The Lord is a Shepherd: John 10

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0:00 Glad you all made it. Hope your week was as good as can be. We had some bike spots and some fun spots. I'm going to start us off with a call to worship this morning. We have no forest family here this week. Over the course of the week, we got exposed to someone who had tested positive for COVID.

0:34 The family got tested, they're not exhibiting any symptoms, but they're staying home until they get results from their test and know that they're all clear. We'll do some meditation in place of singing worship here after the message. We'll get started with our call to worship. We've been using Psalm 23 as our call to worship. Remember whether you're at home or with us that this call to worship can be your line of demarcation that says

1:07 I'm going into a place that's different, I'm going into a time that's different, I'm walking into a different space. You can make this space next time, wholly, by setting your side for the purpose of connecting with God. The call to worship is our pathway to do that. It's now I'm going to think about these things. We've been using Psalm 23 as our call to worship, so Psalm 23 says this, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

1:42 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil for you are with me. You're rod in this staff that comfort me. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies and you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all days of my life,

2:14 and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Hey Lord, thanks for the chance to be cheap under your care. Teach us how to trust you more than ourselves, more than the voices of the world, more than the fears or the materialism that is directed towards us.

2:47 Teach us how to trust you Lord above all with the large and the small choices of our life. Lead us into quiet places this morning together. Say, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here to come love us and convict us as only you can. So do that with us this morning in Jesus' name we pray. To get us started this morning I want to talk to the kids in the room. Kids, we spent maybe last week or the week before talking about things that you might be grateful for.

3:26 Do you remember that? Is there anything that comes to mind that you're grateful for you could share with us? No. Lucas? Yeah. Oh yeah, you got a job? That's pretty good. That's a good thing to be grateful for. Hazel Rose? God, that's a good thing to be grateful for. We have a little craft that you can make that helps you think about the things that you're grateful for.

3:59 And what we want you to do is cut out little shapes. The example that Miss Megan's had for you is little heart shapes, but you might have a star shape for circles, any little shapes, and right on that little shape of paper, one thing that you're grateful for. And you're going to glue that onto the shape of the cross. You might keep that this week and put it somewhere where you can see it to remind you that all the things that you're grateful for come to you as a gift from God.

4:29 So the stuff is over there if you want. If you're kids at home, this is a good thing, even if your parents at home, it's a good thing. List of things that we're grateful for. But don't do that now if you're parents. I want you to think about that later. The text I want to think about this morning is another shepherd story. We've been looking at the places and the scriptures where God is compared to a shepherd.

5:02 And this next is maybe the largest section in the New Testament where Jesus is compared to a shepherd and God is compared to a shepherd. And it's in John's account of the gospel. If you want to look there. I love John's account of the gospel. There are four accounts of the life of Jesus in the New Testament. And the first three as they appear in the New Testament, Matthew Mark Luke, Matthew Mark and Luke, these are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels.

5:40 And they have a lot of the same stories in them and follow a very similar chronology. Some people think maybe they pulled on some similar documents or some similar eye-weted written testimonies. And then John, we're pretty sure John's was written latest. John's gospel might be the last thing written that's included in the New Testament. He wrote it at a very old age reflecting back on the time that he spent with Jesus. And so his is an account of the life of Jesus but not considered one of the synoptics because it tends to follow a little bit.

6:17 It pulls out different stories. It's arranged in a little bit different order. And this story here of this teaching in John chapter 10 is not included in the Synoptic Gospels. It's unique to John. John remembers this story and records it and most of the other three don't. Which is why it's great to have different viewpoints and different stories because otherwise we might miss an aspect of Jesus. They all pull out different stuff. And John chapter 10 has one of my favorite verses in it.

6:48 It's like Jesus has a couple places in the Gospels where he announces almost like a mission statement. And I really love the mission statement for his life that he has in John chapter 10. You may have heard of it. Jesus will say in this story, I came that they have life and have it abundantly or have it to its fullest. I love that idea that Jesus says he came to give life. Not to condemn or confuse. Not even really to judge. So he doesn't say we will judge. But that's not why he came.

7:19 He came to give life and give it abundantly. I really like that. So let's look at what it means that he's a shepherd. One last thing here is remember what we said about the effort in the story of scripture. It's an interesting metaphor and term because we found it in the ancient near east in the time of the Old Testament. The metaphor of shepherd was a common metaphor for kings in the culture. So the king of Babylon in writings might refer to himself as a shepherd and his people as the flock.

