Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / The Voice of a Shepherd - A Different Kind of Shepherd

Transcript

The Voice of a Shepherd - A Different Kind of Shepherd · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: This morning I want to talk about our shepherd, the one we call the good shepherd, the one that said that he's the true shepherd and he he lays down his life for the sheep.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he's a different kind of shepherd than any has ever been before, as far as uh men that we may have called shepherds or leaders or those that have been followed.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh aren't you thankful this morning that you have heard the voice of the shepherd and you said yes, and you've you followed, you've begun to follow, and you some of you have continued to follow for a long time.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And uh as we look at that, I want us to remember, I want us to be aware of of the difference that he makes, and and the diff and and the different way that he leads us.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because what this world needed was a different way.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible uses terms like it's a it's a new way, a new and living way, uh giving us a new covenant, uh, a better, something better, a better covenant.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: What old things couldn't do, the bringing in of something better did.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to look at that.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got a bit of a mouthful here, and I don't uh don't want to take a lot of time to do it.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to get right into Matthew chapter 16.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where Jesus has been asking, he's asking his disciples, who do you say that I am?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or who do men say that I am?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, Well, they say you're this or that or the other.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Who do you say that I am?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh while he's after he asks that, Peter stands up.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he stands up, but anyway, he lifts up his voice and he says, It's like he couldn't contain it anymore.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You're the Christ, the Son of the living God.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and the way I see it, it's almost like, you know how Jesus oftentimes, while while he's saying and doing things, he'd be like, Oh, ye of little faith.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: One time he even says, How long must I be with you?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he said that because he's looking for something, he's waiting for something, he's looking for something to happen.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, You're the Christ, the Son of the living God.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, You go, Peter.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, this is this is what he's been looking for.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Wow, this is it.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You're a stone, and on this rock I'm gonna build my church.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe he's talking about this rock of revelation because he said, You did not get this on your own.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: You weren't smart enough to come up with this.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody revealed this to you except my Father in heaven.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: You got a revelation from the Father.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Father showed you that.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Father, God Himself, spoke that to you.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Peter, if if I'm Peter and Jesus is saying all those things, I'm like, well, I guess that was pretty good.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you, Jesus.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says things like, you know, I'm gonna give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and what you bind will be bound, what you loose will be loosed, and and uh, and and and he says all those things, and then it says he began to tell them what was about to happen, how he was going to Jerusalem, and how he was going to be abused by the people, and how he was gonna be betra uh uh turned over, and how he was gonna be beaten, and he was going to be killed, that he would die, and he told them, and uh and he would that he would raise again on the third day.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it says in verse 21, From that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this will not happen to you.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: One translation says, Don't let this happen.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he's pointing out you're Satan means adversary.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're a hindrance to me.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: You're an ad you're an adversary, you're an offense to me, or a hindrance to me.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're against me right now.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're fighting against something that I want to do.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're fighting against something that's good.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're fighting against the way of God right here.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and what you're saying is a hindrance or an offense to me because you're not being mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know how I don't.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love Peter, don't you?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was so I guess I relate to him because he just he messed up every single time.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: He just always got it wrong, no matter what Jesus would do.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: He finally gets one thing right and he's feeling good, and so he's taking this newfound authority that Jesus says, I'm gonna give you the keys and you know, whatever you do.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, No, Jesus, we're not, this is not happening.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, get behind me, Satan.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you know.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: But he said, Here you got this revelation, and not and real quickly, your mind went right back, right back to the things of of uh of man.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And our shepherd, the voice of our shepherd, is always leading us in the ways of God, right?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and he says, he tells Peter, he says, or tells the disciples, if anybody desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, uh I've heard a question a lot of times about what did what does it really mean to take up your cross and follow him?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or what did Jesus mean when he said that?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a certain angle on uh on that.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is coming, and they're looking for, they're they're waiting for the Messiah, right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, historically, there had been people before that that they thought were Messiahs, and even after Jesus' death, there would be others uh even after that they they thought would be.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: But they were looking for a certain kind, and and most of us are pretty much aware that they were looking for the kind that really didn't look like Jesus, right?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: They were looking for like a political military type of guy, uh, because they were looking at their natural situations, and they were they were thinking that that's that's all that that's what really needed to be done.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: They just figured when the Messiah comes, delivers us from the oppression of Rome, restores Israel to greatness, uh that's what it's all about.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And if he just does that, everything will be okay, and that'll be and all we need will be will be fulfilled.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: We know Jesus didn't do any of that stuff.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: He did something completely different.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: But all the others that they thought could possibly be messiahs, saviors, um uh other other of those types came up and they and and people followed them.