Well, Good Morning Church. It's kind of a delayed reaction on this side. So we're gonna try it again. I will look this way. Good Morning Church. Okay, that's good. That's good. Um Well, we are in our series entitled I am looking at jesus in his own words, the historical figure of jesus is actually the most talked about person in all of human history. The calendar as we know it is based on around his life, B. C. Meaning before christ A D A latin phrase, meaning in the year of our Lord. And more books have been written, more pieces of art have been created. More songs have been sung about jesus than any other figure in all of human history. But if that is true, what did jesus actually say about himself? And so he actually gives seven statements in the book of john and they're called the seven I am statements. And so we're walking through each of those one each week and talking about what does it mean? And what does Jesus saying about himself in those claims. And so in week one, we talked about, Jesus claimed to be the light of the world and that means that darkness ultimately leads to guilt and shame, but light leads to grace and salvation. And then last week, we talked about the idea of Jesus being the door and how ultimately we find security and then our significance in jesus. And so our security is not found in our situation, but our security is found in our Savior. And then our significance is not found in the end product, but the actual process about becoming men and women of godly character. Well this morning I want to share with you actually stay in john chapter 10. Uh so last week we were in john chapter 10, the 1st 10 verses. Now we're going to actually look at the next seven or eight verses there. Uh and so you can turn your bibles to that. But we're gonna actually look at the phrase that when jesus claims to be the good shepherd, the good shepherd. Now the emphasis here is not just shepherd but actually good shepherd. So what what makes jesus good and see the word good that's used in the passage actually means beautiful, excellent and genuine. And so in other words jesus is the beautiful, the excellent and the genuine shepherd. But if you have something that is genuine, then that means that you also have things that are counterfeit. And so how do we spot the difference between what is real and what is counterfeit? Well, there's a lot of popular franchises um here in America and a lot of products are made in other countries and they do an excellent job. And so we send products out, they send products in and so there's this kind of importing exporting of products. But what I found is that if you go to other countries, sometimes they don't necessarily um do it the legal way. And so they have a counterfeit or a knockoff version of a well known franchise and they try to pawn it off as the real thing. Um and some are successful and others not so much here. I got a couple examples for you. First example here is notice this one looks close until you read it. It says pizza. Huh? Instead of pizza. Maybe I could put a question mark after that instead of pizza hut pizza. Hey, you want some pizza? I don't know, maybe I'm curious to see what's actually in their ingredients. Another one here, it's the sister company of Apple. Um it's pear I guess. Um and then another one here, if you've heard of Ole um okay, shampoo, You know who needs the best when you can have. Okay, right. And then the last one here, instead of arm and hammer, arm and hatchet, arm and hatchet baking soda. So these are good good products. Well, so I want to take time. As we read this passage, I want to talk about the difference between counterfeit and then the real thing and jesus is going to call himself the good shepherd in john chapter 10. Uh and then he's going to describe how can you know that he is the real thing, the genuine, the authentic shepherd of God and of his people. Well, if you have your bibles, you're gonna go to John Chapter 10 but also want to encourage you that if you do not own a bible, we actually have some nice brand new um kind of leather bibles out at the front table here. That those that's like another gift for you guys. And so we want you to have a bible. And so if you don't own one um at the end of the service, so you can grab one on your way out and then you can actually bring that back with you. This next service and it's just it's yours to keep. So if you have a Bible open up at John Chapter 10, Jesus is speaking and then in verse 11, let's pick up the story, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. But I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father. I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not in this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. For this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life. That I might 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 I have the authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. Now, if we were to continue reading on basically what Jesus is saying here that he is claiming to be God. If you ever hear somebody saying that jesus never actually claims to be God, you can actually take them to john chapter 10 because he says that I am the door, I am the good shepherd. And then actually a little bit later in that chapter in verse 30 says I and the father are one, I and the father are equal. And so jesus in fact does claim to be God. And so what, what