then we see number three, the

shepherd is comforter.

We're going to get in this series and

talk about what it's like for when sheep

encounter the shepherd and what happens

to them and how they act differently

around. But here's the thing. Shephering

takes tons of time.

It takes nights spent with sheep.

At times they will go on weeks long

journeys in order to get to good land.

Monthslong journeys if snow and winter

is coming in in certain areas of of the

world. it and it creates a bond with the

shepherd to the sheep where they trust

him but also where the where the love

the sheep have for the shepherd

never compares to his love for them

because he's the one sacrificing. We're

just the great grateful recipients.

See this the God as shepherd is this

deep comforter. And as you look at God

as shepherd throughout the Old Testament

and then the New Testament, one of the

most powerful pictures of this is

actually in the Holy Spirit

when he says, "I will send you." Jesus

says, "I will send you a comforter, a

counselor, a guide,

my spirit

that is will dwell and live in you and

be your protector, your master, and your

comforter."

John 10:14-16,

John 10:14–16

in the same passage, just a couple

verses later of what we just read, it

says, "I am the good shepherd. I know my

own sheep and they know me. It's a sign

of am I a part of his flock.

Do I know him? Does he know me?

Just as the father knows me and I know

the father, I lay my life down for my

sheep. And I have other sheep.

There's other sheep that aren't a that

aren't a part of this flock, that aren't

a part of this fold, that aren't a part

of us yet. I must bring them in. Also,

my heart breaks for these sheep that are

wandering, helpless, that are just out

doing things on their own, trying to

figure it out, and starving and dying,

and they're inevitably leading

themselves into destruction.

I must bring them and they will listen

to my voice so that there will be one

flock,

one shepherd.

Jesus says, "I'm the way, the truth, and

the life. There's only one way. There is

only one means of salvation. There is

only one savior. There is not a hundred

other leaders that I can have. I cannot

chat GPT my way to salvation and get

answers that I need. I cannot get I

cannot read the right books and figure

out the right self-help. I can't do any

of this stuff. I can't get the right

wealth. I can't get the right

relationships. I can't get the right

power. I can't numb my pain enough. I

need the good shepherd.

And I need to be part of his flock. I

need to know his voice and let him know

me. See, here's the here's a powerful

correlation I want to highlight here.

When a shepherd has his flock, he knows

his sheep. His sheep know him, but the

world doesn't. Everybody else doesn't

know. They don't know who's whose

shepherd this sheep is. And so what the

what the shepherd will do is he will

mark their ear

in a specific way. And the sheep hate

it. It's painful. It's not fun. And he

will mark their ear in a way so that

everybody else knows, "Oh, I know whose

sheep that is." See, when we follow him,

we get marked by his spirit, by the

fruit of his spirit, by the by the

identity and the picture of who he is

that we now give out to the world. We

are marked. We are changed. Our identity

is different.

Isn't that amazing? But here's I love

this. I want us to dive into this real

quick. Deuteronomy chapter 15.

Deuteronomy 15 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy is all about laws. It's all

about rules. It's all about uh of how

how things need to function within this

nation of Israel that is just beginning

from Mount Si. This is what God is

revealing to the nation through Moses.

And he's talking about slaves. Now, keep

in mind, we've talked about this before,

but slaves in scripture is vastly

different than what we think of as

slaves. Slavery in scripture was not the

dehumanizing

uh aspect that we think of. Think about

like if you could combine debt

collectors with uh like NFL combine and

trades, right? Like this whole idea of

of what that's that's what a bond

servant, that's what a slave was. And

this is how you treat a slave. This is

the law of how you treat his life. If

your brother, a Hebrew man or Hebrew

woman, is sold to you, he shall serve

you six years. And in the seventh year,

you let him go free. And when you let

him go free, you shall not let him go

empty-handed. You shall furnish him

liberally out of your flock, out of your

threshing floor, and out of your wine

press.

As the Lord your God has blessed you,

you shall give to him. This is like

working for an employer. And he's like,

"Well, looks like our contract's done.

Looks like things are done. So, do you

want part of the company before you

leave?

