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Gateway Church's Podcast
Following Our Shepherd
We're going to turn with me now to first Peter chapter two. We're in the middle of a series called Simply Devoted. I'm going to continue that series this morning. While you're turning there, this week I flew in a small plane down to Houston. We spent some time with the Lakewood Church staff getting to know them. And so if you remember on Wednesday, there was very severe weather between here in Houston. So we're flying in a small plane through severe weather and someone had just sent me an email from some bloopers out of pilot training manuals. And it's just not real good timing, by the way. So here are some of the excerpts from that. These are actual things found in various pilot training manuals. Here's some advice that's given to British pilots. When a crash seems inevitable, try to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slow and gently as possible. I'm reading this right before I get on the plane, so this is not good. Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you. By the way, when I'm flying on American Airlines, I don't want to brave pilot. I want someone at the total coward that goes down at the first sign of trouble, lands the plane. No, he rose. Here's some also from basic flying rules. Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees, and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there. It's good advice, by the way. Here's the last one. It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed. Good advice. I mean, I think we should take that. So anyway, Wednesday went well. We got back safely, but just don't send me emails like that right before I get on the plane. Simply devoted, today I'm going to speak on following our shepherd. It's been a great series of Pastor Robert started, and he should be back either next weekend or the weekend after and continue the series through the month of June. My goal today is to change our definition of the shepherd. The first century church, when they were called the sheep and said that Jesus was the shepherd, they had no problem believing that Jesus was the shepherd. Our idea of the shepherd is a 10-year-old boy in a really bad bathrobe at a Christmas play. We're from North Texas, and we don't have shepherds. I'm going to Africa this week, and I might speak this message. They know exactly what a shepherd is. I mean, they actually do have herds of goats and sheep that they tend, but in the first century or in the first church, a shepherd was very rugged, resourceful, very brave. A shepherd was able to defend the flock from predators. They lived outdoors most of the time. They were a man's man. If you were a shepherd, you're not a frail old man that was feeding the sheep with their hands and petting a few sheep as pets. These were men that took the sheep out into the wilderness. They protected them. They fed them. They fought off lions and wolves and bears, and they were able to be very resourceful. I mean, these were rugged men. So the first century church had no trouble believing that Jesus our God in heaven was the great shepherd. Here's the problem. He had a hard time seeing themselves as sheep. And by the way, that's the same problem that we have today. We have a hard time seeing ourselves as sheep. Now, let me give you some sheep facts about sheep. Here's the first thing. Sheep are not designed to carry heavy burdens. Have you ever seen a packed sheep? They're just not designed to strap a lot of weight on and carry it. Here's the second thing about sheep is they are not able to navigate without help. They're notoriously, they get lost. A sheep gets away from the flock. They're going to get lost. In fact, Jesus had a parable. He said, "If we have 100 sheep, 99 are safe, and there's one that wanders away. I'll leave the 99 and go find the one." You know why he said that? Because there's always one that was lost. They just kind of drift away, start eating somewhere on the outside of the pasture, and they just can't navigate. They can't find their way back to the flock. The third thing, the third fact about sheep is that they cannot provide for themselves. Sheep cannot provide for themselves. And they must be led to pasture. That's why they needed a shepherd. They must be led to where the grass is. If you put a sheep in a confined area when they eat all the grass, they don't have the instincts to move to the other pasture. They just sit there and die and starve to death unless someone cooked them and led them to the other pasture. That's why in Psalms 23 he said, "I'll lead you into green meadows and the green pastures." Sheep just can't navigate. They can't provide for themselves. They don't carry heavy burdens very well. So you can understand when Jesus said, "Look, I'm the shepherd, and you're the sheep." That's not real complimentary. It's hard for us to understand that we are sheep. In fact, it's throughout Scripture this idea that we're sheep and he's the shepherd. It's repeated throughout the Old Testament, throughout the New Testament. That's what we're called. We're called the sheep of his pasture. Do you agree with that? That's not a real endearing term. So I'm trying to change your definition, though. When you realize, though, who your shepherd is and what his role is and what he does for us, then it doesn't bother us so much to be called sheep. In fact, it's a great honor to be called the sheep of his pasture. So I want to change your definition today of what a shepherd is. I want to tell you a couple of things about shepherds that maybe you've never thought of. Here's the first thing is that a shepherd is always with us. Now in 1st Peter chapter 2, verse 25, it's a great scripture. It says, "Once you were wondering like lost sheep." Do you remember those days when you were wondering