Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20251026 - A Good Shepherd - John 10:1-6

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#20251026 - A Good Shepherd - John 10:1-6 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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Hey man, well, I have 5 kids, My wife and I, my wife Angela and
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I, we just celebrated 18 years of marriage and we've had thank
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you. We've we've had five kids and
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there was an entire decade where she was pregnant and God bless
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her for that. That was a quite the decade of
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service. Thank you for your service.
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You know, we also homeschool our kids.
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And of course, by we, I mean she does and I do I help on
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Tuesdays. That's my day.
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And then I walk away from Tuesdays like God, thank you for
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my wife. Because it's not easy.
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It's not easy. But we do love our kids.
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And one of the things we like, we like to do for just education
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purposes. We'll go on trips, we'll take
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them places to learn about different things.
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And a few years back we went on a trip to a dairy farm just to
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learn about where our milk comes from.
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And it was a huge farm, thousands of cows.
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One thing I learned is you don't want to live near a dairy farm
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unless you don't have a good sense of smell, then you're OK.
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But they have basically with amongst thousands of cows,
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they'll break them up into groups of 30 to 50, however many
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they end up milking at one time. And they like to keep these
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groups together so the cows are comfortable, they're familiar
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with their little pod, you know, their little posse.
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But what was fascinating to me was that without fail, every
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single one of these cow groups identified a cow leader.
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And that leader would be the lead cow for the whole time that
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that group was together. I just thought that was
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fascinating. Like, did they vote or was there
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like a a rigorous cow leadership test, you know, that they had to
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pass? Of course not.
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They intuitively identified someone who would lead them.
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And, you know, as people, we're the same way.
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We just, we have this way of identifying people, looking to
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people and learning from them. We give them influence in our
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lives. And there's a lot of people in
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our world today who want that position in your life.
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You go on social media and like when it says who people are,
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like, you know, husband, wife, Christian, doctor, some of them
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just have one word. It says influencer.
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It's like I'm an influencer. I want to influence you.
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I influence people. And of course they're not all
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bad. They're not all good.
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And most times they have an agenda or a product they're
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selling or right, they have some kind of 'cause they're
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representing. But I want to tell you today
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that we have to be very careful in our day and age because we
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cannot allow anyone else to have more influence in our life than
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our chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, Amen.
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And so today we're going to look at our hearts.
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We're going to look at the text of a true shepherd and glean who
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should have influence in our life.
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I'll go as far as to tell you guys this morning that whoever
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has the most influence in your life is your pastor, for better,
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for worse. And you might intellectually
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acknowledge somebody as a pastor in your life, but really there's
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somebody else that you're a lot more interested in, someone else
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that fires you up a lot more, that impacts the way you think
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and feel and how you live and what you do.
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That person is actually your pastor.
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In fact, that person is your chief shepherd, whoever that is,
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whether that's Jesus or not, whether that's a pastor over you
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or not, we have to examine ourselves and be careful with
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who we allow to influence us. In fact, I want to ask you 3
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questions just to take inventory of your heart this morning to
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see where you're at. Are you spurred to action more
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so by a finance or fitness influencer or a political
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influencer? Get pumped up about those guys
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pod. They're podcasts more so than a
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good sermon or the word of God. Do you?
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Are you fired up in the morning more so by news headlines than
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you are by reading your Bible? Here's a a serious one.
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Have you been convinced whether or by it's someone you know, the
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news, someone else on TV and influencer YouTube channel, and
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maybe even another pastor? But have you been, have you
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allowed yourself to be convinced that there are more important
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causes to serve than the salvation of souls?
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Because if that's the case, then it might be the case.
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Jesus has fallen from Chief Shepherd in your life because
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Jesus cares about nothing more than human souls.
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And to be honest with you guys, I've had to answer yes to every
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one of these questions at a time or another in my life.
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In fact, we have to take constant inventory of this
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because we do follow. We like that, like those cows,
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we like to identify leaders in our life, people that excite us,
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people that spur us into action. But Jesus must have that chief
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role. So my hope and prayer for this
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message is that you would see that.
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I hope that you would help. It would help you identify good
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leaders. It would help you become a good
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leader, but it would also help you to just solidify Jesus as
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the ideal leader. So the context of our Bible
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study, in the end of Chapter 9, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees.
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He basically says to them, you guys are blind.
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You think you can see, but you're really blind.
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He says, therefore your sin remains.
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And so he springs into a teaching on shepherding and
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leadership. He's revealing to them that they
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are inadequate shepherds, that they they do not shepherd his
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people how he would like them, the shepherd.
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In fact, in Mark chapter 6, Jesus comes out and he sees the
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multitudes and it says in in verse 34, Jesus when he came out
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and saw a great multitude, he was moved with compassion for
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them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.
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And that verse tells us a couple of things.
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It tells us, one, that Jesus is a shepherd.
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He has a heart for the masses like a Good Shepherd does.
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But it also reveals to us that Jesus did not consider the
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spiritual leaders of his day as good shepherds.
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So everyone else who had the title, the position of spiritual
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leader, they were inadequate in Jesus's eyes as he looked at all
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of them and said there are no shepherds here.
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My heart breaks because there are no real good shepherds here.
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I recently just did a study on the leaders of Jesus's day and I
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just thought it was really interesting kind of comparing
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and contrasting them to Jesus. And so I wanted to do that with
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you guys this morning briefly because it really speaks to this
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subject. The first group I want to
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mention are the Pharisees. We know them very well.
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They bump heads with Jesus all the time throughout the gospel
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messages. The Pharisees though, these guys
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were the conservatives of their day.
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They championed the word of God. They loved the Word of God.
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The problem though, with the Pharisees, the main problem was
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that they cared more about the law and keeping and enforcing
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rules than they cared about people.
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And that's where they went wrong.
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That was their pitfall. And that's what disqualified
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them ultimately about for for being a Good Shepherd.
