So that's going to be a fun text right there.
So if you don't have a Bible, grab one on the
back tables back there. You'll want to mark it
up. There's a lot of stuff to write all over.
This is a really cool, well, you know, all of
Scripture is good, but there are some times where
you're like, oh, that was a lot more fun to go
dig into as a pastor. At least that's where I
live. But before we get into that, I want to
just take a minute. Talk about us as a church.
So we say around here at Radiant that who God
is and what he's done defines who we are. Meaning
who we are as a church, who we are as individual.
It all goes back to looking at who he is. And
then we say it defines our identity. It gives
us who we are. Even though maybe we don't always
live that way. In fact, most of the time we don't,
and actually this text is really helpful because
it kind of talks about us and our struggle a
little bit. But we want to live into who God
has made us to be. And then from there, that
defines how we live. And so we say around here,
just to help get some handholds, that we are
a family of servant missionaries who are a bunch
of disciples. And so we use four different handholds.
Family, servant, missionary, disciple, to kind
of describe our identity in Christ. And then
if that's true, well, then how does a family
live? A good family, not a broken, jacked up,
dysfunctional one. And so then we say, okay,
how does a family of servants live? And the reason
we say it that way is because Jesus came as...
and modeled what it means to be a servant and
so our identity statement says that that's how
we are to live but we don't naturally live that
way do we we don't live as servants we live starting
with myself finding ways to be served not the
other way around but God didn't design us that
way he actually created us to have a servant
mindset And so we say around here that we don't
want to use you to get some sort of ministry
done. We want this ministry or whatever opportunity
you're serving in to help be a part of what actually
fuels and helps get you closer and closer to
being like Jesus. And so your serving is not
about just help finding a need. Your serving
is really about you living into how God has made
you. So my encouragement would be, is that if
you're not finding you don't have a place where
you're sacrificially serving in the church in
this family then i wouldn't challenge you to
move that direction there's not a guilt thing
going on here we just want to challenge because
we know that it actually is for you it's good
um so you know i and i one of my kids years ago
was serving in the church and i won't call it
out because i try not to make object lessons
out of my children um but he was serving and
he said i said something about thanks he goes
no i i love it it's really good for me and i
thought you know that's exactly what that's the
attitude we want and so i just but at the same
time i want to make sure you understand like
opportunities that are in front of you so i'm
going to give you a couple and then but first
of all there's this thing in the back step that
says next steps If you have an idea, a way that
you might serve, write it on there. Turn it in.
We can help you get plugged in. Here's just a
few ways. Every week, because we're a portable
church, we set up and we tear down. And every
week, there's maybe a handful of people that
help. So we can always use help in that area.
We could use help pulling the trailer to showing
up here. Make it consistent. We could use help
with Radiant Kids, always needing help there.
And here's a new one that we're going to begin
to unpack. But if God has given you a gift in
praying, we're actually going to begin to launch
a more focused, and this is really a behind -the
-scenes ministry, a way for you to pray and go
before the Lord. So if you're interested in any
of those, please let that be known. All right,
church, ready to go? Let's pray and ask God to
help us understand these 18 verses that are really
cool. So we're going to go there together. Why
don't you pray with me and we'll unpack this
together. Lord, we're coming to the end of the
summer and life has been busy and our worlds
are spinning. And so I just pray right now as
we open your word that by your spirit you will
calm In a sense, even our minds, to help us see
and understand. Lord, give us kind of that same
presence that when you get up on top of a mountain,
you just look out over the creation and you're
going, wow, so beautiful. Help us to have that
posture as we look at your word today and go,
wow, look at what you're putting in place. Lord,
meet us this morning, right where we sit, and
of all of our stuff that we're wrestling with
or dealing with. And we pray that by your spirit,
you'll do the work in us. Amen. All right, John
10. So if you've been with us for a while, we've
been in John for a while, haven't we? And we're
going to be there for a lot more because there's
more to go. It's an awesome book. But if you've
been here for a while, you've kind of probably
picked up on the main theme of John. And so John
is all about believing in Jesus as your Savior
and Lord, but you don't stop there because a
lot of times we've kind of heard, well, that's
a good thing to get to know God, but it's actually
about you doing believing in Jesus as Savior
and Lord, but actually letting your roots go
deep into that. So no matter where you're at
in your journey, this is a pretty important for
us to walk through John. So where we're at today
in John chapter 10 is a continuation of John
7 through 9. So what I mean by that is there
was an event that was happening that started
in chapter 7 that is going to kind of take us
through, and today is kind of the block of time
where it ends the event, okay? So all those things,
if you go back and you read 7 through 18 and
10. It's all one event. And it was called the
Festival of the Shelters or Booths. And it was
a time for Israel, the children of Israel, to
come back and remember what God had done. Remember
that his provision and his protection, when they
were children of Israel, they were children walking
around and being led out of Egypt into the desert,
and God was their provider, his protector. All
of that is the celebration. And it was a party.
