I Am the Good Shepherd - Week 6

Countdown Video

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Scripture Reading by Lady Pepper

(Show Slide)

Thank you Lady Pepper for the announcements and the reading of God’s Word.

Welcome! to everyone especially those who are joining us for the first time. My name is Pastor Doc, and I will be sharing the Word of God with you today.

Have your Bibles Ready and take notes

Show Video

Title of the series

What’s In a Name?

Title of the message this Morning

I Am the Good Shepherd

Big Idea:

When Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” he is drawing on centuries of Jewish memory and scripture that depict God as a shepherd and his people as the sheep of his pasture.

The imagery would have struck a deep chord with his hearers, and further confirmed Jesus’ claim that he is “The Great I Am.”

Prayer:

“Father God, we open our hearts, ears, and minds today to receive another image of your relationship to us.

We are your people, the sheep of your pasture, and you are the shepherd of our souls.

Lead us to green pastures beside still waters today.”

Scripture: John 10:11-18

Introduction

Today, we continue through our series “What’s In a Name?” in which we are looking at the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

They each tell us something about Jesus’ understanding of himself.

But beginning each statement with the phrase “I Am” tells us even more: it’s an echo of the ancient name of God given to Moses at the burning bush—"Yahweh, I am who I am.”

Today we look at Jesus’ claim, “I am the good shepherd.”

This is part of the same conversation we looked at last week.

(Pastor - you may want to share the passage again here.)

Read John 10:1-10

“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 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.”

To review,

Jesus had healed a man blind from birth.

Because it happened on a Sabbath, the Pharisees take offense.

We saw that they had positioned themselves as “gatekeepers” of access to God.

So Jesus said, “I am the Gate (door).”

Now Jesus switches metaphors, doubles down, and says, “I am the good shepherd.”

This was undoubtedly an even more recognizable image to his hearers.

And it says more about Jesus as shepherd than about us as sheep.

It was already deeply woven into the fabric of the Hebrew scriptures.

Old Testament references

- Psalm 100:3 “We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

- Psalm 23:1-4 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

- Isaiah 40:11 “The Lord tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”

- Micah 5:2,4 (a Messianic prophecy)

“But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times…

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.”

- Ezekiel 34

The entire chapter is a contrast between the leaders who were supposed to be Israel’s shepherds (and were doing it poorly), and the Lord, who will do it well.

Bad shepherds vs. good shepherd.

1. V. 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.”

2. V. 11-12 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.

Main Teaching

Jesus fulfills all the images

1. Luke 15 - Jesus is the Good Shepherd because He left the 99, and went looking for the lost one.

This speaks of Jesus’ whole reason for being on earth, to seek and save the lost ones. Why?

Because they are pitiful and helpless? No!, because they are precious to him!

That’s the message of all three stories in Luke 15; the Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Son.

We tend to count who’s here; 99 out of a hundred, that’s pretty good.

But God always counts who’s missing.

How would he even know, except that every single one is precious to him; not just the lost, but missed. (note the difference.)

2. Jesus is the Good Shepherd because he knows his sheep by name.

He knows them, and they know him.

They recognize his voice.

Illustration:

(Explain common sheep pens, where several flocks are kept together each night.)

At night, however, the shepherds take their sheep to the sheepfold, a walled structure topped with briars to protect the sheep from thieves and wild animals.

The gate was the sheepfold's only proper entryway, and a guardian kept watch there to keep trespassers from getting in.

This is the one important trait that sheep have, but it’s the only one they need.

They recognize the shepherd’s voice and they follow him.

What a beautiful picture of relationship and trust.

Out of all the noise, all the voices shouting for our attention, it is so important to recognize the voice of Jesus.

It takes stillness, and ears tuned to listen, and a willingness to follow, but with practice we can learn to do it.

. Jesus said he had other sheep “not of this fold.”

This probably refers to non-Jews, which would have been unthinkable to his hearers on this day.

It was still unthinkable to his followers even after his resurrection.

It took some pretty spectacular revelations for God to break through this tribal, exclusive mindset;

- Paul on the road to Damascus, when God said he was sending him far away to the Gentiles.

- Peter with a vision of unclean food and God commanding him to eat, which led to his encounter with the Roman Centurian Cornelius; what has been called the most important moment in history outside of Judaism. (Embracing Diversity)

God loves and accepts people who we consider unclean and impure. And he still does…

3. Jesus is the Good Shepherd because he lays down his life for the sheep.

This is what we remember and celebrate during Holy Week…

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

This is a complete reversal of the bad shepherds described in Ezekiel:

they expected the sheep to lay down their lives for the shepherds.

But here is a shepherd who dies for the sheep.

On the cross He is both the Lamb of God who gives his life for the world, and the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.

Conclusion

At the end of this chapter there is a wonderful little paragraph, hardly noticeable really.

“Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days.

Here he stayed and many people came to him.

They said, ‘Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.’

And in that place many believed in Jesus.”

(John 10:40-42)

This is a beautiful example of the sheep recognizing the voice of the shepherd. “

All that John said about this man was true.”

And they could do nothing else but follow.

As we inch closer to Easter, let’s take some time this week to consider all the ‘voices’ in our lives.

Some are encouraging, some are hurtful, some are just adding to the noise we live within…

Take some time to consider Jesus’ voice…

How do you tune your ear to Him?

Have you spent any time listening to Him or for Him recently?

And if this is a completely foreign concept to you today, ask in prayer that Jesus would speak to you this week.

Ask that you could hear Him.

And again, as we come next week to celebrate the resurrected Christ, let’s prepare our hearts and minds to receive the miracle of Easter.

Let’s pray together.

Salvation:

The Word of God says in:

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you’d would like to receive Jesus today, please pray this prayer with all of us:

Lord I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died On the cross for my sins and His resurrection from the dead gives me eternal life. I ask forgiveness of my sins, and I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

Pastor [e-mail]

Church Office: 909-922-8090

And I will send you a Bible & a Free Book on how to begin your first 21 steps with Jesus (show the book)

***Leave slide up until Pepper gets in position***

Lady Pepper Please Join Me

Pepper Praise Reports

Please send in your Praise Reports!

Lady Pepper do we have any prayer request

Let us Pray (P/P)

Lenzy - Bleeding on the brain

Otis- Peace in his life

Sara Kaiser - Best Friend Passed

Kia - Pray for my blood pressure

Richard M - in hospital

Dahlia - pain - healing

Two firefighters who were in critical condition

Gregg Ellis - Healing

This is Pastor Doc & Lady Pepper with:

Faith Vision Christian Ministries

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Benediction

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Have a Great Week! Goodbye!