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Jesus was not a Pharisee. Oh, Jesus loved the word of God,
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but his compromise for care of people was not the same as the
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Pharisees. The other group that goes hand
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in hand with the Pharisees is this a different group called
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the Sadducees. The Sadducees were religious
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royalty. This was the lineage of the high
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priest. Like to be a Sadducee, you were,
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you were up there, you were high, you were wealthy,
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affluent. The problem with these guys is
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they cared more about position and power than they cared about
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people. That you'll notice a pattern
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here with all these religious leaders.
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Jesus was not a Sadducee. Now I'll tell you like if God
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asked my advice, you know, thousands of years ago, hey,
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where should I place the Messiah?
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I'd be like, man, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, these are like
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influential groups. In fact, the Sadducees, it's
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already religious royalty. Just plug Messiah in there.
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But God the Father did not choose to do that.
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There's another group called the Herodians or the Hellenists.
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These were the progressive Jews. They might fit the progressives
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of our culture today. They were all about compromising
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tradition for the sake of forward thinking.
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They cared more, though, about conforming to culture, getting
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with the times. Then they cared for people, and
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it was revealed in their compromise.
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Morally, ethically. Jesus was not a Herodian.
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He was not a Hellenist. The fourth group I want to
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mention to you are the Zealots. The Zealots were Jewish
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nationalists. They were passionate about
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Zionism. The problem with these guys,
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even though they were passionate about what they thought God's
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Kingdom was, a physical nation, they cared more about the
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sovereignty of their nation then they cared about people.
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Exactly. Geez.
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In fact, they they would go to so far as to kill people for
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their agenda. They hated Romans, they hated
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the Roman occupation. And so in their agenda, as as
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righteous as it seemed biblically in the context of
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religion of their day, it was wrong because they didn't care
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about people. Ultimately, Jesus, to the
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chagrin of many, was not a zealot.
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So who was Jesus? Well, Jesus was a common working
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class Carpenter. You realize that when Messiah
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came, he's like, I just want to be a blue collar worker.
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I'm going to come in and plant myself as a blue collar hard
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working individual. Jesus was a self-titled
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self-proclaimed shepherd. If he were to give you his
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business card, it would say chief shepherd on it and you'd
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be like where is your flock? And be like the people, the
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masters. That was his self-proclaimed
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title, which is which is amazing.
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But Jesus cared more for people than he did about enforcing
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rules, exercising power, getting with the times, or backing some
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national agenda. He just loved the people, and of
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course, that's what qualified him to be a Good Shepherd.
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Next to the glory of God the Father, his greatest concern was
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the salvation of souls. That was what Jesus cared for.
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That's what Jesus cares for today.
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And I'll just briefly say and point this out, that a shepherd
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was not a desirable position. I mean, if you were pick a title
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and you wanted some clout amongst society, you wouldn't go
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telling everybody you were a shepherd.
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You wouldn't do that. In fact, in throughout history,
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as people have made-up their own mythical gods or you know, DC
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and Marvel, they make up their superheroes.
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You'll be hard pressed to find any of them as shepherds because
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it's not a very compelling or fear striking position.
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It's a very lowly, humble position.
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But that's the mystery of our God, isn't it?
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Though He is powerful, though He compels and and commands respect
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and fear, He has presented us to Himself, humbly gentle and
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lowly. Jesus, the King of the universe
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says to you, follow me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and
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that's amazing. That's our Good Shepherd.
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So Jesus comes along and he rebukes the Pharisees for not
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living according to the standard verse one.
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Let's hop into our text. It says, most assuredly I say to
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you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but
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climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber.
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But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, and
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to him the door opens. Characteristic number one of a
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Good Shepherd is that they enter by the door.
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What does that mean? Well, that means that she
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shepherd gains access to the sheep the intended way that they
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follow God's prescribed manner for acquiring the husbandry of
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the flock and Jesus. He doesn't start with the
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positive, he starts with the negative.
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He says bad shepherds break in some other way.
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Who were the bad shepherds again?
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They're standing right in front of him over the IT was the
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Pharisees. We could also lump in the other
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groups I talked about as they are no doubt qualified.
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But how did they get their influence?
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How did they break in What? What ladders did they use and
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crowbars did they use to break into the flock without using the
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door? Well, they had traits like
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wealth, pedigree, education, intelligence, zeal.
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Now these traits certainly don't disqualify you, but you need to
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understand these traits are not the marks of a Good Shepherd.
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They're helpful if you are a Good Shepherd, but they are not
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the end all requirements. In fact, if you don't have the
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character, then these are just ladders and crowbars to break
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your way in to leadership. But you need the character of
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Jesus. In fact, one trait that we often
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mistake is leadership is the ability to get other people to
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do what we want them to do. But that's not good leadership.
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That's just manipulation. You might be able to get people
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to do what you want them to do because you're angry and people
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feel like they have to walk on egg shells around you.
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You, you might just be good and it's been really selfish.
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So you're good at manipulating. I don't know if you have people
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like that in your life, but I want to define leadership.
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That is not leadership. Good leadership, in fact, godly
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leadership, what we're concerned with today is different.
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Godly leadership. A godly leader seeks to inspire
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you to do what God wants you to do.
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And that's the difference. That's the difference.
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A godly caring leader won't force you to do things.
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They will inspire you to do things.
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And the things they want you to do are what's best for you and
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what God desires you to do. So big difference there.
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And those who have these external qualifications alone.
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Well, Jesus says they enter some other way and he says their
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fruit is out of thieves and robbers.
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So like, how do you know? How can you tell?
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Will you look at their fruit? What?
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What is the fruit of a thief and a robber?
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Well, they are all only in it for themselves.
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They only take, they don't give. They will go as far as to even
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harm the sheep to get what they want.
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That is the fruit of those who break in some other way.
