The Good Shepherd

heavy hitting going on last week um so

we're getting ready for Easter

everybody's excited and and the whole

thing about

Easter it's about he is risen he's not

dead he died but he didn't stay that way

and

so as I was studying and preparing for

the different aspects of He is Risen I

really got kind of focused in on the

Gospel of John

and because there's things in the Gospel

of John about Jesus that are not listed

in any of the other gospels and I think

it's important for us as believers to

have as much understanding about Jesus

as we can possibly

get so this

week we are going to talk about the good

shepherd that's one of those things that

Jesus referred to himself as he said "I

am the good

shepherd." And so we're going to look at

that and if you don't know where it's at

it's in John chapter 10 um but but I

want to I want to hit on some things

before we actually take an in-depth look

at the good shepherd this morning some

things that were said are just so true

um so I ask you a

question actually it's a challenge

this next week for one

week every time you invite somebody to

church I want you to write it down or

make a note of it in your phone or do

something and I want you to find out by

next Sunday how many people you invited

to church i'm not saying witness to him

i'm not saying try to convert them

simply ask them to come to church and I

want you to figure

out how many people are you actually

inviting to church

because it's important and we're looking

at today's message as the shepherd the

good shepherd and he talks quite a bit

about the sheep and u if you know

anything

about animals people

whatever sheep beget sheep shepherds

lead sheep uh you can always find and

tell especially in the Middle East if

the person is actually the shepherd of

the sheep or if he's the

butcher and the way you find out is the

shepherd walks in front of the sheep he

leads them wherever they go psalms

23 but if he's the

butcher he drives the sheep from the

back

and so when you're looking at church God

puts people in place he puts

pastors to lead his

flock and he puts people that are there

to help in ministry to help keep the

flock going you ever you ever seen

somebody when I was a kid here in the

valley every

spring you would see these massive herds

of she of flocks of sheep going down the

road and it was always weird i mean

you'd see hundreds of sheep you know and

the shepherds were with them and they

were walking around in the front they

were leading the sheep but on the

outside of the sheep were sheep dogs and

the sheep dogs were there to do one

thing to keep the sheep going following

the following the shepherd and they

would go around and they would they

would have a sheep that would get out of

line the dog would come by and bite them

on the nose or bite them on the hill and

make them get back in with the rest of

the sheep that's one of the jobs of a

pastor when people start to wander off

they got to come around and kind of give

them a little bit of correction so

they'll get back in with the rest of the

sheep um but we're going to look at the

shepherd and how to tell for yourself

who's a thief because we all like to

quote John 10:10 for the thief cometh

but to kill steal and destroy but I come

to give life and to give it more

abundantly but if we don't take the rest

of that in context we really don't

understand just how sneaky the enemy is

and we're going to take a look at that

today

and to understand it we got to go it's

not just John chapter 10 we have to go

back into John chapter 9 go to the next

slide Chris so he is risen is the theme

of this whole Easter season and we're

looking at the good shepherd so go to

the next slide Chris so the actual good

shepherd conversation takes place in

John 10:es 1-18

when we think of a shepherd most of the

time we conjure up this picture of Jesus

sitting there with a lamb in his

arms being loving and caring and

kind meek and gentle what you don't see

and we should see more of is the fact

that a shepherd is a fierce warrior

he protects his sheep from

attacks and he looks for his sheep when

they become lost or go missing stop and

think about David King

David his dad sends him to to where his

brothers are at israel's set up for

they're they're set at this valley to

fight the Philistines and and they've

been there a bit and Jesse sends David

with food for his brothers now remember

David was the youngest of eight sons he

had seven older brothers and guess where

they were they were with Saul camped

against the

Philistines and God sends David there

with food for his

brothers and when David arrives at the

camp he hears the challenge of Goliath

now here's a here's a young man who's a

man after God's own heart and he's

angered and

embarrassed because all of

