Jonathan Pokluda at Linger 2018

linger how we doing praise God praise God is so fun to worship with you today and just sit at the throne that ministered to me stand right there and just reflect on the goodness of God that he is holy so excited about where we're headed in just a few moments and so just to start off and as we get to know each other let me ask you a personal question some of you will have to be vulnerable in this but anyone here afraid to fly now come on so I'm not alone okay so there's some there's some of you out there that are that have a fear of flying so for them for most of my life I've had a crippling fear of flying true story and so there was a season in my life where I had to get on a plane every single week and I hated it and I would just go through this kind of ritual every time of you know waiting in those long lines in the airport I don't like the airport either and then once I would kind of go through that that hallway and then get on the plane and and I'm sitting there and you know my I'm sweating and I'm kind of shaking I'm I'm thinking I'm turning that air vent out like put the air on me you know like let's let's get this thing in in a and then we get up in the air and it's always bumpy like I have the worst experiences flying that's that's why I was afraid every single time I get up there it was something awful going on something terrible happening and I could tell you dozens of stories I'll tell you one and so when before we had kids my wife Monica and I she was a teacher and it was spring break and so we were going to Fort Lauderdale for spring break and so she and I we go to the airport I'm of course terrified you know she's talking me through it and she's the big strong Monica and and so then we we get on the plane we get up in the air and the captain comes on and says hey we're gonna experience some rough air today and I'm like of course we are because I'm on the plane you know and so I'm like you got the entire sky buddy you can't find like somewhere there's no rough air that you could go anywhere like find a pathway where there's no rough air but anyways we're gonna experience some rough air so I go to pray you know I'm praying Lord you I hope he's wrong and can you make the air smooth and and then we we hit the rough air alright and so it starts bumping around I pull out my Bible for this is a little superstitious if I'm honest I'm just like reading the scriptures and and and and then we hit this like giant pocket I don't know the plane fell out of the sky and I caught itself ok my Bible bounces off the ceiling true story alright the guy in front of me was drinking coffee poor soul and so that's all over him at this point and I'm sitting there and the lady behind me there's this older lady behind me this grandmother with a grand with grandchildren on each side of her and she starts praying and I'm like that's a good idea I turn around in my seat and I grab her hand okay she has her eyes closed and she opens one eye and I go keep praying lady and uh and so she's saying this prayer and then I get to thinking like as we wrap up she says amen I turned back around I'm experiencing some peace I'm like wait a minute I just went into vocational ministry I'm like you're not gonna kill me now like I just made this transition like surely you're gonna keep me alive to actually do the ministry that you called me to and and like I'm in ministry like you wouldn't take me out like this and then I start looking around the plane it's a bunch of wild spring breakers I'm like what if we're collateral damage you know like God's wrath is gonna come down on them and and Monica and I just got on the wrong plane you know and and that's that's one story but here's the problem here's why I was afraid of flying is because I wasn't in control it wasn't really a fear of flying it's that I wasn't flying the plane and that's what's weird about that fear is in some strange ways I would rather be flying the plane then the guy who's flying the plane like the one thatthat spent all the time learning how to fly the plane I've never flown a plane but I'm like hey can I have the wheel because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night you know can I can I try to do this can you give me a shot and I don't know that guy I don't know his training I don't know like when we hit that pocket is he panicking up there I can't see him he's he afraid is he concerned you know I don't know what's going on in his mind and the truth is that my fear of flying was simply not trusting the one who was in control and so as we're remembering singing all these praise songs God's your holy you know you did everything you're amazing you got plans for my life but do I trust your control for just a few minutes together as we open the word I want to talk about remembering the one who's in control it's a really good thing to remember over and over day in and day out every moment remembering the one who is in control because nearly every worry and every anxiety and every time that that you face some fear the reality of it is is it's because you're not in control or you don't trust the one who is now you can almost trace every anxiety every worry that you have to that reality right there I don't trust the one who's in control or I'm angry that it's not me and so I don't know what turbulence life has thrown at you as you walked in through those doors today some of you you're here because it's kind of a last resort you know that life's been crazy and you're like linger honey you got a link I got to get there and you made it I'm proud of you for prioritizing this but I don't know if you know you're single and you're tired of being single or maybe you've been struggling to get pregnant or maybe you just lost a baby or maybe it's a job that you have that you can't stand or maybe you wish you had a job that you