Known by Name – Pastor Sam Simoes – April 26, 2026

Pastor Sam Simoes message for Sunday April 26, 2026. 

Welcome to the Northwest Church of the Nazarene podcast, where we share the heart of our church’s mission: discovering and engaging in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ through inspired worship and intentional ministry. Each episode brings you sermons, insights, and messages that challenge and encourage spiritual growth. Whether you are part of our diverse, multicultural church family, or listening in for the first time, you’ll find a community that loves Jesus and welcomes everyone with open arms. Join us online at nwnaz.org or in person in Columbus Ohio, as we journey together toward a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Jesus and each other. 

Transcript

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Every Sunday at Northwest Church of the Nazarene in Columbus, Ohio, our congregation is challenged to grow spiritually. This podcast shares the sermons, insights, and messages that encourage our congregation to mature spiritually.

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Today we're going to be talking about known by name. We're going to be looking into a passage that many of us probably have heard before, but we're going to look into what God is doing through this passage. And if you can't see over there, uh, that is a picture I took uh last uh Monday uh in Zambia, and you see the moon over there, and then on the left side is the planet Venus, and at the very top you see Jupiter. But I saw I took that picture and I thought, man, that is a beautiful worship background. And I was worshiping the Lord when I was looking at that. So today we're going to be talking not only about known by name, we're going to look at the passage, but uh I'm gonna share uh a little bit about what I have seen and what I have perceived and what God has done uh for for me and for us as well uh this past uh few days. So today um as we gathered, we are gathering in anticipation of what God is gonna speak to us. And every time we go to a church, every time we go to a place of worship, every time we go to a place where where God is, we go in anticipation of hearing what the Lord has for us. If we go without that anticipation, if we go without that expectation, if we go without that desire, very often we're gonna be bogged down by the things we do we like and we don't like. We are going to be very quick to complain, we'll be very quick to notice the things that bother us. But today, as I am going to share a little bit about what God has done in Africa, I would like to share a little bit about what led uh me to go to Africa. As many of you know, I was invited to go to uh Lusaka, Zambia, a few months uh back because uh they needed someone who was a master trainer, which is a certification I have, who could speak Portuguese to train pastors, to train pastors. So training to train. And uh when I started communicating, I said, what is it that you would like me to teach? They said, We'll like you to teach mentoring. So I went to teach mentoring and how to mentor church planters, how to mentoring pastors, and it was a goal and an objective to teach that. And I got to materials, I realized the materials needed to be redrafted, so I retranslated the whole materials and was prepared to do that. When I got over there, they said we had we had more pastors wanting to be trained than we anticipated. So you will not be teaching the training pastors and helping us in training pastors in English. You will be leading a whole class of 35 pastors, district superintendents, and different leaders who want to learn to be trainers. So it went from a couple hours commitment on Wednesday and Thursday to a full day commitment. Uh, but I was there in anticipation of seeing God work. And and so I did so. We had uh about 350 pastors, and that's their their picture. You probably can see me. I'm on uh um, you know, I'm the very bright head on the on the right side, and I had some people around me. I want to be close to Pastor Sam so I can find myself. I was like, I don't know if that's a compliment, but but that's the the the whole group picture, uh, which was fantastic. And this is our um our entrance and and getting ready for for the meal. We had uh wonderful food, uh, and it was the same every every so we knew what to expect. And this is me uh um preparing to uh uh start the class, and and I'm just setting up, and this is the the mentoring class. Uh but if you can uh recognize that uh screen is the Jesus film screen, and then we had a battery-powered projector, and and there was a few times that the electricity went out, but we continue with the class because everything was battery powered, and I'd like you to take uh a few moments and and listen to the beginning of the class. Can you imagine starting a class and just we were just so already ready to to worship and and he's emotional? And what he's saying is, thank you, Jesus, all powerful God. And then we we had our classes, and in our classes we were able to you know have have uh wonderful discussions, and it was a great time. Uh, here are all the trainers, uh, me included, and these are people that came from different parts of Africa and different parts of the United States as well. And and we we went to serve. I had the opportunity to share with the entire uh convention. Um, so that was uh a wonderful, wonderful experience. And here is um the worship, and they started singing, and people come up front and just sing along. It was just that was very different and wonderful. And two Sundays ago, we we had our our uh Jesus film packs, and in our Jesus film packs, we we prayed for them. Remember, we we laid hands? Well, we did that again, but with all of them, as they were about to be sent throughout uh the continent of Africa, and we had uh eight packs uh that we all laid hands on, and those are the people who will be taking them and will be distributing them throughout the continent. So thank you