I AM: The Good Shepherd - Jon Tyson

our teaching text today is from John 10:11 221 I am The Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the Sheep so when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it the man runs away because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the Sheep I am The Good Shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the Sheep I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen I must bring them also the two will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd the reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to 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 in authority to take it up again this command I received from My Father the Jews who heard these words were again divided many of them said he is demon possessed and raving mad why listen to him but others said these are not the saints of a man possessed by a demon can a demon open the eyes of the blind this is the word of the Lord well very good evening to you how's everybody doing but I want to be rude there's a little more energy in the worship maybe it's the metaphor shepherding and sheep resonates deeply with New Yorkers and if you grew up in a sheep farm no so we have some work to do to close the cultural gap let's start on the Sheep Meadow which was a part of New York City not too long ago at least have that as a reference point I'm off to a bad start I'm gonna jump back in here we are in a series on the I am statements of Jesus and we thought this was important at the start of the year because you have Jesus talking and describing who he is so a lot of opinions in that world about Jesus and a lot of claims about who Jesus was and what he taught but we've spent the last few weeks examining who Jesus says he is so these are words from Jesus mouth God has always wanted to reveal himself to his people in the Old Testament he did it in several ways he did it in a pillar of fire he did it in a cloud he did it in a burning bush he did it through miracles and when Moses said look I want to go and disclose to Pharaoh who's about to show up and God very very helpfully cleared up and just said I am and he's like what do I tell him just tell him I am and there's this phrase when it was translated into the new test an eagle I mean the Greek is I am from the Old Testament so you have Jesus now claiming to be the God of the Old Testament manifest in the flesh he's not just in a fire he's not just in a cloud he's not just in a bush he's in a person and he's standing before us and so listening to what Jesus says is very important because there's a lot of religious claims in the world there's a lot of people telling you that you should follow them and you'll find life and here the Bible is actually teaching us here's what your life will look like if you surrender to God what would it be like if I just gave myself over to him this is what Jesus is addressing here and each week we've tried to basically map one of the core longings of the human heart and show how God is meeting that through Jesus so the first week we talked about Jesus is the of life and how we have these did we have this longing for satisfaction in the soul and how ultimately it's only fulfilled in Jesus last week Suzy did a wonderful job talking about Jesus being the light of the world as a society we ache for revelation and epiphany everybody wants to be an enlightened being and Eve you have Jesus saying I bring light to the darkness amazing and tonight we're gonna look at this metaphor around Jesus the Good Shepherd now I want you to know that this text is primarily not about shepherding this text is primarily about leadership this is a text about leadership our culture aches it's a good leadership doesn't it it's groaning for good leadership I just saw a new round of political candidates announcing that in 2020 they alone can bring America back to the place that it's supposed to be and you're not most people's responses down it who do we trust to lead us can we trust the religious institutions and leaders should we trust celebrities and their endorsements should we follow them as those who lead us what about our parents if you're a teenager you sure there's any appearance but for those of us who are adults do we listen to our parents their wisdom from another generation who do we listen to there's been so much abuse in leadership that I feel like almost everybody I meet particularly here in the city sort of has this deep cynical suspicion about anybody who says trust me trust me follow me follow me you will find life it's like we've almost woven ourselves into a cocoon of suspicion it's a very comfortable little cocoon but if anybody tries to get into it the lens they have to go through is like I'm just suspicious about your power dynamics I'm suspicious about your agenda I just can't trust any sort of leadership now here's the problem we long to be led as people we long to be let belong to someone to give us a compelling picture of the future that we can align our source under and to follow this is in the heart of human beings but the question we're really asking is this who can I trust to really lead in care for me who can I hand myself over and say look I will following you because I trust that you're going to show care for my heart and that you're gonna lead me into the future that my heart actually aches for that's really what this passage is about so the context of this passage it's two notes I want you to see number one yes Jesus does use the shepherding metaphor here and this is primarily about something