Speaker 1: Two bags of popcorn.
Speaker 1: Here's all we're doing.
Speaker 1: What we're doing is we are showing how some of Hollywood's most iconic thrilling movies that we love got their theme from scripture.
Speaker 1: And today we're gonna see that a super iconic movie got its theme from scripture.
Speaker 1: What is the movie, you may wonder.
Speaker 1: You may wonder, you may be dying to know.
Speaker 1: You've been staying awake every night for the last week, even though we shared it last Sunday the movie Avengers Endgame.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys have seen Avengers Endgame?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: Avengers Endgame.
Speaker 1: How many of you are like you're big into?
Speaker 1: Like the Marvel movies.
Speaker 1: You love the Marvel movies.
Speaker 1: Some of you okay, that's right.
Speaker 1: Avengers Endgame how many of you are like you're big into like the Marvel movies?
Speaker 1: You love the Marvel movies.
Speaker 1: Some of you okay, that's right.
Speaker 1: Okay, how many of you are like I could care less about Marvel movies?
Speaker 1: Y'all could take care of him later.
Speaker 1: Okay, If you've seen Avengers Endgame, you know it goes down spoiler to Iron man laying down his life for his friends.
Speaker 1: And in Scripture, Scripture goes down to it shows one person laying down their life, not just for their friends, but for the whole world.
Speaker 1: His name starts with a J.
Speaker 1: Can somebody tell me what is his name?
Speaker 1: His name is Jesus, that's right.
Speaker 1: So what we're going to do for fun because it's OK to have fun in church right, yeah, we're going to have fun in church.
Speaker 1: We're going to watch a one-minute movie clip from Avengers Endgame, the end showing him laying down his life for our friends.
Speaker 1: Let's check it out.
Speaker 1: I am inevitable and I am Iron man.
Speaker 1: Amen, Iron man.
Speaker 1: Rest in peace, Iron man, and with that, Iron man lays down his life.
Speaker 1: And this is what we're going to see today that Jesus is the good shepherd that lays down his life for us.
Speaker 1: And what does it mean that he's a good shepherd?
Speaker 1: And we're going to see.
Speaker 1: This might surprise some of you, but what we need the most in our life is a good shepherd that we can look to for guidance, for direction, for strength, for protection, for all the things that Jesus offers to all of us, if we'll let him be our shepherd.
Speaker 1: So let's pick it up in John, chapter 10, verse number 11.
Speaker 1: If you're ready for it, would you say amen, Amen.
Speaker 1: That's what Jesus says.
Speaker 1: He says I am the here's two words I am the.
Speaker 1: What are they?
Speaker 1: I am the Good shepherd.
Speaker 1: The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Speaker 1: Now, if he's the good shepherd, does somebody know who the sheep are?
Speaker 1: Us, that's right.
Speaker 1: His followers.
Speaker 1: Now, a lot of times when we think of sheep we think, oh, they're so cute, Like, it's like a you know a nursery rhyme.
Speaker 1: They're cute, they're cuddly.
Speaker 1: But if you see sheep through a Eastern first century mindset, through a Eastern first century mindset, they ain't really cute.
Speaker 1: In fact, sheep weren't exactly known as how do I say this the smartest animals they were known to.
Speaker 1: Instead of walking the direction they're supposed to walk, they would constantly drift and get themselves into danger and trouble.
Speaker 1: They were known to, instead of eating what they're supposed to eat, if it was on the ground, they would eat it, whether it was poisonous or toxic.
Speaker 1: And the good shepherd a shepherd in this time would always have to make sure they're in the right green pasture so they'll eat the right stuff.
Speaker 1: Sheep were also known to like fall on their back and then they couldn't roll back over and get up.
Speaker 1: So they're just like on their back, like this.
Speaker 1: They're like, I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: In fact, there's no such thing as wild sheep.
Speaker 1: You know why there's no such thing as wild sheep?
Speaker 1: Because they would die on their own.
Speaker 1: Wild horses, yes.
Speaker 1: Wild pigs, yes.
Speaker 1: Wild sheep no, Wild sheep didn't exist because they need constant care and protection and help from a shepherd.
Speaker 1: And you know what God calls us Sheep?
Speaker 1: We think who me?
Speaker 1: That's not me.
Speaker 1: It might be somebody sitting next to me or somebody around me, but I'm not a sheep.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I can do it on my own, Like I'm pretty strong, I'm pretty smart.
Speaker 1: I mean I got experience.
Speaker 1: I'm 16 years old.
Speaker 1: I just, you know, I've worked hard, I've done it.
Speaker 1: I'm not a sheep, but hold on, hold on, hold on, bro.
