Why Jesus is "The Good Shepherd" | Crossroads Church

Where are we in the Bible? We're in the New Testament in the gospel according to John This is a first-hand biography of Jesus by one of his closest friends in it John records seven iconic I am statements that Jesus made seven metaphors seven self portraits of the living God This week Jesus says I am the Good Shepherd. Here's how it goes in the book of John chapter 10. I Am the Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep He who is a higher hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf Snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a higher hand and cares nothing for the sheep I am the Good Shepherd I know my own and my own know me Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep Happy Independence Day Everyone so good to be with you here at Crossroads on this 4th of July weekend Thanks for gathering with us anyone else a little bit more grateful to live in this country after watching videos of World Cup fans They're just covering Buc-ee's and Walmart there. I mean ranch dressing their eyes have been opened Free refills. They're just sitting in restaurants free refills I Kind of got what that was about because I spent I just took a trip over to Europe and went a couple different places And I've got to tell you worst heatwave in Recorded European history. That's when we took our trip And so I will be celebrating this weekend by asking for a table inside The 62 degree air conditioning that we enjoy here in the United States of America. So that is my plan for the weekend I hope yours have been that good. We are in our last week of this series And I I truly think this has been one of my favorite teaching series that we've done for a while I I love all of the different statements that we've been exploring and Jesus says things like I am the bread of life I am the resurrection. I am the light of the world and we've gone into all of those today We're doing I am the Good Shepherd and it's our final one And I've been noticing something as we've gone through the places in the gospel of John where these statements are recorded Oftentimes Jesus was doing them saying them in a moment where he wanted to elicit a response that there's like a

Question under the statement For whoever is listening and it's the same question for us today is do we really believe him? John actually tells us in chapter 20 of his gospel. That's why he wrote Down his entire gospel to ask the question Do you believe that this is who Jesus is? So today we're gonna look at what did he mean when he said I am the Good Shepherd and do our lives Look like we believe him. Let me pray for us Jesus Show us who you are today Just teach us a little bit more about your heart for us and help us to follow you as the Good Shepherd It's in your great name that I pray. Amen well, I When I say this statement, I am the Good Shepherd I actually think it sounds like one of the nicer ones You know the softer ones like you kind of go like oh, that's nice And I think we have that reaction because well at least I do I'll just own this I've been around church. And so when people say the word shepherd in a church, let me see if I can get this tone Right. Here's how they sound He's such a good shepherd, oh, he's such a shepherd, you know, it's soft. It's sweet We usually accompany it with what my friend calls Christian mooing we go. Hmm She's like y'all when you pray and you like listen to people you moo she's like Mmm, that's what we do when we say shepherd we go. Oh, it's so Shepherd. Mmm, and let me just tell you that's not even close To what the listeners of this statement would have responded like it was actually a bit of a controversial moment Nobody was was going to respond with. Oh how nice this was of Jesus as a matter of fact There's a word that isn't shepherd that I think the emphasis was more than likely on when these words came out of his mouth So let me say it how I think he might have emphasized it. I am the good shepherd as In not the bad one. Let me read this passage again and see if you hear it. I Am the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep

When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. I believe the word that would have elicited the most controversy in this statement is good. I am the good shepherd. Because of who he was primarily talking to. If you go back a few verses, you learn that his listeners, his most direct listeners in this statement are the Pharisees. They're the spiritual leaders in the nation of Israel at the time. And Jesus looks right at them and he says, I am the good shepherd. And he contrasts that with this, what he calls the hired hand. Now this would have elicited some controversy, some offense because of who he was talking to. Because when he used the word shepherd, when he chose that as the metaphor, he automatically conjured up the context of leadership. This was a very, very commonly used term and metaphor for all kinds of leaders, not just religious. This wasn't religious language, this was cultural language. Military leaders, leaders at home, teachers, religious leaders, all of that would have been commonly referred to as a shepherd. So when Jesus looks at the leaders of the nation of Israel and he says, I am the good shepherd, he puts them on the hook as the bad ones. And it gets even worse because Jesus also knew that the background music that would be playing when he used this metaphor to those people would have been a passage from the prophet Ezekiel. There was a great prophet. There's a book through the Bible and there's a chapter in that book, chapter 34, where God had tired of bad leaders. And he sends the prophet Ezekiel to deliver some words to his leaders in the nation at that time. And the Pharisees, the ones that Jesus was speaking these words to, they would have intimately known this passage. Let me read a couple of verses right out of Ezekiel 34. This is God speaking through Ezekiel to his leaders. This is the context that Jesus steps in, looks these guys in the eyes and says, I am the good shepherd. So he's not only at the peak of his controversy, his conflict with religious leadership of Israel, he actually calls up this previous context where it's not only the heavy judgment of God upon the leaders that have been leading his people badly, it's also a proclamation of his own identity. At the end of that passage, in the words of Ezekiel, God says, I will rescue them. I will come rescue my sheep.

