Are You Really Free? | John 10 | Crossroads Daily

Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Kirsten. I'm Mish. And I'm Miko. And we are talking about John 10 and Jesus saying he is the door. And we were just talking about like, what are things that we trust way too much in our lives? Maybe more than we should. Yeah. Jesus says there are things that are thieves and liars. What's something that you've trusted that turned out to be a thief and a liar in your life? Wanting a career for the sake of making money for sure is a thief and a liar. And I think intended to steal. Later on, it says the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. That stole, it killed and destroyed any chance I had to have joy, peace, patience, perseverance, like a care towards other people. Yeah. Yeah. Genuinely. Yeah. Same for me, Mish, man. That's immediately where my mind goes is just, you know, it wasn't really a joke. I wanted to be on the cover of Black Enterprise magazine, which if you don't know what that is, like it was like the premium. Right. It was the premium. Like this guy is a leader in business and he's black. Like I want to be on the cover. I just want to make money and all that. And man, I when I was 30, I was making more money. I thought I ever would at that point had lots of prospects for the future. I was getting promoted, more promotions. And that's when I had my first panic attack. And so obviously, that was a thief and a liar and did not deliver what I thought it would. I'm in the same boat and I would even just encapsulate it all with just desires. But that would be like at the top. And it's funny, like I even I had a conversation. I was having a conversation with God last year because this still kind of like rears its ugly head from time to time. And I remember I was in my room. I was folding clothes and really kind of like getting on board with the idea of like maybe these things and these ideas that I have may not come to pass and just really kind of like grieving some of that. And I had an honest conversation with God. I said, God, you know what? My identity is in Christ and I know that. But for me, I don't know why it just seems like that's not enough. Like I still want. Yeah. I'm like this. I'm going to give it to you. This is how I feel. I'm like, I still want accolades and success in these things attached to my name. And I'm like, I mean, it wasn't a conclusive thought, but it was just an honest thought. Like this is this is what I'm dealing with. This is how I feel, guys. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know why this is a hard one. I didn't grow up with a lot of money. My mom was a single mom bartender.

We did not have a lot of money. So I never I was like anywhere I end up is better than where my mom was. So I never really had the job thing. I think it might have been just like I followed a lot of friendships in high school and college that I trusted they would be there for me. Right. They talk big talk about like, I got your back wherever you go, like if you need help after a breakup, like and then, you know, it happens. And you're like, where are you? Like you're not here. And that like realization that you're way more alone than you thought is like so shocking. And I realized, like, I don't know, I think you can have really, really great relationships and people you look up to that don't necessarily follow the Lord. But I found the stability of a friendship in someone who like does follow Jesus like I do. It's like night and day. You're just like you're actually protected in that. And, you know, you're going to be met with a selfless relationship versus just like I was in that season. Like if it were roles reversed in high school in my first years of college, I would have done the same thing. I'm like, I got a party to go to. Like, I can't come pick you up from the hospital or whatever, like horrible things. But I think like that trust in relationships that you put so much in as a young person is like, yeah, shallow. You mentioned the word protection. And Jesus says in this verse that we've read today, I am the door. And, you know, not all the time, but often in Israel, the way that sheep were kept is they were kept in a cave. And so literally the shepherd would lay across the opening of the cave. So when Jesus says, I am the door, he's literally saying something that like shepherds would have understood. Oh, he's the physical door. He's the protection. It is. It's a great metaphor. Well, it's not a metaphor. It's a great reality that he's connecting to. So what what's a way that you've experienced Jesus's protection? What's the way you've experienced him as the door in your life? Either because of something he kept out. Yeah. Or something that he kept in. There are these miraculous moments that have happened here and there in my life. All through my life, like from before I gave my life. to Christ to after, but because I was just talking about college, I had this moment where I ended up in a house with a guy who was like trying to take advantage of me and I was like, this is a terrible situation. And even back then, like for me to recognize like, this is a bad situation was like honestly miraculous. And it ended up being like, well, you can leave. So I end up on the porch in the middle of Clifton, which is ironic because that's where I work now in ministry. But I end up on this porch 3 a.m. like looking around being like, I don't have a car. I don't have, I don't live here. I don't know how I'm going to get home. And I just am