Speaker 1: Let's think about this through the lens of our life.
Speaker 1: Up to this point, If we're honest, how many times have we wandered off the path and got ourselves into trouble because we went the wrong direction and got ourselves into trouble because we went the wrong direction?
Speaker 1: How many times have we gotten ourselves in some situations, maybe because we were a part of some toxic, poisonous things, or we allowed some things to happen that were toxic and poisonous?
Speaker 1: How many times have we found ourselves flat on our back in a pickle, thinking I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: I need help.
Speaker 1: Can I say all of us at some point in our life.
Speaker 1: Can I say, in the words of jesus, we're all sheep.
Speaker 1: Now this can kind of be offensive, can it?
Speaker 1: In fact, right now, even as I'm talking about this, in the words of Jesus, we're all sheep.
Speaker 1: Now this can kind of be offensive, can't it?
Speaker 1: In fact, right now, even as I'm talking about this, some of you are like there's something welling up in you, Like, no, you know what that is.
Speaker 1: That's pride.
Speaker 1: And can I be honest, when I think about sheep, I have pride welling up in me.
Speaker 1: And then, when I look back at the history of my life, I'm like, actually, and you know what Jesus does?
Speaker 1: Even though we're sheep, he's the good shepherd.
Speaker 1: He wants to lay down his life for the sheep and he wants to give protection for us.
Speaker 1: Verse number 12, this is what it says.
Speaker 1: It says the hired hand.
Speaker 1: Since he's not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, he leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming.
Speaker 1: The wolf then snatches them up and scatters them.
Speaker 1: This happens because he's a hired hand.
Speaker 1: He doesn't care about the sheep.
Speaker 1: And then, verse 14, Jesus reminds us again.
Speaker 1: He says I am the.
Speaker 1: What are those words?
Speaker 1: I am the good.
Speaker 1: I know my own and my own know me, Just as the father knows me and I know the father.
Speaker 1: I lay down my life for the sheep, but I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen and I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice.
Speaker 1: Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Speaker 1: This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.
Speaker 1: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.
Speaker 1: You realize the Jews did not take the life of Jesus from him.
Speaker 1: It wasn't well.
Speaker 1: The Jews are the reason why Jesus died.
Speaker 1: No, the reason why Jesus died is because Jesus willingly laid down his life.
Speaker 1: He willingly laid it down because he had to do it for our sin.
Speaker 1: I have the right to lay it down and I have the right to take it up again, received this command from my father.
Speaker 1: Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, somebody that wants to guide, somebody that wants to protect.
Speaker 1: Here's the reality for all of us.
Speaker 1: You know you have a shepherd in your life.
Speaker 1: You have somebody that you look to for strength.
Speaker 1: You have somebody that you look to guidance.
Speaker 1: You have somebody or something that you look to for direction in your life, For you to say am I doing this right?
Speaker 1: Am I not doing this right?
Speaker 1: For a lot of us, it's a social media influencer.
Speaker 1: For a lot of us, it's somebody that we see on TV, it's a podcaster, it's somebody.
Speaker 1: But here's the reality is that Jesus is the good shepherd that wants to guide you, and what Jesus does in this text is what we're going to see, is what he does, is he protects us, he personally knows us and Jesus wants to prosper us as his sheep.
Speaker 1: This is what Jesus does, and I want us to lean into this.
Speaker 1: I kind of want us to lock in here because for some of us, we haven't, like, really thought of it this way.
Speaker 1: We haven't thought of Jesus being the shepherd and what does this actually mean?
Speaker 1: I want us to lock in and see this number one Jesus protects the sheep.
Speaker 1: Why does Jesus protect the sheep?
Speaker 1: Protects the sheep.
Speaker 1: Why does Jesus protect the sheep?
Speaker 1: Verse number 12, because there are wolves.
Speaker 1: A wolf is coming and a wolf will snatch and scatter the sheep, so he wants to protect us.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all, many of y'all, probably heard or read the 23rd Psalm, the Psalm that says the Lord is my shepherd.
Speaker 1: How many guys have heard that?
Speaker 1: One right Heard that at a funeral.
Speaker 1: Some of you may have memorized it.
Speaker 1: In fact, I memorized it years ago and I memorized it in the good old King James English.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys know about that.
Speaker 1: The Lord is my shepherd.
Speaker 1: I shall not want right, and what I want us to do is I want us to read this Psalm and then I want to show you guys something about how this Psalm shows the protection of God in our lives.
Speaker 1: As the shepherd.
Speaker 1: This is what it says.
Speaker 1: It says the Lord is my shepherd.
Speaker 1: I have what I need.