does that mean? Um Well, he actually talks about the difference between just a hired hand, a hired worker hired babysitter of the sheep and the shepherd. And you can tell the difference between someone who has just hired help and someone who is the shepherd of the sheep because willingness to lay their life down. So someone that is hired hand watching over someone who is a babysitter, okay, watching the kiddos when they see trouble coming, when they see wolves enter like uh I'm not getting paid enough, see ya right? And maybe there's like 100 sheep and he come back and they count there's 99 because the wolf ate one. if I'm the hired hand, I'm probably just gonna try to convince the owner that he only had 99 in the first place. Like if I see a giant animal going after a smaller animal, I will feel bad, but I don't know if I'm gonna get in the way of a lion, a bear or a wolf coming in to attack a sheep, but it's because it's like, well they're not mine, they're not my sheep. I'm hired, I'm paid, I'm paid to do a job, but they're not mine. I'm not gonna risk my life when, when the risk is higher, okay, then the life worth saving, and I'm like, nope, I'm out. But notice the difference between jesus, who is the good shepherd, so a hired hand flees in time of trouble. But the good shepherd actually jumps into that and actually fends off and actually defeats them and saves the sheep, because to the shepherd, the life is always worth the risk to a hired hand once the risk gets higher and that then they're out. Sometimes in religion, you see that too, it's like, well, I'll come if it's convenient, I'll do this, if it's convenient, but as soon as the risk goes beyond my inconvenience or my comfort level, as soon as there's a risk at hand, I'm like, I'm out. But the good shepherd because he loves the sheep, he owns the sheep, he is the leader of them, it's not a question of if it's just an action of how And so the difference we have here is this great picture. Um actually one of the most quoted scriptures in all of the Bible is Psalm 23. and Psalm 23 is actually um one of the most commonly quoted passages. You see this crochet on pillows and and put online and things there, but it actually is a depiction of shepherds, and so jesus speaking to a jewish audience would know this passage pretty well. And here you have the author, you have David riding this. And psalm 23 he says, this, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. And even 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever. Everything in this passage is just this uplifting incredible message. This idea that he leads me that I shall not want. I think it's interesting. He says he makes me lie down in green pastures that shows that a sheep, we don't necessarily follow that you have to, if you've ever had to put a child down for a nap or bedtime, you understand that phrase to make someone lie down, No lie down. But where is he? What is he forcing us to do? He's forcing us to recognize the green pastures and still waters that are right next to us, that he restores my soul, that he leads me in paths of righteousness. We tend to brush through the phrase even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but that means that that you are surrounded by darkness and difficulty, but yet in the middle of that valley, that dark moment that jesus is there. And then he builds on that by saying that you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. That is an incredible picture if you think about it to be surrounded by enemies, but right there, you have the opportunity to have a one on one feast with the Lord. He doesn't really understand this. He doesn't remove the enemies in the difficult situations around you. But rather he invites you to a feast in the middle of your mess that when you feel like you are stressed and you're hurting and you are in worry and you're struggling and you have all kinds of issues and questions and like man finances are difficult, relationships are difficult, difficulty in my job. Health is difficult. Everything around all, you're surrounded by enemies, whatever those enemies are. But yet right in that exact moment, jesus is not afraid. In fact, he invites you to have a feast with him. But sadly, sometimes what we do is that we go to this feast with jesus, and then we asked him, we said, hey God, hey, do you mind if I let another person join us and we take our worry and we say, hey, pull, pull up a seat. If you start hearing that phrase, that you're not good enough that you're not going to make it, and you start doubting, you start questioning and you start getting bitter and angry. What you've done is that you've invited another person into that table, even invited doubt into that table. When jesus, the good shepherd has prepared a meal of feast before you, even in the presence of your enemies, he anoint your head with oil, and goodness, and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And then ultimately, you get to dwell with him forever. So, you have this incredible picture. And the truth is, is that if you're taking notes, you can write this down, that jesus is the good shepherd and he is worthy to be followed, jesus is the good shepherd, which means that he is worthy to be followed because in the john passage, you have hired hands, you have sheep and then you have the shepherd. We've already talked about how hired hands are just temporary, but