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Again, it's a revelation of poor character that you don't
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actually care for people. A bad shepherd does not care
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about the people. But if we were to take that
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description and flip it around to its antithesis, we would
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actually be defining the very nature of Jesus, right?
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So what's what's the opposite? Well, Jesus cared more about
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others than he did himself. Jesus gave more than anyone
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could ever give back and repay. His love was completely selfless
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and in fact, the only self motivation that he had to
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satisfy was the fact that He wanted to express His love for
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you. That was a delight to Him and
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that is a delight to Him. He only ever did what was
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pleasing to the Father and what was best for others.
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That's the heart of a Good Shepherd.
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That's the heart of our shepherd Jesus.
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And when Jesus lived this way and demonstrated it, He showed
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us the right way. He showed us the door that is to
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be taken if someone is to be a true shepherd of his people.
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That is the door that we enter. Notice verse 3.
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It says the doorkeeper opens to him.
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Now the doorkeeper during Jesus's day often times was the
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understudy of the shepherd, the shepherd in training.
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And I love this picture because it really is the picture of the
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pastor. It today of your physical
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pastors like Pastor Ed and the pastoral staff here, we really
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aren't the chief shepherd. None of us.
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Jesus is the chief shepherd. We are his understudy.
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And we, we as a supportive staff come under Pastor Ed as Ed does
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his best to follow Jesus. And I also like the picture of
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of keeping the door. As a pastoral staff, we, it's
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our job to open the door for Jesus.
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Like as we lead, as I, even as I get up here this morning, I have
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words to share, but my hope is that these words open the door
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for Jesus to reach into your heart and minister, right?
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That's our that's our ambition as we lead in worship.
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We just want Jesus to come in and do his work, the chief
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shepherd. But it's also our job to keep
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those doors closed as a staff here and to identify who's a
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healthy shepherd and who is not. And if you if you try to get in
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some other way, even if you have good intentions, even if you're
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gifted, it's a red flag. I just will tell you that you
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must enter through the the prescribed manner to enter into
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leadership at any church. That is, that is what it look
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like, what it should look like. And I don't, I don't mean this
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as flattery, but I'll tell you that I don't know another pastor
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who stewards that calling as well as Pastor Ed does.
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Like he really cares for you guys.
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He really, we will hear about it as a pastoral staff if our care
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lacked for the, for the flock, because Ed loves us enough to
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disciple us and he loves you enough to make sure you're well
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cared for. And so we can be thankful that
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Ed, he's a diligent understudy of our chief shepherd and he, he
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trains us as pastors. In fact, the last two years that
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I've been here, I've grown so much as a pastor just working
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with this team of pastors. There's, there.
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It's an amazing group of guys. I'm so blessed by them.
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And I know many of you guys are as well.
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So #1A Good Shepherd enters through the door.
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Verse 3, it says to him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep
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hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name
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and he leads them out. And when he brings out his own
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sheep, he, he goes before them and the sheep follow him.
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For they know his voice, yet they will by no means follow a
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stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the
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voice of strangers. Now this section gives us 2
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characteristics that I want to point out.
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The first one, in fact, no characteristic #2 if you're
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taking notes is a Good Shepherd is trusted.
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A Good Shepherd is trusted not only among the flock, but they
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are trusted by the flock. And one of the things we like to
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say here in ministry is that trust is the currency of
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ministry. If you don't have trust, then
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you don't have ministry. If people don't trust you, they
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will not entrust to you any influence in their life.
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And conversely, if they come and they receive from you and they
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entrust, they give you the ability to minister to their
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life, they've given you one of the highest levels of trust.
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And so we desire to steward that well here.
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But a Good Shepherd has taken the time to earn that trust.
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How? By being among the flock.
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By being with the flock. Now, I haven't heard a lot of
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these shepherding sermons or sheep sermons without like
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hearing a few fun sheep facts, right?
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Every the pastor I was always got to throw in their sheep
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facts. So here's the sheep facts for
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you. Sheep fact #1 sheep can
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recognize up to 50 different faces even by photograph.
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They can recognize faces in photographs, which that must
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have been a a hilarious study to be a part of, right.
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But here's Pat. Here's Jim from the grocery
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store. OK, He's, he Can they know that
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face? Here's Lisa from the library.
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Yeah, They know Lisa. Yeah.
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And Brad, Brad Pitt 51. No, you don't know Brad Pitt.
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It's not a movie buff. I guess this, this sheep here
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then somehow they figured out at 50, you know, most sheep, they
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can't handle more than fifty faces.
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Just I can't do it. Can't do it.
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But you know, the reason they're recognizing faces is because
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they want to know the most important face to them, the face
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of their shepherd, right? They want to recognize the
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distinct face of the one that cares for them.
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Jesus tells us even here sheep can recognize distinct voices.
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It's not the loudness of the voice that gets the sheep's
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attention. It's the familiarity of that
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voice. And this is very helpful, very
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useful because if you were a shepherd and you had to move
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your flock and, and all of a sudden you're passing by a
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marketplace or you're, you're going and intermingling with
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other flocks. Well, you, all you have to do is
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back away and go, go in the direction you're going and just
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use your distinct call and all of your sheep will know where
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you are and will come and follow you.
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And that's the picture Jesus is giving us here of shepherding
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Sheep also are well acquainted with the scent and even the
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footsteps of their shepherd. They can listen and tell.
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That's the that's those are the footsteps of my shepherd and
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he's coming. He's coming for me.
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Now, sheep are also very skittish animals.
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So it's not easy to earn their trust.
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I Google search, you know, how do you earn the trust of sheep?
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How can you, you know, how do you get your sheep to calm down
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if they're freaking out? And so this forum popped up and
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the most common answers were like, spend as much time with
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your sheep as possible. Get down on their level.
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Like be among them and get down on their level.
