From the Crowd to the Good Shepherd

Sep 27, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Bigger Deals Threaten Sacred Commitments

The lure of "bigger opportunities" tests our integrity. Like food trucks chasing higher profits, we face daily choices between honoring commitments or chasing immediate gains. True discipleship means valuing faithfulness over flashiness, choosing to nurture existing relationships rather than abandoning them for what glitters. Spiritual growth happens when we plant roots rather than chase horizons, trusting God’s purpose in our present assignments. [28:46]

“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”
(James 5:12, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been tempted to abandon a commitment for a “bigger deal”? What practical step will you take this week to honor your word in that situation?

Day 2: Rocking Chair Faith in a Shepherdless Crowd

Aimlessness plagues those who treat faith as a spectator sport. Like crowds chasing miracles but avoiding sacrifice, many settle for spiritual motion without direction. Jesus’ heart breaks for those circling the wilderness of convenience, their faith as stagnant as a rocking chair’s endless sway. True life begins when we stop consuming blessings and start following the Shepherd. [33:06]

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
(Matthew 9:36, ESV)

Reflection: Where does your faith feel more like restless motion than purposeful direction? Who in your life resembles “sheep without a shepherd” right now?

Day 3: Grease-Stained Shepherds in Trucker Hats

Shepherding isn’t about titles but dirty hands. The good shepherd smells like the sheep – whether in boardrooms or food trucks. Jesus redefines leadership as sacrificial presence, not position. Our call isn’t to perfect ministry but to persistent care, using whatever we hold (grill tongs or Bibles) to feed hungry souls. [51:22]

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
(John 10:11, ESV)

Reflection: What ordinary tool or skill (like cooking or listening) could you use to “shepherd” someone this week? Who needs you to lay down your convenience for their care?

Day 4: From Want’s Buffet to Need’s Banquet

Spiritual maturity trades the “what’s in it for me” mindset for “what shapes me for Him.” Like choosing vegetables over candy, discipleship means craving sanctification more than stimulation. The crowd seeks miracles; disciples seek the Miracle-Worker. Our deepest needs are met not in blessings, but in becoming blessings. [47:13]

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
(Romans 12:2, ESV)

Reflection: What area of your life still operates on “what I want” rather than “what I need”? How might saying “no” to a desire create space for God’s transformation?

Day 5: Shepherd Ink on Working-Class Hands

Ordinary people become living sanctuaries. The Latin “pastor” isn’t earned in seminaries but forged in grocery store conversations and front porch prayers. When mechanics, teachers, and food truck cooks embrace their shepherding call, churches become hospitals where the aimless find direction. [44:55]

“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”
(1 Peter 5:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: Who has God placed in your ordinary circles (work, gym, neighborhood) needing purposeful care? What’s one way to intentionally “oversee” their spiritual wellbeing this month?

Sermon Summary

The bigger, better deal exposes a real discipleship problem. A food truck can chase the next opportunity, cancel commitments, and go wherever the payoff looks best, but a life built that way eventually becomes shaped by what feels immediate instead of what is important. Integrity chooses faithfulness over convenience, even when a more exciting offer shows up.

The discipleship journey calls people out of merely being within reach and into real relationship. Community includes people who are close by but not yet connected, while the crowd includes people who are curious, present, and even excited about Jesus, but still motivated by what they can get. A rocking chair faith can look active, feel spiritual, and still go nowhere. Jesus calls his body to stop circling the wagons and let what breaks his heart move their feet.

Jesus sees the crowds after healing bruised and hurt lives, and his heart breaks because they are confused and aimless, like sheep without a shepherd. The crowd can praise Jesus one day and reject him the next, so shepherding cannot depend on whether people are easy, loyal, or thankful. Christ’s compassion moves toward people who are still figuring things out, still tiptoeing around faith, and still asking where they belong.

The word pastor points to shepherding, not merely a title or a person with a degree. A LifeGroup leader, a friend at work, or a believer opening a home can take on a pastoral role by caring enough to ask, “What does God want you to do?” Shepherding goes beyond listening to someone’s problems. Shepherding helps people reorient their lives around what honors God, even when obedience requires real change.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, puts the sheep before himself and lays down his life for them. The hired hand runs when the wolf comes because the sheep do not really matter to him. The church becomes healthy when committed people stop treating Sunday morning as a spectator event and start seeing a mission field in the room. The harvest calls for ordinary people who choose to come after others, sacrifice time and resources, and help sheep become shepherds.

