Jesus: Our Good Shepherd and Source of Abundance

1. "Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. It's interesting because Jesus looked at the crowd, saw the crowd like sheep without a shepherd, harassed, harassed, helpless, and vulnerable. And the wonderful thing about Jesus is he doesn't just diagnose the problem, but he claims to be the solution. He doesn't just diagnose the problem, but he claims to be the solution. He says, I am the good shepherd." [52:00] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "David was a shepherd and says, the Lord is my shepherd. So I don't need to panic about my food. I don't need to panic about my rest. I don't need to panic about my peace. He restores my soul. And as a shepherd, David knows that God will lead him on right paths, on paths of righteousness, paths of righteousness. And even when that path, even when the direction of my life, even when I seem to find myself in the darkest of places, in the most horrible of circumstances, even when everything goes wrong for me and I hear all the bad news, even though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, yet still, the Lord is my shepherd. And he'll guide me through that. And he'll comfort me in that. And he'll help me get through that dark valley." [58:01] (71 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice. I guess it's logical, really. If we're his sheep, we know him. And he knows us. And it's not surprising that we can hear his voice. And I just encourage you to work out how God speaks to you. Because it will be different. It will be different for each of us as to how God speaks to us. For some of us, it will be a very heart thing. It will be about impressions. It will be about senses and feelings. And hunches. And for others of us, it will be a mind thing. It will be words or ideas or concepts. And God will speak to you in that way. And you won't know, really, whether it's you or whether it's God. But after a while, you'll get to think, actually, that's God spoken to me." [01:03:00] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Jesus said that the hired hand runs away. But the shepherd... Actually, Jesus messes it up at that point. Because he says, but the shepherd... What he should say is, the shepherd stands to fight to defend the sheep. He doesn't say that. The contrast is not between the hired hand who runs away and David who stays and fights for the sheep. The contrast is between the hired hand who runs away and Jesus who lays down his life for the sheep. So there's something happening here where Jesus is moving away from the picture of the shepherd in the... In the hillside. And he's moving to the cross, to his destiny." [01:07:26] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Jesus says, I am the gate. I'm the gate. For me, I don't, I don't know if you agree with me at this point. I don't think that's quite such a attractive image. You know, there's something attractive about a shepherd looking after me. You know, when I'm limping a bit, he can bandage my foot up or whatever they do. They can carry me when I'm going through a particularly hard time. Something nice about a shepherd who will be there on the cold, dark nights. There's something comforting about a shepherd who will lead me beside still waters, who will cause me to lie down in green pasture. There's something wonderful. A gate, I don't get so emotionally attached to gates. I mean, maybe you do. Maybe you're a metal worker who builds gates. I don't know. But, but gates, you know, don't have the same emotional attachment to me, but it's because it's a colder, harder image, less cuddly, perhaps. I don't know. Less relational, maybe less, but the idea is brilliant. The idea is brilliant. The idea that, that you get to life in all its fullness through Jesus. That you, that you get to be shepherded by Jesus through Jesus." [01:13:01] (70 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. Jesus said, I am the gate. And I guess I just want to ask you, how are you doing? How are you doing? Harassed, helpless, vulnerable. Life in all its fullness. How's your relationship? Relationship with the shepherd. He knows you by name. He lays down his life for you. Jesus is the good shepherd. Where are you at with the shepherd this morning? Where's the gate? This morning, the invitation is to go through Jesus the gate to find Jesus the shepherd." [01:16:04] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Jesus says, my sheep, my sheep know me. Jesus says, my sheep, they know me. I just found it fascinating that Karen shared her little story, not little story, for her it's a massive story, but shared it a little way this morning when she was 18. My sheep know me. Not a God out there, far distance, trying to get through, trying to break through. But love finding me. My sheep know me. Jesus said. Can I encourage you to read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to read them so that you know Jesus better. So that you know how he reacts. So that you know what he likes. So that you can understand what he loves. How he answers questions. How he asks questions. What it is that motivates him. What he says about himself. Which is what this series is all about. How, so that we can know him. My sheep know me. Jesus says. And I know their names. I know their names. It's a great song, isn't it? God knows my name. Jesus says, even the hairs on your head are numbered. It doesn't mean to say that their days will run out, which is what, you know, is going to happen. Your days are numbered. Yep. God knows you intimately. He knows your name. I think that's great. Seven billion people in the world. God knows you. Might be eight by now. God knows you. God knows you." [01:01:04] (116 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. There's a uniqueness about Jesus. All sorts of people want us to follow them at the moment, don't they? Particularly on social media. Follow me, follow me, follow me. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. If I was a shepherd in Jesus' day, and I had some aspirations for self-betterment, I wanted to climb the career ladder, if I wanted to get out of the wet Wednesday nights on the hillside, one of the things I could do would be to pay someone else to do it while I went and did something more profitable. I would hire someone to look after the sheep that I was meant to be looking after. A hired hand, if you like. And so I'd go and find a young lad who was dropping out of college and get them to go and do something. And so I'd go and look after my sheep for a few quid a night, and then I could go and better myself. But Jesus had noticed that while this happened quite regularly, the hired hands really weren't as devoted to the sheep as the shepherd was. That the hired hands weren't always up to the task like the shepherd was. Because a shepherd would lead his sheep. And a hired hand would have to push the sheep, cajole the sheep. A hired hand wouldn't know one sheep from another, whereas the shepherd knows his sheep by name. And the hired hand ran when danger came. When there was a lion or a bear or a crocodile, which didn't happen very often, but lions and bears sometimes, would arrive. The hired hand would leg it. Whereas the shepherd would defend the sheep. David said, I've killed a lion, chased off a bear, because I'm a shepherd boy. I know what that's like. And I know that my God is able to protect me. That was what David reckoned." [01:05:23] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his 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. The wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he's 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 farmer, the father knows me and I know the father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I've other sheep that are not of the sheep and I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice. There'll be one flock, one shepherd. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." [01:18:12] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And he also says, I am the gate. Jesus has been talking about life in all its fullness. He's been talking about how we can, we can, so much of how we can be harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd, how we can, we can be robbed by one who comes to kill and steal and destroy. He says, in the face of all that, I lay down my life and I raise it up again and I can be your shepherd who knows you, who leads you, who guides you, even through the worst of days. And the worst of situations, even through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you and comfort you. You know me, I know you. We can have this deep, intimate relationship. How'd you get there? You go through me, says Jesus. I'm the gate." [01:13:23] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)