can't stand because you've been looking for one maybe the kids one of them has left to faith or or one of them are being bullied at school or school is hard or maybe it's that you're not feeling well maybe it's some illness in your life or maybe it's the illness of someone that you love deeply or maybe it's that you don't have enough money to pay the bills I don't know what the bumps or the rough patches that God has you traveling through right now but as we move through this very popular Psalm I know that we can remember that God is our provision that we can remember that God is our protection and that we can remember before you leave here today before you do anything as we move to worship that you can remember that he's a prodigal father and I'm gonna explain that in just a moment what I mean by that but the passage that I'm gonna be in it's the most popular passage of the Old Testament it's been in movies like jarhead Titanic True Grit featured in an episode of Lost it's Psalm 23 and you like oh great JP didn't you get to choose what you're teaching like you're gonna go funeral saw mommy like you're gonna go most popular like you're gonna explain the one that we all know because we're super Christians at linger and and yes I am because it's a song that's ministered to me recently it's been featured in songs you to Kanye West got on the psalm 23 bandwagon and of course Coolio you know Dangerous Minds you guys know it I won't sing it as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I take a look at my life and really okay maybe I will sing it I'm sorry this is david's greatest hit this is Shepherd David I mean this is the one that we would keep going back to if you went to David's concert this would be the the song that you couldn't wait for him to sing it's you know it's got some staying power this song like nobody's singing Taylor Swift 3000 years from now but we're here and we're still gathering around there something I love this song and then I read a book by Philip Keller which I commend to you a Shepards look at Psalm 23 is the name of the book and it put it in context for me that David as a shepherd what he was actually writing what he was seeing and it really taught me a lot about this because Philip Keller is a sheep herder or a shepherd for short and so I spent some time with sheep to true story okay I grew up in a small town was in 4h here's a picture that's me that's a real sheep that's my real hair and and so I just want you to know that you're in good hands as we move through this Shepherd's passage between Philip teller and I we know sheep so let's go all right Psalm 23 a psalm of David the Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want David is saying Jehovah is my shepherd if he was talking about a company he would say God is my CEO if he was a student he say God he's my teacher if he was a gym rat he'd say God is my trainer if he was an athlete he say God is my coach but no he's a shepherd and he says the creator of the heavens and the earth is the one watching over me what do I need and what he makes clear up front is his role and that's your and my role was she sheeps the single most vulnerable animal and the animal kingdom they've got no talons no claws and no fierce teeth right now you see fighting lion like Lions or NFL teams and cougar furs and bears and Jaguars and fighting rainbows but no fighting sheep did you know you know that what happens when a sheep is afraid it falls over it freezes in fear do you know one of the causes of death of a sheep is that it gets casted that means it rolls over on his back and it can't get itself upright and it dies this is a defense I know sad it's a defenseless animal this is you and me you know what it means for survival we have to have a shepherd we're lunch without him like we have no hope without him and so I don't know who God is to you when you came in here if he's a strong tower or mighty fortress or big giant Creator God but Davis ain't no yeah uh I know him I'm with him God is my shepherd he makes me lie down in green pastures this is where this journey takes us this Psalms gonna take us to three places the green lands the valley and the table lands it starts in the green lands there we are in the pasture were surrounded by grass and everything that we need he makes us lay down Phillip Keller said there's four things that a sheep needs in order to lay down there are four things that have to be true one it has to be free from fear that if there's even if they even smell a predator they will remain on their feet or if they smell a wild dog they will scatter it for it for sheep to lay down it has to be free from fear are you afraid of job loss relationships kids what did you what fear did you bring in what's keeping you up at night it has to be free from conflict in fact if there's one angry sheep in the herd all the the herd will stay on its four legs it has to be free from conflict to lay down what conflict are you thinking about as you're driving down the road conversations that you're having in the car it has to be free from parasites and flies he says he likens these to the little inconveniences in life that God has plans for that gets spun up in our head the buzzing around our minds and the fourth thing it has to be free from hunger because when you're focused on what you want you can't rest when you lay down there in your bed and your mind is spinning around the things that you want in fact a sheep will do anything to get to green pastures as sheeps that sheep have literally strangled themselves in a fence trying to get to green grass just striving what are we striving for today do you believe that God would give it to you if it was best he leads me beside quiet waters he restores my soul the other biggest needs of a sheep other than food its water and sheep drink from the the cesspools of their hoofprints