Speaker 1: He lets me lie down in green pastures.
Speaker 1: He leads me beside quiet waters.
Speaker 1: He renews my life.
Speaker 1: He leads me along the right paths for his name's sake, Even though I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me, your rod, your staff.
Speaker 1: They comfort me.
Speaker 1: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Speaker 1: You anoint my head with oil.
Speaker 1: My cup overflows.
Speaker 1: Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.
Speaker 1: Some of us have never thought about this through the lens of God's protection.
Speaker 1: But JD Greer breaks this psalm down and shows us this through the lens of the protection of God.
Speaker 1: If we can get that next slide up, Notice the protection of God in our life.
Speaker 1: It is beside us.
Speaker 1: He's my shepherd, it is beneath us.
Speaker 1: He protects us by leading us into green pastures.
Speaker 1: It is near us.
Speaker 1: He leads us beside still waters.
Speaker 1: It is ahead of us.
Speaker 1: He leads us in the righteous path.
Speaker 1: It is within us.
Speaker 1: What does he do?
Speaker 1: He protects us by restoring our spirits.
Speaker 1: It is against those that are against us in the presence of my enemies, His rod and his staff.
Speaker 1: They protect us there.
Speaker 1: His protection is for us, it's around us, it's upon us, it's above us, it's behind us, it's before us.
Speaker 1: We have a good shepherd that wants to protect us, and if that is awesome, would you say amen, this is who we have.
Speaker 1: You realize also, there are hundreds and probably thousands of times in your life where the good shepherd has protected you and you don't even realize it.
Speaker 1: You may not have thought about this, but there's a real spiritual realm.
Speaker 1: It's an unseen reality where there are evil spiritual forces at work and you can deny its existence, but we see it all around us, we see the results of it, and what the good shepherd does in the spiritual realm is he fights for us, to protect us.
Speaker 1: This is what good shepherds do.
Speaker 1: They watch out, they stay alert, they care for us.
Speaker 1: This is what good leaders do.
Speaker 1: They protect the sheep, the people that are following them.
Speaker 1: They care more about how people are doing than what people are doing.
Speaker 1: Good shepherds, good leaders they don't lord over people and dominate people and use people, but they humbly serve people.
Speaker 1: They lay down their life for the betterment of other people.
Speaker 1: It's not about them, and sometimes what it looks like to love people well and to serve people well is having a hard conversation with somebody.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what that looks like is sitting with somebody and their challenges and their hardship and just being present with somebody and their challenges and their hardship and just being present.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what that looks like is encouraging people to take steps of growth in their faith, because growth happens one step at a time.
Speaker 1: This is what it looks like.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, guys, it'd be a whole lot easier for me as a pastor if I never challenged y'all, because y'all would like me a whole lot more.
Speaker 1: There's sometimes I talk about stuff.
Speaker 1: It'll be in the text or maybe something going on in society and I'm like, well, somebody's not going to like this, but guess what?
Speaker 1: I have to love you enough to speak the truth of the word of God into your life.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this too if you move somewhere, and you move to Oregon or Idaho or Arizona gosh, if y'all move to Arizona, it's real hot out there.
Speaker 1: Guys, Y'all move somewhere, and you guys looking for a church, Can I just say look for a place that is grounded on the word of God, not on what is popular in culture.
Speaker 1: Look at what does the word say?
Speaker 1: And what shepherds do is shepherds teach the truth of God's word and we have a good shepherd that loves us and cares about us and wants to protect us.
Speaker 1: That's what we have.
Speaker 1: Some of us I just want to talk for a second.
Speaker 1: Some of us it's really hard to be in a church.
Speaker 1: It's really hard to trust the good shepherd, because we have a history of being around leaders that have either been toxic or insecure or unhealthy, and it caused us to have a general distrust for leadership.
Speaker 1: Can I say if that's you, I get it, I do, I've been around some of it, I get that.
Speaker 1: I just can't trust, because this happened and that happened.
Speaker 1: And can I lovingly say don't let a bad leader keep you from following the good shepherd that loves you and protects you and lays his life down for you.
Speaker 1: Don't let that happen, Because we have a good shepherd that he protects us, but he also, second of all, he personally knows us.
Speaker 1: He says I'm the good shepherd, I know my own and my own know me, they know me.
Speaker 1: You realize that God loves you, knows you, and God actually likes you.
Speaker 1: You realize that God likes people that you don't like.
Speaker 1: You realize that.
Speaker 1: You realize that God loves people that you don't love.
Speaker 1: It's hard to admit that, Hard to see that, but he loves us and he likes us and he knows us.
Speaker 1: In fact, there's this verse that I got to show y'all.
