The Shepherd and Sheep: He Guides

Jesus, when I went through the fire, you were right there beside me, and you were always

on time.

Heavenly Father, we are very grateful to be here this morning. Lord, what a privilege

it is to worship you, to just turn off the volume of the things that are outside

those doors and to just be in this moment. And Lord, if there's anybody in this room

who's finding that difficult this morning, I pray that your Holy Spirit would come and

tune out the noise, the static. Lord, there might even be some things outside those doors

that are good that we're just anticipating this afternoon. But Lord, I pray that you would

help us to be in this moment, in this place, to visit with you. Lord, I thank you for a

congregation of people who are willing to go to the altar, unprompted, unencouraged, without

guilt to just already respond to you. And we ask that you would give us all that same

freedom to just simply be obedient and to be in your presence this morning. And Father,

as we get together and we get to sing and pray and read your word together and smile

at people across the room, God, I'm just reminded this morning of so many of our brothers

and sisters who aren't able to do that. Lord, I pray for Ms. Lella Reed as she continues

to deal with the loss of sis this week that you would give her a special touch. God, I pray

for Helen and Pat, Ralph, Ted, Ruth Cash, Carolyn Johnson, Kathy Finley, Tammy Scruggs.

Lord, I just pray for these people this morning and ask that your Holy Spirit would be as

president with them right now in this moment as you are with us in this service. God,

help us to open up our hearts this morning. Help us to let go and to surrender to you

the way you call us to. Jesus, we love you today. We thank you for what you did on the

cross for us. And I pray that you would help us to grow and mature in our walk with

you. We love you and thank you. And we ask all this in your precious and holy name, all

God's people said. You may be seated. We've been talking about how God is our shepherd

and we are his sheep. It's one of the most common analogies used in scripture to describe

our relationship with him. We focus on how God wants to feed us. We focus on how God

wants to provide for us. Last week we talked about how God wants to protect us. And today

we're going to talk about how God wants to guide us. And I think this is probably

the most important and most appropriate one to talk about on the last week because as

you talk about Jesus and you talk about a relationship with him, it's extremely difficult

to do this for a lifetime. You know, we had Sis's funeral yesterday, 103 years old, grew

up here at Graham Chapel. As far as I know, she attended for probably 103 years. She

was brought here today. She was born. She came until she couldn't absolutely come anymore.

For a hundred years she came. And to think about what it means to follow Christ and to

go through the seasons of life and the ebbs and flow of things and there's good times

and bad times and we're faced with different things and we struggle with temptations,

we struggle with sin, and allowing God to guide us is one of the most difficult things

that we will ever do because it requires us to do it for the length of our lives,

however long that may be. And that's hard because there are moments where we're super

excited about our relationship with the Lord and then there's some moments where

we're just kind of like, eh, I don't, maybe I don't feel it today. I don't feel as close

to the Lord today as I did or there's something going on. But to consciously make that

decision of crying out to the Lord and say, God, I want you to guide me. I want you

to show me. I want you to leave me along your paths. Someone will have Pastor Timmy

put Psalm 23 up on the screen. This is one of those verses, you know, we talked

about people love this verse or this chapter. They love to use this,

especially at funerals. But David wrote this when he was living. David wrote this

when things were good. He did not write this as somebody died and you're

dealing with this, this hard situation. David wrote this as far as we know in a

time of good. And in verse three, he says, and he's speaking about the Lord, he says,

he renews my strength, he guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.

And when you talk about how God wants to guide you, it's very important this

morning for us to comprehend and to wrap our minds around this idea that God isn't

interested in guiding you to success, to fame, to earthly goals, but he guides us

along paths of righteousness. He wants to guide us to a life of righteous living and holiness,

bringing honor to his name. And along that path, that is the path that leads to eternal life.

So when God wants to guide you, he's not doing it blindly. He's not just saying,

he's not flipping a coin saying, oh, just go here, just go there. It doesn't really matter.

There is a strategic plan. God is the only one who saw you the day you were born and has

saw the day that you would die and knows everything that's going to happen in between

and can lead you along the path that your life needs to be on to bring the most glory

and honor to his name to step into that eternal life that we all say that we desire.

And that's why we give our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ.

That's extremely difficult to do. And there are some seasons where we're going to be more willing

to submit than others, because on some days we understand, God, I don't know what to do

in this moment. And we're very willing to say, God, please guide me, show me what to do.