I will take them out of your mouth so they won't be food for them. So Jesus is saying, here I am. I am the good shepherd. The contrast to the shepherds of Israel, including you. So this was not a friendly moment. This was not a nice churchy statement. This was a heavy indictment on the leaders and a proclamation of who he actually was. Now, this is about the time in his ministry where that group of people begins plotting to kill him. They're done. They're like, that's enough from this guy. We've got to get rid of this guy. Because not only was he claiming some crazy things in their mind, he was also firmly against them. And so this is really what's behind I am the good shepherd and the Pharisees decide on the spot, we don't believe him. I told you there's a question under these I am statements. They clearly answered that question. We don't believe him to the extent that we hate him. We want to get rid of him. We're going to kill him. The same question is on the table for us. Do we believe him? What would our lives say? What do our prayers say? What are we living like? Are we living like we actually believe this statement? I think if we look at. The two times that Jesus says it, he repeats it twice. In the passage, we're going to get a sense for, let's say that I did. What would that look like? What would he be doing? What is there to believe?

So when he says it the first time, let's look at the first time. He says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A good shepherd lays down his life. Real shepherds, especially in this context, but any kind of real shepherd actually gives us a pretty good sense for what is he calling on here. The laying down of the life. Maybe if you've heard that phrase, you've heard it in relationship to the cross, to Jesus dying on the cross. That hasn't taken place. Jesus is referring to something else. He's calling up something else into their mind. And it's the context of actually a real shepherd. Real shepherds absolutely laid down their life. They lived with the sheep. They slept with the sheep. They fed the sheep 365 days a year. This was a lifestyle occupation. This wasn't an eight to five job. This was an all day, every day kind of occupation. And they laid down also their physical safety. Their job was to secure the sheep in a pretty inhospitable environment. The Middle East shepherding is not like rolling lush green hills. It's scarce food, difficult to find water. It's confusing, dry, dusty pathways and confusing hills and valleys. It is caves where they have to secure the sheep at night. As a matter of fact, I listened to a shepherd that was talking about the predators that are always after the sheep. Sheep are prey, animals, very defenseless. They're not even created with a lot of defenses.

And so the shepherd's job is to provide security and safety for them. And as I was listening to this shepherd, I was listening to him do an interview about what he went through as a shepherd today in that space. And he described having he and another man having to check out a cave where they wanted the sheep to rest for the night. And it's their job to go into the cave, which had recent evidence of hyenas, which are like a number one predator of flocks of sheep. And there was evidence that there had been hyenas in the area that they had already seen and they thought they might be in the cave. And so he describes going in fully understanding that he may not come out again. This is the kind of job that shepherding was. So when Jesus uses this metaphor and he says, I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, they understood this. They actually got that. It goes way beyond technical ownership. It goes way beyond the hired hand, which he contrasts it with. It goes to the point that you would be willing to lay down your actual life, whether that's every single day what you're doing or in a moment, your own physical well-being. The shepherd's interview that I was listening to, he said something fascinating. He said that he had sons, but that he was not planning to leave his sheep to his sons. Even though they knew how to do it, they technically owned the sheep. As a family, he would not leave the sheep to his sons because he said, they don't have the heart for my sheep. I'm looking for a man who has the heart for my sheep. So he wasn't planning, even though his sons could technically own the sheep, they couldn't full body, full heart, full commitment own the sheep. Let me ask you a question. Do you think this is how Jesus feels about you? When he uses the metaphor, I am the good shepherd, he's calling up this full body