for uh all of you who have participated in that. And this is their their worship, uh very active, very participating worship. But many of you are wondering, Pastor, what about the ties? We had plenty of ties that we collected in our church, and I've heard that we had other churches that were collecting. When I got there, I found out there was only one other church. I said, Lord, you will take care of this, you will provide. And I went to the place to take my ties to join with the other uh church's ties and realized the other churches had a lot of ties as well. I said, Man, that's pretty impressive. Garden City Church of the Nazarene in Kansas is like you have a lot of ties. They said, Well, we realized that as a church we probably couldn't get as many ties. So we went on a radio, we made signs throughout all the grocery stores in our town, and we got as many ties as we could. So many that between our ties and their ties, each pastor was able to go back with two ties on their pack, and they were wearing them. I had I had pictures of them wearing them, and very happy about how God has provided them with that opportunity to look depart. So thank you so much for those who have participated in that. One of the things that touched me the most is the journey that many of those pastors made to be at that conference. Many of them took weeks uh to get there uh because of access. Now that is a main road in Lusaka. Um they have uh a few that are paved, but most of them look like that, and that's how we had to work from the place where we were uh staying to the conference, and that's the road to to get there. But these are the roads that they had to face for hours and days on end. Some of them took buses, others others uh took minibuses, and some drove themselves. Uh a few were stuck uh in the in the in a border and had to be had to return home. So there was a lot of trials and efforts. One when uh pastor was sharing with me and show me pictures of this dilapidated bridge that I thought it was an ancient wooden bridge, he said, Well, this bridge gave out uh as we were about to go, so I had to go around the area several miles before the next bridge that looked a little bit better than this one. And I thought, the amount of sacrifice that they made. And I said, Why did you come? And they said, because we wanted to learn how to better serve our Lord. We felt the call to come and learn about evangelism. That spoke to me, and as that spoke to me, I'd like to share a little bit about what God is speaking to us today as people of Northwest. So as we prepare to read our passage, I would like you, if you have your Bibles, to open your Bibles in the book of John, chapter 10. We're gonna read verses 1 to 10. And uh and if you do not have a Bible, you can follow. And if you let's stand in reverence uh for the word of the Lord. Let's say the word of the Lord. John chapter 10, verses 1 to 10. Very truly I tell you, Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Jesus used his figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore, Jesus said again, Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. They'll be come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Father in heaven, I pray that you would speak to us today. That this word would pierce our souls in a way that will not only encourage but also um commissions us to go and make disciples. Father, we pray that you would lead us into an understanding not only of what you want to say to us, but an understanding of your voice, that we may listen and follow it. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. We find in this passage that Jesus uh has a very contrary statement. He says that he is the shepherd, but he's also the gate. And for many of us, that's difficult to understand. Is he the shepherd or is he the gate? Is he sometimes the shepherd or is he sometimes the gate? But that's not the point that Jesus is trying to make. Jesus is trying to make the point that the sheep know his voice. The sheep know his voice. But his voice has an importance for us because the voice of the shepherd calls us. The voice of the shepherd is not just telling you, oh, I know you are mine. It's not just telling us, oh, you are doing a great job. It's not just telling us, oh, I love you. It's not just telling us, I am here for you. It's not just telling us, I will save you. Because that's what the shepherd does. The shepherd calls his sheep. And when the sheep listen, they will follow. But if the sheep are distracted, if the sheep are looking at something else and they don't listen and they don't follow, they get lost. But Jesus also spoke about being the gate. See, in ancient Israel, a sheep pen was a circular, a circular area where the shepherd would call out the sheep, and the sheep would follow. And as the shepherd called the sheep, the sheep recognized the voice, they recognized their own name, they recognized the shepherd and followed. So in the evening, the shepherd would go into the sheep pen and keep calling them. Come on, come on, you guys know me. Come on, you come. And they follow, and you will enter into that narrow entrance, and all the sheep would come single file. All the sheep will come in until all the sheep are there. And what does the shepherd do? He counts them. Make sure that he has all the sheep. And if he does not, then he has to find the one that's not there, or the two that are not there. Once all the sheep are there, the shepherd sits at the gate, and he does that for two reasons. One is so the sheep doesn't go out looking for something, the sheep are sheep, and also so the wolves don't come in and kill the sheep. So the shepherd is the gate. The shepherd, by caring for the sheep, is also protecting the sheep. Now, what we have learned in this passage is that he is the gate because he's standing at the gate, but he's also the shepherd. But the voice of the shepherd is calling us, it's calling us for us to follow him. And what does he follow us? What he asks from us is ask us to come