around life, trying to find your purpose, trying to find direction in your life, wondering around lost? But now you have turned to your shepherd, capital S there. He's talking about God. Now you've turned to your shepherd, the guardian of your souls. Now that word guardian means bishop or overseer. It means the person that has final authority. That's where we get the word bishop. That the Episcopal Church was founded upon, the word bishop, same Greek word. It means someone who has absolute final authority in all matters. And when you turned, when you became a sheep of this pasture, when he became your shepherd, your souls, everything about you came under the final authoritative control of the great shepherd in heaven. Now that's good news. Let me ask you a real serious question. Why do we really need a shepherd? Why do we really need a shepherd? I mean, we're getting along on our own okay. We can provide for ourselves. Seems like we're a pretty industrious group of people. Seems like that we all have jobs. We all work hard. Things are going pretty well. Why do we really need a shepherd? Honestly, why do we need a shepherd? Can't you get along by yourself? You see, the reason we need a shepherd, the reason I think we misunderstand why we need a shepherd is because we don't understand the life that God's called us to live. The life that God has called all of us to live as believers is filled with uncertainty and mystery and great risk. And that's the plan that God called you to. That's the life that God's called all of us to. In fact, I've taken more risk as a believer than I ever took as an unbeliever. Do you agree with that? If you've walked with the Lord very long, you know that God's going to call you to a life of uncertainty, where things don't always make sense. He's going to ask you to take steps where you don't know all the answers. There's lots of things about God that are mysterious. God is mysterious by design. I don't understand God all the time. Do you understand all of his ways and why he does everything that he does? Yet God calls us to follow him in a very mysterious way sometimes. And certainly the first century church understood that when they gave their lives to Jesus, that it was a great risk. Because honestly, it was a death warrant. When they signed up for this, they knew that the possibility of dying was very good, very real. That's why we need a shepherd. You see that I believe that the purpose of Jesus was not to save us from pain and suffering. There's not one place in scripture where God said, "Do you follow me? I will free you from all pain and suffering." Not one place in scripture. And sometimes we think that when we go through pain and suffering, God's abandoned us, that God's left us, that our shepherd is no longer with us. When it's a Western mindset, it's an American mindset. In most parts of the world, they understand when they become Christians that they're not free from pain and suffering. In fact, it might even increase. What they understand, though, is that God's presence, that God, the shepherd, is always with them in a real tangible way. The worship in other parts of the world is unbelievable right now, especially right now. The more the persecution happens, places like China and the underground church there, places in Africa where the Muslims are attacking Christians on a daily basis, or in India and Pakistan, where believers there are honestly losing their lives every day and being attacked and tortured because of their belief, the worship in those places, the presence, the tangible presence of God is unbelievable. I've been there. I've seen it. I've experienced it. I can't wait. That's the highlight of my trip to Africa is the worship that I'm going to experience at the conference there. They pray all the time when they worship God's presence is there, and many of them leave that conference and go back to a place where there's great risk. They're fearful for their lives and their family. In fact, many of them are sitting at the conference wondering if their wives and children are okay back in the village. They're fearful, but they sure know God's presence. They know that the shepherd's always with them. You see, I want you to read in Matthew 10, Jesus is talking to believers in this scripture. Jesus is looking at a group of people who believe that he's the Messiah. They believe that he's God and fully God, fully man. They've adopted him. They've asked him into their lives and listened to what Jesus says to these dear group of believers, these little sheep. Jesus is looking at them and he says, Matthew 10 verse 16 says, look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as snakes and harmless as doves, but beware, for you will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. Sign up for that, why don't you? We don't have a sign up sheep for that at the information table today. And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. And this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. Yes, to witness to the world. Now look at verse 19, very key word here. When you are arrested, couldn't he have said if? Could he have said, now listen, for a few of you, you're going to be more radical than the others, and you might say something you shouldn't say and you're going to get arrested, but for that small group of radical believers, he didn't say that. He said, when? In fact, Jesus was saying, listen, it's not a matter of if, guys. He looked at every one of those people and said, look, you're all going to be arrested. When you are arrested, let's keep reading because it gets better. When you are arrested, don't worry about what to say on your defense. Now listen, I just want to confess something, I'm going to worry. Just for a few minutes, I'm probably going to worry. And I think it's okay for you when you are arrested to