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Feed them regularly, be the one to take care of them and nurture
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them. And you will earn the trust of
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the sheep. And that's really good advice
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for pastoring. But I want to tell you that,
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especially if you're not aware of this, this is Jesus's posture
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toward you. This is the Lord's posture to
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you. In fact, listen to Hosea Chapter
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11, verse four. He says this is the Lord
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talking, by the way, God himself.
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He says I drew them with gentle chords, with bands of love.
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I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
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So he's explaining, look, when I ruled my people, it wasn't with
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heavy chains in bondage. He said I, I LED them with
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gentle chords. The bands that that kept me to
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my people were bands of love. And my desire was not to put
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heavy burden on them. In fact, my desire, the Lord
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says, was to remove the yoke, to remove that yoke.
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And then it says something pretty incredible here at the
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end of Hosea 11. If we put that back up there, it
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says this is again the Lord speaking.
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He says I stooped and fed them. In their day and age.
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They revered God so much that they would not even spell out
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his name fully. They would have been very
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careful to not present God in a disrespectful manner like there
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are. There are people who have a
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problem in the prodigal son story because the father runs,
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and running was not a distinguished thing that you
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would do as a man. But God presents himself as
23:15
running. In this passage.
23:17
God himself depicts himself as stooping to feed his people.
23:24
God, the living God, is depicting himself as a loving
23:28
shepherd. And if your perception of Jesus
23:31
is different than this, then I would love to help fix it and
23:34
correct it. We could all close our eyes if I
23:36
would like. close your eyes and imagine Jesus.
23:38
We would all imagine different things because he's not here.
23:42
He's not physically. We can't physically see him
23:44
right now. But a lot of the times when we
23:47
imagine Jesus or what we feel when we hear the name Jesus,
23:50
it's inaccurate to who Jesus is. And so I want to help repair
23:56
this. If it is inaccurate for you,
23:58
Jesus is not standing over you with a stern looking, clenched
24:02
fists waiting for you to disappoint him yet again.
24:05
Like that is not the heart, the posture of Jesus.
24:08
It's not this proud posture. His posture is not one to rule
24:12
us with cords of oppression, bands of obligation.
24:17
Do you know that? Like God has no interest in
24:19
obligating you to do things. That's not the relationship He
24:24
even desires. Why does our Christianity so
24:27
often become obligation? It's because we've we've, we've
24:31
lost sight of Jesus. We've lost sight of that loving
24:34
relationship. He does not desire to put that
24:37
yoke of burden upon you. The picture that God gives us of
24:40
himself and Hosea is out of a loving shepherd who gets down on
24:44
his knees. He comes down, he comes to our
24:47
level. Do you know that about God?
24:49
Like he is not afraid to get grass stains on his knees to
24:53
hang out with you. You know, it's like a loving
24:56
grandpa who's with the grandkids just rolling around in the grass
24:59
and he don't care anymore about what people like.
25:01
That's the heart of God. He just wants to be with you.
25:04
He has, God has stooped to be your shepherd.
25:09
Jesus is not ashamed to stoop to humble measures to be your
25:12
shepherd. He has.
25:14
And Jesus has gone as far as anyone could possibly go to make
25:18
himself accessible to us. And I want to tell you He's
25:21
available to you in this posture every minute of every day,
25:25
regardless of what you've done or where you've been.
25:30
This Good Shepherd is waiting. In this posture for you, my
25:33
pastor in in Tucson, I used to I just love when he would say
25:36
this, but he says God's posture is the posture of forgiveness.
25:41
He's constantly waiting just to forgive you and we're like, oh
25:44
man, I really need to. God must be ashamed of me or
25:47
disappointed in me. He's forever holding the posture
25:51
of forgiveness, reaching out to you.
25:54
That's the posture of our Good Shepherd.
25:57
And so if you struggle to. Feel this way about Jesus?
26:00
I would say receive it by faith right now.
26:03
Like what I'm saying, Receive these words.
26:06
And if you still struggle, I'll tell you what one thing you can
26:08
do. Seek your shepherd.
26:10
Spend more time with your shepherd.
26:12
Seek His face in worship, in the Word, in prayer, so that the day
26:16
that you stand before Him face to face, there'll be no doubt
26:19
who He is. Seek his voice.
26:22
Through the word and through worship and through prayer,
26:25
through fellowship, seek his voice so that you'll be able to
26:28
distinguish Jesus's voice among the thousands of other voices
26:31
out there. And then Jesus is among us as
26:35
those who care for us and, and we he's given us the ability to
26:39
recognize us. And I'll just say that he's also
26:42
entrusted the human pastors for his church like physical
26:45
representations of himself. And though we are under
26:48
shepherds and we're certainly by no means perfect, it's important
26:52
to have people who are among you.
26:55
It's important to not get just your spiritual diet from the
26:59
Internet. And from from what you find out
27:01
there, a lot of the people who are out there, some of them
27:04
don't even have any credentials. They're not even officially
27:06
they, they have not entered. They've they've hopped the gate
27:10
like anybody can have a platform today.
27:12
You realize that like every single one of you could go out
27:14
there and, and start a YouTube channel as pastor XYZ and, and
27:18
just be and say whatever you want to say.
27:20
In fact, I'll warn you guys, people are doing this.
27:22
Not just people with like the desire to have their own
27:25
ministry, but nefarious people are creating channels of
27:29
teaching false doctrine. I was emailing with a brother
27:32
recently. I won't share his name or
27:34
anything, but he was struggling with just fellowship.
27:36
He was really discouraged about being in church and just felt
27:39
like he don't want to go to church anymore.
27:41
And of course, I encourage him. Like, I know it can be hard, but
27:43
God wants you to be in church. The Bible's very clear that we
27:46
need to be in fellowship with other believers at a church.
27:50
And a few weeks later, he emailed me this bizarre e-mail
27:52
that said, you know, hear Pastor Sean, see, Billy Graham says, I
27:56
don't have to go to church. And I'm like, what?
