Following the Good Shepherd: Embracing Abundant Life in Christ
Devotional
Sermon Summary
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1) "Everybody loves fasting, but what do we got ahead of us? We've got an election. Our country needs Jesus. Needs Jesus. And so I'm calling a prayer and fasting. We'll have a prayer. Prayer guide. and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and ask you just, would you consider maybe fasting a meal? Some of you could fast the whole time, but we're gonna maybe fast electronics, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna cry out to God for several things, all right? Praying out to God for our nation, for the election, and for revival, and we're gonna be praying for our church body. We're gonna be praying for the global church as a whole, and so I just encourage you to, if you can, and set aside some time to pray and go after Jesus over those three days, and we're gonna be praying over the block party, too." [48:26] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2) "So when Jesus says, truly, truly, we need to pay attention to what he's talking about, and he's making this, this statement that we're about to read in context of John chapter nine, this blind man and the Pharisees, the way they mistreated him and cast him out. He's making this, he's talking about this. And we know in throughout scriptures that the God uses shepherds as a, is to help us understand what spiritual leaders, he calls spiritual leaders, shepherds, and he calls us what sheep, all spiritual leaders are sheep, but there are some that God has to be spiritual shepherds. And so God gets pretty upset when the shepherds are not taking care of the sheep, protecting them and leading them and guide them." [52:35] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3) "Why is it that we know to do right? but we don't always do it. Why is it that people have so much influence in our lives that we literally will go off a cliff because somebody is telling us, don't do it, don't do it. Well, we do it all the time, right? We move right past our convictions and our standards even into danger because we're so afraid of what people think or because we're trying to follow the crowd. Number two, sheep are pretty defenseless, defenseless, especially domesticated. They don't really have much to defend themselves. They don't have claws or sharp teeth. They can kick and bite and the sheep do that in the church, amen? They kick and bite. But they're not lethal. Some can be, but their main defense is sticking together in the flock. That's their defense system." [01:00:49] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4) "As much as we think we're independent and self -sustaining, it's not true. We actually care what others think. We need others. We lack direction for life. We are prone to wonder. We need the shepherd, Jesus. We need him. He's our good shepherd. And do you see? That one statement says, he calls them by name. The sheep know his voice. We're going to talk next week about how to hear God's voice. Okay, that'll be a fun one. But we're going to talk about that next week. But every follower of Christ, every follower of Christ, if you have been born again, you have heard, maybe not audibly, maybe some audibly, you have heard the voice of Jesus call your name. Can you say amen to that?" [01:04:22] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5) "It's sobering but assuring at the same time. Your good works are not going to get you there. Being a good person is not going to get you there. Your parents' faith is not going to get you there. None of that gives you salvation. It's only through the door of Jesus Christ. All right, so I'm going to talk about something a little bit different here. So the word shepherd in the Greek, poimen, can be translated as, pastor, they're interchangeable. So Jesus is the good shepherd, right? But we are all, and we're all sheep, but then he appoints what we call under shepherds, okay? Under shepherd will be somebody there to help the shepherd accomplish the task, to take care of the sheep. And in the church, we call them what? Pastors." [01:06:51] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6) "Jesus is the only perfect shepherd. If you're looking for a man to be perfect, good luck. I will let you down. Other pastors on this team will let you down. You could probably all raise your hand. Who could say I've let them down already in some way? Okay, please don't raise your hand. I'd prefer to live in ignorance. None of us are perfect. And so there's a lot of reasons we get hurt. And so the first thing I want you to do, and all of us probably have some stories. I'm not saying everybody in here has this, but a lot of us, I hear it all the time. The first thing we need to do is we need to identify the hurt. We need to identify the hurt because sometimes our hurt is more perceived than real." [01:10:29] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7) "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Now, many times this verse is quoted about Satan. It's really not what Jesus is saying. Now, you can say, I came to kill and destroy. You can't attribute this to Satan. He fits the description. But it's really aimed at people coming into the body of Christ to do it damage. Let me say something. Just because someone says they are Christian doesn't mean they are a Christian. Now, it doesn't mean we need to run around telling everybody, you know, questioning your salvation. But a tree is known by its fruit. People can say anything they want to say. That's right. We have to be discerning. How do they talk? How do they live their life? How do they care for other people? How do they treat other people?" [01:24:22] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8) "You are the most content in your life when you are letting Jesus lead. I'm just telling you, it's how you're designed. How do we do that? Well, we pray and we read his word and we worship. We stay close to Jesus. And when we stay close