that happened in the ancient Near East this is first century Judaism the shepherd was a prominent figure certainly because of David King David starting as a shepherd and they they had an understanding of a shepherd and his relationship to the shoe and so these Shepherds primarily this was the economy this was their wealth they spent a lot of time with the Sheep and oh they developed intimate relationship deep friendships with these sheep these animals they just cared for them they had this this beautiful sort of arrangement of the whole of their lives they slept out under the stars it's an amazing environment that was a part of the metaphor Jesus is using but the real context I want you to see in this passage it's primarily about the claims of leadership if you go back you begin to see this fault line develop in the Ministry of Jesus where the religious leaders of his days of his they begin to hate him so at the end of John chapter 7 Jesus stands up at the festival of Tabernacles and he stands up and on the last and greatest day of the feast he cries out in a loud verse voice if anybody is thirsty let him come to me and drink well what a claim well I imagine mentioned someone that had a big church conference saying if any of you were first to come to me and drink and you never thirst again but I'm really talking about the Holy Spirit that you get later if you believe in me people who like this guy's out of his mind and that's what I said about Jesus is he demon-possessed why is he talking like this John chapter 8 it's not just Jesus religious claims John chapter 8 you remember they dragged the woman caught in a daughter in front of Jesus as a trap and then they get so frustrated because Jesus has terrible skills are a little stronger than theirs and they have to they have to end up dropping their stones and walking away frustrated that the trap they laid didn't work they don't like Jesus mercy then in John chapter 9 Jesus comes along any Hills a man who's born blind they don't like the time he does it the spirit in which he does it and so again they begin to attack him threatening his family they don't like Jesus power so you've got this giant fault line coming between the leaders in Jesus day and Christ himself and so in these claims right here you have this choice what Jesus is setting up and is saying who will you be led by this is a claim it's it's a leadership assertion by Jesus of his invitation to respond to his leadership to come under his leadership in our lives now I want you to see this because I think it's very very important because we have this suspicion this home and you think of suspicion over anybody who claims to be a leader or anybody who promises us any sort of salesman we're suspicious about them that we can often think well I'm not going to be led by anybody but I just want to tell you something tonight if you don't consciously choose a leader you were subconsciously be influenced by somebody else you will be led you will be led you are not walking into a clear future that you choose you will be led so I want to show you the options of who will lead your life tonight the first one I want to talk about is cultural shepherding cultural shepherding this is the way that our culture basically says follow me follow me follow me and then disciples you into a vision of life and it does this in several ways number one or the first way does this is through I think we'll choice architecture choice architecture I first read about this in a book could nudge fascinating book that talks about basically how people create choice frameworks that influence the outcome of people without the people necessarily knowing that they've been influenced so you've got I mean you got libertarians literally foaming at the mouth and the insinuation of this book but they're their framework is like nudge as an elephant just it's just it's just a little bit of a nudge in the right direction this is how they articulated if you indirectly influence the choices other people make your choice architects now in the book that gives several examples in this several examples in society they've been used to sort of illustrate this point so I'll start simple and I'll end up in an insidious place okay so starting setting simply kids lunch rooms so and particularly in poor neighborhoods not a lot of great food and an obesity epidemic with small children and they come to school on one of their lunch options you want pizza or nuggets and fries do you want coke or sprite do you want cake or cookies and so what a terrible option so they began to introduce these things without asking obviously for small children's permissions but they began to replace desserts with fruit and instead of saying do you want cake or do you want an apple they said would you like an apple and orange or a banana you get to choose and instead of saying would you like coke it's like would you like water or healthy juice so they started putting these options in front of them and in some studies kids lose as much as 26 percent of their weight like amazing turnarounds just by changing the order that they put things so basically the goal is to architect environments and in the environment shape you so whoever controls the framework whoever controls the environment whoever controls the choices that are handed to you determines the outcome and most people are willing to give you the illusion of freedom as long as you inside the framework of the outcome any acceptable outcome that they want this isn't it this is the way this is located so another example here if you're