28:00
I, I know Billy Graham. I don't think he would ever tell
28:02
you not to go to church. Like sounds more like Billy scam
28:05
to me. I'm just kidding that that hit
28:09
better last service, but I did, I, I, I looked up the, the
28:14
teaching and it went back to a YouTube channel and it was Billy
28:18
scam for sure. And and you had all these
28:21
sermons that someone nefariously typed out with false doctrine.
28:26
Why God's OK with you being living the LGBTQ lifestyle?
28:30
Why God wants you to be rich? Why you don't have to go to
28:34
church. That's interesting.
28:36
Like these are all things that this nefarious person wants you
28:39
to learn. And you probably won't learn it
28:42
at a, at a, at a church That's healthy.
28:45
And I don't know if you realize this, but AI, what you can do
28:48
with AI now is you can type things out and they'll AI can
28:52
process it with anyone's voice. If you can sample a voice, you
28:56
can, you can create a message. In fact, I'm going to create an
28:58
announcement for November of Pastor Ed telling you all he
29:02
loves rhubarb pie and you should bring him some rhubarb pie.
29:05
It'll. It'll probably.
29:06
Include things like, oh, I love the Blue Jays and bring me some
29:11
kittens because I love cats, you know?
29:14
And. You'd, you'd be like, this ain't
29:16
pastor. I don't know what Pastor Ed
29:17
you're talking about, but this isn't my pastor because you know
29:19
the voice of your shepherd. But we have to be very careful
29:22
these days, especially today with what you're listening to.
29:26
And there are amazing teachers online as well.
29:28
There's some amazing teachers that my wife and I that we'll
29:30
listen to, but we have to also understand like they're not are
29:34
pastors because they are not among us.
29:36
We need people who are among us. Pastor Paul lamented this about
29:40
the church in First Corinthians when he said for though you
29:43
might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many
29:47
fathers. We literally have 10,000
29:50
instructors out there available to us, but we need people near
29:54
to us. I grew, I'm 40 years old.
29:58
I grew up in the 90s, so I love my TV dads.
30:02
Some of my TV dads that I grew up with, like Tim the Toolman
30:04
Taylor or like Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
30:08
Like I just like that guy. He's a great father figure.
30:11
You know who I really respect though?
30:13
Master Splinter. The more I thought about, I'm
30:16
like, I really respect the father figure and Master
30:19
Splinter. He's just some mutated rat, you
30:22
know, trying to survive in the the slum sewers of New York.
30:26
But you know what he does? He takes in four mutated turtles
30:30
and he. Raises them to be.
30:31
Like amazing ninjas, you know, like he disciplined that.
30:35
He wasn't afraid to discipline his kids.
30:37
You watch, you watch like the old cartoons, like he would
30:39
discipline his kids. And you know what?
30:41
Nobody had a problem with it that he disciplined.
30:44
You know what? Because they're like, oh, well,
30:45
he's raising ninjas. He's raising ninjas.
30:48
But I just really respect that about Master Splinter and, and
30:52
all the TV dads that we can, we can have, you know, a connection
30:56
with, but the one of the reasons we like them so much is because
30:59
they'll never have a hard word for us.
31:02
But they'll also not be. Able to affirm you personally,
31:06
they won't be able to give you a hug.
31:08
And the same is true for pastors.
31:10
These pastors online, like they won't be able to counsel you
31:12
personally. They won't be able to visit you
31:14
when you're sick. They won't be able to come
31:18
alongside you right physically and hold you accountable in any
31:21
way. We need pastors who are among
31:23
us. SO3 A good SO2 A Good Shepherd
31:26
is rightfully trusted. And you could put among the
31:28
flock in parentheses and then three.
31:31
A Good Shepherd leads by example.
31:34
Verse 3 it says he leads them out and verse 4 Jesus says he
31:39
goes before them. And you guys know what?
31:43
Leading by example means I don't have to expound on that, but
31:46
there's a nuance to what he's saying here that struck me.
31:49
If your shepherd is leading you out and going before you, then
31:53
guess what it means? He's taking you somewhere a
31:57
good. Shepherd.
31:57
Knows that he has to get up and go out there and take you
32:01
somewhere. He cares for you enough to.
32:05
Take you from your comfy pen and walk you, sometimes even long
32:08
distances. A Good Shepherd will take you
32:11
somewhere. He will move you forward.
32:12
He will bring progress in your life.
32:15
And besides daily grazing for real sheep, the shepherds would
32:18
also take the sheep like up into the hills, into the mountains.
32:21
During the hot summers, they would take them to fields that
32:25
were recently harvested to glean.
32:28
A real shepherd would take their sheep regularly and the sheep
32:32
would get exercise. The sheep would get a healthy
32:34
diet and as nice and safe as it sounds to just sit in the barn
32:37
and let the sheep bring all the hay to you, that's not what's
32:40
best for the sheep. That's not what's healthiest for
32:42
the sheep. And if you're not feeling
32:44
challenged or stretched by a shepherd, then you might not
32:47
have a strong shepherd if you're coming here regularly.
32:49
I know you do. I know Ed has some some
32:51
challenging words for us regularly, but it's important to
32:54
look at that the people you're looking to out there.
32:57
Even a good pastor knows it takes work and discipline for
33:00
his congregation to grow in their relationship with Christ.
33:03
It takes intentionality, it takes vigilance to keep your
33:07
flock from sinking into spiritual lethargy.
33:11
That's what happens to farm animals if you just let them sit
33:14
and just eat hay all day long. They'll just get fatter and
33:17
fatter and move less and less and it becomes very unhealthy
33:19
for them. And that's not what we want
33:22
spiritually. A Good Shepherd will exercise
33:24
your faith as. Nice as it might feel.