these soldiers from Israel are scared of

Goliath he can't believe now David's

about 15 at this time he can't believe

that they're setting in camp he can't

believe that his king Saul who stood

head and shoulders above every man in

Israel was

cowering in his

tent at the words of

Goliath and he was so afraid of Goliath

that he even put out a reward if anybody

could defeat him they could marry his

daughter become the son of son-in-law of

the king here's David 15-year-old

shepherd boy red hair freckle-faced

that's what it means to be ruddy

complexion and uh he's had success in

his life as a shepherd because he's

fought and killed a lion he's fought and

killed a bear and he brought his dad's

sheep home safe and sound this is a man

of courage this is a man of strength

this is a 15-year-old man who says "You

know what i don't have no he I defeated

the bear i defeated the lion i have no

reason to fear you Goliath." Because

it's not me but the God who's with me he

says "You stand there and defy the

armies of the living God well I come to

you in the name of the living God." And

he gets five stones six actually he puts

five in his shepherd's pouch they were

slingers and if you've ever seen a

slinger have you ever watched any of

those little videos to see just how

deadly those guys are with

[Music]

rocks i I don't want one of them

slingers slinging rocks at me okay and

David doesn't walk at him david doesn't

come hungry that's why I I tried to

watch that um that new show The House of

David i had to turn it off i could I

made it through 15 minutes of the first

episode and I turned it off

because it's so totally against what the

Bible says it's not an accurate

depiction of David and I just shut it

off but David doesn't walk towards him

he doesn't walk me towards him he

doesn't do anything you know what he

does he puts a he puts a rock in his

sling and he begins to twirl it and he

runs at

Goliath runs at him

and he hits him between the eyes with a

stone it didn't kill him but it knocked

him to the ground and then David runs

out to Goliath and pulls Goliath's sword

out of its scabbard and cuts his head

off and kills

him that's the good

shepherd that's what the good shepherd

does

i want you I want you to read with me

here so we're going back into chapter

nine because you have to read this to

understand what Jesus is saying in

chapter

10 jesus heard that they that there was

a blind man and they threw him out of

the temple and Jesus heard that they had

cast him out and when he Jesus went

looking for this one they cast out he

went looking for him and when he had

found him he said unto him "Dust thou

believe on the son of

God?" Because if you don't read this you

don't understand the good shepherd

passage and he answered and said "Who is

he Lord that I might believe on him?"

He's blind he hasn't seen the

Lord and Jesus said unto him Thou hast

both seen him and it is he that talkth

with

thee and he said Lord I believe and he

worshiped

him and Jesus said "For judgment I am

come unto this world that they which see

not might

see and that they which see might be

made

blind." And some of the Pharisees now

here's your religious

hypocrites and some of the Pharisees

which were with him heard these words

and they said unto him "Are we blind

also?"

And Jesus said unto them if you were

blind you should have no

sin but now you say we

see therefore your sin

remainth now he goes into talking now

he's going to explain it this is where

you got to pay close attention now we've

set it up he healed a blind man and he

probably healed him on the Sabbath and

pissed off the Pharisees that's why

they're upset because he broke the law

again okay he says "Verily verily," and

that means truly truly that's what the

word verily means

truly i say unto you he that enterth not

by the door into the

sheepfold but climbth up some other

way the same is thief and a robber

but he that enterth in by the door is

the shepherd of the

sheep to him the porter that means the

door the person that stands there

holding opening and closing the door to

him the porter openeth and the sheep

hear his

voice and he calleth his own sheep by

name and leadth them out

and when he put forth his own sheep he

goeth before

them and the sheep follow him for they

know his

voice and a stranger they will not will

they not follow but will flee from him

for they know not the voice of

strangers this parable spake Jesus unto

them but they understood not what things

they were which he spake unto them he's

talking about not just the Pharisees at

this point his disciples didn't

understand him

either then said Jesus unto them again

"Verily verily that means truly truly I

say unto you I am the door of the

sheep all that ever came before me are

thieves and

robbers but the sheep did not hear

them."