commitment, full hearted commitment, lay everything on the line for you commitment. Do you think he owns you like that? Do you think he feels that way about you? Do you think he would look past someone who didn't have enough heart to lead you? That's why God was so angry with the Pharisees because this is the kind of leadership that he wants for his people. I caught myself this week, you know, I got good shepherd on the brain. So I'm just steeped in this and I caught myself praying some words and it was almost like I heard my own prayer in a different sort of way. I've been looking at some life changes and just talking to God about those and they're not coming as quick as I want them, they're not doing, you know, I'm just talking to him about these, these forks in the road that I'm sort of considering and seeing out ahead of me. And I found myself saying things. like this. Do you even see me? Are you really leading somewhere? Do you know what I need right now? These are questions you would never ask a good shepherd. It would be impossible to imagine describing someone as a good shepherd who did not know where they were leading their sheep, who did not wake up with a plan every day for how are they going to survive the day? Where am I going to feed them? How am I going to water them? What path am I going to take them on? These questions that I heard myself asking Jesus were like from the mouth of somebody who does not get this, who does not actually understand the kind of full commitment that he has to me and my life. Are you like that? I couldn't believe the words when I put this lens over them because to me I just feel like, I don't think he's mad at me. I just think it betrays the fact that I'm operating out of some kind of belief that's not quite all the way in there. And suddenly I heard how deeply maybe even offensive but definitely incongruent that is with a good shepherd. It just doesn't fit. And the good news, the literal good news, is that when Jesus calls himself the good shepherd and then we learn the rest of his story, that he goes on to the cross to quite literally lay down his life for us so that he can seek us when we're far from God, when we are lost and scattered and away from God, and he lays down his life for us. And then he rises back up out of that grave where he has faced down every single predator of our life, including death itself,

and he rises back up with the power to bind up any injury, to heal any disease, to save us from anything. And then we have the audacity to pray and go like, do you even see me? Do you even really know me? What are we doing here, God? And he's like, do you not understand how much I love you, what I did for you? This is the gospel, friends, of the good news, is that we get to wake up every day and we get to live a life like this is true. It's like crazy, right? And when we wake up every day and we pretend like that's not the God that we have, then we're missing something about his statement here. We're missing this idea that he's the good shepherd, the full body, full heart, all on, never leave you, never walk away from you kind of commitment to you. It really is incredible that we get to believe that. So why? Why do we do this? What's up with us? Why can't we get this through our head? There's a concept in the real world of shepherding that I actually found very helpful. I think this really helps explain why. Why can't we understand him like this? Why can't we deal with him in the confidence of knowing him like this? And I think it's because of a shepherding concept called the bummer lamb. That really is a real term. I know it's kind of funny. It's called the bummer lamb. And it's this bummer lamb, when a bummer lamb is born into a flock, it is rejected by the sheep that birthed it. And not just a little bit rejected. Not just like, you don't get as much. I don't like you as much. Not that. It is full on, total rejection. The lamb cannot be with its mother, cannot eat from its mother. And in many cases, the mom will try to hurt or kill this particular lamb. And so without intervention from the outside, the bummer lamb will not survive. And I started to think about this concept. And we were talking about it as a team. And in only the way that God can set something up for us to see this full on, we learned that there's in fact a woman in our community that has a farm and raises sheep on that farm and was actually currently experiencing a bummer lamb scenario. So we went and filmed it and I want you to see because I think this concept is brought into full color when you watch what happened with her. And I heard a distant cry, and I instantly knew it was the sound of a baby lamb. So I hurried away trying to find where this voice was coming from. I found the cows, found the hay they were standing by, and then way, way in the corner, I just see this teeny lamb, just so fragile, so little.

The littlest thing I've ever seen that's alive. When I found the mom, I found another baby with her. And so I thought, okay, I'll put this little one down, and then it'll all be sweet. But when I tried to put her down, she just sniffed at her and then would butt her away from her baby. From the moment I saw the lamb, I decided to keep the lamb alive, to shepherd this bummer lamb who was rejected by her mother. I fed the little lamb from a bottle day and night, kept her dry and warm, protected her from the other animals. Over and over again, I tried to introduce her back to her mom, only to find her rejected again. So in a moment like this, where the lamb is rejected, and we call them a bummer lamb, she will always be very connected to me as a person who took care of her. From a shepherd's point of view, this entire story is breathtaking, because one day the bummer lamb will join her herd, but I can go out there, and when I call her, she will always respond to my voice. It's incredible, right? I think that this concept of the bummer lamb, it started to help me understand, why is it that we can hear these words, I'm the good shepherd, but we struggle to receive them? A lot of us carry around just the hurt of rejection of all different kinds, that we didn't ask for ourselves. Some of us were raised by people who quite literally rejected us, or abandoned us. Some of us, we had a death that left us completely alone. We've had a core betrayal of a best friend, or a colleague, or something that has left this hole, where we're supposed to be getting cared for. And we walk around like this. Like this little bummer lamb, let me be very, very clear, that lamb has no chance of survival. Absolutely no chance of survival out of receiving the care of a good shepherd. Because if that lamb walks around with her rejection, or his rejection, and the wounds of being rejected by the sheep that was supposed to be taking care of him, he will die. But she stepped in.