7:51 It was a royal term for kings and rulers in the ancient near east. But it was not a term. Shepherds actually in person were held in very low regard consistently throughout the whole story of scripture. People in Israelite culture did not look highly on shepherds. And as soon as they could afford it, they got someone else to shepherd their sheep for them. To take them out to pasture, to help them with the birthing, to rescue them from wolves and lions.

8:25 They sent someone else to do that. And shepherds were the lowest rung, so low in fact that it's clear through the midrath and the tradition that shepherds were not allowed even to testify in court, we found out. Because it was so assumed that they would misrepresent the truth that they were unreliable witnesses in court. You couldn't bring them in. They would make also someone unclean. So people of the religious tradition, people who had to serve in the temple, wouldn't associate with the shepherds because they would make them unclean.

8:59 So it's interesting this dual thing where in the culture, it's a term for kingship. So that when God speaks through his prophets in the Old Testament and wants to communicate that he is a king, he uses the metaphor of shepherds. So in Ezekiel, in Jeremiah, we see God described as a shepherd and the religious tradition accepts it, though they don't accept actual shepherds. So what's really interesting then is as we get to the New Testament that Jesus announces his coming and includes the shepherds, right?

9:33 They're his first heralds. So God in the person of Jesus is always undercutting this kind of sanctimonious, verusational tradition within the church, right? Even in the announcement of the birth. And then he takes on Jesus in this passage and will say, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Okay, so that gives us some context of the term shepherd. Let's look at John 10. And we're going to have a big section here because it all lumps together really the whole chapter and sets us up for chapter 11, which we won't get all the way into.

10:10 But in John 10, truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. So him, the gatekeeper, opens the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leaves them out. This is just a little context for you in the villages.

10:43 So if we were in Capertum or Bethlehem, right? Or even maybe Nazareth, there would be a group of people living in different style homes in the church. They have a lot of cut out homes. But the way you would build wealth is you would build animals because animals, you buy poo and they can breed and make more. And you can you can shear them and milk them and eventually you can eat the meat, right? So the way you build wealth is you build a flock.

11:13 But you wouldn't have a lot of land to be able to hold them on. So in the center of town would be a large sheepfold where at night, right, when you want to bring the sheep in to have a sheep. Or you want your shepherd that you're paying to bring this. Everyone in the village would be able to use this communal sheepfold. And then the sheepfold would have one gate where everyone came in and there's a gatekeeper who lets people in and out. Because this is communal wealth, right? And then there's lots of sheep in there and some of them are the flock that the shepherd is and some of them are someone else's flock.

11:49 So the first thing that Jesus says is remember that if he doesn't come in by the gate, he's trying to steal some sheep. He's jumping over the fence to take them out and build his own flock with stolen sheep. If he comes in by the gatekeeper, lets him in, he's clearly the shepherd. And then he says to him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leaves them out. The sheep spend a lot of time with their shepherd and one of the key traits of the sheep is not their intelligence, but their willingness to follow.

12:22 And so they spend a lot of time with their shepherd out in the wilderness. He's calling them, getting them all to come and they follow. They have that herd mentality so he gets a couple of them and then they know their friends and they all go together. So the shepherd could stand in the sheepfold and start to call his sheep. And only his sheep would come. Someone else's sheep wouldn't go with that shepherd because they don't recognize the voice or the name by which he calls them. I remember we didn't really have pets growing up.

12:55 We didn't have any dogs and the house was very allergic to cats. We didn't have any cats. And my dad maybe had a dog once or twice growing up. I think my mom ever had pets. So the house just, we just didn't have pets growing up. And so the first time I lived with a dog was in college. One of my roommates had a dog. And I remember being so amazed at how much personality a dog could have.

13:30 I just didn't think dogs could have personality. I didn't think that when I was so amazed that when I walked in and the dog, Roxy, I remember one time I had left these cookies on my grandma had sent me cookies. Care packers. Snicker doodles from my grandma in college. Amazing cookies. And I had them in a little cupware. It said the cupware and everything. And I left it on the coffee table and I left.

14:00 I went out. I don't remember where I went. And I came back. I've never lived with dogs before. And Roxy, our little dog, not a little. She was big by then, was running circles around the living room. And I'd never seen her that hyper. I mean like sprinting in circles around the living room when I came back in. She was just like going crazy. Pouncing off the walls. And I was like, what is going on? And then I looked and saw the package of cookies on the floor. But there were no cookies in it. And it was clean from all the sugar from the Snicker doodles.