And on other days, we run out the door with excitement because we have plans and we have

goals, and we have purpose, and we have vision on this day. And in those moments,

we have a hard time really allowing the Lord to guide us in the way that we should,

because we're scared it's not going to be on the path that we want.

Because we know sometimes his path may be different from the one that we want.

In Matthew 9, verse 35 to 36, this is our focus passage for today.

Matthew 9:35–36

It's a very short passage, but I think it really just describes the attitude that God

has for us as people. But it says, as Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of

that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom,

and he healed every kind of disease and illness. And when he saw the crowds,

he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

So when God came in the flesh to walk among his people, don't you think about this? These

aren't just random people who did not belong to the Lord. These were Israelites. These were God's

chosen people whom God, they had been given the messages of God. They knew the stories of the

Exodus. They knew all the stories of the saints who had come before them and how God had worked

and lived their life. And as Jesus looked at God's people, he felt sorry for them because they

were helpless and lost like a sheep without a shepherd. And I thought, as I read that this

week, I'm like, what would God say? What would Jesus say if he walked to the sanctuary this

morning and he walked into our services and he looked at our people, God's people, and would he

be proud to say, look, there's my sheep, and they're good. They're obedient, they know my voice,

they follow me, they do what I say, or would he feel sorry for us like we're like a sheep

without a shepherd? And that hit hard because the truth is, is that God wants nothing more

than to guide us. That is his desire. Point number one, God wants to guide you.

Every one of us is lost. Every one of us is helpless. Every one of us is needy, whether we

realize it or not. The truth is, some of us realize it a little sooner than others, but there is a

point in time, and I'm sure many of you have had it in your life where you realized, I honestly

just don't know what to do. I don't know how I'm going to get out of this situation. I don't

know how to handle this. I don't know how to communicate with this person. I don't know how

to raise my kid. I don't know how to deal with my parent. I don't know how to deal with this.

Whatever it may be, like we've all had these realizations where we realize we're lost,

but we're all lost in so many different ways, whether we understand it or not.

And it's so important to realize God wants to guide you. When Jesus came to his own people,

he did not look at them and said, look at these bunch of idiots.

They don't know what they're doing. We've literally given them the law. We've given them everything.

We brought them out of Egypt. We parted the sea. We brought down Pharaoh with ten plagues. We

destroyed their power. We freed them. We drove out the people of the land. We gave them this

wonderful land filled with milk and honey. We did all this stuff for them, and these boneheads

can't make it work. That's not what he said. He comes to them, and he felt compassion for them,

because he knew they were like sheep without a shepherd. He wanted to lead them.

And one of the first things that we need to understand is Jesus wants to lead you.

He doesn't want to come and just be your wingman, and you're still in charge, and he's just there

whenever you're like, hey, mash this button for me, because that's inconvenient for me right now.

He wants to lead you. He wants to guide you. He wants to be in charge, and we have this calling on

our life to surrender to him and allow him to lead. Now in Psalm 78, this is a Psalm that's

written by Asaph, and Asaph is just recording all of these things that God has done for his

own people, and he's calling the readers of this Psalm to remember all the good things that

God has done for them, and he starts off with verse 52. He says, but he led his own people

like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness. He kept them safe,

so they were not afraid, but the sea covered their enemies. He brought them to the border of

his holy land, to this land of hills he had won for them. He drove out the nations before them.

He gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

His desire has always been to lead into God, and when you look at the people of Israel,

even the time where God did some of the most prolific moments that we read about in Scripture,

all the miracles that he did for the Israelites, remind yourselves this,

they were less than deserving. God takes them to the mountain. They're at the base of the mountain.

The presence of God descends on the mountain in such a powerful way the people are terrified

to even go near the mountain, so they say, Moses, you go. We don't want to die. You go

talk to God. You're the crazy one. You go do it. Moses goes up on the mountain. It takes

longer than they expect. By the time Moses comes back down with the law of God to give to the

people of Israel, they've already made two idols, the golden calves, and begin to worship them,

claiming these were the ones who led them out of Egypt. Immediate sin, immediate rebellion,

just boneheadedness. And yet, God still led them through the wilderness. For 40 years,

God led them. Now, I don't know about you guys. I don't know how you are, but

Hannah and I, we stay on our kids a pretty good bit. If you've seen them, you know why.

They're pretty wild. They got a lot of energy. But we stay on them a good bit. But even when

we're angry with them and we punish them, we don't starve them. We still feed them, right?