Key Takeaways

1. Choose important over immediate opportunities. The bigger, better deal often reveals what is really driving a person. Faithfulness matters most when a better offer appears after a commitment has already been made. Discipleship forms people who do not simply go where the payoff is greatest, but who live as people of their word. [29:29]
2. A rocking chair faith goes nowhere. Spiritual activity can create motion without producing maturity. A person can attend, enjoy, and even talk about faith while remaining stuck in the same place year after year. Growth requires a next step, not just another lap around the wilderness. [32:29]
3. Jesus breaks for aimless crowds. The crowd is not an inconvenience or a distraction from deeper ministry. Jesus sees people who are confused, hurt, and trying to figure out where they fit, and his heart breaks for them. Mature believers must learn to see those same people as a mission field already in the room. [38:42]
4. Shepherding requires more than a title. A pastor is first a shepherd, and shepherding belongs to more than the person holding a microphone. Every believer can care for people within reach by building relationship, asking hard questions, and helping them follow God’s design. The issue is not ordination, but whether somebody’s life is being used to guide another person toward Jesus. [44:55]
5. The Good Shepherd sacrifices for sheep. Jesus does not abandon people when they become difficult, inconsistent, or costly. His example calls believers to lay down comfort, time, resources, and personal preference for people who need someone to come after them. Real shepherding keeps showing up when a hired-hand mentality would run away.

## [51:04]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[19:27] - Building Bridges During COVID
[24:45] - Food Trucks and Bigger Better Deals
[28:46] - Integrity Over Opportunity
[29:29] - Important Over Immediate
[30:49] - From Community to Relationship
[32:29] - The Rocking Chair Faith
[33:38] - The Crowd Stage of Faith
[36:01] - Jesus Sees the Crowds
[40:51] - Sheep Without a Shepherd
[42:13] - Every Believer Can Shepherd
[47:13] - Moving Beyond What Is Convenient
[50:43] - Jesus the Good Shepherd
[54:18] - Crowds Can Turn Away
[57:31] - Choosing to Come After People

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 9:36
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” [40:51]

John 10:11
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” [50:43]

Matthew 9:37-38
“Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” [48:39]

Observation questions

In Matthew 9:36, what does Jesus notice about the crowds, and what emotion does their condition stir in him? [38:42]
What difference is described between people who are simply within reach in the community and people who have moved into real relationship?
What are some signs of a “rocking chair faith”—activity that feels spiritual but does not lead to growth or movement? [32:50]
In John 10:11, what separates the Good Shepherd from a hired hand when the sheep become vulnerable or costly? [51:13]

Interpretation questions

Matthew 9:36 describes people as confused and aimless, like sheep without a shepherd. What might that kind of aimlessness look like in someone who attends church, is curious about Jesus, but has not yet taken a next step?
Jesus responds to the crowd with compassion rather than frustration. How should that shape the way committed believers view people who are inconsistent, skeptical, needy, or still figuring out faith? [39:07]
Matthew 9:37–38 connects a great harvest with a need for workers. Why is prayer for workers necessary, and what kind of people might God use as “harvest hands”? [48:39]
Jesus lays down his life for the sheep, while the hired hand leaves when danger comes. What does this contrast reveal about the difference between caring for people out of convenience and truly shepherding them? [52:04]

Application questions

Where is a “bigger, better deal” tempting you to put immediate opportunity ahead of an existing commitment, relationship, or responsibility? What would integrity look like in that situation? [29:29]
In what area of your faith might you be rocking without moving—regularly present or active, but not really taking a next step with Jesus? What is one specific step forward you could take? [32:50]
Think about your normal Sunday routine, workplace, neighborhood, or friend group. Who around you may be quietly wondering where they belong or what God wants for their life? What could it look like to move toward that person this week? [39:27]
Is there someone you trust enough to help shepherd you—someone who can ask honest questions and help you reorient your life around what honors God? If not, what is keeping you from seeking that kind of relationship? [45:37]
Who has God already placed within your reach that you could shepherd through a simple, consistent relationship? Could you invite them to coffee, share a meal, listen to their story, or ask how you can pray for them? [49:41]
When people become difficult, inconsistent, or unresponsive, what is your usual instinct: to come after them, to wait for them to reach out, or to pull away? How can Jesus’ example as the Good Shepherd reshape one relationship that feels costly right now? [54:48]