And so all of this chunks, even though we've
been here for multiple weeks, is happening in
a week period of time. And it's all, everybody's
attention is highly focused on this past history
and what God has done. And so what Jesus does
is he shows up on the scene. He's already a person
of great controversy at this point, but he boldly
makes these amazing claims about himself. during
this festival. He says this, a few of these,
he says about himself, is if anyone is thirsty,
if anyone is really like thirsting for something,
like he says, come to me and let him drink. He
says, literally, he's saying, I'm living water.
I'm the thing that will quench your thirst. By
the way, that wasn't planned. I was thirsty.
And then he says, I am the light of the world.
And so he contrasts and he says, in this dark,
jacked up world, I am the light of that world.
So as he makes these claims, what he's doing
is he's saying, I am the Messiah. I am, in a
sense, God. And you can imagine, some people
are like, wow, that's cool. But most are like,
whoa, that's a big claim. Now what we see in
this next story is Jesus does it again. But he
uses a different metaphor. He uses a metaphor
of a shepherd with sheep. It's a metaphor that
if you've been around the church long enough,
I'm sure you've heard. But you've got to understand
there's a lot behind this that you and I just
don't get. So one of the things that was rolling
around in the minds of the people during this
festival, What would become kind of conversation
would have been, it's kind of like Israel was
like this flock of sheep and God was its shepherd
who protected them, who led them and provided
for them. You got the image in your mind? For
the children of Israel during this time that
they're looking back on and going, oh yeah, we
were like a bunch of sheep that needed help,
that were a flock, that God was our big shepherd.
So John 10, Jesus does this crazy thing. He tells
them that he is the good shepherd. Now, I know
you probably heard this verse, but don't let
that one just slide over your head. Like, this
is a pretty significant statement by Jesus. And
there's going to be three parts of this little
chunk of 18 verses. Now, write these down as
you go, okay? Three parts, verses 1 through 6.
We're going to look at this relationship that
a shepherd has with his sheep. The relationship
between the shepherd and the sheep. And then
the second thing from 7 to 10 is the shepherd's
provision and protection for his sheep. His provision
and protection for the sheep. And then third,
we're going to peer into the heart, the shepherd's
heart for his sheep. Okay, three chunks. So let's
just work our way through this. The shepherd's
relationship with his sheep. Look at, we'll start
with verse 1 and go there. It says this, truly
I tell you, anyone who doesn't enter the sheep
pen by the gate but climbs in some other way
is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by
the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gate
Keeper opens it for him and the sheep hear his
voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he
leads them out. And when he has brought them
all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The
sheep follow him because they know his voice.
They will never follow a stranger. Instead, they
will run away from him. Because they do not know
the voice of the stranger. And Jesus gave them
this figure of speech, but they did not understand
what he was trying to tell them. So he gives
them a figure of speech. He gives them a metaphor,
right? And when Jesus is, he's talking about,
he's using this metaphor that they really understood.
When Jesus is talking about sheep, he's talking
about you and me. So we've got to get that really
solid, okay? So we miss this. We really miss
this metaphor in our culture because those that
Jesus was speaking to, they totally got this.
Why? Because their whole world was sheep. Sheep
were in everything. It's kind of like me saying,
you know, If I use an illustration of a bicycle
or a car, be like, yeah, I get it. I know what
they do. I know they work. I know you got to
change the oil. I know you pedal. You know, whatever
it is, you understand a bicycle or you understand
the way a car works. It's in your everyday life.
That's what sheep was. In fact, even more so
because sheep are with them all the time in so
many different facets. So let's try to understand
more about the sheep for a minute. And we're
just going to look at the sheep, we're going
to look at the shepherds, and we're going to
say, okay, what's this relationship look like?
So the sheep, so just remember, as we go through
what these sheep are, use your imagination because
he's basically saying, sheep, you. Shepherd,
me. That's how Jesus is rolling with it, okay?