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus and and all the others, all the others except Jesus, essentially told the people, follow me, take up your sword, not a cross, take up your sword and follow me.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they would go, they would they would go with the sword.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so they would take their swords and they would, sometimes they would have some victories and think that God was with them, and they'd gather a following, but ultimately they would all be destroyed.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let me um uh this was what what Jesus was saying was if you want to follow me, he says, this doesn't go to some great military victory here.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: This doesn't go to some to some great political victory.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: What this is going to, where this is going is to a cross.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to follow me, follow me to that.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's where this goes.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting, he did tell them I'm gonna die, but he also said, I'm gonna be raised again the third day.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like they didn't hear that.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, did you hear that?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty big deal.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that, being raised from the dead, that the grave wouldn't hold him.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: But they're looking for a whole different kind of thing.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: We know that.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because the good shepherd leads with a different kind of spirit.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: They misunderstood him so often simply because they had never had a shepherd like this.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: People don't lead like this.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Mankind does not go this way.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Ever since the fall of man, we've had a different kind of voice or a different kind of sound, not a voice of heaven.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: We've predominantly heard a different kind of sound, the kind of sound that says, save yourself.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's why when Adam, you know, when he first gets his wife, he looks at her and says, Wow, you and I are one.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: You're flesh of my flesh and your bone of my bone.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: But then when he feels like he's in trouble, he's like, I didn't do it, my wife.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was the wife that you gave me.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Save yourself.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what it's all about.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so people are looking for to uh to for for for salvation, and that's why in in a certain way, and Jesus says, But he that looks to save his life will lose it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And with all these other false messiahs, false Christs, they were looking to save their self, save their nation, save their dignity, save their their their condition, or not just not keep it the same way it was, but they wanted to restore.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and and they would lose it.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: They would lose it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so he says, but he who will lose it for my sake will find it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we see already.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is is leading in a way that nobody else leads.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is taking people in a place, he's bringing his the voice of this shepherd is a voice that's completely, completely different.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he called Peter an adversary.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because Peter was operating in the wrong spirit, if you will, or thinking about the things of man.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um just a little bit after that, then he takes Peter, James, and John to a high mountain.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: There Jesus is transfigured, glorified, shining, bright like light.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And there's also Moses and Elijah with them.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, uh, Lord, let's build three tabernacles right here.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Three shines, three shrines.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Three shrines while you shine.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh and he and and then he gets rebuked.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: He gets it wrong again.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: The poor guy.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: They hear this voice from the Father from heaven, and he says, This is my son, listen to him.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we looked, they looked and they saw just the son only, saw Jesus, not the prop, not the prophet, not the not the lawgiver.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Another time we remember uh the Samaritans wouldn't give Jesus and the disciples any place to stay, because he wanted to pass through Samaria on his way to Jerusalem, and they were like, Well, hey, you know, they hated each other, the Jews and Samaritans hated each other so much that the Samaritans were like, hey, if you're going to go on to Jerusalem, if you're still for them, then you can't be for us, and if you're not for us, then you can't stay in our land.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so the disciples said, Lord, shall we call fire down from heaven and just burn them all up?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's in the Bible.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: We've got precedent.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: They do this in the Bible.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah did that.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, What?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know what spirit you're of.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was in the Bible, but we can take a lot of things in the Bible by the wrong spirit, right?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got a leader, we've got a shepherd.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he says that it's the Spirit that would lead us and would guide us.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we have that same shepherd today.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's alive and he's well, and he leads us, and he guides us, and he leads us in a way that the world would not take us.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we learn those ways, and we find out.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a couple of examples that just came to mind right now.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: There have been, um, I've had in my lifetime in the after uh so many decades of ministry, I've had times when when um I was in situations where um things were done that were harmful to me.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I can think on two occasions where counsel had told me that you have an easy lawsuit here.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would take it up with my shepherd.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: I need the voice of the shepherd.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I need guidance in this.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And in both of those two cases, and I'm not giving a law for how to do everything, I'm just saying, in fact, we don't operate by a law so much as we live, we we follow the shepherd.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because our shepherd is the good shepherd, and he won't lead us wrong, he won't lead us away.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: He won't, he'll he he that our shepherd gives his life for us, and he wants the best for us.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he's not looking to make it horrible for us, he's not looking to make it hard for us.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in these particular cases, my shepherd told me to do nothing and to trust him with the outcome of things.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And in every kind every situation, there were others that weren't that bad also, there in every situation.