where they defecate and they urinate the into the water sits there in the mud and that's what they'll drink from you know why because sheep are afraid of water and I read this and I think is that true sheep are afraid of water why are sheep afraid of water and then I kept reading and it all made sense because they're basically like thirty sweaters with four drumsticks like that's what a sheep is there a sponge they can't swim if they get wet they sink so of course they're afraid of water and especially raging water like river water and so he leads me beside quiet be feeling refreshing water you and I we often drink from the sources that kill us rather than going to the everlasting well of Jesus he guides me in passive Rachel righteousness he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake for whose name's sake for his name's sake he delights and blessing us so that others would know him he's a great Shepherd God God's reputation is on the line in how he cares for the Sheep and so the first point I want to give you from this text is that we're to remember God is our provider remember God is your provider and that there's nothing that you should want to take that he's not giving you there's nothing that you should be you know IMing for or striving for that God's not behind pushing you saying yes take it and sometimes in life like we we in our flesh and in our sinful desires we're seeking something that God doesn't have for us and it says in the scripture that he's a loving father that he seeks to give good things to his children and so you're looking around and you're like but what I have isn't good to which I say then God is not done if what you have is not good then God is not done because what father if you ask him for a loaf of bread is gonna give you a stone and if you ask him for a fish is gonna give you a snake and if that's how your broken sinful earthly father provides for you how much more a shepherd who loves you and lays down his life for you to protect you will provide for you you can trust him he guides you in paths he's directing your paths you don't want to go anywhere that he's not sending you and there's this peace in the will of God in the path of righteousness I want you to say this in your heart God I'm not going anywhere you're not taking me you say that with me I'll say it first God I'm not going anywhere you're not taking me that's right let him lead you guide you in paths want you to say in your heart I'm not in control you're in control I'm not in control you're in control I am shared this a couple years ago and it's just a parable a real-life parable that's ministered to me as a dad when I would go to the grocery stores and my girl we're younger we would get that shopping cart with the the car on the front do you guys know the one the shopping cart with a car on the front and so when it's not flu season you know and I could wipe that thing down I would put him in that shopping cart and we would play this game and the game was simply like where I was the motor and I'd watched him where they turn and I would take them because the steer wills pointless it doesn't do anything but I'd watch them and if they would turn right I take him right and if they would turn left I take him left and it was so fun just to let them go wherever they want and I was committed to going wherever they want so we were bumping into the apples and they're falling down and bumping into the Kellogg's you know but I'm going wherever they want to go and they date for all they know it's a go-kart like they think they're in control but at some point in this game here's what happens they steer right and I take them left and I'd watched my girls just like me gripped the wheel white-knuckle and kind of frustrated and turned as hard as they can right and I'd effortlessly push them left and they're like what happened the go-kart broke you know what's going on well you know and it's like hey sometimes in life we steer right and God takes us right but sometimes in life we steer right and God says no I got to go left why why did I have to go left because I had an agenda called a grocery list do you know what my agenda was see they're all frustrated let me go where I want to go why won't you let me go where I want to go because I want to provide for you you want to eat I got to get some groceries see I'm here for a bigger agenda than you can see in your little car and all you see is your own frustration that I'm not directing you the way that you want to go but I want to give you something good I want to provide for you something good in ways that you can't see even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me you see what just happened the Lord is my shepherd he makes me lie down but now in the valley of the shadow of death you got you it's you and me we're talking like this you are with me your rod your staff they protect me because in the valley that's when we're closest to the Shepherd two for the sheep two you can see here in the valley it is when they are closest to the Shepherd they're walking on paths in the valleys a really scary place because they also are closest to the raging waters also closest to that the the Predators that seek to devour them the Kruegers and the wolves and they live in these cliffs and they're walking right by dependent on the shepherd close to the Shepherd because those things will devour them they seek to steal kill and destroy them and so it's them in the Shepherd your rod and your staff they comfort me I've learned the Shepherd used two tools a rod which is basically like a club a bat if you will to use for killing predators and a staff it's a long pole with a hook like little bo-peep used for correcting them putting that staff on a sheep shoulder to direct their pass they know go this way no go this way so God protects us and corrects us he uses that