a parent you've certainly experienced this when your kids are little it's you know shopping is hard when you got kids tell you it's not fun if you see a mom shopping with a kid in New York City I just dare you to carry around Starbucks cards and you say lady when your children are asleep have a coffee on me just bless them because here's because the person who designed supermarkets is angry at their parents and trying to get them back because your kids are going through and they're they're they're pulling stuff off the shelves they're breaking spaghetti even you strive for me all of these things are happening and you get right when they the kids are at their crankiest they literally step into a little portal of Charlie the Chocolate Factory it's like right of the egg so this is every chocolate Whole Foods selling terrible things only at the checkout for small children so you get there and there's all of these horrible things and then it's basically it's a it's a horrible situation the parents are right just have the chocolates shut up I'm second and I just try and get them out of there someone designed that on purpose someone angry seemingly distant forces that we think we decipher can actually change the most intimate parts of our heart the Dallas night so the choice architecture of all of the people that lived in the United States in all of the all of the governmental institutions and agencies America said this the best we can do is Hillary and Donald s Hillary and Donna America but holds your future you get to choose and I always get frustrated when people say 80% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump again a false statement because a ton of white evangelicals just refused to participate so it's only those who did vote still a significant number but my point is very few people were like oh gosh it's so clear there's one exceptional candidate of high integrity and high morals in every area of their life that's a clear with I felt honestly as a Christian that's like gosh there is things in both of their lives and both of their ethical visions of the United States that I just feel like this is this is not the kind of choice architecture I want now you say well that didn't really affect me well the choice that was made has affected you oh it's distant it's got nothing to do with me how's your heart when someone says something about the president what happens in your heart father bless him it must be really hard to lead America what's in your heart anger bitterness vitriol the Duff that seems so far away because of the choice architecture of our political system is changing the culture of your heart and it's changing the heart of the United States so even things that seem distant have this incredible capacity to shape in a life choice architecture you're being shepherded by the choices our culture is giving you another way that our culture scheppers us is through the information or propaganda that is basically released towards us I read a short book certainly from someone who is not theologically centrist Noam Chomsky and he wrote a book fascinating book I didn't laugh about that in the morning but you laugh so thank you Noam Chomsky wrote a book honestly quite at quite an amazing book called media control the spectacular achievements of propaganda and one of the things that I always find so funny because these books particularly I find writers like Foucault these guys who wrote a while ago when the world was controlled by basically very very conservative people they were writing these books rebelling against Authority and power structures but now that the world is fundamentally liberal all of their arguments work against themselves because the culture shifted anyway it's fascinating to read modern society in light of the previous critiques but he basically says that society gets in these in particular times of history society is more malleable to outside opinion and shaping and if you can't get society into a state where it's malleable you have to shock the society to make it malleable so we live in a time right now which one author described us or one lady discover as VUCA which is volatility uncertainty confusion and anger and all of these states it's volatile it's uncertain everybody's confused in their angry a beautiful states to have people in when you want to manipulate them their their heightened their are motions are heightened their dealing with fear of change they're just looking for somebody to give a strong opinion so when people are like this but they're particularly open for their minds to be changed and he uses a phrase which I think has happened but is staggeringly effectively in the last 15 years because the manufacturer of consent the society the powers-that-be will make you want what you want but you won't know you're made to want it it'll just feel like you want it this really began to take place in the United States during World War one Woodrow Wilson was was elected as the president of the United States and his platform was peace without victory and World War one was happening at this point and everybody was saying you got to get involved we need to go over to Europe and I would especially like what are you talking about why I get involved with that way over there it's got nothing to do with us but beneath the surface Wilson actually wanted to go to war wanted to establish United States in the conflict so much of the population was extremely pacifistic sore no reason to become involved at a general level so they established a government to a propaganda commission