Sermon Clips

42s

#RockingChairFaith

“It reminds me of a rocking chair faith. Right? Rocking chair, you feel like you're doing a lot, but you're not really going anywhere. You could be going fast in your rocking chair, man. Woo wee. We're having fun. But you're not going and you guys got a visual picture of me. Right? But you're not going anywhere. You're not accomplishing anything. You're not you're not doing anything. And what breaks the heart of Jesus is what should break our hearts. What breaks the heart of Jesus should move the feet of his church, of his body, of his living organism to go out into the community to build relationship and reach people.”

51s

#EveryoneCanShepherd

“And you're not called to just be a spectator in the seats listening to the paid pastor up on the stage. But part of going deeper into discipleship and being more like Jesus is asking the question, who is it that I'm pastoring? It doesn't require a bible degree. It doesn't require ordination. In fact, when you look at the old testament, this word gets used about 18 times. In 17 of those times, it's translated shepherd, and one time, it's translated as pastor. Jesus cares more about you and I taking on the role of a shepherd than any one of us having the title of pastor.”

50s

#HeartOverTitles

“But it takes a mindset to realize that that being a pastor is so much more. Being a pastor has more to do with the heart than the titles. It has way more to do with the fact that we have a pastoral staff. The reality is our our goal is that this would be a room full of pastors, people who say, I wanna be a shepherd to the the people who are in proximity to me, who are in reach. I'm gonna leverage my resources, my home to maybe start a life group. I'm gonna leverage my workplace, whatever I have, to build relationship and to begin to shepherd people.”

39s

#GoodShepherdModel

“And I wonder, man, how many of us get up on a Sunday morning and think about, I am gonna sacrifice myself this morning. I'm gonna put myself on the line for the people in the crowd who show up or at work. I'm gonna lay down my rights, my privileges for the sake of maybe some crowd people who are at your workplace or in your neighborhood or in your community. This is the good shepherd model that you and I are called to.”

62s

#SheepWithoutAShepherd

“You came and emptied yourself of all your rights, of all of your powers and abilities. And you said, I'm gonna go after all the ones. Day to day, you you lived and you acted, acted and you drew the crowds. As you looked from a distance and you saw the city and you wept, it drove you to go into the city and to go on tour doing these miracles to draw a crowd. And you looked at the crowd and your heart broke because you're not content with us to just stay there. You love us the same, but your heart breaks for us to just wander in the wilderness at that stage as sheep without a shepherd.”

41s

#SundayMissionField

“And and if you are have been a part of faith for a long time and you would say, I'm more committed or I'm I'm in the core, then then you should realize that even right in this room, there is a mission field of people who fall into this crowd. They're they're just checking out faith. They're looking to see where do I belong? Where do I fit in? What is the the purpose of life? And if you would say I'm I'm deeper in my faith and in my walk with Jesus, then then Sunday morning for you should be a mission field because these crowd people are coming through our doors.”

52s

#BeyondTheCrowd

“Because four point, it is possible for you, it is possible for me to like Jesus. Maybe even to love Jesus, we would say, but to never make it out of this crowd stage because we just we come when it's convenient. We allow people to speak into our life when it's convenient, when maybe it's gonna give us some attention because of what we're going through or the circumstances. But when it comes to making the change in our life and what we need, then maybe we're gonna not show up for a couple weeks or a couple months. Maybe we're just gonna kinda slip in and slip out and avoid any kind of responsibility.”

41s

#FaithThatBearsFruit

“But if you would say here this morning, man, I wanna grow and be more like Jesus. Right? My my heart, my intent is is to go through this process. Right? Where I'm going deeper. I'm learning more. And then that I go back around, and I'm going out into the community, and I'm bringing else bringing someone else through this process. Then you have to look at the fruit of your life. Because it can be possible to to like, maybe even say you love Jesus, but to never make it out of this this crowd phase. Because you're just you're doing it the way that you want.”

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