So we got to first understand what he's talking
about when he says sheep. Okay, so sheep. And
some of this, guys, I almost thought about just
throwing this out as a discussion question, but
again, I don't, we're not really fair when it
comes to sheep. First of all, sheep are not smart.
Oh man, sheep are not smart. They're not. In
fact, of all the different livestock that you
would take care of, they're not the smart ones.
In fact, It reminds me of my bunny, but I think
my bunny, not mine, by the way, it belongs to
my wife and my son. We have a rabbit, and he's
not very smart. And he's predictable because
he's not smart. But I think he might be smarter
than some of the sheep. Like, pretty crazy. Again,
who are the sheep? Me. I'll start with me. I'm
not that smart. Okay, number two. They're really
good at wandering off. In fact, sheep are known
just to wander. No purpose. They wander away.
And so they wander off and they get lost and
not even know that they're lost. Oh, something
new over here. Again, use your imagination. This
is what Jesus said. It's not my story. It's not
my words. I'm just helping. I'm just the deliverer
of this message. So here's the reality. He's
calling you and me. Well, guess what? You're
prone to wander off, Caleb. They were timid and
stubborn at the same time. Timid and stubborn.
Sheep are timid and they're stubborn. I don't
raise sheep. That's what I just, all the research
I show says that about sheep. They wander off.
They're not that smart. They get lost. They're
timid and they're stubborn. And it kind of reminds
me of a video that almost, I guarantee most of
you have seen. So I've asked, I want to show
it. See if you've seen this before. If not, get
on YouTube and just put up sheep, stupid sheep
videos. It comes up, okay? Remember this one?
We could watch it like five times and be like,
what did he just do? So he gets help. He pulls,
show it again. Like he pulls him out of the ditch.
Like how, first of all, how did he get in there?
I would give him some grace there. I mean, maybe
he just fell in accident. He wasn't paying attention.
But no, let's do this again. Wink. There you
go. Okay, you got to have a bit of sense of humor.
This isn't me. They're talking, I do that right
there. Sheep are also absolutely defenseless.
They don't know how to protect themselves. They
can't defend themselves against wolves or any
other thing. I like to say that, like you and
me, we're one step away from stupid all the time.
So, Sheep need help. This is an important point
of this text right here. Sheep need help. They
need a shepherd. They don't need a pep talk.
They don't need a class on how to be a smarter
sheep. They need a shepherd. This is what Jesus
is saying. There is a need for a sheep need a
shepherd. Now, let's turn our attention more
to the shepherd. Thank you. Shepherding was an
intimate occupation. Shepherding, you didn't
just drive your sheep. Now, a lot of times when
we think about shepherding, we have illustrations
in our mind of maybe a dog running around like,
Joe, you guys have a shepherd dog, right? A dog
that actually, and it goes and bites the backs
of the heels or butt or whatever and herds them.
Or somebody's really lazy and they do that with
a four -wheeler. and they've got a huge flock,
and they're pushing the sheep. That is not what's
going on here. So, in fact, it's the opposite.
The way that it went for them is that the shepherd
would get out in front of his sheep, and he would
lead the sheep. It was a very different way.
It was a Jewish -Palestinian style of shepherding,
even to this day. In fact, I was talking to Bob
about this, and I think you were telling me something
about when you were in, was it Afghanistan? And
he saw this happen where the shepherd made something
like, and all of a sudden his sheep went, and
right to him, and he led them out. This is what
is going on. The shepherd would be with his flock
in such a way that he would know them so intimately
and so like he was with him all the time. And
he knew each sheep. He'd give him a name and
he would say, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. All those
sheep had names and he could call their name
and they would come. Highly personal occupation.
The sheep depended fully on the shepherd. 24
-hour day relationship. Not a little bit here,
a little bit there. No, the shepherd and the
sheep had a very close relationship. Not because
the sheep were really good at it, but because
the shepherd never let go. Again, this is a metaphor
for us to attach yourself to Jesus. It was a
relationship. The shepherd's relationship with
his sheep was one of familiarity. It says in
verse 3, he calls his own sheep by name. Familiarity.
Verse 4, they know his voice. They knew his voice.
And different from anybody else's voice. Jesus
is describing how much he cares for us. He knows
us by name. He knows our characteristics. And
we hear his voice and we follow him. He knows
you. Chase, he knows. all the pieces about you.