She stepped in and paid the extra cost. I'm sure that that was far outside of her daily routine. She looks like she has plenty to do, right? But every single day, she's taking a bottle, she's carrying that lamb around, she's feeding it with her own hands, she's carrying it with her own body. This cost her something. But her only motive was what? To see that little lamb go on to live life the way that it was supposed to. To rejoin the herd. To be healed. To be whole. This is what happens when we begin to receive the care of a good shepherd. Because we walk around with these hurts and these failures by people and things that were supposed to be nurturing us, that were supposed to be taking care of us. And when we welcome Jesus into that space, we begin to understand, oh, this is what it was supposed to be like. This is what it was supposed to feel like. But I don't know about you, I don't like to feel like a project. You know what I'm saying? I don't want to expose that level of need. I don't want to have to be cared for like that. A lot of us feel that way, right? But the best possible thing is the outcome. I don't know if you caught this at the end of the video. She says, because I did this, Because I cared for this sheep in the way that I did in this intimate, personal, extra, project level kind of way, the outcome is the sheep knows her. The sheep knows her voice. The sheep is connected to her in a way

that the other sheep might not be, at least not at that depth. And it's interesting, this fits perfectly with the second time that Jesus uses the name Good Shepherd. He says, I am the Good Shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. I know them, I know them. A Good Shepherd knows his own and Jesus knows us when we allow that kind of care to take place. When we welcome him into that space where we have those kinds of hurts that prevent us from being able to receive that kind of care. If we can get over that, we can welcome him in to that space, we get to know him and he knows us. We know as if you're a parent, you know how that works, right? If you're a mom on the playground and 50 kids call out mom, you know exactly which one is your child. Your babysitter can't do that. There's something about the connection of something that you've been able to care for like that. Do you know that sheep quite literally know their shepherd in a way that is highly unusual for other kinds of animals? It's a beautiful example that all sheep get this opportunity the bummers, they're just the first ones. They're the ones that get it most, fastest, deepest. But all sheep know their shepherd. Sheep are one of the few herding animals

that get led from the front instead of driven from behind. The shepherd does not come behind the sheep and drive from the back. The shepherd leads from the front and there's a reason for that. It's because sheep know their shepherd. They literally learn his gait, the way he looks, his profile, his voice, his whistle, his tone, and they watch for it. Multiple shepherds can put all their sheep together maybe overnight to keep them safe. And in the morning they can stand up, separate and call their sheep and the herds, the flocks will just separate to their shepherds because they know them. That's how sheep are led. They're led through intimate, personal knowledge and guess who's at the front? Guess who's the first one? It's the bummers. It's the ones where the shepherd has had hands-on care. It's incredible what happens. It doesn't seem like that should be the case, but just a few verses before our passage, Jesus is describing this very thing. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

Wow, this is how it works. This is what Jesus says. When he says, I am the good shepherd, he means I want to know you to the extent that I can lead and you will follow because we are that connected. This whole bummer lamb thing, it's kind of why I can't hate my own story. I know a lot of people have messy stories. I am no different. In my 20s, I tried to basically burn my whole life to the ground, my job, my marriage, my character, my friendships, it was all bad. And the one thing that I did right, the one thing during that whole time that I did right was literally to call out to Jesus, was just to say, will you come into my mess? Will you come and take care of me? Will you be the one that receives me when everybody else thinks I'm the worst person they've ever met? Will you be the one to receive me? And I had no idea that by doing that, what I was setting on course was the trajectory of a bummer lamb. 20 something years later, I rely on some of the intimacy, some of the knowledge, some of the ways that we connected during that time. You can't unknow that. You can't unsee it.