to him, we're following his lead. Let me ask you the question, is Jesus leading your life or are you leading yourself? Because if you're leading yourself, you start wandering off or you're following the pack. The most fulfilled people I've ever met in my life are those who have found out what God's call and will for their life is. And they begin walking in it. They are such contentment, content people." [01:35:21] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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2) "So when Jesus says, truly, truly, we need to pay attention to what he's talking about, and he's making this, this statement that we're about to read in context of John chapter nine, this blind man and the Pharisees, the way they mistreated him and cast him out. He's making this, he's talking about this. And we know in throughout scriptures that the God uses shepherds as a, is to help us understand what spiritual leaders, he calls spiritual leaders, shepherds, and he calls us what sheep, all spiritual leaders are sheep, but there are some that God has to be spiritual shepherds. And so God gets pretty upset when the shepherds are not taking care of the sheep, protecting them and leading them and guide them." [52:35] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3) "Why is it that we know to do right? but we don't always do it. Why is it that people have so much influence in our lives that we literally will go off a cliff because somebody is telling us, don't do it, don't do it. Well, we do it all the time, right? We move right past our convictions and our standards even into danger because we're so afraid of what people think or because we're trying to follow the crowd. Number two, sheep are pretty defenseless, defenseless, especially domesticated. They don't really have much to defend themselves. They don't have claws or sharp teeth. They can kick and bite and the sheep do that in the church, amen? They kick and bite. But they're not lethal. Some can be, but their main defense is sticking together in the flock. That's their defense system." [01:00:49] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4) "As much as we think we're independent and self -sustaining, it's not true. We actually care what others think. We need others. We lack direction for life. We are prone to wonder. We need the shepherd, Jesus. We need him. He's our good shepherd. And do you see? That one statement says, he calls them by name. The sheep know his voice. We're going to talk next week about how to hear God's voice. Okay, that'll be a fun one. But we're going to talk about that next week. But every follower of Christ, every follower of Christ, if you have been born again, you have heard, maybe not audibly, maybe some audibly, you have heard the voice of Jesus call your name. Can you say amen to that?" [01:04:22] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5) "It's sobering but assuring at the same time. Your good works are not going to get you there. Being a good person is not going to get you there. Your parents' faith is not going to get you there. None of that gives you salvation. It's only through the door of Jesus Christ. All right, so I'm going to talk about something a little bit different here. So the word shepherd in the Greek, poimen, can be translated as, pastor, they're interchangeable. So Jesus is the good shepherd, right? But we are all, and we're all sheep, but then he appoints what we call under shepherds, okay? Under shepherd will be somebody there to help the shepherd accomplish the task, to take care of the sheep. And in the church, we call them what? Pastors." [01:06:51] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6) "Jesus is the only perfect shepherd. If you're looking for a man to be perfect, good luck. I will let you down. Other pastors on this team will let you down. You could probably all raise your hand. Who could say I've let them down already in some way? Okay, please don't raise your hand. I'd prefer to live in ignorance. None of us are perfect. And so there's a lot of reasons we get hurt. And so the first thing I want you to do, and all of us probably have some stories. I'm not saying everybody in here has this, but a lot of us, I hear it all the time. The first thing we need to do is we need to identify the hurt. We need to identify the hurt because sometimes our hurt is more perceived than real." [01:10:29] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7) "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Now, many times this verse is quoted about Satan. It's really not what Jesus is saying. Now, you can say, I came to kill and destroy. You can't attribute this to Satan. He fits the description. But it's really aimed at people coming into the body of Christ to do it damage. Let me say something. Just because someone says they are Christian doesn't mean they are a Christian. Now, it doesn't mean we need to run around telling everybody, you know, questioning your salvation. But a tree is known by its fruit. People can say anything they want to say. That's right. We have to be discerning. How do they talk? How do they live their life? How do they care for other people? How do they treat other people?" [01:24:22] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8) "You are the most content in your life when you are letting Jesus lead. I'm just telling you, it's how you're designed. How do we do that? Well, we pray and we read his word and we worship. We stay close to Jesus. And when we stay close to him, we're following his lead. Let me ask you the question, is Jesus leading your life or are you leading yourself? Because if you're leading yourself, you start wandering off or you're following the pack. The most fulfilled people I've ever met in my life are those who have found out what God's call and will for their life is. And they begin walking in it. They are such contentment, content people." [01:35:21] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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