14:32 She'd eaten all of them. But what I was not surprised by that, I was like I should have known the dog was going to eat food. What I was surprised was how upset she was. That my demeanor that she would know what had happened. Right? And she would tuck her tail. She would hang her head and she felt bad. She knew she had done something wrong. Right? You can imagine a sheep spend all this time with one shepherd.

15:02 And they build a rapport. And there are a few who always come first. And then the rest are able to pull that one. And so the shepherd walks through the gate. The gatekeeper recognizes him. So he comes through the door. This qualifies him as the shepherd. Then standing at the door, he calls by name his sheep. Out of all the sheep in the space. And the ones that are his, respond to his voice and they come with him. And then they follow him out.

15:32 You got the image, right? But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. So him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep here is voiced and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Verse 4, when he is brought out all his own, he goes before them. And the shepherd follow, the sheep follow him, where they know his voice. A stranger, they will not follow. But they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

16:05 This figure of speech Jesus uses, he was with them. But they did not understand what he was saying. This is so commonplace to him, to the purers, that they are like, yeah, we know how his sheep and shepherds work, Jesus. Like why? Right? And they don't associate, there is no killing nature in this metaphor, right? This metaphor of Jesus, of this shepherd with the sheep, is like of a king ruling a sheepfold.

16:35 This is of a shepherd walking and being admitted, calling and the sheep responding. And then the shepherd going first. Not directing his sheep someplace, but the shepherd going first, he leaves him out. So they are confused. Verse 7, so Jesus again said to them, through the truth that I say to you, he is going to do something here which he does in a couple of parables, but not always. He is going to interpret it for us. And he gets a little bit confusing because he interprets it two different times.

17:08 So in this story, first he says, I say to you, I am this in the story. And there is a meaning there for us. And then you have to again, I say to you, read it again, I am this. And there is a different meaning there for us. So he is pulling out two meanings for us in this one metaphor of this shepherd and that communal sheepfold. Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

17:42 I am the door, he says it again. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and strive, that they may have life and have it abundantly. First thing I want to say here about this, if you start to think about Jesus as the door to the sheepfold, and is that as I have been talking about shepherd here, it has happened at the same time as we are like having elections.

18:14 And you are being bombarded from every news channel about what opinion you ought to have about every national issue. What has happened several times is I am getting feedback that we are interpreting the idea of shepherd and reading it into political leaders, looking for political leaders as shepherds, naturally or intuitively or intentionally. I want to encourage you, your political leaders are not your shepherds.

18:51 Just they are not. We could go down the road on why political leaders will make bad shepherds, but I only want to go this far. Jesus came and said that he established the reign of God on earth, and then said that he could be our shepherds. So we have relationships to political authorities and nationalities, but those are secondary. And our best, the easiest, safest position of the church with respect to the kingdoms of the world is one as process,

19:28 pointing out how they ought to live, who the king ought to be, what justice ought to look like, what mercy ought to look like, what hope ought to look like, what generosity ought to look like. So when we think about shepherd, I want us to think about how we follow people of faith. Shepherds are faith leaders for us. Okay. So Jesus says, I am the door. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

19:59 I am the door. If anyone entered by me, he will be saved and go in and out and find Joshua. If the sheep comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jesus says, I'm the door. So any leader has to come in through me, has to recognize who Jesus is as the beginning as the end, as the liberating king, as the Christ, anybody who would come to you and say, I want to be your leader. You need to follow me with your life. Jesus says, the first thing is they have to come in through Jesus.

20:36 They have to tell you, I am in line with the person Jesus of Nazareth. I mean, I am coming through him and in his keeping and in his stead. This is why Paul doesn't say Apostle Paul as he's writing the New Testament and building the first century church, doesn't say, follow me. He says, follow me as I follow Christ. And what's so compelling to me is that every time you look at the story of the saints, you see their life conforming to the way of Jesus.

21:10 Paul, all of the eleven right are martyred. Die for the faith. Like Jesus is the way. He's the door. We pass through Jesus and into the kingdom, the fold of God. And so as you're looking at who you will follow, the first thing is, in what way are they in keeping with Jesus? Do they come to me through the person of Jesus? Right? Okay. And then he interprets it again.