called the krill Commission which within six months through the use of propaganda and misdirection and information got the whole world to be in a a giant horrific fear of the Germans and so they basically invented atrocities that didn't quite happen and so what happens when you hear of an atrocity what happens in your heart anger rage injustice somebody should do something we should do something society easy to manipulate the whole point of good propaganda is to create slogans that nobody's going to be against and everybody is going to be for so who waits so the carefully crafting cultural slogans that if you're opposed to it so the language like that the two most abused words in our culture right now other words hate and love they're just meanings they've been emptied of any ethical meaning love is whatever you want to do and hate as you disagree with me and so the way you craft these phrases love and hate basically enables you to come up with ideology that nobody can resist this is propaganda at its best so Noam Chomsky says this propaganda is to a democracy what a bludgeon is to a totalitarian state he makes three points that basically we're at a time where everything is public relations so this past week not a great week in politics in Virginia sure if you're just sort of paying attention to what's going on at the start of the week you've got all of the Conservatives in an uproar over the issue of aborted abortion where the governor seems to advocate infanticide I mean that guy I don't know the full context and I try to research but whatever it is it was horrific later in the week he is seen posing in some sort of a racially inappropriate slanderous sort of photo in a party which is now denying but I want you to see this two separate issues normally connected with two different political parties at the start of the week you've got PR coming from one group at the end of the week different issue PR coming from an a group here everything is PR in our world everything is public relations everything you spin nobody's up there trying to legitimately say let me just apologize what they're saying is like how do I get out of this how do I look good so they literally bring in PR agents to spend the thing engineering opinion selective perception all of these things exist so Chomsky concludes by saying this state propaganda when supported by the educated classes and when no deviation is permitted from it can have a big effect and I would argue that we have seen this another way that this information flows down perhaps Cambridge analytic you know you're aware of the scandal these are the people that were connected with Facebook in some way but one of the executives said this that was so insightful we just put information into the bloodstream of the internet and then watch it grow give it a little push maybe a nudge every now and again over time to watch it take shape and so this stuff infiltrates the online community but with no branding so it's unattributable and untrackable so it just feels like what you should believe this is choice architecture this is the selective curating of information this is propaganda one author and elisa quinn from the new york times said this apology shows 63% of Democrats in 38% of Republicans saw Russia's power and influence as a significant threat to the United States but Russia's just one influence and I love this phrase in an ecosystem of modern pressures lobbyists drugs Facebook covert agents dark money foreign agendas dupes and double agents feet use bribes threats in the midst of all of these contradictory influences the world of Pollock's politics can seem illegible a chaotic mass of swirling powers there's a war on for your mind as the slogan for the conspiracy website Infowars says this ecosystem of pressure you think about your life you've been culturally shepherded through choice architecture and the selective curation of information towards agenda and what's our response well we're just like the sheep well like this sheep in Turkey this was like a literally a farming tragedy there was that we get that as a Turkish sheep died in mass jump there's fifteen hundred sheep and one sheeps like stuffing on the heart and jumps off and then 1499 so me too and they just roll off the first four hundred die and then eleven hundred because sheep are kind of like soft and fluffy there's a four hundred of this four hundred of them and then eleven hundred sort of don't die my point is my point is that one sheeps just like man and did that's it then the rest is like us we're in this is why politicians use the term sheeple sheeple man sheeple just get one person get a few celebrities get a few public figures everyone else who just roll on it people so a lot of people this doesn't feel particularly encouraging so there are sponsors well where else do I look and say sometimes people are so you need to look to the church for guidance you need looks you need to look to religion for guidance can we trust a religious institution the church can we trust a lot of people said no way they have a track record 2,000 years of abuse and coercion and control and hypocrisy and any time the church seems to accumulate enough power to run things it produces a society that excludes and oppresses like the leadership under the church doesn't seem to lead to this wonderful flourishing life well part of the critique is found here in this verse verses 11 through 13 is a word that Jesus uses to critique this sort of leadership and he just uses the term hireling Hollings have a look at what he said since I'm