33:27
You you, you guys here at this church realize we change a lot
33:31
of things. In fact, we like to normalize
33:33
change because we want to stay in tune with what God is doing
33:38
today. We're not afraid to try things
33:40
out. We want to, we want to be
33:44
effective. And to do that, we have to
33:46
continue to ask ourselves every day, every week, what does God
33:49
want to do today? And so you're a part of a church
33:52
that values change. And I know change can be
33:54
difficult at times. But we're going.
33:58
Somewhere, that's why the Lord is taking us somewhere.
34:02
And it might sound nice to you to just go to a church, you
34:04
know, where nothing changes. It's the same friendly faces
34:07
every week. You're never asked to do more or
34:10
give more or interact with people you don't know.
34:14
You know, that might sound great to you, but the reality is, is a
34:16
church like that doesn't survive one or two generations unless
34:20
somebody comes in and makes some uncomfortable decisions.
34:23
You know, we, we need to be going somewhere.
34:26
And I love this quote about leadership regarding going
34:30
first. A true leader will go first.
34:32
Good leadership is not acquiring the privilege to tell others
34:35
what to do. It's taking responsibility to go
34:39
first. So.
34:42
Leadership shepherding is not privilege to be someone's boss.
34:47
It's responsibility to do the hard things that everyone else
34:51
should be doing. It's taking responsibility.
34:54
To go first and a Good Shepherd will calculate the risk and
34:58
reward if he's taking you somewhere and if he's taking you
35:01
there, it will be worth it if he's a Good Shepherd.
35:04
Jesus, our Good Shepherd, I really want this to sink in for
35:08
you. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, is
35:11
omniscient. That means he knows everything.
35:13
That means as God, He knows the beginning from the end.
35:16
He knew how history would play out before He even created the
35:21
earth, which also means He knew how your life would play out
35:24
before we ever created you. Jesus, your Good Shepherd, has
35:30
calculated the risk and reward for your life.
35:35
And you might say but. Pastor, I've had such a hard
35:37
life of so much grief, so much pain and sorrow, so much
35:41
rejection, and that that may be true.
35:44
And and that doesn't delight the heart of God, that breaks his
35:46
heart. And I'm sorry if that's your
35:47
story, but if you exist then I can tell you the risk has been
35:53
the risk and reward has been weighed and God has deemed you
35:56
worthy of existence. Because he has something.
36:00
For you on the side of eternity, he has.
36:03
Something so amazing. For you that when you get to
36:05
eternity and look back, you will rejoice in the sufferings
36:09
because of the eternal reward, the eternal byproduct of what
36:13
He's accomplishing in your life today.
36:15
He's a Good Shepherd and we can trust Him.
36:17
And the greatest thing about our Shepherd is He has gone to the
36:20
most difficult place that anyone could ever go, so that we would
36:23
never have to. Jesus has been forsaken.
36:26
By the father he's. Experienced the wrath.
36:30
Of God for the sins of the world, so that we, his sheep,
36:34
would never have to go down that path.
36:36
And we can rejoice and praise God for that.
36:39
Amen. So whatever path you're on, you
36:41
can know it's not too difficult for Jesus and he's with you and
36:44
it's a part of his plan and you can rejoice knowing you'll never
36:48
have to experience that separation as long as you stay
36:51
with that shepherd, the Good Shepherd.
36:53
He goes first verse 6, let's keep on going.
36:55
Jesus uses this illustration. It says, but they did not
36:59
understand the things which he spoke to them.
37:01
Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly I say to you, I
37:05
am the door of the sheep. Well, whoever came before me are
37:09
thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not.
37:12
Hear them, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will
37:17
be saved and we'll go in and out and find pasture.
37:22
So he shifts now from explaining what good leadership looks like
37:26
to what it looks like to be a part of the flock of God.
37:30
He says if you want to be a part of God's flock, God's people,
37:33
you must enter the door through me.
37:38
Jesus says. It's if if you think you're a
37:41
person, a child of God, but you don't know me and I am not your
37:45
shepherd, then you need to think again.
37:48
A. Lot of people love.
37:49
The idea of the friendly shepherd.
37:52
Oh man, Jesus, Jesus is my friend.
37:54
I love that idea. A lot of people stumble over the
37:57
exclusivity of Jesus, and I won't get into a 2D, but suffice
38:00
it to say that you won't get what the shepherd has for you if
38:05
you're not with the shepherd. You won't get to.
38:09
Where the shepherd is taking you if you don't go with the
38:12
shepherd. So yeah, it's exclusive.
38:15
You must. Be with.
38:16
Jesus to get where Jesus is wanting to take you and the.
38:21
Reality is, is you might. Be like, oh, I love that
38:23
friendly shepherd Jesus over here, but you have all these
38:25
other shepherds you're following a lot.
38:28
For a lot of people, it's themselves.
38:30
They're just doing their own thing.
38:32
But all the other alternative shepherds though, they might
38:37
have fun things for you to do. They don't have the.
38:41
Eternal life at the end of the trail.
38:43
They don't. In fact, do your research.
38:45
Look into it. There's been so many shepherds
38:48
throughout history with their own religions, and they're all
38:51
the same. They have a list of rules for
38:53
you. Here you go.
38:55
Earn your way to paradise or their version of heaven if you
38:58
can. Good luck.
38:59
Pat on the back. Thank you, Shepherd.
39:01
You know, for that one. They're all the same.
39:04
They're all just like that, with the exception of one, the true
39:08
Shepherd who says I love you so much that I've made the way for
39:12
you. You just have to be with me.
39:15
You have to follow me, walk with me to get you where I'm taking
39:19
you. So.
39:20
Yeah, it is. Exclusive.
39:24
But it's also exclusive. That none of the other shepherds
39:26
died for you. None of them.
39:29
None of them gave their lives for you.
39:32
Maybe some cause, but not the souls of humanity.
39:36
And none of them they're and they're all still in the grave,
39:40
by the way, an occupied grave. None of them rose from the dead.
39:43
Our Good Shepherd rose from the dead.
39:46
And so there is an exclusivity to Jesus.