they're out when the going gets tough. But the sheep in the scenario, that's us now, sheep are not exactly the smartest animals. In fact, last week, if you were here, we talked about how you're not gonna find a college who has the fighting sheep, right? If you filled out a march madness bracket, none of the teams that are left have sheep as the mascot because sheep are not very smart. In fact, sheep when left to their own devices are not gonna make it. Let me prove it to you. There is, don't put the picture up yet. But there was a story in Australia a couple of years ago of a sheep who escaped And the fields there in Australia and for six years eluded the shepherds and actually hid in caves. And his name was Shrek. And but what happens is the wool of a sheep keeps growing, growing growing unless the shepherd shears the wool and it actually becomes dangerous. And so after six years of not knowing where the sheep was, they finally found Shrek and take a look at Shrek that they found His wool had gotten so thick, that's 60 lb of wool that he almost died because he avoided the shepherd for so long and had no one to take care of him, that the wool just kept going and going and going. And so Shrek was saved and they actually took about a half hour to hour and kind of shared him and took off £60 of wool and saved his life and I went on to live a few more years and uh but that like you wonder why sheep are not seen as a strong smart animal. That would be why that's us. Okay, we're Shrek in this scenario, okay, we need help. Um so if we've talked about the hired hands, we've talked about sheep, which is us that we need leading. We need the help of a shepherd. Well what exactly makes jesus good, what exactly makes jesus good? I believe it's two things. It's his authenticity and then it's his authority. We're gonna break this down his authenticity and then his authority. The first thing is that his authenticity and by authenticity. I mean that christ's love is unconditional. Jesus loves us not because we have the best or because we performed the best tricks or things that I know he loves us because he chose to love us. His love for us is not based on anything that we do but based on who he is. The idea of trinity. God. The father, jesus son and holy spirit means that God had perfect relationship inside of the trinity and so that he created mankind not to get something, but so that he could give something and demonstrate and show his glory and love towards us. So we've done nothing to deserve his love. And so how do we know that jesus is the real deal. How do we know that jesus is authentic? I believe he shares four things from this, john 10 passage number one, we see that jesus lays down his life for the sheep, Jesus is worthy to be followed because he died on a cross for you and for me four times. In fact in seven verses, he says, I lay my life down, he does not use his power to, to come down on us, but actually to come down and to save us and to lift us up. So we know that jesus is authentic and his love is unconditional because he lays his life down number two we know because he fights our battles, he fights our battles. Have you ever seen a fight break out in public before? I was, I was actually on a, I'm on a mission trip. If you want to hear some crazy stories I can share later, but Not a smart idea necessarily just per se to just take 30 middle school and high school kids through inner city new york on a mission trip just saying through the subway system. But um we did and so we were there and we were on the subway and it was like one of the national day parade was going on and so sometimes with holidays there's some drinking that goes along with that. And so um a fight broke out in the subway car that we're in right after this parade. And I got like little middle schoolers with squeaky voices. And so I saw the fight break out and you know, I have this like rescue mentality, right? And so you know what I did? I don't know them. That's what I did. Exactly. I wish I was like, yeah, I broke it up and saved it and like, uh, not my fight, right? Okay. Kids turned away from the punches. Okay. And then um, and literally a swat team came down and broke up the fight. It was intense. But when I saw something break out in the subway car, I'm like, not today, right? But here's the thing when jesus sees the fights that were going through when he sees this under attack. There's never one moment where God goes, mm, mm not today. He never even when we get into our own mess, even when we pick the fight and we get into trouble, there's never a moment where jesus looks at us and goes, not today, he enters our battles. And so we know that his love is unconditional. But thirdly, if you're taking notes is that he knows us, he knows us. God is not some abstract idea that there's some being somewhere, but he's actually described as our heavenly father. And jesus that says that he knows he calls the sheep by name, he knows us. But then lastly, jesus is known by us so you can know somebody, but then they not know you. Like if you have a researcher or somebody, if you picture like test subjects like they put them through an experiment and you have somebody on the other side of the glass, the person on the other side of the glass knows who's on the inside, but it's like a double sided mirror, You don't know who's watching you. Sometimes I think we act like God is that way that