in, to be a part of his pen, but also he calls us out to go and eat. He calls us out to go and and multiply. You see, he's talking about the shepherd. But then later on in this passage, he also talks about the hired hand. And now the hired hand sometimes doesn't care about a sheep, he just comes in for the money, and if there's a wolf, he he runs away. He gets away from it. So he doesn't care about the sheep, but the shepherd cares about the sheep. And what I saw in Africa this past week was that their commitment to go, to follow that voice, to follow that call, was not just a commitment because they wanted to learn, is because it was a commitment that they wanted to be equipped, prepared, and mostly important, a part of what God is doing in their nation. And when I went, I was humbled. I was humbled with the participation and the care that they took to be there, the sacrifice they made to be there. We just saw the roads. And one thing I learned, this was the first conference that they had in that part of the continent where the participant per participants had to pay. First conference that the participants had to pay. See, for many years, they had donors from America or from Europe or from Asia giving money so the pastors didn't have to pay. But they had a leader, a visionary leader, said no, we want to make the pastors have to pay. And you know how much was the whole conference fees for them to stay?$25 US. And no, if they wanted to stay in a very, very nice room that was a single room, then that would be$50 U.S. I have gone to conferences that that 10 or 10 or or 15 times that. But what we see is their commitment because they paid, they put value into it, because they they sacrificed, they came expecting something amazing. And it wasn't Pastor Sam that they came expecting, it wasn't very good teaching that they came expecting, it wasn't very good worship that they came expecting, they came expecting God's ministry in their hearts, and that is what makes the difference between us going into the sheep pen in expectation and following Jesus in expectation or following Jesus just because we have nothing better to follow, because the world is bad, so we just follow Jesus. So there is an expectation of answering that call because a shepherd is calling us. But knowing the voice of the shepherd produces many amazing things. What happens when the shepherd is calling us? What happens when the shepherd is saying, I want you to do this, I want you to go here, I want you to fulfill this project for me, I want you to follow my direction. What happens once we do that? Well, the first thing is that knowing his voice produces sacrifice. Because once we know his voice, nothing else matters but the shepherd. Nothing else matters but his voice. Nothing else matters but his call. I sat down with uh with a pastor uh for lunch, and and now I was having lunch with him, and and I told him, tell me about your story where you're from, and and and he started sharing me uh with me how much he was looking forward to come and learn and being equipped. And I said, Well that that's wonderful. He said, My wife and I have two pigs. I said, Oh good. And we use them to sustain us, to take care of us. And when I first heard about this conference, I thought, I really want to be a part of this. So I sold a male pig to buy a bus ticket to come here. It took him three days, three-day bus ticket. My heart broke. Not because not because of the sacrifice that he made. The sacrifice that I didn't, the sacrifice that I didn't make to be there. Yes, I sacrificed my time. Yes, I sacrificed my my um my body a little bit, I sacrificed a few things, but not to the extent of sacrifice that they have. Because when they hear the call of Jesus, they are not looking at how much they have, they're just looking on how to answer that call. But it's very easy for us to think, oh well, they have nothing, they can't sacrifice much. I have a lot. And if I would sacrifice something that I'm on that I'm dependent on, I'm not sure I would be willing to do. And that is the difference between listening to God's call and answering to God's call fully. Because it's very easy for us to say, I'm not willing to sacrifice this, I'm not willing to sacrifice that. But the thing is, the greatest movement of God in our lives comes always after sacrifice. The greatest movement of God in our lives follows sacrifice. So when we sacrifice, God moves. And that movement is transformational. There's another thing that I also learned about how answering the call and how understanding and hearing the call of God made a difference. You know, knowing his voice produces intentionality. Are you are we intentional in making disciples? You see, the sheep come out of the pen and the shepherd leads them into eating. And they feed and they eat and they eat well and they drink, because a shepherd knows where the best grass is, the shepherd knows where the best food is, also know where is the water. So they follow him. But the shepherd's intention for the sheep is not for them to eat. It's not the intention for the sheep. Sheep do not exist to eat. Sheep exist to produce wool, to be fruitful, produce wool, produce meat, but most important, to multiply. So the shepherd can have more sheep. And the sheep can also take care. There were commodities. Sheep weren't pets, there were commodities. But their goal is to reproduce. And the only way they can reproduce is by being with the shepherd and having the shepherd taking them into the pen. So while they are in a pen, that's where they reproduce. And I'm not gonna go into details. However, they feed outside, they go outside, and they also reproduce outside of the pen, but in the pen is where they find the safety, the comfort, the care of the shepherd. Now, what's interesting is that the shepherd does not reproduce sheep. The shepherd does not reproduce sheep. That's not biologically possible. But the shepherd reproduces shepherds. Sheep reproduce sheep. And what Jesus is saying is that when he calls