39:48
And he says, look, I am the way, the truth and the life.
39:51
No one comes to the Father except through me.
39:55
So Jesus he. Now points us in this next
39:57
section to all the points I've been making, he says it really,
40:00
really clear, so we'll just go ahead and read it.
40:03
And let it speak for itself. It says, verse 10, The thief
40:07
does not come except to steal and kill and destroy.
40:10
I have come that they may have life, that they have it, they
40:14
may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd.
40:18
The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
40:20
But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not
40:23
own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves, and he flees.
40:29
And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters the sheep, The.
40:33
Hireling flees because. He's a hireling, He doesn't care
40:36
about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I
40:40
know my sheep and am known by my own as the Father knows me.
40:45
Even so, I know my Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
40:50
So Jesus just spells out everything about what it means
40:54
to be a Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd cares for the
40:57
sheep enough to even give his own life for the sheep, seeking
41:00
the best interest of the sheep. And let me tell you guys, no one
41:03
cares for Jesus. No one cares for the church as
41:06
much as Jesus cares for the church and.
41:10
Again, this is what. Qualifies him as the chief, the
41:13
chief shepherd. But he contrasts himself with
41:15
the most dangerous of false shepherds, the devil himself.
41:18
He says the devil comes to steal, to kill, to destroy.
41:22
The devil has good things for you in this life, but his main
41:28
motive is to lead you to death, to steal and take from you, to
41:33
destroy things in your life. And he'll bait you with things
41:36
that you like that will tickle your flesh.
41:39
There are times when the devil rears his ugly face in violence,
41:44
in criminal activity. I mean, just even just last
41:47
month, how horrific the things that were released, the videos
41:50
personally, I couldn't watch. I couldn't watch people getting
41:53
killed. And we need to understand with
41:58
the shootings, with the the subway stabbing, the things that
42:01
were released that there are backstories.
42:04
There are people behind those. There are, you know, agendas and
42:07
ideologies behind all that. But at the end of the day, the
42:11
main overarching thing that you need to understand is it's
42:13
demonic. It's a demonic thing that people
42:17
who commit that atrocity, they're under the sway of the
42:20
wicked one. People who celebrate and
42:23
rejoice, rejoice at those atrocities are under the sway of
42:26
the wicked one. If Jesus is your chief Shepherd,
42:29
if you have the Holy Spirit in you, you would not delight.
42:33
In anything like that? That is the antithesis of
42:36
Christ, of the Good Shepherd. Regardless of who the victim is,
42:40
it's horrific. And that's that's the heart of
42:43
the. Devil, so he will.
42:45
He'll rear his ugly face at times, but you want to know his,
42:47
his long game, what he does most of the time.
42:50
The devil just wants to keep you comfortable.
42:53
If he can keep you comfortable, he can win in your life.
42:56
In fact, there's a book that CS Lewis wrote called Screw Tape
42:58
Letters. I don't know if you're familiar
43:00
with it. It's basically the mentor demon,
43:04
Screw Tape, giving his understudy Wormwood.
43:09
This other demon, he's giving him advice on how to how to.
43:13
Make sure his. Subject, His human subject goes
43:15
to hell and. It's kind of creepy, like if.
43:18
You're looking for a spooky read for October you can go go read
43:21
the screw tape letters, but it'll teach you some things
43:24
about the devil in his game plan.
43:26
This is what screw tape says to his understudy says the devil
43:29
has learned that with many people, outright attacks drive
43:32
them to God, and we do not want that he.
43:36
Goes on to say that, but the. Safest Rd.
43:39
To hell is the gradual 1, the gentle slope, soft under foot
43:46
without sudden turnings. And most often, that's the.
43:50
Devil's game for you. He would love to slaughter you
43:52
right now, but he's also perfectly happy with raising
43:56
you, keeping you fat and happy like a Kobe beef cow.
44:00
Do you guys know about Kobe beef and how they're raised?
44:04
So Kobe beef, it's like a really special steak that's it's got,
44:07
it's marbled with fat, it's really sought after and they
44:10
raise these cows in a very unique way.
44:12
They're basically raised like royalty.
44:16
The cows don't go outside a lot. They're protected from the
44:18
elements. They're not allowed to go under
44:20
any strenuous activity. They want to keep their stress
44:22
levels low. They keep these cows fat on a
44:25
high quality grain diet. They give the cows beer so that
44:29
they'll be a lot of fat marbling going on.
44:32
They will even give these cows massages.
44:36
And it's not. It's not.
44:37
Necessarily to pamper the cows, but as I said before, that
44:40
inactivity, it brings about lethargy.
44:43
And so these cows literally will get so fat and lazy they can't
44:47
get the cows to get up and move, which they, the cow has to move
44:51
a little bit to be a healthy piece of steak, right?
44:54
But the whole motive is raise him for three years and
44:57
slaughter him. And that's the devil's game for
45:00
you. He just wants to keep you fat,
45:02
happy with the little pleasures, the little trinkets of life.
45:06
He wants to keep you sedated with little tastes of sin so
45:10
you're not engaged with God. You're Good Shepherd.
45:13
He wants to keep you from that. He wants you to coast easily,
45:17
smoothly, right into hell. But the Lord loves you too much
45:20
to allow that to happen. That's why when you follow the
45:22
Good Shepherd, there's going to be bumps in the road.
45:25
That's why when you follow the Good Shepherd, it's not always
45:27
going to be easy. Jesus has discipline for you.
45:30
He loves you enough to discipline.
45:31
We read this morning Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd.
45:35
It says his rod and his staff comfort me.
45:38
And I'm sure you've heard a study on this before, but rods
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and Staffs aren't for comfort. I mean, I suppose you could take
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the staff and rub the sheep's belly, you know, like, like you
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would your dog. But that wasn't what they were
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used for us. A rod was a disciplinary tool to
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hit, you know, to to correct the staff was used to hook the
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sheep, to move the sheep to, to get the sheep out of a pit or to
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redirect the sheep. I mean, it's the rod and stab
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represent God's active discipleship in your life.