He knows you, Joel. He knows everything good,
bad, and ugly about you. He knows your struggles.
That's what he's describing. And before we get
to move into chapter 7, I want us to go back
to verses 14, jump back to 14 and 15. Because
we see again this intimate, familiar relationship
between the shepherd and the sheep. John 14,
10 verse 14 says, I am the good shepherd. I know
my own and my own know me. And just as the Father
knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my
life for the sheep. Now this is crazy. Jesus
knows us so well. He knows us so well. He compares
it with his relationship with his Father. He
knows everything about you. How well does the
Father know the Son? That he's one with. Think
about it that way. How well does he know the
Father, the Son, the Father, and the Son? How
well do they know each other? That they are one
with the Triune God? There is no deeper level
of intimacy and familiarity with the relationship
of the triune God. And he says, that's how I
know you. Jesus says, I know my sheep. Just as
the Father knows me, and I know the Father, Jesus
says, I know you. I know you. Now... That can
bring a lot of different emotions up, can't it?
Wow, he knows me. That's so reassuring. Or, oh
no, he knows me. That's scary. But he knows you.
This intimate knowledge of you goes way beyond
birth. David says in Psalm 139, starting in verse
15, my bones were not hidden from you when I
was... made in secret. When I was formed in the
depths of the earth, your eyes saw me. When I
was formless, all the days were written in your
book and planned before single one of them began.
What is he saying? God knows you. He knows you
before you're ever born. Jesus knows you. He
knows your past. Jesus knows your failures. Jesus
knows your doubts. He knows your hurts. He knows
your longings. He knows your personality. He
knows your strengths. He knows your weaknesses.
He knows your highs. And he knows your lows.
He's that kind of God. He knows everything about
you. And he loves you. And he's willing, even
in the midst of knowing all about you, he's willing
to lay down his life for you. And his sheep know
his voice. We hear his voice and we respond.
We follow him, as verse 4 says. How do you know
somebody's a follower of Jesus? They know. They
follow. So the first thing we see is the shepherd's
relationship with the sheep, right? Now number
two. and this is in 7 through 10, we see the
shepherd's provision and protection for his sheep.
Look at verse 7. Jesus said to them again, because
they didn't get it the first time, truly I tell
you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came
before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep
didn't listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone
enters by me, he will be saved, and I will come
in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes
only to steal, kill, and destroy. And I have
come so that you may have life and have it in
abundance. All right. So when Jesus is saying,
I am the gate for the sheep, it's the same thing
as saying, I am the shepherd. it appears a little
different when you read it like that but he's
literally saying the same thing he's saying so
here's what's going on with that okay at night
the sheep would be put into a pen or a fold and
the shepherd would then lay so there'd be like
a big and a small door and the shepherd would
lay down in front of that door and sleep and
at night when the sheep were all in this fold
this is what he would do And nothing could get
out and nothing would come in. He is the gate.
The shepherd is the protector and the provider
of his sheep. And when you come to the gate,
you are saved. And you're safe. That's the picture.
He says, I look at you. I come as a sheep and
I come up and, oh, I'm safe and I'm protected.
Verse 10, he says, from what? Protected from
what? Well, verse 10 tells us. There's a word
there that says a thief. And that's actually,
a thief is a particular type of thief. He's talking
about Satan in this text. A thief. Different
translations would put the thief, meaning singular.
The thief, right? He's talking about Satan. So
let's just take a minute. A few things about
Satan. In a lot of churches, I don't know what
it is, but we don't talk about Satan. We don't
even know what to do with this. You know, like
we have this image in our head that there's a
little angel and they're at war with each other
in our heads, right? So here's a few things about
Satan that the Bible tells us. He's real. It's
not a fairy tale thing. Satan is real. He's a
fallen angel who stood in the presence of God.
And really ultimately wanted to be God. He was
then cast out. Satan is full of sin. He's very
powerful. And he's brilliant. He's smart. He's
not dumb. He's hateful. His mission, and it says
it right there, is to steal, kill, and destroy
you. His mission in your everyday life as a sheep
is to steal, kill, or destroy you. He wants to
take you out. He wants to make you ineffective.
He wants to steal your joy in the Lord. He wants
to take that away. He wants to bring into your
life doubt. So we know what he wants to do, right?