You can't unravel that sort of connection. And so as I've moved forward, but what is up? I still catch myself this week praying like he doesn't know where he's taking me. What in the world? This, this is our struggle, right? Our deep struggle to receive him as a good shepherd. It's really easy to say, yeah, yeah, Jesus, shepherd, done, thumbs up. And it's really hard to live like that's true. For those of you that are feeling a little extra right now, you're a little bit of a project for Jesus. If you feel like that. Let me be the first one to give you the good news. You are in the best possible position to become the one who knows him the best. It doesn't seem like it should work like that, but let me just tell you, it does. So if you're in that space right now and you're like, I am just extra, I am just a lot, I don't even know where to go, I don't know if God can unwind all this stuff in my life, let me just assure you, oh my gosh, you're so close. You are so close to experiencing the kind of intimacy that only a bummer lamb gets to experience. And if that's not you, that's not you, please do not wait until you burn your life to the ground to receive the good shepherd. You can live in the truth every day that you get to get up and like jump out of bed and go,

he knows me, he's got me, we're doing this together and I trust him, I'm growing in confidence in him. This is what happens when you get the care of a really good shepherd, you start to live differently, you start to live assured and confident. I saw this take place in my own house. When my kids were little, my husband got in the habit of keeping like snacks in the trunk of his car. I used to give him a hard time about this because I'm more, you know, kids need two parents, right? I'm more the one that's like, you're fine. Every time your tummy growls, you don't need a granola bar. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're gonna be fine. That's sort of my energy. My husband is like the one that always has Gatorades and granola bars in the trunk of his car. And I mean, always. And so what happened over time, we had kind of a family joke about it. You know, the kids were little and I'd be like, man, you know, I forgot the water bottle. It was really hot out here. And he's like, I got this Gatorade, you know, and he'd go to the trunk. So we had kind of a joke about it. But over time, I've watched something happen with my kids. They count on it. They know it.

When a long time ago, it was like, oh, surprise. Dad's got something for me. Then it became like, oh, he probably does. He probably does. Like, oh, I'm really hungry after the game. I don't have any food, but I want to go out. I wonder if dad, I could just, you know, maybe dad's got something or, you know, I forgot my lunch, whatever. Dad's across the street, literally was across the street from my kid's high school. Maybe he's got something. Let's go see, you know. Yes, he does. So it was like the question. And now if you ask them, rock solid confidence. I know it. I know if I unlock dad's car and lift up the trunk, there's going to be water and Gatorades and granola bars waiting for me because my dad thought about me. My dad knows me. My dad anticipates that I am not going to have what I need. And he's the answer. And I've watched this trajectory shift and it's gone from a joke to like kind of a meaningful illustration to me of what it looks like to just walk in confidence that somebody has thought about you, that somebody is providing for you, that somebody already knows the color Gatorade you like,

and it's waiting for you. That's the kind of shepherd that we have. It's just not the one that we think we have. It's not the one that we get up every day and live like, but that kind of care begins to change you, like deeply, deeply change you over time. But if you never experienced it, if you never asked Jesus, will you be this? Can I follow you like that? Do I get to believe that? Can I experience that? You will receive the care of a bad one. We are wired as sheep to be led, to want to know someone that's going to lead us. And so that's the contrast Jesus makes in this passage. Let's read it. He calls this contrast the hired hand. And I think when us, our bummer lamb mindset is what allows us to receive bad shepherds into our life. Here's what it says. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and he cares nothing for the sheep. The core quality of a hired hand, according to Jesus, is that it will not come through for you. The hired hand, the other thing,

the shepherd that's leading your life that is not the good one, that is the other one. Will not come through for you. It's because you don't belong to that. That person, that thing, whatever it is that's leading your life, you are not theirs. They don't own you like that, and they will, at some point, walk away from you. Most of the time, the hired hand, whatever that is for you, for me, in our lives, the thing we want to dictate the course of our life, the thing we're trying to follow, the thing that we have our eyes locked on, that we think our life is about, that is 80% of the time, okay. That's the trouble. That's the thing. We just keep moving with that as our leader because it works most of the time. But interestingly, Jesus says what? When the wolf comes. It's when the trouble hits. It's when something happens where you need extra care, when you need extra protection, when you need extra nurture, when you need extra nourishment, that's when the hired hand shows itself for what it is. Out of college, mine was undoubtedly my career. Career success. I think this is pretty common. I would venture a guess that a number of people can relate to this. What my eyes were locked on is what can I do to get that career that I want? And that was my hired hand. It dictated my time, my priorities, the state of my marriage, the state of my friendships, what I did on my weekends, what I was willing to do after 6 o'clock at night. You know, all the things about my life were trained on that.