The thief cometh not but for to steal

and to kill and to destroy i am come

that they might have life and that they

might have it more

abundantly i am the good shepherd the

good shepherd giveth his life for the

sheep but he that is in hireling and not

the shepherd whose own sheep are not

seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the

sheep and fleth and the wolf catcheth

them and scatterth the

sheep the hireling fleth because he is

an hire and carth not for the

sheep i am the good shepherd and know my

sheep and am known of mine

as the Father knoweth me even so know I

the Father and I lay down my life for

the

sheep and other sheep I have which are

not of this

fold them also I must bring and they

shall hear my voice and there shall be

one fold and one

shepherd therefore does my father love

me because I lay down my life that I

might take it again

no man taketh it from me but I lay it

down of

myself i have power to lay it down i

have power to take it again this

commandment have I received of my

father

so some things to look at in this

passage of scripture

he takes the incident of this blind man

who wanted to be healed and the

Pharisees kicked him out of the temple

because he was

blind jesus heard about it and he

specifically went to go find

him because he is the shepherd that's

one of his sheep and after he found him

and gave him a couple of questions and

the man answered Jesus restored his

sight and then he comes back and rebukes

the religious leaders that cast him out

of the temple instead of doing what's

right which would have been either

praying for the man or sending someone

to go find Jesus to come and touch him

and so Jesus addressed him as what he

felt they were thieves and robbers

because they didn't go find

Jesus they definitely knew he had the

power to heal that blind man beyond a

shadow of a doubt they had seen the

miracles Jesus had performed over and

over and over and

over but yet they

still would not glorify Jesus for who he

was

they were still seeking to be glorified

of their own and rather than sending

someone to get Jesus to come and pray

for this blind man they cast him

out causing Jesus to go find

him you ever felt cast out before

you ever attended church someplace and

everybody made you feel like an alien

and you didn't want to go

back and then

someone that you absolutely did not know

comes by and says "Hey I want to

introduce you to a man I know his name

is

Jesus do you know him

is he the center of your Is he the

centerpiece of your

life see it's okay to have all the other

things we do there's nothing wrong with

them as long as the focus of our life

keeps Jesus in the

middle i seen some of them fish you

caught this week Gary did you get pray

over the fish before you went fishing

when you're getting ready to go do

something do you pray before you go do

you ask God to go before

you when you're ready to go and tell

somebody about Jesus and you're going to

invite them to

church do you ask God to open doors for

you it's

important you don't have to preach to

him you just got to be real

got to be

honest and when you ask

him if you don't if you if you're not

comfortable trying to lead him to the

Lord ask him a simple question would you

like to come to church with

me would you like to come to church with

me because I know a

man who can help you and I'm not talking

about me talking about him

so stop and think about

it we run into people every

day who have been cast

out because they didn't fit

in it reminds me of a joke this lady

goes in to see her pastor she'd been

attending this church for a long for a

while decides she wants to become a

member and she goes and asks the pastor

and says "Well I'd like to I'd like to

consider you know becoming a member of

your church." Pastor says "Okay well go

pray about it and uh when you when you

have an answer come back and tell me

what God says and we'll go from there."

So couple months goes by pastor sees her

and one day he's going "You know she

never has come back and talk to me." So

he goes and asks her he says "You know

sister you asked me if you could be a

member of this church and I told you to

pray about it and come back and tell me

what God said." And he said "Well did

you pray about it?" She goes "Yeah yeah

I

did." He said "Well God answered." He

goes "Yeah he did." He said "Well what

God say he said not to worry about

joining this church cuz he's been trying

to get in here for 50 years and you guys

won't let him."