21:48 Well, the last thing is, you go through the person of Jesus because that's how you get the abundant life. So not in order to be right, but in order to live. That every other leader who comes in some other way will rob you. What other leaders might you follow? I think one of the leaders I'm constantly trying to audit against myself is this notion, this materialistic leader.

22:21 I think for me and our culture, greed is the quiet voice that we all follow behind. How do I get more? How am I more comfortable? How am I more entertained? How do I accumulate more? This is almost like a baseline in our culture. Like that's unexamined and unquestioned. That leader for me, I'll never have enough. That leader will always steal.

22:52 The leader of greed will always steal from me. No matter how much I sock away, greed will take away my security, my hope, my contentment, my satisfaction, and always leave me wanting more. Another leader that can be subtle is anger. Justified anger against people who have wounded you that propels your action. For whatever reason, you can't examine why you get angry. Often anger turns inward, looks like sadness.

23:25 There's an epidemic of depression in our culture because it's unexamined anger that factors in the way of unforgiveness. Anger will always steal. You can harbor your anger and resentment, and you can be right that you were wrong, but that leader will always steal joy, contentment, and all that. Joy, contentment, peace, even rest from you. Your leader in life must come to you through the way and person of Jesus in keeping with the teaching and trajectory of Jesus of Nazareth.

24:03 Why? Because that's where you'll find life. Love, joy, peace, peace, peace, kindness, goodness, faith, and the simple and self-control. And we'll find that continues forever. Jesus is going to bring in eternity into this story. We follow leaders who come to us through Jesus because that's where we find life. Okay, then he interprets it again. He said, I am the door twice, and then in verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

24:36 He is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and fleas, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 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, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

25:07 Then he goes on, and I have other sheep that are not a disfold. I must bring them also, and they will lift into my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd, for this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. He goes on, no one tastes it from me, but I lay it down in my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from the father. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

25:39 You can think about the stories of David. We talked about Old Testament metaphors of sheep and David as the shepherd, right? Literally. He tells the story of defeating bears and lions in the same way he defeated Goliath with a sling and a rock, pushing him away. You can think about the very beginning where humanity spins out this life with them as God, where they feel like they know better.

26:12 God had given them everything. Humanity was sure that he was holding out and had their best interests at heart. It is so beautiful that story of creation and fall where God promises a deliverer. Though we continue to choose other leaders, other shepherds, God went the full measure in order to come and find it. That is the last thing we talked about. Going out, leaving the 99, working hard, hunting down, finding the one.

26:45 Then once he finds the one rejoicing in the work just beginning, now that he has found them, he must sacrifice for them. Pick them up and carry them back. They can't even walk back on their own. They are too afraid. They are too beaten by the trials of life. God comes down and picks them up and carries them back so that the sheep in the fold of Jesus will learn to trust and rest in God's provision. This is the kind of shepherd that Jesus is.

27:15 He says, I go all the way and then willingly, willfully, laying down my life, dying in order to secure a future for the sheep. I have thought about that before. In the story of Gethsemane, it is one that sticks with me and no matter how many times I play it back in my head, it stays amazing.

27:47 The moment in the garden of Gethsemane, when they just had this beautiful feast, he washes disciple's feet, they walk at night out into the garden. You can see that the moment is heavy with contentment. There is a deep sense of communal presence so much so that the disciples can't even keep their eyes open. They are just so at rest in the moment. In the midst of that rest, Jesus is in such turmoil. The tradition tells us that he sweat drops of blood.

28:21 In that conversation with God, I am so grateful that it is recorded for us because Jesus says, I would rather not do this, but shepherd father. I will follow you. Jesus chooses to follow the shepherd even though it means his death because he is sure that the shepherd will rescue him even from the clutches of death. He won't turn to his own way. The moment when Pilate seems to build some camaraderie with him, where he asks him what is truth, who do you say that you are?

29:01 Don't you know I have the power to set you free? You get the feeling almost that Pilate would have partnered with Jesus there. That he just as soon partnered with Jesus as these Pharisees who he can't get enough of who feel so hypocritical. And there is a moment there you feel like almost where Jesus could walk for, put his arm around Pilate and they reorient the religious tradition around Jesus. But Jesus is not aligning with the leaders of the world. He is aligning with God the father who told him to lay down his life for all the people.