them, he's not calling them just to eat, to have an existence of eating and breathing oxygen. He's calling them to make a difference, to be fruitful, to reproduce. And that's where the intentionality comes. When we are intentional in going through days and days of harduous roads, days and days of difficulties to be at a place so I can learn how to better evangelize others, how to better share the Word of God, how to better mentor other pastors, how to better care, how to better build churches. Once we are intentional, our expectations change because no one went there for the food, no one went there to appreciate this vacation, this conference, they went with a purpose, with an intention. So knowing his voice also produces humility. This was a hard thing for me. And I have shared before that I struggle with pride. But while I was there, I was humbled. Because they weren't there because it was good for their careers or it was good for whatever they they desired. They were there because they desired God. They came in wanting to serve, wanting to love God and love their people. And in that I realized, Lord, you still have so much work to do in my heart. Because so many times I just look at the suffering, I just look at all these things that I forget about the true first love. The love that Jesus has poured in my heart to love people, to care for them. But not just the people from our church, but the lost people from our community, the lost people who do not know Jesus. He came, he comes as a humility, an openness to be vulnerable. I have I have people coming and just sharing with me about their families. I I was humbled. I had five different people asking me to be their mentor. I was like, how can I mentor you? I'm not worthy of mentoring you. And they said, we just need someone that can encourage us, that has been where we are, and someone, someone older. I was like, I don't know how old you think I am, but I am willing to serve God by mentoring you. But if anything, I think you're gonna be mentoring me and my heart and my soul. And that brings humility when it's not about us. Because the more we make it about us, the less we hear the voice of the shepherd. And the voice of the shepherd is something that we have not only to understand, we have to hear, but we also recognize. So, what are we to do when it comes to this passage? What are we to do when we look into Jesus being the gate and also being the shepherd? Jesus calling us? Well, the answer is we answer the call. You know, in previous chapter, we see Jesus confronting the Pharisees. You see, the Pharisees were having issues with Jesus coming in and just messing up their you know their structure. See, Jesus came in and started saying that he was the Son of God, started healing people, and people start following Jesus. No, Jesus was very unconventional, he wasn't following all the rules of the temple or or all the rules of what they expected Jesus to look like, because Jesus wasn't concerned about the temple. Jesus wasn't concerned about the religiosity, he was concerned about the lost. So that was a problem, and they started having issues because Jesus would heal someone and they just told that person, you know, you're not allowed to be back into the temple because you are unclean or whatever. And they start calling them names and having some major issues with Jesus. So Jesus tells the story and then says, You think you are the shepherds, that you are the gatekeepers for the people of Israel. But what you are are thieves and robbers, because the shepherd stays at the gate. I am the shepherd, but anyone that comes in over the walls, anyone that comes in over the over over the rocks or or tries to come in in any other way is a thief and a robber. And the problem is sometimes people don't know the difference because they have a sweet voice, because they are able to offer us everything we want. But Jesus was saying, You are the ones that are trying to upset the order of God, not the order of the world, not the laws that you're trying to follow, but what God is calling you to do. The sheep know their voice, and if they hear the voice of a stranger, they will not recognize it. They will scatter, they will run away. One thing that I found out when I first became a parent is that at night I hear my kid cry and out go and I try to put it asleep. Unless it was Isabel, then it was really hard to get her back to sleep because she just wanted to play. But what was interesting is that in a crowd of people, if I heard a baby cry, I could tell if it's my child or not. And I don't know how in the world am I able. If there was a thousand children and one of them cried, a thousand children crying, I couldn't find out which one was mine. How is that possible? Because I knew my child's cry, because I knew the voice of my child, and my child knew also my voice. So if I if I call if I called out, B Bel, Hannah, they knew exactly it was their dad calling. And that understanding that connection doesn't come because they read about their dad, doesn't come because they they they knew about their dad, they learned about their dad. They have spent time, you know, uh on a phone or or on FaceTime with their dad. They knew the voice because they knew their father. They spent time hearing over and over. That's what Jesus is trying to tell you. Is that for you to know his voice, you need to spend time with him in prayer, in word, in connection with him. So we answer the call by being attentive, but also we move from belonging to connecting. See, for the last few months, you probably are tired of me saying, you know what, our vision, our plan is that we as a church become a church where people belong. And this past week, I was praying that the Lord would speak to me through this time in Zambia. And there were some amazing preachers and and some wonderful uh word that I heard. But in the midst of one of the messages, I was like, Lord, I believe that we are to the place that as a church we are to a place that we are ready to have