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I can honestly say that somehow my shepherd, our Lord, vindicated me every single time and blessed me more abundantly than I was before or would have been, but or would have been if I had taken things in my own hands.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: But we look at that in the natural, and it's like, well, there was a normal case there, and there's right and wrong, and you know, it's not that you're being horrible or mean, but there's this is the way it plays out.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you take it to the court and and you know, it gets settled and gets settled in your favor.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can look at it like that, but what we're talking about is we we we have a shepherd who's a different shepherd.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and and if he would have led that way, then that's the way he would have led.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: But in this particular case, he led other ways.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: But he but what my point is is that he is the good shepherd, right?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he gives his life for us, and he's always for your best.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: He knows your best, he knows how to get you the best, and he knows how to lead you to it, and he and and knows how to bring it to you, and he's somebody that we can trust, right?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why we celebrate him this morning, because we're not sheep without a shepherd.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have a shepherd, we have a messiah, we have a Christ, we have a leader, we have somebody that's with us all the time.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: He even says things like when you if they call you before people and you don't know what to say, don't worry about it, because somebody will be with you and will give you the words to say.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: You never have to be alone.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I was um last night I was talking to Judy and I said, I've got all these things that I've uh that the Lord has given me.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm really happy about these scriptures and things that I got.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I said, I'm a little bit, I don't know really where I'm gonna land with this this morning tomorrow morning.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: I said this last night.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: But this morning Judy talked to me on the way here, and she said, Well, do you know where you're gonna land with this?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I'm just gonna trust my shepherd.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, because he he does it so often.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: I said, because what's gonna happen is he's gonna lead, he's gonna guide, and he's gonna speak to his people.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about how good of a job I do speaking or preaching.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's that God loves you and he wants to speak to you.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And somehow he's able to do that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: He is such a good shepherd.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another verse in Acts chapter 5 I want to point you to, talking about the difference between the voice of our shepherd and the voice of other types of shepherds, if you will, or leaders of men.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Acts chapter 5, verse 35, um, Gamaliel is talking.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is after they have imprisoned some of the uh some of the uh disciples, the apostles, and uh, and they're they're wanting to kill him because they're preaching Jesus.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And they're determined to do it, but Gamaliel says something.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: He says to them, Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because some time ago Theutus rose up, claiming to be somebody.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: A number of men, about 400 of them, joined him, and he was killed, and all who obeyed him were scattered, and they came to nothing.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And after this man there was Judas of Galilee.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: He rose up in the days of the census.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, these were a couple of those supposed messiahs that many people followed, thinking that he was going to be the one to restore them.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Judas came, he rose up in the days of the census.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: This was the these were the days when Joseph and Mary were taking Jesus back to their homeland.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And drew away from drew away many people after him.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So now I say to you, keep away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's of God, you can't overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before Jesus came, these are two people that you can uh look up historically.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Theodus, he claimed to be the Messiah, and he also he also came in a religious way, he claimed to be a prophet.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And he got hundreds of people to follow him out to the wilderness because he said that God showed him something.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm going to take you to the Jordan River, and when I get to the Jordan River, I'm going to part the river with just my word, and we'll all pass over safely.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the Romans had already heard of that and had heard it was coming, so they cut him off.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: He never got to the Jordan River.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: They slaughtered, they, they, they slaughtered all the people.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they they beheaded uh the leader, Theodus.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and they and and also what we see is that Herod and the leaders there, they were always, they were afraid of these uprising.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is why you can see why, even why they wanted to, uh, even the Jews wanted to turn Jesus over to the Romans and look him, uh present him as a rebel, because the Roman, Rome was was Rome was all was afraid of these things, these uprising all the time.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the king of Israel himself was afraid of these.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is why at that time he even uh when they started calling some child that was born born to be king of the Jews, this is why he wanted all the babies killed that might be that king, because people were trying to usurp his throne.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Jews did not like Herod.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: They did not like Herod or the other Herods, his sons.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't like, they didn't like those guys.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: They were, they, they weren't the they weren't the kind of kings that were going to do what they wanted to do.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um also in that time, just a couple of uh let me let uh that was Theodus.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Judas of Galilee, he's the one, he began what's called the fourth sect of Judaism, which is the zealots.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: They had zealots, zealots.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: They had the uh they had the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Assenes, who John the Baptist was of that kind of group.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then these were the zealots, and these were the were the militants.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And and he had a message and he went around preaching that we should not pay any taxes to Rome.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have we we we only have one God and we only owe him things.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: We don't owe the Romans anything, so don't pay any taxes, and he was so so harsh about it that if you did pay taxes, he would burn your house.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: He just didn't want anybody paying taxes to Rome.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he wanted to become king.