29:31 So he chooses death and because he follows the good shepherd all the way to death, he gets life. And so the reason I love that is because you and I get that choice all the time. How will we understand our money? How will we understand our friendships? How will we understand our citizenship? How will we understand our things? How will we understand our job? How will we understand our retirement? And we have opportunities to view those things, to take those choices about identity, agency and opportunity to the God through the, the sheepful, through the door of Jesus, to go to God.

30:15 And say who will lead us in this moment? And he says the good shepherd, the one who laid down his life. You and I have the option to be sheep and follow the shepherd who lays down his life. The other thing that I've gotten in this, I've gotten some questions about like, about trying to square, trying to see which political leader or potential leader most adequately lines up with the good shepherd. And I'm trying to say that that's a not a helpful decision making tool.

30:51 There are helpful decision making tools in how you cast ballots and how you are active in politics locally and federally. There are good decision making tools. But trying to square a metaphor meant for Jesus and put it on to political leaders is not helpful. So I've gotten that question some. The other is that, hey, aren't sheep docile and isn't it hard to say, but that we should just be sheep at this time when we need to have voices heard and be active?

31:30 And I want to remind you that our shepherd goes in front of us and we follow where the shepherd leads. Meaning we actually go where the shepherd goes. This is the question about like, would you follow someone off of a cliff? You know, that shepherds are that she's our animals who lead and just go. And so if we want to know how we ought to be active in the world, the best is to look at the places where Jesus went.

32:04 Look at the places where Jesus is found. Look at the ways in which Jesus reversed cultural norms undercut cultural currents, stood for justice, equity, mercy, love, forgiveness. And then the sheep of Jesus ought to be found in those places as well. I think that when we fully understand our role as sheep to the good shepherd who follow where he leads, knowing that the good shepherd has laid down his life for us, we become fearless.

32:44 To follow at our own peril, whether that be our reputation or our livelihood or our life, the way of Jesus. And we'll find ourselves perhaps less politically vocal but more locally active. Not that one is good or bad, but if I think about it, I'll follow the way of Jesus. He's not, of course, the followers of Jesus led, ended up, turning up the whole empire on its head, evolving the culture and ethics of the whole Roman Empire.

33:27 But they did it not by lobbying and by embodying the reign of God, the sheepfold of God on earth. And their behavior was so compelling and contagious that sheep kept joining and the power and authority of the world couldn't help but take notice. So if we are sheep, we judge our leaders by coming to us through Jesus and in continuity with Jesus.

34:02 And then we have the opportunity to actually follow Jesus himself, wherever Jesus goes, as the good shepherd. Knowing that even as we walk through the valley of shadow of death, Jesus has been there before us and laid down his life for us. So we are fearless. Okay, and then the last part I want to get to where he says, they listen to my voice.

34:35 The way that we follow Jesus, oh, let's go. He gets to it here. Let's go in verse 22. At that time, the peace of the dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter. Jesus was walking the temple in the colony of Solomon. And the Jews gathered around him and said, how long will you keep us in suspense if you are the Christ tell us plainly? And Jesus answered them, I told you, but you did not believe. The words that I do in my father's name bear witness about me, but you did not believe because you are not part of my flock.

35:06 My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father has given them to me. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snap them out of my father's hand and I am the father of one. I love that he says, they said, if you're to the Christ tell us, he said, I already told you, but you didn't believe me because you're not from my flock. You don't even recognize my voice, man.

35:39 My sheep know my voice and they respond. Several years ago, now over a decade ago, I heard this teaching that said that people of faith, followers of Jesus, ought to be familiar with the personality of Jesus because if you're going to be a good follower, you're able to begin to look like take on character traits. And so the teacher challenged, we ought to be way more familiar with the gospels than other parts of the scriptures.

36:13 Not that the other parts of the scriptures are important, but if we're not super familiar with the gospels, what are we doing making our way to the rest of it? We follow Jesus and we take the rest of the scriptures because Jesus took the rest of the scriptures. And so I started reading the gospels way more. And hopefully on Sundays here, we are in the gospels way more than anywhere else. If we are going to follow the good shepherd unto the abundant life, we need to know the sorts of things that the shepherd would say to us.

36:47 This is very important because then you'll be able to discern the leaders. When you start to feel in your head and your heart, if I just get to this dollar amount in my bank account, I'll be safe. You can recognize it as an imposter and not your shepherd. When you start to recognize if just the terrible thing would happen to this person, I would feel better.