Because that's the right thing to do. They don't run around naked when we're mad at them. We still

give them clothes. They still get baths. They still have a bed to sleep in. They still have

all the things that they need because we love them even though we might be angry at them and

we could shake them pretty good sometimes. Whatever we do to them, we still provide them with all

that they need. In the midst of Israel's greatest sin, to turn against the God that they witnessed,

do all these amazing things for them, God led them through the wilderness for four years

with His very presence. A cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God guided them

every step of the way. They got to follow the visible presence of God. He never left them.

He guided them. He chastised them. He punished them. He did some things. He took them out

by the woodshed and He spanked them a few times, but He always was with them.

He gave them bread from heaven, and whenever the bread was not enough, He sent them quail for meat.

Whenever they couldn't find streams of water, He gave them waters from the rocks. Whenever they

came up on bitter streams, He purified the streams for them and gave them pure drinking water.

And He was always with them. And for 40 years for me, the greatest miracle in all that is as God

guides them and helps them walk through this wilderness journey before He'll let them enter

to the Promised Land. Their clothes nor their shoes ever wore out for 40 years.

They didn't have to make new clothes. They didn't have to buy new clothes.

They never wore out. God sustained them and walked with them. God wants to guide us. Even in the

midst of the worst decisions and stupidity we could ever make in our lives and following the Lord,

He wants to guide us. And we have to make the decision as to whether or not we will allow Him to.

Jesus came in the flesh because even after He walked them through Sinai,

walked them through the wilderness, He brought them into the Promised Land.

And all that time they had all that money and God did all these things. And then they were brought

to this point where Jesus came and He pitied them because they were like a sheep without

a shepherd and Jesus tended to every need. One of the most beautiful things about Christ

as you look at His ministry is that whenever He dealt with His own people,

the spiritual things are obviously more important because they're eternal.

But regularly Jesus would address the physical needs first and then He would address spiritual

needs following that. He cared for His people. He didn't just care for their spiritual lives.

He didn't just care that they would have eternal life. He cared that also they were provided for

and had what they needed. Food, shelter, health, wholeness, all those things God

was more than willing to provide. Point number two, God's guidance fits the season.

There are going to be many seasons of our life. If you're young, you got a lot of seasons to go.

And some seasons are going to be way harder than others. And none of us in this room are signing

up for hard seasons. I don't know about y'all, but when I was going to college,

when I went into the ladies office who signed you up for class next semester, I said,

what's the easiest classes I can take? I got asked, you want to do honors? I'm like,

absolutely not. Do you get a higher GPA? No, I'm not doing more work for the same,

but me and the easy stuff. Nobody's signing up for hard things.

But as Christians, one of the things that we should realize and should contemplate and

consider is that many times in the hardest seasons of our life, that's the times that

we grow the most with our Lord, right? There should be some amiens with that.

It's the hardest times in life that we tend to grow with God the most.

And in that hard season, as we're growing with God the most,

it's typically the time that God also gets glorified the most.

And at the same time, none of us want to experience hardship.

Everything within our physical nature seeks comfort. We want the easiest path,

we want the easiest road, we want comfort, we want things provided.

We don't want to have to work too hard. We want it to be enjoyable.

And that's why so many of us are like, I'm not quite sure I'm willing to let the Lord

guide me along his path, because I know some of his paths may be uphill instead of downhill.

They'll be hard, and I won't like it, and I'm out of shape.

But God wants to guide us, and his guidance fits the seasons.

I'm going to talk about my kids. I don't have many years before they'll

begin to realize I'm talking about them.

But as children, it's really funny raising kids because there's so many different

aspects of life, and there's so many different stages.

And especially as they're young, you have to start off very gentle and understanding.

They literally don't know anything. And at some point, you begin to realize

they know more than what you think they do. And then at some point,

you have to realize they know everything that you've taught them.

So then if they're bad, it's your fault.

And as they're young, we're a lot more gentle and merciful.

In Isaiah chapter 40 verse 11, the prophet Isaiah wrote,

Isaiah 40:11

he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms,

holding them close to his heart, and he will gently lead the mother sheep with her young.

And it's a beautiful imagery of God being very gentle and leading us and holding us and carrying

us. And there are times and there are seasons where God can wrap you up like a small child

or a small lamb and carry you and hold you and love you along the paths of life that you're on.