That's the enemy that... is real. He wants to
steal, kill, and destroy your holiness. He wants
to steal, kill, and destroy your purpose. He
wants to steal, kill, and destroy your sense
of urgency around the gospel. He wants to steal,
kill, and destroy the importance or priority
of a church in your life. He wants to steal,
kill and destroy unity in the body of Christ.
And you could go on and on and on, and everything
is about everything against God and his purpose.
He wants to get you. So how does he do it? What
are Satan's methods? Well, first of all, we know
that he's sneaky. He's sneaky. We know that he's
a liar, that he takes the truth of God and he
twists it. And probably one of the most powerful
tools, methods for Satan is that he tempts you.
He tempts you with sex. He tempts you with money
and with power and control and sometimes all
of them at once. What is he doing? His method
is he's an accuser. He looks at you and says,
you're worthless. He brings condemnation. You
know the difference between the work of the Holy
Spirit in your life as a Christian and the enemy?
The Holy Spirit brings conviction. The enemy
brings condemnation. He's the accuser. Satan
is not, though, and this is important to understand,
Satan is not omnipresent. That means everywhere
at all times, he's not. Satan is not, meaning
all -powerful and over all things. He is not
that. He is not omnipotent, meaning knowing everything
about everybody at every moment. You know, all
three of those things are reserved for God himself.
You don't have to fear the enemy. Daniel Adam
Flint said that Satan is not the yin to God's
yang. There's a difference. God is here, way
up here in power, and Satan is down here in power.
Big difference. And so, Satan has limited power.
He does not have to control. And if you are in
Christ, you don't have to be controlled by him.
Satan is defeated, and he's a loser. And on the
cross, his head was crushed by Christ. On the
cross. It predicts that happening back in Genesis.
On the cross, Jesus conquered Satan, sin, and
death. And we have victory in Jesus. He can't
take your salvation away. He has no future. He
will be bound and cast away forever. There's
coming a day. And you have every weapon to defeat
him in your life. So here's a few. You have every
weapon, church. You are a follower in Christ.
You have his word. And it is powerful. And so
what are you doing with his word? Is it a weapon?
You know what the Bible calls this weapon? A
sword. Pick up your sword. Jay gave me this.
I almost brought it in. I forgot when I got here.
But Jay, for my birthday, he gave me this machete
and it's bad looking. You pick this thing up,
it is sharp. And I'm like, what does somebody
do with this? Well, you kill trees. Because that's
all I know how to do with it, right? But man,
if you were to strike something with this, like
it would mess you up. This is a sword. This is
a sword. Pick it up, learn to use it every day.
in your life. That's a weapon. You have prayer.
Fight like men and women on your knees. Because
God has conquered Satan, sin, and death. You
go to him with every situation, every scenario,
and you say, I'm a sheep. I need my shepherd.
You have an amazing army of worshipers around
you. Look around. This is what the body of Christ
is meant for. You're struggling. You're being
hit. Go to others. Help me. Pray with me. Bathe
me in your word, God. Like, help me walk through
this, but I'm not doing it alone. I'm doing it
with each other, and we're doing it with a community
of people that live their life around the gospel.
That's how we do it. And then most importantly
is you have the Spirit of God that lives in you.
You do. If you are a follower of Jesus, the Spirit
lives in you. And so Jesus says to you in verse
10, I have come that you may have life and have
it in abundance. Do you believe that, church?
Do you believe that with your relationship with
Jesus, that he has come that you may have life
and have it in abundance? Abundance is not health,
wealth, prosperity. That's not what it is. Abundant
life is what we call a full spectrum life. A
spiritual life that is more than you could ever
hope or dream or imagine. We get Jesus. We get
abundant life. And it's not just life for this
temporary world. It's beyond. Again, Adam Flint
heard some stuff. He said, we don't follow Jesus
to have a better life. We follow Jesus because
he is better than life. That's why we follow
Jesus. Now, let's pick up verse third point,
roll through this and look at verse 11. We see
that Jesus, or the shepherd, we see in this the
shepherd's heart for his sheep, starting in verse
11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand,
since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own
the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he
sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and
scatters them. This happens because he's hired
to hand and doesn't care about the sheep. I am
the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own
know me. Just as the Father knows me, I know
the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
But I have other sheep that are not from this
sheep pen. I must bring them in also. and they
will listen to my voice. Then there will be one
flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves
me, because I lay down my life so that I may
take it up again. No one takes it from me, but
I lay it down on my own. I have the right to
lay it down, and I have the right to take it
up again. I have received this command from my
Father. A hard hand doesn't care about you. Wolves
don't care about you. The world doesn't care
about you. Only Jesus cares about you. That's
the point. Your friends don't care about you
like Jesus cares about you. Notice that for four
times, Jesus says he lays down his life for the
sheep. In verse 16, he tells us there's a bunch
of non -Jews who need to be brought into the
fold. That's what he's talking about there. He
says, I must bring them in also. He says, there's
this mandate and this purpose to rescue sheep.