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he got beheaded as he rose up and had people following him.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there was also in those times, uh, there was a man named Simon of Perea.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: These were all before Jesus came.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they're looking for this Messiah, and every once in a while somebody, and a lot of them in a short time were popping up to really to overthrow Rome.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Simon of Perea.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: He was a former slave of Herod.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was tall and strong, which said a lot to people.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: He put a crown on his own head.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be king, called himself a king, made himself king, and he was declared king by those who are around him who followed him.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: They tried to do that to him.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was a different kind of shepherd.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: He said, We're not doing that way.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And even when they tried to, when, when the Jews that that that that turned him over to the Romans later on, the question was, Are you the king of the Jews?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And his answer was, My kingdom is not of this world.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't come to do those things that that that he was being accused of.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: He was a king, but he was a different kind of a king.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: This guy crowns himself king.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: After having served in the house of the king, Herod, he went around and he destroyed many of the royal houses that Herod had around the country.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: His followers were killed by soldiers, and Simon did what hirelings would do, Jesus said.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: He saved himself by running away.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: They eventually caught him and they cut his head up too.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say about the true shepherd, the good shepherd, and then those that are hirelings?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: He says, the hireling runs.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: The hireling wants to save his own life.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the good shepherd.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I give my life for the sheep.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: There was a man named Athronges.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: He was a shepherd with great strength.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: He also crowned himself to be a king.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: He put a diadem, a crown upon his own head.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: He attacked Herod's soldiers because of their sinful conduct.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you see there was a lot of religious zeal along with the military, the militant militancy.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: He attacked Herod's soldiers because of the licentiousness that Herod allowed them to live.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then he also attacked the Romans because of the oppression that they called.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: He eventually became cruel to all kinds of people, to his own, to the Jews.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: He just, if he didn't like their licentious behavior, he was cruel to all of them.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: He killed and he took from them.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: He was, like all of them, eventually subdued by Rome and Herod Archilos as they joined together to defeat and to kill this guy.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our shepherd is different.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Our shepherd has a different kind of sound.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: James chapter 3, verse 17.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: This gives you a contrast to some of the things we just looked at, to some of the things that we just read.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Our shepherd brings this kind of a sound, and it's a certain sound from heaven.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the road not taken, if you will.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at history and I see Jesus showing up on the scene, I see Jesus talking about, demonstrating, and then really by the Spirit imparting something to mankind, to our hearts.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: As Romans says, that he has poured the love of God, the love of God, the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a big thing.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was the thing that was going to allow Jesus to stay on the cross.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was the whole reason for his coming because God so loved the world.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is why he wasn't out to just destroy the Romans, too.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, every Roman that came to him, even Roman soldiers, a Roman captain, a centurion, would come to him, and Jesus would just be good and blessed and be merciful.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we see everybody with this other sound of everybody fighting for what they want and fighting for themselves.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: And as the book of James says, why are there wars and fightings among you?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it because of the lust, the desires, the things that you just want?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: He says, and you want and you want and you still don't get it.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: You still can't have it.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: You never get satisfied with it.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the sound that's going on and on and on from Adam all the way on through.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a Tower of Babel, the confusion, the noise, the noise, the sound of mankind and all the killing and the war and all the evil and the destruction and the selfishness and all this stuff that gets in the way in the hearts of people that God made to be good.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe humans are good at heart.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've been hearing sounds and we're confused and we're messed up.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus brought a certain sound from heaven, as it's described when the Spirit came in Acts chapter 2.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same sound that was with them and would then be in them when the Spirit was given.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: The same sound that's in us.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was the one, the shepherd, that had the guts to take away, to take a road that no other man was willing to take.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is our shepherd.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is a good shepherd.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this shepherd has proven that way.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: He proved it when he let them kill him, and he was raised from the dead.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: He trusted the Spirit, he trusted the Father.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: He trusted something that no other person had been willing to trust in this way, I believe.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: He talked about this way, he showed us this way.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he said it in these, these, these, these ways that people kind of turn into rules and laws, but he but he was showing us a way.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Turn the other cheek.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Peter says, okay.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: But what if they just keep doing it?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: What I do, forgive them seven times every day?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, How about seven times seventy?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: How about 490?