And there will be other times where God may have to take you to the woodshed

and wear you out a little bit.

You know, in this season of life that we're in now, Perry,

I don't know what else to call it. I call it the back of the next stage,

where this was my least favorite time of life as a kid growing up,

where you're old enough that you've been taught basically all the things that you should know

on how to behave. And even if it hasn't been clearly laid out to you, you should be old

enough and smart enough to kind of figure it out and kind of read the room and understand

the situation as what you should and shouldn't do. And you're also at the perfect height where

your dad can just reach out and just grab, not the front of the neck, the back of the neck.

Okay, there's a big difference between those two. Don't grab the front, you go to jail for that.

But the back of the neck, it's a great tool. But perfect height, you can just reach out and

grab the back of the neck and you just begin to squeeze a little bit. And then your kid's

like a baby kitten in there, because it's extremely painful. But Perry's at that stage

right now. And I reach out and I grab him. And it was my least favorite stage. I know

it's really hard on him, but sometimes you just can't be like, stop acting like a crazy person.

You just give them a little squeeze and remind them, this ain't the time or place.

And he'll screw it down a little bit. There will be a day where he's beyond that stage.

There'll be a day where my grip's no longer going to be strong enough to squeeze his

back of his neck and he'll be taller. It's going to be weird reaching up here to do that.

And all those things. There's different seasons of life, different seasons. And a lot of times

our choices and our maturity and our willing to submit and surrender will determine a lot of the

ways that God chooses to lead us. And I've heard this said, and I think it's a great example.

So many times, you know, God gives us courses. There's things that God wants you to learn.

There's things he's trying to teach you. He's given you courses. And you know what happens

when you fail a course? You got to retake it. There's nothing more miserable than having to

retake a course you already hate and you've already had to take it before. And then you

got to take it again. But if you fail the course, God will give you the course again to take it.

And God will keep giving you the course until one day you eventually learn from it and you pass

the course and you learn what he's trying to teach you so you can move on to the next course.

Or you'll just keep retaking the course. And a lot of times we as people, we just get stuck

in taking the same course over and over again. We don't learn anything. We just refuse.

But God's guidance fits the season of our life. Sometimes it'll be retaking the course.

Sometimes it'll be the woodshed. Sometimes it'll be giving you a gentle

reminder of, hey, you know better. You better think again about what it is that you're doing.

In Hebrews chapter 12 verses 10 through 11, the author of Hebrews writes,

Hebrews 12:10–11

For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.

Now, my discipline is not perfect. There are many mistakes that I make as I discipline my kids.

Sometimes I'm too hard. Sometimes I'm not hard enough.

Sometimes I'm tired. And in that moment, I'm like, dude, just get, you know, just get leave.

I don't want to deal with this right now. Sometimes you just send them on and they get

away with it. So you, cause you just can't process it in the moment.

My discipline is not perfect. Our parents, we discipline and you will discipline the best

that you know how. But God's discipline is always good for us so that we might share

in his holiness. You go back to Psalm 23. He guides you along paths of righteousness,

bringing honor to his name and his discipline leads you into holiness.

Every time God moves in our life or he guides us or he maneuvers us,

he's leading us to a way that brings us closer to him.

And it's not through worldly riches and it's not through earthly blessings.

It's not through temporary things. He does it through eternal things.

If you want to be where Jesus is, you have to follow his path.

The only way you find eternal life is through following Christ.

And he wants to guide you along that path. In verse 11, no discipline is enjoyable while

it's happening. It's painful. But afterward, there will be a peaceful harvest of right

living for those who are trained in this way. And this morning, I'll be the first one to tell

you when I was little and I was getting my neck squeezed and I was being disciplined,

there was never a part of me like, Oh, I love this so much.

You hate every minute of it, whether you're a small kid or you're an adult getting chewed

out by your boss, no matter what the situation of circumstances, we never enjoy being disciplined.

We never like it because it's humiliating because we have to acknowledge that we've

done wrong and then just take whatever's coming to us because someone in authority over us is

coming down on us for what we've already done wrong. And most of the time we know that we've

done wrong. We don't have to be told. And it's just it stings to just keep on hearing it

or to have to suffer from it. It's never enjoyable. But I can honestly say,

as an adult, I'm so glad that my parents disciplined me. I did not enjoy it. I used to tell them,

you, I hate you. You hate me. You don't love me. You wouldn't hit me if you love me.