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And David, the psalmist, says it's a comfort to me.
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We can be thankful that God. Loves those.
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Those whom he chastens, he loves like a legitimate father.
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He'll discipline his kids. And it's true for kids who grow
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up with parents who have boundaries, parents who actually
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will ask the hard questions and have the hard conversations and
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be active parents. Man, while the kids are growing
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up, they're like, get off my case, mom, get off my case, dad.
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But those kids grow up with a greater sense of love, of
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feeling loved, with a greater sense of identity, of belonging,
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because their parents cared enough to put in the hard work.
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And that's what God does in our life.
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He's not like the devil. He doesn't want to just throw
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candy at you and make you make you happy in the moment and
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compromise your character. That's not God's heart.
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He cares for your soul. Verse 16.
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This will be the last verse we read.
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It says and other sheep I have which are.
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Not of this fold. Them I must bring, and they will
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hear my voice, and there will be 1 flock and 1 shepherd so.
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Jesus says. At the end of this teaching, he
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says, I have other sheep too, guys.
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And that brings me to the fourth characteristic.
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A Good Shepherd is always looking for more sheep.
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Always. Looking for more sheep?
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God's main reason, in fact, we're still on the earth right
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now. Is to do the work of.
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God of of the Kingdom and play a part in saving more people.
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You ever wonder that like man, the Lord the the world is so
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crazy Lord like Maranatha and there's biblical precedent for
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that to say Maranatha come Jesus like come quickly.
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We want you to make things right again and we should want that we
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should want the justice and and the the righteousness of God to
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come into this world. However, the reason it has not
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yet is because God is patient. Let me read Second Peter chapter
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3. It says the Lord is not slack
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concerning his promise to return as some count slackness.
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But the Lord is long-suffering. Toward us, not willing that any
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should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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And so Jesus is, He's waiting, he's waiting for more people to
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get saved. He's wanting to add to his
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flock. Still.
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That is the reason we're here. We will worship in heaven.
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We will, we will fellowship with one another in heaven.
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But the reason they, the unique reason that we as the church are
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still on the earth today is because God wants to reach more
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souls. And even now Jesus is seeking
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those individuals who have not yet entered his flock.
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And so guys, in closing, I just want to affirm to you, Jesus
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loves you with a perfect love. He only ever has your.
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Best interest in mind that's it all the time which is why you
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can trust his leadership in your life you can trust and receive
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his open doors as well as closed doors with the same amount of
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joy we. Can receive his.
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Additions as well as his subtractions with the same level
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of thankfulness. Listen to me.
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You can receive his timing for your birth.
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As well as his timing. For your death, which are both
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in His hands, by the way, with equal trust, because they are
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both agents of blessing, your eternal blessing in His hands.
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We can trust God with all of these things, with life, death,
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with every difficulty, because he is a Good Shepherd, Amen.
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Let's pray God. We do.
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Thank you SO. Much for this reminder.
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Lord, thank you for this text. Jesus, thank you for your gentle
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correction that you would give us a sermon like this and reveal
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to us even the ways in which we can be inadequate shepherds,
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Help us to Lord, see you and hear your voice.
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As we go out from this. Place, Lord, and hear the
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thousands of voices out there. Help us to be able to
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distinguish between good and bad shepherds.
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But most importantly, God help us to distinguish between your
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voice and the voice of man. I pray that would be the case as
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these people leave this place that even the words that were
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were only from me would fall away, Jesus.
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And that your words, Jesus, the the voice of the Good Shepherd
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would abide with them and would remain with them.
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And with every head bow, every eye closed, I just want to speak
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to those who maybe haven't received Jesus as their
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shepherd. God loves you.
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God has orchestrated this very moment because He cares for you.
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It's not a coincidence that you're here.
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It's not a coincidence you're listening to this this.
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Is God. Personally extending his hand
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out to you. This is God literally getting
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down on his knees in the grass to receive you as a sheep.
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If you're willing to, and I encourage you, don't turn it
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away. We have a window of.
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Opportunity to receive the Lord Jesus.
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And we have lots of opportunity, but we're not always promised an
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opportunity tomorrow. And so if that's you, if you've
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been listening to this study and it's gone deeper than just
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words, but you felt the Holy Spirit tugging on your heart
51:07
this morning, then I just want to give you the opportunity to
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receive Jesus for the first time as your Savior.
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If that's the case, just raise your hand just right where
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you're at. Every head bow, every eye
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closed. Simply raise your hand.
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We. Want to acknowledge it Raising.
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Your hand does not save you and then God bless you.
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I see your hand. It doesn't save you, but it
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allows you to respond physically with the faith growing inside it
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on the inside there. So if anybody else.
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God bless you, I see your hand there.
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And then? Raise it up high so I can.
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See, we just want to acknowledge I see you up front here.
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God bless you. That's awesome.
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Oh, I see you back here as. Well, yeah, praise God.
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God receives you with open. Arms, he loves you so much.
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He's delighted to be your. Shepherd so for those of you
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who've raised your hand maybe down in the Cafe area or
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watching online as well. I want to lead you in a prayer
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to receive salvation. This prayer does not save you,
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but it's it's a road map to help you express in your heart what
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salvation is. And so we're I'll lead you in
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this prayer. Repeat after me and church.
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Can we pray this with them just prayed along with them.
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Let's say, dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I have sinned,
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and I know my sin has separated me from You.
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But I also understand. That I can be forgiven.
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By the death of Jesus. On the cross.
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So I invite. You into my life.
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And I turn from my. Sin.
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That I can live for. You.
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In Jesus name. Amen.
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Hey, welcome to the family of God, guys.
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Yeah, Hallelujah. We pray that you've been.
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Encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
53:05
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
53:13
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
53:17
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.