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's once every three minutes.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Makes you think when you hear somebody say, Oh, I forgave them.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you know they're still struggling, but they're like, I think sometimes I suggest people, you know, you know, forgiveness is really the way out of this.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, oh, I forgave them.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: When oh, I forgave them a year or ten years ago.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is talking about, how about every three minutes?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, he's talking about a way that man doesn't know.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: God, uh the Bible says that the ways of the spirit to the natural man, to the natural mind, their foolishness to him.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: He can't get it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we have the voice, we have the leading, we have a certain sound from heaven that we hear, and that sound has been poured out into our hearts, and we have a good shepherd.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I what I want to tell us is that he is leading us.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he's guiding us corporately, but he's guiding us individually.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he's guiding you into ways of life and peace.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: It gets better.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's only gonna get better.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Situations might come go up and down, but for you and your walk and with God and in the kingdom of God that's in you, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost of the increase of that kingdom and of peace, there will be no end.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just look down the road at how good it's getting and be thankful for where you're at right now.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Psalms chapter 89, verse 15 says, Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: They walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have I been where I didn't know what direction to take?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: How many times where it looked confusing to you?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just thinking for myself, how many times have I said, not in so many words, but in very words very much like this.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll just say, let me ask the Father, but let me ask my shepherd, let me ask the voice that I know.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let me ask the voice who will lead me to still waters and green pastures.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let me ask the voice that cares about my well-being.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: And many times you get direction, you just get this, oh, I know.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's just, I got this.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you hear that, you can believe that.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I heard Clark say one time, he says, you know, he says, he's your father.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Ask him if you don't know.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: But part two, then he says, and when he says it, believe him.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's the that's the part a lot of people ask.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, but when he tells you something, believe it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I got this.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like the shepherd saying, You don't have to worry, I'm the shepherd.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're my sheep.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I got you.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to lead you somewhere harsh.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've got this.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at it, we're set for life.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have a shepherd.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have, well, we'll never be alone.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have our superpower.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have something, somebody greater, somebody more than us.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have a wisdom that's bigger than our brain.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have a love that's bigger than our natural ability.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always have a peace that goes beyond what we can understand, and it won't make any sense at times, and you'll say, Why am I at such peace?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's because of the voice of your shepherd.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's because you have found the one that your soul loves.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have found the one that lets you know that you'll never be alone again.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you this morning, we deal with situations in our personal lives.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: But you're in the safest place you can be because you're not a sheep without a shepherd.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: You are, you have a shepherd, and he is the good shepherd, and he will never leave you or forsake you, and you're going to dwell with him forever, forever, forever, and you know that.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know that.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know this sound.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking to you because you don't know it.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: As the book of John says, you know, I'm not saying it because you don't know it.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying it because you know it, and it's in our hearts, and we know that sound, and and we want to incline our ears to that every day, especially when we need it most, the voice of the shepherd is still there.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is why you're hearing the joyful sound.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is why you have a joy in your heart that's unspeakable.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can't describe it, and it's full of glory.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: A joy that'll get you through anything.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because the voice of the shepherd is always ministering life, always ministering joy, always ministering peace.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: He has no darkness in him.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Everything about him is good and it's light, and everything about him is leading you in the ways of life and peace.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't have to be afraid, and never will we have to feel alone.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do, just let it be for a moment.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, you have a shepherd.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, in Matthew chapter 11.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: I read this verse a lot when I speak.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: But it speaks to us of the voice of the shepherd.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Before I read this, let me I want to I want to give just a moment to James chapter 3, something that we had read there just a moment ago.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because I just glossed over it really quickly.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: But he says, the wisdom that's from above, or let me say, the voice of our shepherd, is pure.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's pure life.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's peaceable, or it's peacemaking.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: It'll make peace in our hearts every time that we hear it.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: If we let it, it'll let us make peace with the people.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, those that hear the joyful sound, ultimately we who are being led by our shepherd, or as Romans 8.14 says, led by the Spirit, manifesting the sonship of God, manifesting the expression of Christ Himself in a world.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Manifesting the expression of giving without worrying about the exchange of what we're getting back.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just giving, giving, giving, giving the beauty and the joy of continually being able to give because we never get depleted.