All the stuff that every kid's ever said, I used to say, say, man, I'm so thankful they

disciplined me. As an adult, I can see some of my friends who never got disciplined.

They literally got to do whatever they wanted to do. Their grades didn't matter.

Their behavior didn't matter. And it was so frustrating not being allowed to go do certain

things and getting away with certain things in the moment. So thankful. Now,

totally different realm of life whenever we are being disciplined and understanding that,

yes, it may be painful, but God is guiding you to something better.

But afterward, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those

who are trained in this way. You're not thinking about, in this moment,

we need to be thinking about what God is leading us to, a harvest of right living.

Sometimes God guidance is gentle. Sometimes it's a little tougher,

but it's all depending on our reaction and our willingness to submit to Him.

In Proverbs 3, verses 11 through 12, Solomon wrote and said,

Proverbs 3:11–12

My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline, and don't be upset when He corrects you,

for the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom He delights.

And from a physical perspective, we look at that, and I can tell you this as a parent,

I can tell you this as a coach, I can tell you as a teacher, and I can tell you as a pastor.

If someone corrects you, it's because they believe that you are capable enough

to make the change and understand the wrong and then to proceed to do better.

And a lot of times as younger people, if people correct us, we hate that,

because it's demeaning. Like, we feel like they think less of us,

or they don't like us because they're correcting us. No, if someone says something to you,

it's literally because they think and believe that if I say this, if I say this,

they are capable of making a change and learning from what I'm about to say to them.

It's one of the greatest privileges that you can have for someone to actually correct you.

But you know who people don't correct? The ones that they don't believe,

because I can look at kids on a ball field, I could look at kids in the classroom when I was

teaching, and there are people that I've dealt with in ministry over the years,

and I know there's no need for me to waste my breath for that person.

Because a lot of times it's like, number one, they do not want you to say anything to them.

And whatever you say goes in one ear out the other, it's literally a waste of your breath.

The other times it may be they're not smart enough to comprehend.

They're not talented enough on the field to do what you're asking them to do.

It could be various different reasons, but the people who actually correct you are the ones who

care enough to say what needs to be said, to steer you in the right direction.

That's the God that we serve.

He does not want to lead you and guide you because he wants to suppress you

and make you feel terrible about where you are and the decisions that you've made

and where your life is in this current state.

He wants to lead you and guide you because he loves you

and he knows what you're capable of, what you can understand, what you can do,

because he's the one that created you.

And not only does he see your past where you've came from,

but he also sees your future and where you have the potential to go.

And he very much wants to lead you along his paths of righteousness

to your full potential for his eternal glory.

That's God's desire for our lives.

And so when we say don't shy away from the Lord's discipline,

don't shy away from his leadership and his guidance, accept that and welcome it in.

Point number three, the guidance is easier when we are willing.

And if you've ever been in situations in life where you've had to deal with people

and train people and show people stuff,

it is extremely frustrating when you're dealing with someone who thinks that they already know.

And they're in this moment where it's like you can literally watch it,

or a lot of people will tell you, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.

And they'll just stop you before you can even finish like, okay,

they know you can't teach them anything.

Guidance and direction and discipline is so much easier

when we are willing to let it happen.

There's no better privilege than to sit down with someone in a classroom who says,

explain this to me, I want to know this more.

No better privilege than to sit down with someone in church and says,

hey, show me, teach me, disciple me, I want to know more.

On a field, teach me how to do this, help me to understand this

so I can understand what to do better next time.

Greatest privilege ever to work with someone like that

because you can do something with that.

You can grow that.

The person who is willing to be shaped and molded,

especially by the Lord, is the person whose future is infinite

because you're putting your life and your path in the hands of an infinite God

to go far beyond what you could ever dream, think, or imagine.

He wants to guide you.

He wants to lead you.

In Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6, I've told many of you this,

Proverbs 3:5

this is my favorite verse.

When I first got saved, I didn't know the Bible.

My sister was going to Clemson University at the time.

She had some baseball players for the university

stand in the apartment beside her.

And when I got saved, I'd just become a Christian,

and I was just super, I just didn't know anything.

And one of them signed a baseball, and on that baseball,

it said Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

I was like, what's that?

So I started looking it up, and I read this verse.

I'm just like, dude, that's my verse.

Because I don't know what to do.

I have no clue where I'm going, no clue how to make a decision.

So this is pretty good.

But it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

So simple.

So easy to understand that if you're sitting here today,

and you're just like, I don't know what to do with my life.