Speaker 1: It's a mind-boggling verse, Psalm 139,.
Speaker 1: It says this God, how precious your thoughts are to me, how vast their sum is.
Speaker 1: Hold on Vast, the sum of God's thoughts.
Speaker 1: We're using math terms here.
Speaker 1: The sum of God's thoughts.
Speaker 1: Well, what's the sum of them?
Speaker 1: He says if I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
Speaker 1: He goes on to say in the sea, in a beach.
Speaker 1: Let's think about this.
Speaker 1: God's thoughts towards you are so vast.
Speaker 1: They outnumber the grains of sand on a beach.
Speaker 1: You ever done this?
Speaker 1: Have you ever picked up at the beach some sand and tried to count it?
Speaker 1: Good luck.
Speaker 1: So I did a little research this week.
Speaker 1: You know my good old friend ChatGPT.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys know ChatGPT?
Speaker 1: You know it's starting to become a friend more and more these days.
Speaker 1: I want to see how much sand was on the seashore.
Speaker 1: Okay, here we go, Ready.
Speaker 1: I want to see how much sand was on the seashore.
Speaker 1: Okay, here we go, right.
Speaker 1: The number is eight quintillion, that's eight, with 18 zeros after it.
Speaker 1: God says.
Speaker 1: God says that's what my thoughts are towards you.
Speaker 1: That's how much God loves you.
Speaker 1: That's God's thoughts towards you, because God personally knows you and you may have been in an environment that tells you that God doesn't care about you and God doesn't like you, and you've been made to feel less than can I just say.
Speaker 1: The good shepherd knows his sheep.
Speaker 1: He knows his sheep by name.
Speaker 1: He lays down his life for his sheep.
Speaker 1: You are more than just a number.
Speaker 1: You are more than just a person.
Speaker 1: You are somebody that Jesus came and gave his life for, and let your heart rest in the fact that you are known by Jesus and Jesus protects you and Jesus personally knows you and Jesus wants to prosper you.
Speaker 1: He wants to prosper you.
Speaker 1: Jesus wants to prosper you.
Speaker 1: He wants to prosper you.
Speaker 1: Number three he prospers the sheep.
Speaker 1: The text says in verse 10, a thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
Speaker 1: But I have come so they might have life and have it in.
Speaker 1: Somebody tell me what's that last word in verse 10?
Speaker 1: Have it in.
Speaker 1: Somebody tell me Abundance.
Speaker 1: You know what this is.
Speaker 1: This is a holistic flourishing.
Speaker 1: This is a life that's filled with purpose and joy and transformation, and this can be found in the good shepherd.
Speaker 1: The good shepherd wants to flourish your life.
Speaker 1: The good shepherd wants to give care and guidance and protection to you.
Speaker 1: But what we have to do is we have to look to the good shepherd for everything.
Speaker 1: In the text, when Jesus says he's the good shepherd and telling these people they're the sheep, this is what the people realized.
Speaker 1: Sheep needed the good shepherd, a shepherd for everything.
Speaker 1: Literally.
Speaker 1: Sheep could not go on without a shepherd's care and protection.
Speaker 1: We need the shepherd for everything.
Speaker 1: Now my self-righteous heart pushes back on that.
Speaker 1: I'm like well, I need God to stand up and preach a message.
Speaker 1: Like I can't do this, but I'm like I can like wake up and like do my routine thing, Like I can kind of do that on my own.
Speaker 1: Oh, really, you know, I need God for, like, if I'm having conversations with somebody and they're like a harder conversation, like God help me, or I'm in a pickle, I need some help.
Speaker 1: Like God help me in this situation, but most of the time I can do this thing on my own.
Speaker 1: Jesus says nope John 15, without me you can do nothing.
Speaker 1: Here's a question for us to kind of think about for a second.
Speaker 1: What if Jesus is actually right?
Speaker 1: What if we're actually sheep and we can do nothing apart from him?
Speaker 1: What if his spirit is what we need to comfort us in our grief and pain and sorrow?
Speaker 1: What if his presence is the very thing that can empower us with confidence that we've been looking for our entire life?
Speaker 1: What if his promises can anchor you when life is tossing you to and fro?
Speaker 1: What if his hope can stabilize your emotions when you are emotionally all over the place?
Speaker 1: What if it's true?
Speaker 1: Next week we're gonna spend the whole message in John 11 talking about the intersection of our emotions and our Christian life and the intersection of them and how both of them matter, and how we all have very real emotions and how Jesus allows us to feel our emotions and be real with them, but not let our emotions to control us.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk about how we can be spiritually, emotionally healthy people.