A hired hand demands that of us. And then when we become a little inconvenient, a little bit extra, when we are at our worst, the hired hand is out. And I just wonder what other ones are in the room. What could this be in your life? I've had conversations with my teenagers about certain groups of friends. Easy to imagine that as a hired hand in your life. I want in. I want in that group of people. And I will do whatever I need to do to stay connected, to keep charting the course toward that. Because there's something I want there. Maybe for you, it's not that. Maybe you were handed a narrative from your family. I have one or two of these people in my life whose family is like, that's the way the family does it. You know what I'm saying? We either go to that school or we all work for grandpa or we never do this. We always do that. We only live in this particular place. Whatever that narrative is, that's what's dictating your life. That's what you trust. That's what will protect you. That's what will provide for you. That's what you do. We have these hired hands and we don't even really see them as anything wrong. And some of them are not wrong. They're fine. Until. Until the wolf comes.

Until there's something more. That you need. There's a part of that Ezekiel passage, I read it before, I'm just going to read it one more time, where God calls out the behavior of the bad shepherd and makes it clear that it's when you're weak and injured and sick that the bad shepherd shows itself. The weak you have not strengthened. The sick you have not healed. The injured you have not bound up. The strayed you have not brought back. The lost you have not sought. His issue was that the hired hand, the bad shepherd, leaves his sheep when they most need them. When you are down, the hired hand is out. You know, when we started this series, I kept thinking, oh, yeah, this is going to be so cool. You know, we get to talk about all of these statements that Jesus made and I know there's like richness behind them and they link to the Old Testament and he said them in interesting times and ways and places and I love all of that. But every single week, what seems to have happened instead, I should have seen this coming, is that we land in this deep, rich, personal place. We land in this territory because that's who Jesus is. He's this combination of like passionate about you and brave enough to come after you and also this gentle, lowly, kind-hearted shepherd. And we seem to land in this really kind, good, deep, pastoral place every week. So, the series that I thought was going to almost start in the head has ended up in the heart every single week because that's what Jesus wants. He wants to lead your life as the good shepherd. I want to give you the chance right now, if you're willing, to just have a moment with him. I think there's something else likely.

his space at the front of your life. In his place, out front, this leading in your life. And I just want to give you a moment to ask him to come into that space instead. So would you close your eyes with me? And the first thing I want you to do, just between the two of you, is just name that for him. Jesus, this is the hired hand that's been in your space. Just tell him what it is. And I don't pretend everyone is ready or willing to say this, but if you are, I believe there's a lot of people that are. Maybe even brought you here today just to do this. You're ready. You're ready to stop following that shepherd. So just tell him, I'm done. That's not who's running my life anymore. And invite him into that space. And would you put your palms up on your lap? Just open up your hands and set them on the top of your lap because the posture of sheep is to receive, to receive. And so just ask him. As a good shepherd, Jesus, would you, and maybe it's lead, maybe it's feed, maybe it's take care, maybe it's come find you, maybe it's heal you, what is that care? Even if it's extra, he's the good one. And as you sit in that place with him, I just want you to hear these words sung over you. This is how he thinks about you, how he feels about you.

He says, I have a maker. I have a maker. He formed my heart. Before even time began, my life was in his hand. He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear. He hears every prayer that falls. And hears me when I call. I have a father. He calls me his own. He will never leave me. No matter where I go. He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls. And hears me when I call. He hears me when I call. You are not too much of a project for him. You are not too extra for him. He delights in the care of you. He delights in the outcome. Remember he says, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Let me pray that as you go forward this week, that you be confident in his care for you. Lord, gosh, thank you. Thank you that you are a good shepherd. Would you teach us to believe you? Would you teach us to live like that?

To leave behind the things that are not good. And to come to you, the good shepherd. It's in your beautiful name. Amen.