Who Will Lead Your Life? The Good Shepherd

``And I will say that in those moments of uncertainty, why is it so important that you answer this question? Because when there is catastrophic loss, you have to be able to go back to first principles to be certain of the things that you are certain about. I've sat with enough families who are dealing with death. I know which families have decided who their leader is. I know it. I've experienced that. And so you need an anchor point or a rock or a foundation or a compass point which we're talking about. Right? That points us to those places where we know we are certain. So who will lead your life? [00:36:04] (51 seconds)  #FindYourAnchor

That's an important question. In fact, in our world today, the most modern kind of predominant assumption is that meaning comes from me. I am the one. I am the master of my own destiny. Life is about finding yourself or expressing yourself or fulfilling yourself. Right? Even if we don't say it out loud, what matters most in life is how much you accomplish or acquire or impress or in more modern expression, what matters most is this unique identity that you create for yourself and maybe the number of followers you have on social media. I don't know. [00:36:56] (42 seconds)  #BeyondTheSelf

And I'll never forget walking in to a room with him to meet he and his daughters. And I said, how are you doing? And he said, you know, I have been ripped in half. Some of you know that pain. Right? And then he said something amazing to me, and yet, I know the good shepherd. I know he's with me. I know he understands my pain. I know he is with me in the darkness even though I can't see him, I'm trusting him to lead me. I thought, wow. [00:56:21] (57 seconds)  #ShepherdInDarkness

The other thing I learned about sheep and shepherds is this, that shepherds have to go scout out those places of pasture, of lush green. They have to go find the grass in this rocky terrain. And so, they're out leading and rather than pushing, they call out to the sheep. And they say, here come. Come this way. Just follow me. I'm gonna lead you down good paths, trustworthy paths. Just take my lead. [00:52:46] (34 seconds)  #LedNotPushed

I believe one of the most important questions you will ever answer is not what you will do with your life, but who will lead your life. Not what you will do with your life, but who will lead your life. And the reason is, I think thirty years of ministry, maybe life itself, I realized that life is hard. I mean, just look at the news. Right? There's no question. There's confusion. There's chaos. [00:35:14] (33 seconds)  #WhoWillLeadYou

I always had this image. I I almost I will say I kind of have shifted my my thought in this but I used to think it was written by David. Right? David the king of the old testament. And I was thinking, you know, I bet he was probably a teenager and he was out shepherding and I just kind of imagine him being out there shepherding thinking, oh my goodness, my life has come to this. Looking at the sheep, I'm a shepherd. And then having a kind of a revelation. Well, who who's shepherding me? Who's leading me? Who's directing me? And then he writes this amazing psalm, this poetry, this song if you will. [00:40:24] (48 seconds)  #WhoShepherdsMe

It's interesting to me. I think that there is another way, another way to live. Today, we're looking at Psalm 23 and I won't it is one of the most beloved passages of scripture in all of the bible. In fact, outside of John three sixteen, probably most people have heard it, referenced it, read it of the few passages of the scripture. Right? What is Psalm 23? Well, it was written by a man who knew both power and pressure, both confidence and failure. [00:39:48] (36 seconds)  #AnotherWayToLive

I have some pictures of of some of this. I I it doesn't quite show it fully, but you see see the the rock in the desert? And yet there's this sort of, I call it, you know, I guess a golf green. It looks like it. But it it's it's like a wadi. It's where there was water that gathered there and then out of that, sort of grass grew up. So in the midst of all these rocks, grass could grow and so the shepherd would have to go and seek out those places and he would lead them. [00:48:01] (38 seconds)  #GreenInTheDesert