the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep that the high in hand is not the shepherd doesn't own the sheep so when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and he runs away then a wolf attacks and the flocks gathers that the man runs away because he's a hired he cares nothing for the Sheep now every scholar or every commentary I referenced on this brought up this one versus EQ 34 and this is God's critique of the unjust leaders a rich part of the prophetic tradition critiquing leadership woe to the shepherds of Israel who've been feeding themselves shouldn't the Shepherd's feed their flock you eat the fat where the wool butchered the fatten animals but you don't tend to the flock you've not strengthen the weak healed the sick bandaged the injured brought back the strays or sort the lost instead you've ruled them with violence and cruelty this is what the Lord says look I'm against the shepherds I would demand my flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock the Shepherd's will no longer feed themselves for I will rescue my flock from their mouths so they will not be food for them self feeding eating the fat wearing the wool butchering the fat failing to care and tend in essence using the flock for personal benefit in one of my seminary classes I took a course on leadership theory and one of the theories that was presented was presented under this framework of the toxic triangle and in the framework of the topstick triangle that basically said that there's these environments where we're followers are a part of it they just destroy people and it's not bad leadership it's toxic we should go ahead and have a look at this this is my adaption of the theory so you have destructive leaders these are at the top and these people just rely purely on charisma they accumulate tons of personal power they're often narcissus they are angry they're fearful and so you have these dynamic leaders at the top and they often produce susceptible followers and these followers fall into two categories those who conform and those who collude where those who are in leadership so the conformers are often people who have needs low self-esteem or they're immature so they're very very susceptible or you've got colluded and these are people with with ungodly ambition these are people who are broken and they see this is an environment basically to prey on people and this results in coercive environments instability where there's fear there's isolation and if you get in the middle of one of these environments it give me absolutely horrific this is the kind of leadership that is being critiqued right here see what ends up happening if you don't lead out of godly vision you didn't lead out of what God has for you by default you have to push from behind when a shepherd pushes from behind the sheep scatter and when the Sheep scatter the Shepherd has to resort to using dogs and he unleashes the dogs to round up the sheep and this is what religion does it pushes from behind it pushes you into a future of demands and then when you can't keep up with it you try and get out of it unleashes guilt shame fear condemnation around you so you may be moving forward but it's not out of a free heart it's not out of joy it's not enough excitement for the future it's literally a fear of what's gonna happen if you get left behind and this is the environment of the Pharisees in Jesus day Jesus is critiquing this sort of leadership well maybe at this point you're like look man I don't want to be shepherded by the culture I don't want to be shepherded by the church I can't trust a religion you know what I think I'm gonna do I'm a chef of myself I'm gonna Shepherd myself I honestly I understand this III know that feeling in the heart of like look man just don't sell me on something I understand the feeling of the cocoon of suspicion New York has just laid this cocoon of suspicion around me all these years anytime someone rises with a grandiose vision I'm like we'll see we'll see and so sometimes we just feel like look man I'm pretty well educated are pretty thoughtful I'm pretty discerning I think I'm just gonna trust myself well there's several problems with that number one is that we actually are slaves to things in our own heart then if we follow them will lead us into horrific places you ever had an addiction I know like we don't talk about like that often doesn't get that much airtime at shows have you ever found yourself addicted to some again you're honestly just embarrassed about it like if you were to get up here and say hey guys I just want to tell you what I'm struggling with privately when one of you it none of you are around you just be like I'm embarrassed I'm ashamed of this but one of the things we find is that we actually very often we can't lead ourselves we need to be saved from ourselves there's dark parts of our heart there's things from our past that keep coming up there's things we can't just break free on and so we try and lead ourselves but we're just led and enslaved by our own desires we don't need to be safe from our culture safe from Elysian we need to be safe from ourselves I read a because I wasn't like that into the shepherding literature I read a psychological study called judgment under uncertainty heuristics and biases and the psychologists basically said that what ends up happening in our lives is we think we're free to make decisions we're actually not free because there's the subliminal cues thousands and thousands of these subliminal cues that have shaped us over time our parents our time of history