we believe that God is like somehow knows us, but we have no access, no interaction with him. But jesus says, no I am a personal loving shepherd. I know them call them by name and they know my voice. So this is much more like a spouse relationship or a parent child relationship where you actually know and can hear the voice of God on a regular basis and draw near to him. And so we know that God's love is unconditional because he lays down his life. He fights our battles, he knows us and is known by us. This is completely different than any other religion in all of the world. Any other religion has some type of higher being that creates the world that then there's separation and there's judgment and then you have to work as hard as you can to try to make your way back and I may or may not let you in based on what you do. Christianity is completely different because we follow the good shepherd whose love is unconditional and that's demonstrated by the fact that he lays his life down for us. He fights our battles that he knows us and calls us by name. And then he says that he can be known by us and we can draw close to him and and that's why Christianity is described not as a religion but as a relationship. Back in 2012, there was a guy named George Tyson. He was going for a walk with his son. He was about 60 years old. His son was heavily disabled And there was about 30 years old and he was going for a walk and they turned the corner and a car went speeding out of control and it was heading right for his son. And without a second thought he dove and pushed his disabled son out of the way, right as the car came in and the sun was saved. But George Tyson that day lost his life and he lost his life by throwing his body in front of a car and taking the place of his son who could not help himself and do that on his own when someone loves unconditionally that were moved and that's what jesus did. We have impending judgment and and thin and the weight of that coming bailing down, barreling down right at us And Jesus shoves us out of the way or even lifts us up and it says in second Corinthians five that he who knew no sin became sin, so that we could become the righteousness of him. You can trust and follow the good shepherd because he is authentic, he is real because he lays his life down because he fights our battles because he knows you and you can know him. But also Jesus is the good shepherd because he has authority meaning that christ's power is unbreakable. You see, we always talk about the fact that Jesus is the good shepherd and lays his life down for the sheep, but it never actually played that out until I got to the last verse verse 18 he says, but I actually have the authority to take it up again, and that's really important to understand because if he was just a normal shepherd and he sacrificed himself and he dies on behalf of the sheep. Let me just ask you what happens to the sheep. At that point, the wolves are dead, the shepherds dead, where did the sheep go? They have nothing. So they just kind of extend and wander and feel lost. But see jesus didn't stop there. He actually has the authority to do three things. Number one, we already mentioned that Jesus has the authority or the power to lay down his life that's called sacrifice, but secondly Jesus has the power to raise up his life, it wasn't this epic battle between good and evil that jesus temporarily lost and then came back and won, he says no I gave it up willingly, they did not take my life, I gave it for you, they did not take something from me, but I give something to you, you see laying down his life is sacrifice and that covers our sins, but the fact that Jesus has the power to raise himself from the dead in conjunction with God the father means that he can conquer, some think about that for a second, the fact that he lays his life down covers our sin, but the fact that he raises it back up means he conquers sin and he conquers death and there is nothing that satan can do, I recently heard a story of snake charmers and other countries um do you know one of the secrets of snake charmers, did you know that in some countries when they have snake charmers, they actually glue the mouth of the snake shut, it's true story and some of them, they do, they glue the mouth of the snake shut and so when they play and the snake gets up and dances and it looks really scary but it can't do anything, satan is that snake with his mouth glued shut, he can pop up and he can look real scary to you, but because jesus rose again from the grave that he crushed satan and that there is nothing he can do to take away your salvation. You can't earn your way into heaven. Therefore you can't send your way out of heaven. And so we can receive life because we follow the good shepherd that lays his life down but then picks it back up again because he has the power to do so. And if jesus has the power to raise himself from the dead and there is nothing, no sin, no addiction, nothing that can separate us from the love of God if you believe in him amen. But then he doesn't even stop there Because he says and I love this phrase in verse 16, there are other sheep in the fold. If he doesn't raise himself back up, how can he go get other sheep? Now in the context, he was talking to a jewish faith and then he actually extends um salvation to all gentiles, which basically anybody not jewish. And so he actually opens up