Do you want to just like grab whatever

you want and before you head out? Like

it's that level of generosity that's

just crazy. And then continue. You shall

remember that you were a slave in the

land of Egypt. The Lord your God

redeemed you. Therefore, I command you

this day. But this is where it gets

powerful. This is where we see this

correlation. If he says to you, if this

slave SAYS TO YOU, I WILL NOT go

because he loves you and because he

loves your household since he is well

off with you, then you shall take an all

and you shall put it through his ear

into the doorframe and he shall be your

slave forever and to your female slave

you shall do the same. This isn't all.

Can we get a picture here? This isn't

all. This is this is a uh a a piercing

mechanism for woodworking, for leather

work, for binding, things like that. And

it's this picture of going, you now are

part of this household. In the same way

that I nail the wood doorframe together,

and now that's part of the household. So

now you have become part of this

household. Why would this happen?

The slave HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO AND

DO WHATEVER HE WANTS, build whatever

wealth he wants, do what build whatever

family, build whatever thing that she

wants. It's is this is this freedom. And

yet

there's slaves will go, "No, I'm serving

a great master.

I'm a part of a wonderful flock. I'm a

part of I've got a good shepherd

and I'm done

running AND TRYING TO DO MY own thing.

I'm done trying to chase EVERY OTHER

OPTION. I'M DONE TRYING TO FIND MY OWN

FIELDS. I'M DONE TRYING TO CHASE MY OWN

HEALTH. I'M DONE trying to chase my own

victory, MY OWN WEALTH, my own

prosperity. I'M DONE DOING THAT. I now

say, "Make me part of your household.

Pierce my ear to your doorframe that I

may become yours forever. God,

I want to be part." This is this is this

picture, this beautiful picture of

saying, "God, I've experienced you. I've

experienced enough of you that I now go.

I am fully yours for my whole life. I'm

part of your work. I am your sheep. I am

your slave. You are my master. You are

my protector. You are my comforter.

And whatever you say, I give my yes

right now.

However you tell me to lead and to walk,

whether I like it or whether I don't,

I say I am yours forever.

It's this beautiful picture

of I quit. I give up on trying to do

things my on my own. I'm not going to do

it anymore.

And it's this this moment that I want to

give to us. If we can stand up in here,

this is a moment I want to give to us

to come to the altar

and to say,

"Here I am.

I've I've committed to you before. I've

served you before. Maybe you haven't at

all,

but saying

I will be yours forever.

Not because the master says, "Get over

here and I'm going to make you a

permanent slave. Get over here and you

have to be a part of my flock forever."

No.

He says, "You're free. Go do what you

want. None of my laws,

none of my guidance, none of my the

things that you feel like might be

restrictive. All the times that I say go

over here and you're like, I don't

necessarily see how that's beneficial to

me. I don't know if I necessarily like

that. That's a long way. I got to go up

over the mountaintop. I got to go all

through these uncomfortable areas.

That's not that fun. I'm not sure I

really want to do that. I kind of think

I want to go my direction and I'm done

with that. He says, "You can do that.

You can do that. I give you full

freedom.

I don't command you to do this. But if

you want, I invite you to say, "I am

yours forever.

I'm a part of your household.

And I will choose

to come under the good leadership of a

good shepherd.

This

is Christ.

This is Emmanuel.

This is Jesus

who comes and is not just residing in

the heavenlies

and looking at his creation, but he

comes

birthed as a child.

Walks in the dependency of humanness.

Experiences all the pains that we could

that we have experienced.

experiences all the shame, all the

mockery,

takes on pain, takes on beatings, takes

on injustice and wrongful convictions

and accepts it and says, "I am doing

this for you because the good shepherd

lays his life down for his sheep. He has

already paid the price for you." He

says, "Will you come in?

Will you?" And what I want to do is I

want to I just want to offer this

opportunity.

And if you say

I submit

to the the lordship of my good shepherd

and I want to commit. Would you do this?

Make me part of your household forever.

I COMMIT FOR MY WHOLE life to give my

best yes every moment that I can. I will

do it imperfectly. I won't do it great.

But if you say, "Pierce my ear. I am

yours." WOULD YOU COME ON DOWN? If you

say, "I am committed. I AM YOURS. I AM

WHOLLY YOURS. I AM DONE DOING MY own

thing. I'm done trying to chase my own

ways." If that's you, come on down. My

whole life. My whole life. If you've

made this decision before, you can still

come on down. If you've never made this

decision before, come on down. This is

your opportunity. Heavenly Father, I

pray as we are walking forward that we

would say, "I am yours. I submit. I

willingly choose to follow you." When

you offer freedom, when you offer me to

go away when you open up the gate and I

can leave, I will say, "No, I am yours.