our nation of origin our family dynamics our college friends our high school friends our employers the media source and all of this is like in the background forming this almost invisible subconscious web and we think we're making rational autonomous decisions but they're actually controlled by all of these micro points of information not from what it does is it results just in cognitive bias where we just can't see beyond these invisible forces that are shaping our lives there's a giant myth of autonomy and personalization in our culture and many people they said no let me just take control of my life let me edit out let me curate myself end up finding that the algorithm is my shepherd I got friends who work in tech and then like every click you make is bringing the matrix on second the whole thing's design to just serve up to you what it thinks you want not even what you need not even what's good for you but whatever you happen to click on in any given moment so we think we're autonomous but we're shaped in insidious ways or more than anything we know in our hearts we can't lead ourselves if you just did whatever you wanted whatever you wanted where would it take you now it's into these choices here leading myself trusting in religion or trusting in the culture at large that a lot of people are just like what hope is there then now it's into these power dynamics that Jesus comes up and makes a claim you makes a leadership claim and this is his claim I'm the Good Shepherd I'm the Good Shepherd but different in my leadership than any other form of leadership I lay down my life for the Sheep look at what he says here I am The Good Shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the Sheep I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen I must bring them also they too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd the reason my father loves me is I lay down my life only to 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 authority to take it up I want to be very clear here Jesus is not a failed first century political revolutionary who got churned up in these giant sack tonic plates of power line Jesus is the God of the universe in human flesh who voluntarily inserted himself into the cogs of human power to jam them up and release another kind of leadership in the world he laid his life down and he freely takes it up again this is important because you need someone who's not only kind but you need someone who's strong you need someone you can trust but someone who can do the job this is who Jesus is and the reason I think it's so surprising particularly for many secular and cynical people in New York it's surprising to meet people who are in the city very well educated very thoughtful who actually believe that Jesus Christ Himself leads to the best kind of life but have you ever read the Gospels have you ever just gone through the Gospels and said what would the world be like if we submitted ourselves to Jesus see compared to what the Pharisees were doing in Ezekiel 34 look at Jesus life his whole life was tending to the flock strengthening the weak healing the sick bandaging the in and injured bringing back the strays seeking and saving the Lost here leadership is one of washing feet welcoming in outcasts blessing and loving those with sexual brokenness bringing together the most culturally diverse group of people you can imagine political terrorists zealous tax collectors those who betrayed the Empire teenage fisherman he's able to gather them all into a new humanity all willing to submit their story under his leadership he talks about this again and again in Luke 15 he's got a parable talking about sheep and the economy of God God's willing to leave the 99 to find the one it's extrordinary this simply never been someone like Jesus in all of history the reason people in New York still follow him is because even though it's a surprise for many people they've just been led not chased by guilt or fear or condemnation but they've just been led into a vision that has literally brought their hearts peace and acceptance and rest this is my story this is the story of many of the people sitting around you I think where would I be if I hadn't let Jesus lead me well number one I wouldn't be an American and I don't mind this place so thanks for that where would I be I have no idea if I just followed my desires and I followed my ambition I'd be saying I am my own shepherd I want there would be no peace in my soul there'd be no stillwater there'd be the value of the shadow of death without comfort there be war with my enemies not a banquet in the presence of them life under my own leadership would be hard but in submitting to Jesus I found freedom I found hope I found purpose I found a call I found a loving community of people that's the story for many of the people in this room they've given their lives to Jesus they've said okay look even though I have suspicions in my heart even though I'm terrified of of the history of the church I hear your voice and your invitation and it sounds like good news Christ sees us he sought to save us he died on the cross to take away our sin and then he rose again and life under Jesus leadership is extraordinary so I've adapted next slide here this is my version this in that book wasn't a Christian book so they didn't have Jesus power on with life giving leadership perhaps I'll submit it but this is what I would like to put this is life honor this is life giving leadership you have loving leaders the servant heart of the sacrificial they care they love who