salvation to the world. And in this verse we are included in this verse where he says, I have other sheep to bring in the fold. Here's what's awesome Is that the fact that he has the authority to bring in other sheep, that is mission check out what it says in Matthew 28 is known as the Great Commission, It says here and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Did you know that that word authority? That word power is the same word we read in John 10. So the very power that rose him from the grave is the power that he uses to tell us to go and make disciples baptizing them the name of the father son and the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded to you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. The power of jesus is unbreakable because he lays down his life that's sacrifice. He raised it back up again, that salvation, but then he brings more sheep in that's mission and that's why we're here today, You are here today and you believe those who already call him a savior because of this verse right here because he has the power to do that and we gather and we go and we love and serve our community in practical ways because we believe that God is not done. I believe that he's just getting started and I think he's going to use you and use me to do that as the band comes back up on stage. I just want to close with this is that do you believe that Jesus is the good shepherd, not just ahead acknowledgment. I understand that I was a youth pastor for 12 years, I would go into the high school to have lunch with teenagers and you know when I go into elementary school and I know kids, they're like, hey, pastor john, do you know what I would get when I go into high school, what's up? It would be from a distance. They check first look and see if their friends are watching and then they go, finally, I had a conversation like, man, like we've spent hours together, we've gone on mission trips together, we've spent every single week we talk, we laugh, we cry, we joke, we worship and I walk into your school and you can't even take your hand out of your pocket to raise it to say hello because that's too much energy. And so you just give me like, you have a something in your neck or wrong, Are you okay? Like what? And like, and then after they would talk with their friends and then before they go to class, they run about how you doing. Like, oh now you want to say, hi, okay, here's the thing. Some of us I think do that with jesus, okay, He is the good shepherd. And at most we go, yeah, so we acknowledge and we're like, oh yeah, I'll go, I'll go once on sunday I go once a year, I'll sing a song. No, there's so much more than that. The Christianity is about the good shepherd who is authentic and genuine and excellent and incredible and better than anything this world has to offer. And we know that his love is unconditional because he laid his life down because he fights our battles because ultimately he knows us. And he has invited us to know him that it's not a religion, it's a relationship, but not only is jesus authentic, he actually has the authority and the power to do something about it. Have you ever made a phone call? Because you have a complaint at a business and you talk to a worker who has no authority whatsoever? Oh yeah, man, that's that's a bummer. The awareness of the problem is not enough. You actually need the authority and the ability to go do something about that. But as the good shepherd, he has the power to lay down his life, to sacrifice his life and to cover our sin. He has the power to raise it back up again, which means that he can conquer sin and death and that we can be forgiven and saved and have meaning and purpose. But then he also has the power to call us on mission. And the same power. The same name that rose and conquered, death is the same name and the power that has given us our mission to go and make disciples of all the world. There's other sheep in the fold at the very name of jesus, we can tremble, but then we can have confidence not in ourselves, but in our shepherd. Let's pray God, you are the good shepherd because of you. We come before you God. And we know that even though we walk through the valley, even though we're surrounded by enemies surrounded by difficult circumstances, God, we tremble at your name because at your name we can receive forgiveness and salvation. You prepare a table before us, invite us to a feast. Call us by name because you are the good shepherd God. We are forgiven and we are saved and we are freed And we have put on mission, help us to live on mission for you, help us to tremble at your name. Help us to be grateful that you're not just a shepherd, but you are the good, authentic and authoritative shepherd. That brings salvation to our souls, We love you God, it's in your son's name. We pray Amen. I want to do something a little bit different this morning and we're gonna start and they're gonna do a song and I want to start seated because I want to give you a chance for you guys to reflect. But if you reach that point in this song where you're willing to acknowledge him as the good shepherd and that time to response won't encourage you then that if towards whatever you see fit or that standing, once the time comes, whether that's staying seated in a prayer, whatever this time you need to have with God, I want you to have that and reflect on the goodness of the name of jesus