Speaker 1: Next Sunday is a not miss Sunday, and what if, emotionally, Jesus can anchor us?
Speaker 1: What if he is the answer?
Speaker 1: I end with this story.
Speaker 1: There's a New York Times reporter named Nicholas Kristof who went to Cambodia to fight the battle with human trafficking.
Speaker 1: What he saw changed him forever.
Speaker 1: He went to Cambodia and he saw these brothels with girls of all ages being sexually exploited and sexually abused and used and a pimp pimping them out to person after horrendous things.
Speaker 1: And it did something to him.
Speaker 1: He said I got to do something about it.
Speaker 1: And he came to this realization as he looked at the situation and looking at everything that was happening.
Speaker 1: And this man had some resources.
Speaker 1: He said the only way I can rescue some of these girls is by actually buying them from their pimp and buying their freedom.
Speaker 1: This man had some resources.
Speaker 1: He tells a story in his New York Times article about how he fought the freedom of two girls and he freed them and the first girl went to her family and she was thrilled and it was a grand reunion Went to her family and she was thrilled and it was a grand reunion.
Speaker 1: But the second girl, she didn't want to leave.
Speaker 1: He writes about how she had all these reasons why she couldn't leave and she came up with all these excuses Listen, listen, listen.
Speaker 1: You have been sexually exploited for years.
Speaker 1: There's a better life, Come on, Come on.
Speaker 1: Finally she agreed and she was home and her family accepted her.
Speaker 1: It was incredible and it was amazing and you can only imagine how he felt.
Speaker 1: He was able to buy the freedom of these two girls and he went back home to New York and he came back a year later, back a year later, and he was shocked to see that the second girl had returned back to the brothel.
Speaker 1: He couldn't understand it.
Speaker 1: He's like I paid for her freedom.
Speaker 1: She did not have to live in this environment anymore where she sexually exploited, and he writes an article about it was a few things that brought her back.
Speaker 1: One, it was the familiarity and this ironic safety that she felt being in that environment.
Speaker 1: It was self-esteem, because when she was getting so much attention from all these people, it made her feel like she was somebody and because of that she went back with no desire to ever experience freedom.
Speaker 1: And here's why I tell you this story.
Speaker 1: Some of us have some things that tend to be pulling us back into the world.
Speaker 1: Whether it's our trauma, whether it's our past, whether it's our familiarity, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: There's like something in us, and maybe we haven't even told anybody, but there's something that's pulling us back into the old life, when Jesus has bought our freedom on the cross of Calvary, when we have a good shepherd that gave his life for us, when we have a good shepherd that died on the cross for us so we can experience freedom of walking.
Speaker 1: In Christ, Jesus stood between the consequences of sin and death and he says in him there is no condemnation, there is no abandonment, there's no reason to live in fear, there's no reason to live in shame or the curse or the chaos of life, because inside Jesus we are safe.
Speaker 1: And sometimes we think it's so complicated.
Speaker 1: We're like man I got so much going on in my life Like I can't really run to him, I can't really trust him, I can't really follow him.
Speaker 1: Guys, it's not that complicated.
Speaker 1: He's the good shepherd.
Speaker 1: He died on the cross for us.
Speaker 1: He loves us.
Speaker 1: We can trust him Game over.
Speaker 1: Three questions and we're done.
Speaker 1: Here's the first question.
Speaker 1: Will you run to the good shepherd for protection in your life?
Speaker 1: In your life, are you like running to like I just need finances?
Speaker 1: If I have more money, I'll have more protection.
Speaker 1: Man, I just I need this relationship.
Speaker 1: If I have this relationship, then I'll have protection.
Speaker 1: Will you run to the good shepherd for protection?
Speaker 1: Will you run to the good shepherd for guidance?
Speaker 1: Is your default for guidance?
Speaker 1: How do I feel about this?
Speaker 1: Our feelings are not the enemy, but they can go up and down and all around.
Speaker 1: Will we look to the good shepherd for guidance?
Speaker 1: And third, will we trust the good shepherd for life, for abundant life?
Speaker 1: Here's what I want us to do in our reflection and response time.
Speaker 1: It's really simple.
Speaker 1: I want us to run into the arms of the good shepherd for protection, guidance and abundant life.
Speaker 1: Here's how you can do it.
Speaker 1: Just a simple prayer, Lord, here's who I am.
Speaker 1: Here's what's going on in my life.
Speaker 1: I'm looking towards you, I'm not looking towards all these other things, and let's just have a holy moment.
Speaker 1: I know we're a little bit past time, but it's okay, People can wait outside.
Speaker 1: This is a holy moment for some of us because we're like listen, listen, listen, listen.