produced valued followers those who are called who lead and they model and they empower others and those who need care they find patience and they find kindness and this leads to freeing environments where people are known and accepted where this trust with his truth and with his love and I can guarantee if you get in the middle of an environment like that your soul will flourish this is what life is like under the leadership of Jesus one bishop from another era so we don't use language like this but he just says this so poetically and so beautiful this is how he articulates Jesus leadership the Good Shepherd proved and Illustrated his own Good Shepherd hood by sympathy and love it was by no flash of splendor or miracle of external power that has proved his divine leadership over the hearts of men but by coming to walk with them to toil and hunger and suffer with them he entered into mortal life by the same lowly door of human birth he passed suet by the same path of toil and daily care he made his exit from it through the same portal of suffering and death in life and death he walked with the Sheep therefore he could say I'm the Good Shepherd not merely because I'm commissioned and sent of my father not merely because I wield the power of omnipotence but I am The Good Shepherd because I know my sheep and I'm known by my sheep I love this vision Jesus entered into the human story he got through the cocoon of suspicion laid down his life to rescue our hearts from sin from cynicism from doubt and despair and slowly cut it open so we can emerge into a life of flourishing this is what Spurgeon says the eastern Shepherd is the owner of his son his wealth consists in sheep he has seldom much of a house or much land ask him how much are you worth and he answers so many sheep we are Christ's wealth the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints the large portion is the Lord's portion is his people for their sakes he gave himself so all of us I believe ache for this a sense of direction all of this ache for this well that we ache for leadership in our life so just ask yourself the question who are you following if you're not consciously following someone you're subconsciously being led by someone else I mean I don't want to get all Bob Dylan or whatever but you got to serve somebody you've got to serve somebody devil Lord culture girlfriend career whatever you're gonna serve something who's leading you you being led by the culture he's being led by religion being led by his self being led by Jesus Jesus laid down his life for you he wants to bring you in a future it's better it sounds like better than you can imagine it's not necessarily easy it's very hard hard to go against the culture that's the life of depth and meaning and joy and purpose so maybe you're here tonight and for the first time or whatever you found in your cocoon of suspicion you're like I'm just I'm resonating with what you're saying I see and I see them I see Jesus lay down his life for me now if that's you I just think I owed you just to respond my life was changed in a meeting by responding by just saying hey that makes sense Jesus here's my life never been the same move from a toxic circle of culture into a life-giving circle of love just say Jesus Here I am surrender to you be my shepherd be my shepherd maybe you're here tonight and you're wrestling with something maybe you just you feel trapped by something and you just need someone to pray for you you need you need some care we got a wonderful prayer team these folks servant hard a gentle spirit but they have a real heart to help people just find freedom in Jesus maybe maybe you're here tonight and you've got something big coming up this week feels like a decision where you need to hear God's voice I just want to encourage you to respond to this and advise you to stand your feet and we're just going to close with just a time of response at a time of worship invite the prayer team to come forward a few cents tonight God speaking to your heart you're out that you're not right with God you know it whatever that means for you you'd know it and tonight you just want to say Jesus you've sought me you found me in a high school the New York Jesus Here I am and you want to come home you just come forward someone love to pray for you maybe there's something going on in your life and you just would like freedom from it like you like some sort of care if you need prayer for physical healing maybe like I just need a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit I just I just need an encounter with God I need the care of the Shepherd if that's you just what we're seeing I'm gonna buy either come forward it's nothing to be embarrassed about I've been a cross bit seen grown men cry you gotta CrossFit you don't look like I just went for the sample the sample why you judging me why you judging my point is we have enthusiasm we have response in every area of life why not our heart one other heart so if your since God speaking to tell us when I encourage you to come for for prayer there's no pressure at all but if you feel like you like somebody to pray for you I want to encourage you to come forward and we're just going to close by worshiping together [Music]

Channel: Church of the City New York

Views: 3,281

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: God, Jesus, Christianity, Church, Church of the City, New York, Jon Tyson, I AM, Light of the World, New York City, NYC

Id: 9f-cf3y8Jn0

Length: 40min 44sec (2444 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 05 2019