I know who I am. I know how I'm marked.

I know how I walk. I know who your voice

is. I know that you know me. And I will

say yes. my whole life. I will partner

with your love. I will partner with your

protection. I will partner with your

work. I will partner with who you are. I

will partner with what you're doing. In

the mighty name of Jesus, I commit. I

commit. I am yours forever. Forever.

Forever. In your own words, would you

begin to share that? Can we scoot in? We

got a lot of people trying to come in.

Let's scoot in. Let's make some room

here up up at the altar as we respond

together. Mighty God.

Mighty God, I pray a blessing over each

person here, making a declaration of I

am yours.

I submit to you. I choose to commit to

you, Father. I choose to follow you and

to stay a part of your good leadership.

And I want to I want to take a second

here for those who have responded. I

believe there's a couple different

groups that are up here. First of all, I

believe there are those who have said,

"I've done this. I've given my life to

him before and I am committing forever

and I'm making this. I'm saying I am

yours. I have I've I've I've done this

six years as a slave and I'm saying now

please pierce my ear to your door frame.

I am committed. You can open up the

door. I will not leave." There are those

here and then there are those here who I

believe who are up here who are in this

room that are saying I haven't really

experienced being a part of the flock or

at least not recently.

And this is a moment that God is saying

to you and I want you to lean into this

very moment right here right now. If

this is something that God is speaking

to you for the first time ever and

you're saying I want to give him a shot

as shepherd. I want to give him a shot

as master, as protector, as comforter.

Maybe for the first time ever, maybe for

the first time in a long time. Maybe

you're like, I used to I used to follow

him and I've been that lost sheep for a

long time. But he's chasing you and he's

inviting you in and he says, "You are

that sheep that breaks my heart and I

want you a part of this flock."

If that's you and you're making that

decision for the first time ever, for

the first time in a long time, would you

just throw your hand up real quick? I

just want to see. Come on. I see it.

Let's go. You're not alone. You're not

alone. Who else? I see you right here.

Come on. You're not alone. That's it.

That's it. Can we get some of our I want

to get some of our prayer workers to

come on. Keep your hands up until we get

someone right beside you. I want to get

Who else do we got? We got one, two,

three. I want to make sure Can we get

some of our uh our our leaders, our

point people, team leads? Can we get

some of them surrounding anybody else?

Any other hands? First time. If you're

making a decision for Jesus for the

first time ever, first time in a long

time, throw your hand up. You don't even

have to be up here. And I want to make

sure because you you don't want to do

this alone. You're invited into a flock.

You're invited into a herd. You're

invited into a group. And sheep cannot

survive alone. And a shepherd doesn't

lead them alone.

And so I invite you into this family. In

the mighty name of Jesus, I pray over

each person. Would you pray with me?

God, in the we need you. We need you. In

this moment right here, we admit,

we confess

that we have gone our own way. We have

done our own thing. We have made our own

rules. We have gone in directions that

you have not led us intentionally or

unintentionally. But today, God, we say,

"I repent of that sin. I repent of my

selfishness. I repent of my ways. I turn

away from that and I go towards you and

I'm now walking towards you. I turn

towards you. Lord, would you embrace?"

May they know that your embrace of them

as you welcome them in and say, "I've

been waiting for you. I've been begging

for you. I've been looking for you. I've

been seeking you. Finally, you have come

a part of this family. Lord, I pray as

we admit and confess our sin.

Father God, as we then submit to your

truth and your wisdom, Father God, I

pray would your spirit so fill every

single person here at the altar. Would

your spirit fill each person that is

making this decision? And God, I pray

that this moment is changes everything.

this moment, nothing is the same. A

light switch gets turned on, their

entire lives are different. They can't

operate the same. They can't talk the

same. They can't consume the same stuff.

They can't take in the same media, Lord.

That everything begins to change. They

can't think of their relationships the

same. Lord, that they have been given a

new life, a new marking, a new identity,

and it is yours and yours alone. Lord, I

thank you. In the mighty name of Jesus,

we commit ourselves. We commit our

lives. We give you for until the day we

die.

We are yours. In the mighty name of

Jesus, all God's people said, "Amen."

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

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is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.