people come in and belong. But belonging has never been our final destination. Belonging has never been our goal, it's the preparation for what God is about to do. And I believe that now that we are ready to make people belong, we are ready to welcome people, we are well, we are ready to make people who come feel seen, feel known, feel loved, we are ready for the next step. And that next step is connecting, not connecting them with a church, not telling them go to that church, but connecting them with our lives. Why? Because we know the voice of the shepherd. And we can share about that voice. So when the shepherd calls them, they feel like they want to be with the shepherd. So they will know Jesus through us, they will know the love of Jesus through our love to them. And I think we as a congregation are ready to do this. I believe that we as a congregation are ready to pour ourselves into those who are lost. I believe that we as a congregation have been prepared and are set and ready to multiply. And the only way we can multiply is by allowing ourselves to receive people into our lives so they may see Jesus and receive Jesus through us. They want to have the same love that we have, they want to have the same purpose that we have, they want to listen to the same voice as we do. And how beautiful would that be? So we connect. And once we connect, then we will grow because people start seeing Jesus in us, and they know that if they come to wherever we're going to worship, they will find the same Jesus we've been pouring on them. Wouldn't that be awesome? Amen. So we're not waiting for people to come, we're pursuing people who are lost and saying, You are lost. And we read in verse 14 that um, you know, I can't I'm able to do this. Uh all right, let me go here. Call to worship. Verse 14. Whenever this loads, can you put verse 14 on our call to worship? This is taking a while to load. Verse 14 tells us something amazing. I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. But look at the next part. Look at the next part. Just as the father know me, and I know the father, I lay down the life for my sheep. So the father and the son are together for the sheep. But what are the sheep to do? Verse 16 tells us I have other sheep that are not in the sheep hen. I must bring them also. But how does he bring them? How does he bring the sheep? Is it is it by just you know making them drive through all Intenja River Road and just have the the street blocked that they have to turn around? Or is it through us? How does the sheep bring other sheep? How does the sheep reproduce? And then he concludes by saying, They too will, what's the word here? Listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Unity, unity. This is not about me, this is not about my personal salvation, my personal, my personal sanctification, this is about the flock. Because if our vision is not to be fed like the sheep, if our vision is not to be taken care of like the sheep, but if our vision is that there will be other sheep in the sheep pen, then we will bring them along with him, then he's gonna lead us through his love, through his care. And we can tell other sheep, no, there's a great shepherd, and I love him, and I would love for you to know him, and that's how we become evangelists, not by just preaching at them, but by sharing what God has done in our lives, and how can we experience him? It's not belonging, is not the destination, is not the purpose. Belonging is not the purpose, the purpose is bringing others into the pen so they may listen to the one voice and they all have one shepherd. So while we do this, we engage, we bring them in, and we will see them knowing Jesus. So I have a challenge for you this week, and the challenge is to spend intentional time listening, spend intentional time listening. When you open the word, when you're in prayer, say, Lord, what do you have for me? Because when I ask that, when I'm hearing the word, when I am about to experience a presence of God, and when I ask, Lord, speak to me, what do you have in store for me? And we come with an expectation, the Lord will speak. But we just have to be careful to know his voice. I would like to ask the worship team to come forward. And as they come, I want you to pray and consider as we hear the last word. What is stopping us? What is stopping me from bringing others in? Is it a lack of social ability? Is it is it you know shyness or or is it that we really don't know anyone that doesn't know Jesus? What is it that's stopping us? And how can we ask God to remove that that we may be faithful? And then the next couple or the next few weeks, we're gonna be talking about the one who is the one person in your life that God is leading you to minister to, to care for, to love, and to share about the voice that you hear. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the word, the word of God. Today, as we gather, we recognize that you are calling us. But you're not just calling us just so we'll be well fed. You're calling us so we can bring others into hearing you, hearing that one voice. So, Father, we pray that you would speak to us, that you will reveal in us someone that we need to minister to, someone we need to share the love of God. And Father, I pray that as we do so, you would honor our efforts by allowing us to see lost people coming to Jesus Christ, to be, to see salvations taking place in this place. And we ask these things in your Son Jesus Christ's name.

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Amen.

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As it is known in our community, Northwest Church is committed to discovering and engaging in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, with inspired worship and intentional ministry. People from all walks of life are welcome and received as family members. Our family is diverse, multicultural, and although not perfect in love with Jesus. Join us online at nwnac.org or by visiting us in Columbus, Ohio. God bless you.