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you ever feel it for a moment, listen to the voice of the shepherd.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's gentle.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's gentle with you, he's gentle with the world.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's gentle, willing to yield.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: We see that with his death on the cross.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: We see this in the gentle way he deals with you and me.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's never pressured, he's never forced anything on me.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm amazed sometimes that I could, I could, that I could get any of this that I've received from God with him being as gentle as he is.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: But somehow in him, with this shepherd, that gentleness is the very strength that he carries.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one that says, when there's wrath going on, man would say, Well, let's match wrath for wrath.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if we have more wrath, if we have more strength and more power, then we win.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the word says, but it's a gentle answer that turns away wrath.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you win.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you beat that.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Willing to yield, full of mercy, full of good fruits, without partiality.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: That means that means without favoritism, without differentiation.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: One is not different from the other.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: No Greek, no Jew, male, female, this, that, the other.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Our shepherd is not hollering at us and pointing out the dividing lines in humanity, like some other false shepherds are.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Our shepherd, in this day we're in, is speaking to us, and he's not, he's not stirring us up to be angry about anything, anybody.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's talking from a different kingdom.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he tells you and I and everybody else in this world in Matthew 11.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Are you tired?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are you?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you are.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let me remind you about our shepherd.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Need a good dose of shepherd leadership this morning.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Really, just need to hear that sound.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: A sheep that feels tired is kind of like we feel like we got we got alone somehow.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: Lost our way.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: How great, how good does the sheep feel when he hears the voice of the shepherd saying, I'm here.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: I see you.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are you tired?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Are you worn out?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: That comes from feeling alone.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're not alone.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Burned out on religion, been there, not anymore.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Come to me.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: The shepherd.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, sheep.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: See, when we feel these things, it's hard, isn't it?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because we feel like we're by ourselves sometimes.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we remember the truth, we hear the sound.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: And joy comes to the heart of the lamb.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: You and I, the lambs.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Come to me and get away with me.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, lamb.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: You'll recover your life.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll show you how to take a real rest.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Rest in our soul.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Walk with me.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Work with me.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Watch how I do it.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, sheep.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, lambs.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Watch how I do it and learn these unforced rhythms of grace.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've ever been so jealous as when I read this and like, why couldn't I?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: I come up with that first.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: Learn those unforced rhythms of grace.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about?
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Those unforced rhythms where it's so natural and it's so real and so good, and you're just living it and moving in it, and it's and things that once weren't easy or natural for you, now they become more natural to you.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Unforced rhythms of grace.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: We know that he knew that the religious leaders were putting heavy burdens on us.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Keep company with me.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'll teach you to live freely and lightly.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's all stand.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm in love this morning.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you love your shepherd?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you love that voice?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't give billions for that voice.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody said, Rick, I've got your answer.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: You've been doing with that a lot of things for a long time.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: I will give you one billion dollars, but what it means is you'll never hear that voice of the shepherd again.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Never.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: No way.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not even for a second, would I consider?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: The voice of the shepherd, of our shepherd, is everything.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Father, here we are, the sheep of your pasture.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: We rejoice in our hearts today.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: As I'm praying, just enjoy Him right now.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy your personal shepherd.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the sound from heaven.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: It means everything to us.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I thank you for direction for people that are looking for it today.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Clarity comes because they're not alone.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: To people who've heard news that makes them afraid in some way.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're the answer.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I thank you for the comfort that only a shepherd like you can give.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: For wherever we're at, and you know every single one of us right where we're at.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right in the middle of this thing with us.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: We are not alone.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: And for that, we give you all thanks and praise in the name of our Savior.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: We give you thanks.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you guys.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Have a wonderful day.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be beautiful out there today, and it's Florida Sunday.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good day.