have a few minutes where you worry. But Jesus says, listen, when you're arrested, don't worry. That's a bit of an overstatement. He says, because you'll be given the right words at the right time, for it won't be you doing the talking, it will be the spirit of your father speaking through you. You see, when we became believers, there's no group plan that we could negotiate up front. You know, here's the, all of us want the premium package. Here's what the premium package is. Get rich, get comfortable, get secure, get safe, and get well. All of us want the John package. None of us want the Peter package. All of us want the John, the Apostle John, who was the only one that got out of the deal without being martyred. However, he was exiled to an island and he was forced to write revelation, so it wasn't exactly like he got off the hood. That's not a great life. Being alone on an island away from your family and friends. But he wasn't hurt, he wasn't martyred, like the other 11. And yet that's what we want. We want to get old, we want to get rich, get comfortable, but God didn't call us to that. God called us to a different life. He said, "I'm calling you to a life that's full of uncertainty, full of mystery, full of risk, but I'm going to be with you." Let me ask you a question, and this question might really rattle some of your theology. And I want you to think about it, think about it for a moment before you answer. Don't answer quickly. Let me ask you a question. Would God purposely put you in harm's way if it meant the advancement of his kingdom on the earth? Let me ask you one more time, I want you to think about it now. Would God purposely put you in harm's way if it meant the advancement of God's kingdom upon the earth? How many vote yes? How many say no? Most of you said yes, and the bright answer is yes, he would. God would purposely put you in harm's way if it meant the advancement of his kingdom upon the earth. He will be with you though. He will walk with you. But he would purposely put you in a risky situation because God's kingdom is full of uncertainty, mystery, and risk. If you say no, then I'm okay with you believing otherwise because there's plenty of scriptures that say under the shadow of his wings there is safety and security. Understand that those are true promises. Those promises are not void. But Jesus never promised us a risk-free environment. If so, then he wouldn't have written Hebrews 1135. Write that scripture down because I want you to ponder on that this week. I want you to think about Hebrews 1135 and what it means to us today is believers. Here's what it says, "But others trusted God and were tortured, preferring to die rather than turn from God and be free. They placed their hope and their resurrection to a better life. Some were mocked and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in dungeons. Some died by stoning and some were sawed in half. Others were killed with the sword. Pretty good news so far, right? Some went about in skins of sheep and goats hungry and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world. They wandered over deserts and mountains hiding in caves and holes in the ground. You know what the truth of the scripture is? Is that God's will for us is less about our comfort and more about our contribution. God's will for us is less about our comfort and it's much more about our contribution. Do you know that sometimes the greenest pastures that we can be taken to is in the wilderness? Sometimes the best place for the sheep was to take them out into the wild where there was plenty of grass. But the shepherd wouldn't just take the sheep out into the wilderness out into this place. This desolate wilderness place that surrounded by predators is a very risky thing to do. Very risky to take your livelihood. This group of sheep that were the source of all of your income was very, very risky for a shepherd to round up the sheep and march them miles and miles away from the security of their home out into the wilderness. But he had to because sometimes that was where the greenest grass was available. Is it possible today that as sheep of his pasture that God might take you into the wilderness at times? Because that's the best place for you to be. Is it possible that God might ask you to do something in your life and make you get out of a comfort zone, a place of comfort and take you to a place where everything seems wild, where everything seems uncomfortable, where nothing makes sense but you know it's God? Is it possible that God might possibly ask you at some point to go into the wilderness? Here's the promise to happen. If he calls you to the wilderness, he will always be with you. The shepherd did not just take the sheep out there and then walk back to the house and sleep in his comfortable bed that night while the sheep were unprotected out in the wilderness. The shepherd would bring the sheep into a place, maybe a cleft in a rock where they'd have a little cover. He would build a big fire. This is what shepherds do. They would build a big fire to keep their predators away. And all night long, here's the legend says and his stories say that sometimes when the fire was at its brightest that the reflection out into the wilderness would be hundreds of little eyes of the sheep looking toward the shepherd. The sheep always turned and faced the fire because that's new. They knew that's where the shepherd was. And all the little sheep would always turn and face the security of the shepherd because they knew that they were not alone. They knew they were right there with the shepherd. See, the good news, the promise that I want you to catch today is God did not promise to save you from pain and suffering. But he did promise that he would always be with us. He promised that he would walk with us and he would put his arm around you, that you would be safely in the palm of his hand. And even when there's predators, when there's things around you, when you feel like you're under tremendous attack, I'm with you. I am there with you. I am the shepherd in heaven. I've never abandoned you. Now, turn to John 10 because Jesus begins to describe himself in John 10 as a shepherd. This is where he really goes into great detail about being the shepherd and that we're the sheep in John 10. Let's read verse 11. It says, "I am the good shepherd." I mean, Jesus just says it. I am the shepherd. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Now, you know that Jesus would fulfill that promise. He did lay down his life for the sheep. He wasn't just talking that maybe one day if I had to, Jesus said, "Listen, I'm going to lay down my life for the sheep." The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. And then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. Now, please listen to everybody. Look at me just for a minute. In every part of your life, in your finances, with your health, with your children, with your job, with every part of your life, you have submitted that part of your life to either a hired hand or to the shepherd in heaven. You have submitted your life. Every one of you, you have made a choice. All of us in this room, you've made a choice already. And every part of your life, you've either submitted it to a hired hand or you have submitted it to the shepherd in heaven. And every part, and it's saying, "You know what? Some places you've totally submitted to the shepherd, and it's a possibility in other places you've not. It's a hired hand. The world is very quick to offer you a hired hand. But here's the difference between the hired hand and the good shepherd. When the wolves attack, the hired hand will leave, and the shepherd will stay and defend you." You know what the truth about this scripture is? The truth is that there are wolves. And I may be bitten, but I'll never be killed or devoured. That's what he's saying. There is an enemy who has an assignment against your life. There are wolves. The wolves are a type in shadow about demonic forces that do have an assignment against your life. There are wolves. You may be bitten, but you will never be killed and you will never be devoured. That's the good news. My shepherd has never abandoned me. My shepherd, when the wolves attack, takes his rod and his staff and his hand. And by the way, the rod and the staff were usually the same thing. The hook on the end was part of the staff. The rod was usually made out of sharp piece of iron or sharpened piece of wood. It was at the bottom, and it was both used to guide the sheep and defend them. Shepherds were fierce. Shepherds knew how to fight. Shepherds knew how to use that staff to kill, to beat off not only robbers and bandits, but the predators that would come and attack the sheep. Do you know today that in heaven, God in heaven still has the staff in his hand? And when wolves attack you and wolves attack your family, he says, "I'll come and defend you. I am with you. I've always been with you." And that's good news, isn't it? Here's the second thing that I want you to know about a shepherd is our shepherd cares for us. More than any other place in the Bible, the 23rd Psalm, was written about a God who cares for us. I don't know how many of you read it. Sometimes we overeat things and we forget about how great they are. The 23rd Psalm is probably on all of your calendars at home. You've probably gotten gifts there. Sometimes you just read it and you read it and become so common to you that you miss out on the revelation of what happens in Scripture. The reason that people love the 23rd Psalm is because there's great revelation in this Psalm. And yet it was written by a man who had every right to be self-serving, had every right to not depend on anyone. I mean, David who wrote the Psalm was a king, he was a warrior, he was a leader, he was one of the wealthiest men on the earth when he wrote this Psalm. Most likely he had hundreds if not thousands of men that would have taken a sword for him. Yet at the end of his life, David knew one thing. My shepherd in heaven cares for me. I want to read this again and understand that David lived a tragic life. He had people that abandoned him, he had entire armies of men that chased him out into the wilderness trying to kill him. He had sons and daughters that turned and walked another way, he lost his kingdom, got his kingdom back. I mean, his life didn't go as planned. Do you agree with that? Do you think that David lived a life of uncertainty and mystery and risk? I think he did. I think he understood though that there was a shepherd in heaven and that that shepherd cared for him. I want to read it to this again, let's just read it. And read it along or you can watch it on the PowerPoint, but see if God gives you some new revelation about the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right past, bringing honor to his name. And even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid for you are close beside me. That's a great scripture there, that he's close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with all. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the Lord forever. This is what this Psalm is saying. He cares about our rest. He cares about our emotions. He cares about our daily decisions. He cares when we are sad, and he cares when we are lonely. He cares when we are afraid, and he cares when we are threatened. He cares when we have a financial need, and he certainly cares about my eternal future. He cares. He cares about everything going on in your life. If he numbered the hairs on your head, and if he has an accurate count today of the hairs on your head, do you think he cares about what's going on at work? Do you think he cares about what's going on with your children's friends? He cares about you more than you can possibly imagine. In fact, one of the greatest pursuits that we have as believers is to uncover the depths, the heights, the width of God's love. The older I get, the more I understand. He loves me more than I can possibly imagine. He cares about me. He cares about things that are going on in my life that I've even forgotten about. He cares about them. He cares about every detail. He cares. But you know what the most important part of that song is? This is the very first scripture. "The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need." You see, David, even though he was the king, even though he was a great warrior, even though he was a great leader, had to make the same choice that all of us have to make in this room. He had to make the Lord a shepherd. Here's what David said. David said, "I cannot navigate life on my own. I need a shepherd. I cannot carry the burdens of life on my own. I need a shepherd. I cannot provide for myself. I need a shepherd." And that shepherd is the Lord, and I'm a sheep of his pasture. He made the decision that he's going to be the sheep of God's pasture. This week, I didn't know I was even speaking until Thursday at 3.30. I had no idea. I was going about my week, playing golf a lot, doing all this stuff. I was working, just going through when Robert's voice began to fail toward the later part of the week. I got a call that I was speaking, but all week long, I have a little place in my office, a little couch there. That's where I have my quiet time. This week, I'm sitting on the couch, and God just begins to show some things in my heart. He said, "Brady, you talk about me. I know you love me. You worship me. I know that you're committed to me. "Brady, I'm not sure I'm your shepherd in every part of your life." He said, "I sure want to be." In a real personal way, the Lord just began to show me things in my heart, where I had taken some ownership of them. I was no longer a sheep. I was no longer really dependent upon him the way he wants me to be. I just repented. I said, "Lord, I'm sorry. Lord, you're a much better shepherd than I am. "You've proven it to me over and over again. Your faithfulness of my life is I just see your faithfulness all the time. "Why would I want to be my own shepherd when you're a much better shepherd than I am?" I just asked God, "Lord, would you just forgive me? And Lord, I'm giving you permission today to be my shepherd? "Lord, I don't want a hired hand running my life. I don't want someone who's going to run the first time the wolves attack. "Lord, I want you. I choose you, Lord." And that's when he took me back to the 23rd Psalm. He said, "Brady, you see the choice David made? "Remember what David was called? A man after God's own heart? A friend of God?" And the reason that David was a friend of God was not because of his great successes, because he really failed more than he succeeded. But David kept choosing God as shepherd. So the good news today is you may have had more failures than successes lately. You may have made some bad decisions, maybe done things on your own, but you can make another choice all over today. "Lord, you're my shepherd, and you have everything I need." Would you close your eyes with me this morning, and would you right now, while the Holy Spirit is here, right now, while this is fresh in your heart, while you've heard this message, it's fresh in your memory? Would you respond right now? Like I did on Wednesday morning when I was just by myself in my office, and God sent the Holy Spirit and said, "Brady, there's areas of your life. "I sure want to be your shepherd. Now I could have chosen to think about it. I could have chosen to say, "Lord, I'll get back to you on that." But I didn't. I responded right away. I think the thing that pleases God the most many times is when we give an immediate response. When he says something to you, respond immediately. And I just want to encourage you this morning. If the Holy Spirit is revealing an area of your life where he's not the shepherd, would you just respond right now and say, "Lord, I choose you today as my shepherd. "Lord, I don't want a hired hand running my life. "Lord, I don't want someone that does not have my best interest to oversee my life. Lord, I want you. "There are wolves. You may be bitten, but he'll never leave you. "And Lord, today we choose to not live another minute of our life outside of his presence and outside of his care." Can I just pray for you right now? Before I do, would you just be honest? No one's looking around. It's really a very private moment. Would you just make a response to God if there's an area of your life where he's not the shepherd? Would you just raise your hand right now as just an obedience to the Lord saying, "Lord, there's areas right now in my life that I'm about to turn over to you one more time?" And I choose you today to be my shepherd. I choose today to walk away from the hired hand and I choose you today to be my shepherd. Lord, I pray today for every person in this room. I pray right now, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would come. That the Spirit of the living God would come right now and that you would reveal to us how much you are with us, how much you walk with us. And Lord, reveal to us that only your Spirit is able to do how much you care. Show us, Lord, the depth of your love for us and the depth of your care. And Lord, I pray today that as the people who raise their hands, that they would make the same choice that David made, the Lord is my shepherd and I have everything I need. And we bless your name today and we give you praise. Thank you that you're the good shepherd in heaven and we're the sheep of your pasture. We thank you for that in Jesus name, amen.