Do you know how many churches are like

that that's a fact i'm not picking on

you Brother Mike but there are churches

out there that if Brother Mike and and

Sister Megan showed up with their kids

they wouldn't even let him stay in the

church they'd ask him to leave because

Brother Mike's got tattoos on his

face and they're the Brady

Bunch they're

blended and they had to ask him to leave

this morning on the way to church amen

we got it yes we got it on my way to

church I decided to make a detour and

and I come when I come from Taller I

come through to come here and I got to

road

168 and which goes to Woodville the

Woodville road and I said you know what

i haven't been Woodville in a long

time and there's a there's a reason for

this story so I made the turn i went

through Woodville on the way here and

when I got to the center of Woodville

there's a four-way stop sign

right i'm facing south so across the

road on that side is Jesus Assembly

Church now here's the funny thing i got

saved somewhere else but my Pentecostal

experience started at Jesus Assembly

Church that's where I got filled with

the Holy

Spirit now you don't want to go to that

church there's nothing there but a lot

of religious

bondage but as I was sitting there so I

drove through

town i don't ask me why but I did i

drove through

town the Pentecost Church of God is no

longer a Pentecost church of

God the Assembly of God church that's

there in Woodville has got weeds this

high in the parking

lot doesn't look like anybody goes to

church there

the Church of the Nazarene actually

looks better than than the other

churches cuz their their yards kept up

and everything like that but it doesn't

look like anybody

goes and it it made me

hurt

that there's

churches that used to reach people

there's churches that used to minister

to people and you drive by there now and

they're

abandoned i thank God he didn't abandon

this

place this church has been here

for over 70

years we're still here the lights are

still on we still got people in coming

to church

here and God's not done

god's not done he says "I will never

leave you or forsake

you." He laid his life down for

you that you could have a relationship

with the

father in complete

freedom he made you promises i was

talking to Pastor Chuck about this he

came by yesterday to drop off a donation

he made to my father's house and we were

talking and he was telling me

about this church over I think it's in

it's either in Armona or Avenue I can't

remember which it

is but they did this challenge with

their congregation okay they've been

trying to get a building program going

on over there forever and and nobody

would really get involved with their

building program so the pastor with

prayer and stuff he does this challenge

he does a 9010 challenge he says "I got

a lot of faithful tithe payers but I

can't get them to give more than 10%."

They don't put money into the building

fund they don't put in the Sunday school

they don't do this they don't do that so

he issued a 9010 challenge which for one

month he wanted the congregation to put

90% into the church and live on

10 sounds pretty weird

right would you like to know how much

money they took in in that

month

$19,000 and they got the money to start

their new building

and I I I'm not saying

that to make you think about this other

church i'm telling you this so that you

can understand how God blesses his

people the things that God will do when

his people step out by faith to do what

God has asked them to do so I want you

to ask yourself a question

what did God ask you to do

here what did God ask you to do at this

church because that's what's most

important sister Leavon made a statement

and I let her know the next day that I'm

actually in 100% in agreement with what

she

said yes we have very successful digital

platform the church is growing digitally

all that kind of stuff but without this

church none of that

matters this is the foundation this is

where God builds

from this is where we have to be solid

so when I asked you earlier when I

challenged you

earlier to simply invite somebody to

church as opposed to try and be a soul

winner this week now I'm not saying if

you get an opportunity not to soul win

definitely do that bible says he the

winner of souls is wise

but at

least become a doorkeeper of God's house

and invite people

in whether they say yes or no or ever

show up is immaterial I guarantee if you

track it if you go through the whole

week looking at how many people you

actually invited to church you're either

going to be astonished by the number of

people you invited or you're going to be

embarrassed by the number of people you

invited one or the other

i invite people to church all the time i

It is true i live in Vicelia i recommend

churches in Vicelia to people I run into

there because I know some very good

doctrally sound churches to send them to

because you know Thomas you know how far

it is from to Popppler um and coming to

popular is worth coming to but when you

have people who don't have a means of

transportation you got to get them to a

Bible-based church somewhere where they

can be

fed so that's what I

do and the ones that I know could make

it over here invite them to come whether

they ever show up or not

so when you're you're here and you're a

disciple and you're a

believer become a

David become a

David remember how he defeated Goliath

he defeated Goliath by

knowing in whose name he was coming

against him in he says "You come against

me in strength but I come against you in

the name of the Lord." And he called him

um you uncircumcised Philillinstein in

other words he he's basically that that

was

a a way of calling him a piece of

garbage

because he was uncircumcised he was

unclean and then he didn't just say that

he ran at

him and then knocked him down with a

stone and cut his head off with his own

sword that's you and

me that's what God called us to do

so I'm going to have Chris play a couple

of songs and I want you guys the first

song to enter into a true place of

worship because I I believe God wants to

do something amazing

today and uh and I know that uh he's

going to meet your needs today

um uh the goodness of God