37:17 You can recognize it as an imposter and not your shepherd. And then when you hear, look, you are not the sum total of your worst choices. You are not defined by your mistakes. You can recognize, yes, that is my shepherd. I go there. The only way that we'll get familiar enough to follow the shepherd is to hear the voice of the shepherd over and over again.

37:50 I'm going to work hard on Sundays to announce the voice of the shepherd to you. I work hard to say only the things that the shepherd might say. So I think being involved here is a good start, but it won't be enough. There are lots of competing voices, thieves popping over the fences all of the time. Empostures coming through, trying to call out and get you to follow them. You're going to need to be familiar with the voice of the shepherd, especially now when there's so much confusion.

38:25 And then, at last, it goes in, I won't read it for you, but it goes from this voice of the shepherd to the story of Lazarus. I said, my sheep know my voice and they follow me when I speak, they come to me. And then John puts the story of Lazarus right after it, where Jesus walks to the tomb and calls to Lazarus, wrapped in grace clothes.

38:56 Hey, Lazarus, come out. And Lazarus recognizes the voice of his shepherd and comes when he calls. Death won't keep him away from the voice of his shepherd. Hey, and it won't keep you away either. You will meander in this life. You will get lost, the shepherd will come and find you, rejoice, and bring you back. You'll follow at times.

39:29 But in the end, you'll move through this life, and there'll come a day when Jesus will come to call you out of the grave. And he says that you get to live eternally with him. We are practicing something now that we will get to do forever. And we practice it among crazy politics and weird dollars and confusing cultures and questions.

40:04 We practice following this, we try our best and fail, and the comfort is to keep trying because the day was coming when he'll finally call us home. When the struggle will be done, his voice will be clear and we'll live with him forever. Let me pray. Hey, Lord, make us cheap who know your voice. You can distinguish your leading and follow you all the way to the grave.

40:41 And give us the sure and certain hope of faith that you call us out of grave as you did Lazarus. Give us faith for our journey today, years to hear your voice today and tomorrow and in the week to come.

41:11 We ask it in Jesus name and for his name. I want to keep you here for just a minute. And in order to do that, we're not singing for worship today. I want to go back to that Psalm 23 because right here in this moment as you're thinking about the voice of the shepherd, I want to take us to that thing that they say about the shepherd in Psalm 23 and encourage you to sit with it. I'm going to read just a small section of it three times.

41:50 What I'd love for you to do is I read it the first time is make note of a word that sticks out to you or maybe two. I'm going to read just a couple of verses of it, not the whole thing. And as you just listen to it, make note of a word or two that sticks out to you and then I'll pause. I want you to ask the Lord, why does this stick out to me? And that might be a silent thought in your head. Why does this stick out to me? It might be something that you write. If you've got a phone, it might be a little thing that you type out in your notes.

42:25 Or why does this word stick out to me? And just sit with it. You don't have to run through an answer. It's not a quiz. You don't have to figure it out. The question is just as helpful as the answer. And then I'm going to read the same text again, see if the same word sticks out to you or something else. And then I'll read it one last time. And that last time I want to invite you to say something back to the God. You might type it out or just think it. Lord, it might be a prayer, it might be a request, it might be a gratitude.

42:56 So I'm just going to read the small section of Psalm 23. So I'm going to read it a total of three times and break in between it each time. And I'm encouraging you to think about those words. Okay? You can do this at home with us. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

43:31 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

44:01 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

44:36 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

45:06 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

45:47 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

46:17 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. We are grateful to be yours. Teach us what it looks like to rest in you and also to follow where you lead.

46:57 Give us a balance of both that we might learn to rest as we follow. Find joy in the work of following your voice. Be with us this week and bring us together again next in Jesus' name you pray. I will be here this morning. I hope you are encouraged. Marcus, we love you and are excited about your next steps.

47:34 Thanks for bringing the coffee mug back. Now we are online so you can still be a part of us. I want us to offer a prayer for your next steps. As are we are so grateful that you made Marcus uniquely yours but also so creatively present with people. We love you Lord for the way you made Marcus.

48:07 We are excited about the next steps you are taking with him. We ask that as he goes he wouldn't just leave here but he'd be commissioned from here. That he'd go carrying a piece of this community wherever his next steps take him and into school and off into the future. We thank you for Marcus and we ask that you give him every good thing. Blessing of love and perseverance. The blessing of joy and wisdom and creativity that those would rest on.

48:38 And take him with him into the next steps. In Jesus' name you pray.