I don't know what to do with a job, career, school, whatever.

As an adult, I don't know what we're going on.

I don't know how to raise my kids.

Whatever career, whatever.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not depend on your own understanding.

And that's really hard.

And I'm going to tell you this morning,

the older you are, the harder it's going to be.

Because the older you are, the more age you have,

the more wisdom you have, the more experience you have.

And you're going to feel like you should know,

and there's going to be times where you think,

I feel like I'm old enough and mature enough

and wise enough to make this decision.

And what Solomon says is, don't depend on your own understanding.

Spiritual things are not worldly things.

There's millions of things in the Bible

that did not make sense according to the world's standards or laws.

You with me?

We're not dealing with a God that makes sense.

We're dealing with a God that defies all odds

and all probabilities and everything

that you could possibly imagine.

So you can't depend on your own understanding

because it's limited and God is unlimited.

If you seek His will in everything you do,

He will show you which path to take.

And whether you're a kid or a teenager, a young adult,

adult or senior adult this morning,

do not fall into the trap of thinking that you know.

One of the most eye-opening things to me

of serving the Lord and being in ministry is,

I literally don't know.

There's so many things that I do not know.

There's so many things I don't know about scripture.

There's so many things I don't know about God.

There's so many things I don't know about doctrine.

And there's so many things I don't know

about how to run a church.

There's so many things I don't know about life.

So many things I don't know about.

I don't know.

One of the greatest ways that we can learn from the Lord

is simply get to the point where we stop depending on ourselves

and we just trust in God.

That childlike faith that Jesus is talking about

that say, you know, I don't know, but God does.

And he can God and he can work and he can move.

But the question is, is will you let him be your shepherd?

Will you let him lead you?

You know, a couple weeks ago, I had the shepherd staff up here

and it had the crook in it.

And we talked about how the shepherd just kind of reach out

and they would grab the lamb or whatever animal it is by the neck

and they would pull them back to the path that they want them to be on.

And for some of us, you might be sitting here this morning

and the Lord might just be reaching out

putting the crook around your neck and pulling gently

because you just need to be brought back to where you're supposed to be.

Our kids, we get out of the car, we go somewhere.

We got to rein them in constantly.

They got so much energy and they're just excited to go.

And a lot of times we'll go somewhere out in public

and they'll start running ahead of us and there's three

and they go in three different directions.

And I'll say, hey, you guys know where you're going?

Nope. Then you better follow somebody who does.

Like get in line, follow us, know where you're going.

You can't just run off because we can't get to where we're going

if you just run off in different directions.

Sometimes the Lord just wants to guide us back

to where we're supposed to be to show us where we need to go.

The more we resist that, the harder He has to pull.

Don't know if you ever thought about that before.

The more you resist, the harder it is to pull.

Growing up when we had cows,

there were some cows that you could just leave.

I mean, like they would literally just follow you around.

We had a bull one time.

You could pet it.

It was like the nicest bull that you could ever imagine having.

You could just leave that thing right.

It would go wherever you want to go.

And then we would have some cows and calves.

It was just like you almost had to choke them to death

to get them to do whatever it is that you needed to do in that moment.

You decide that.

You decide how God is going to lead your life.

If He's going to gently lead you along His passive righteousness

or if He has to turn up the pressure to continue to pull

or if He has to really yank on that thing

to get you to go where He wants you to go.

But here's the thing.

He's not going to pull you to Himself

if He doesn't believe that you have the potential

or the desire or the need to serve Him in His life, in your life.

If He believes in you, He died for you,

He's pulling you to His path because He has a purpose and a plan for you.

You really need to worry whenever He stops pulling.

The question is, is will you let Him be your shepherd?

Let's pray.

Father God, thank You again for this day

and for everything You bless us with.

Thank You for all the many good things You've put in our lives.

Lord, I know for my life there's been seasons

where I have not let You lead as well as others.

And Lord, I have made things a lot more difficult for myself in them.

But in the times where everything else in the world was falling apart

and I simply let You lead, Lord, life was so much better.

So I pray, God, as we come to You this morning,

You would help us to come humbly before You and to surrender

and allow You and invite You in to lead us, to teach us.

And Lord, to even discipline us because You discipline everyone that You love.

Lord, help us to surrender to Your will and Your ways.

We love You and thank You.

Ask all this in Jesus' name, amen.

You're dismissed.

Thank you, guys.