All the Gentiles need Jesus. He's talking to
a Jewish world. And he says, it's not just about
you. It's about this world. It's about the Mat
-Su Valley as well. It's about every person needing
Jesus everywhere. And that's why we're always
saying, who's your one more? Who are you sharing
Jesus with? Because we take that same mandate
and mission and we move it forward. We say, everybody
needs to know this great shepherd. And so my
question to you is, do you have one more person
that you're reaching out to? One more person
that you can share Jesus with because that's
what Jesus is about. That's why we want to seek
partners and plant more churches. That's why
this church exists and to start with. That's
why we moved down here and knew four people.
and said, we need a church in this community.
It's because one more person matters. So that's
why Jesus says, look, it's not just about you
I got to go to, and I got to reach out to as
many that can know me. Jesus' heart is that his
sheep would know him. Don't overthink this church.
Jesus' heart is that you would know him. Not
just the first time, but for the rest of your
life. Jesus' heart is that you and I would know
him intimately. Verse 17 and 18, Jesus says,
he's pointing, he says, I love you so much that
I'm willing, I will sacrifice for you and lay
down my life for you. He's talking about going
to the cross. So what do you do with Jesus the
Good Shepherd? Do you run away and jump right
back into that ditch? Now, I have to be honest
with you. As I watched that clip over and over
and over, and there's a couple other clips that
are really similar to it. There's a thing about
a ditch. I don't know what it is, but you can
find them all over YouTube. But I saw that at
first. I was like, that's a stupid sheep. And
I started thinking about... my life all the different
ways I just keep doing that same thing and so
how do you see Jesus is he the good shepherd
in your life you run away from him go right back
to your old patterns or are you running to him
because I know I need him I know He will protect
and he will provide. I can trust him. I know
that he wants an intimate relationship with me.
I see the heart of the shepherd, and it's for
you. If there's areas in your life maybe that
you're like, I love Jesus. I love so many things
about him, but I'm not really willing to give
all of it to him. There's parts of it like, nope.
I got this one. That's like being a sheep just
runs right back to the hole. And so our posture
as followers of Jesus really is, can you follow
Jesus? Will you follow him? Are you listening
to his voice? When he brings about conviction
in your life, are you saying, okay, Lord, I surrender
all. They will follow me, it says. So I would
just say this. If you've never followed Jesus,
you don't have a relationship with him today,
today's a good day to say I submit. I submit
to Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. I don't even
know how it all works, but I'm willing to try.
I want to step forward. If you're already one
of his sheep, He wants you to enjoy the benefits
of being one of his sheep. Enjoy the benefits.
He wants you to continue to draw in closer to
him. You know, I was thinking at the end of the
service, we're going to pray over those college
kids that are going off to school. We released
one or two here. Luke already left. But the one
prayer when you're a parent and you watch your
kid go away that I had, at least for my kids,
is God, would they draw close to you and follow
you? Because all of a sudden I have no more control.
Right, Tammy? We have no control. It's like you
just kind of surrender it up. And so you're saying,
Lord, will you help them draw close to you and
follow you? But guys, that's the same prayer
for every one of us. It matters. Don't wander
off. Keep your eyes on Jesus. As our little braces
say, look to Jesus. That's what it's about. Let
me pray for you. Amen. Lord, I love how simple
this metaphor is. I love that you meet us right
where we're at. It doesn't have to be complicated.
I love the fact that you know us, that you reach
out to us, you call us by name. That you are
our protector, our provider. And that your heart
is for us. So much so that you're willing to
sacrifice and lay down your life for us. That
you went to the cross. You suffered in our place.
You died for our sins. You conquered Satan. Crushed
his head. And you conquered death. All because
you love us, your sheep. And so... We respond
to you today because we want to be sheep who
follow you, who listen to your voice. We ask
that you help us with that by the power of your
spirit. Amen.