like on the porch, like crying. And I look over and one of my classmates walks out of the next door. I was like, Kirsten. Hey. I'm like, hi. She's like, hey, do you need a ride home? Wow. Drives me home to the West side, like 3 a.m. Wow. And I look back and I'm like, I am so sorry, but there's no way in that minute. Like I wasn't on the porch for 20 minutes. Like I was there for maybe 60 seconds, like, and she walked out. And so I looked back. 3 in the morning. At 3 in the morning. Like, I just didn't like, thank you, God, for protecting me in those moments. Because I've said it before. I'll say it again. Like, there's no way I should have survived the insane decisions I was making back then. Like so was not valuing my life, but he was. He was the door. Yeah. It's crazy. And thank you, Kirsten's friend, whoever you were. Thank you. I don't even remember. It's horrible. But yeah. Wow. Yeah. I'll just say I have to remember this. You talked about desires. I have to remember this. The prayer that I pray, not as much as I should, but I can pray with the most gratitude is, God, thank you for how many times you did not give me what I wanted. Like, man, I think about how many girls I wanted to date because I thought it would be whatever, you know, or the jobs that I wanted to have or the things that I wanted to do, like the choices that I would make with my life and my time and all of those things, the times when I wanted to set a person straight, you know, because of something they did to me, all the offenses that I wanted to correct on my own, the way I wanted to take that. And I'm like, God, thank you for all of those times when you did not give me what I wanted, because I would say those for me have been times when Jesus has been the door. You know, he's been the sheep. You don't know what you need. You think you want this thing or need this thing, but you don't. It will kill you. And I'm just so thankful for the ways that he's said a no to things in my life. Like, that has been a protection for Jesus to say no to me in so many times. And you only know it in retrospect, right? Because in the moment, I'm like,

no, this is perfect. I want this. I should do. And it's like, oh, thank you, God, for how many times you said no to me and did not give me what I wanted. Yeah, that's good. I feel like I echoed that as well, because I read the scripture. I feel like I'm also hearing Jesus say, anytime you're trying to escape from the pen or like come out from any way outside of the gates, like he's calling you a thief, but also I think he's saying you're not living the identity I've called you to be, which is a sheep. Yeah. Which is a sheep. A sheep has no way of scaling that cave. Honestly, that's a good image to think about now, because I always just imagine like the farm pen that we kind of have in these days, right? Yeah. And so like the not getting what I want, the gratitude towards that and truly entering and exiting the way that Jesus in a way that like you can recognize the voice of the I mean, yeah, yeah, that's everything. Yeah. Yeah. And the promise is you will go out and come in and find pasture. You'll get what you need. You know, it's not like you won't stay in the cave forever. We feel like that sometimes, right? No, no, no, you can get out of the cave, but not until the shepherd, the door says this is right for you. So man, any final encouragement to people as they might be in a place right now of thinking like, man, I feel like I'm struggling to be that sheep in that cave. What would you say to them? Last word. I think thinking about just kind of what you talked on, what you just mentioned, like the part of the verse when he says that you will find that pasture coming in and out and then recognizing that in contrast to that, anything else outside of that, its intent is to steal, kill and destroy. So regardless of what it promises, it's going to be self-serving, self-sabotaging, and it's not for your best interest. And in Christ, you know, as sheep, he gives us the freedom as our identity is in him, as we're just leaning into him to have that pasture, to be able to go out into that pasture and whatever that may look like. So yeah, it can be a good thing, but still, if it's not. Coming to you from yeah from Jesus from the Lord. Yeah. Yeah It's gonna kill and destroy your freedom. Exactly. Yeah. Amen. That's a great last word. I hope you're encouraged by that today