staff to rescue them if they fall he leaves the 99 and he goes after you do you think you're gonna outrun him no he's God do you think you're gonna move outside of some place where he can't find you no he's God he's gonna cut he's gonna leave the 99 and find you he said that he will and so God our guide he has everything he needs to protect us from evil but JP what if something terrible happens to me but if something terrible happens I mean you're talking about worrying on a plane like what a joke what's wrong with you who scared of flying about eight of you that's who and me but what about the real struggles of life I found myself in a valley this summer and everything was going right ministry was awesome teaching at places traveling getting to speak and what happened in my own heart in my own life is his dependence the thing that that allowed me the privilege to talk about Jesus and to teach from this amazing incredible resource I had moved away from to my own selfish dependence I out man I'm pretty good you know I'll get dressed up and get on that stage and get a microphone and I'm going from place to place and and and I was teaching at a church in Austin and and then some job offers client came in hey you want to take over this church and I just written a book and it was getting published I'm like man this is awesome and then I'm on the way back home from Austin in this church on the West Coast calls one of the largest churches in the world hey can you fill in for our senior pastor I'm like man this is amazing and I go over there to California and I'm staying in a hotel room and I'm laying in that bed and my heart starts beating funny and I felt right and then and I'm not talking about worry I'm talking about waves of anxiety came crashing over my body not afraid of speaking nothing not targeted at anything I had no explanation and I got through the message and I got in a plane I came home and I went to the ER and I'm lying in the hospital bed because he makes you lie down not he lets you lie down not he allows you to lie down he will make you lie down and I sat there and they hooked me up to EKG machines and they're looking at my heart and man you got some PVCs premature ventricular contractions I'm like fix it they're like we can't I'm like what do you mean you can't they like but you can how slow down how do I do that slow down slow down you know the most terrifying thing about the valley I'm sitting there oh my god have you forsaken me where are you I'm praying are you listening what's going on why would you do this to your servant God you want to what what's going on and he felt so far that's the worst thing about the valley is the shepherd felt far but he wasn't far he was the closest he's ever been I can look back and now I know he was the closest he'd ever been that he loved me and he was pursuing me and he was doing something that I couldn't see in the moment I'm just frustrated why are you trying to slow me down because I love you God is your protector number two God is your protector stay close to the shepherd when danger is near I know I want you to know that I understand that we find rest in Jesus I understand that he's our Sabbath I delight in the reality that Jesus has done the work for me but I want you to know that when Jesus was here in his ministry that he gave us a lot of instruction and there's a part that we play in pursuing him getting to know him and so many of us it's like when the the marriage goes off the tracks or something happens to the kid or we find ourselves without a job that's when we're throwing up these Hail Mary prayers you know this like okay God you got to hear me now and he's a stranger to us and that's why it's so important to make the lingering not just something that happens at a conference but it's a daily remembering that what happens tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day you are pursuing that God so that when trouble hits you know he's right there beside you and he's familiar to you and you're just doing more in the trouble that you did yesterday the same things the same activity because there's not crews controlling Christianity it's not like we ever get to this plateau where it's like okay I've made it and now I can stop pursuing god I'm just gonna stay in close relationship with him can I tell you something there's not cruise control in any relationship all relationships take pursuit in some work and I think too often we're trying to get to know him in the challenge I was with my little girl at gymnastics not long ago she was doing gymnastics and it was around Halloween and so the gymnastics place had a haunted house set up now don't think scary haunted house think gymnastics haunted house and uh and I'm sitting there and she runs up to me see like Daddy I went in the haunted house and then it's like was he scary and she was I don't know and I said why not she was because I ran out and I was like well I was like well just go here I'll wait here go through I can't I don't know what's in there just go find out she's like no I'm too scared and so we stood there I walked with her and we stood there though when I say you go I'll wait right here for you just like I can't daddy I can't frozen in fear I'm like you want me to go with you and she's like sure nothing changed in the situation like it's the same exact circumstance only I'm with her like one moment terrified I can't go where I don't want to do it I'm alone oh you'll go sure let's go now if we just could maintain that perspective that God is with us in the valley see we want to get to the tablelands but friends and this is the hard truth sometimes I gotta tell you as we're remembering who God is that I want to get to the table lands but you got to go through the valley it's the way to the table lands it's through this broken world there's cancer disease sickness layoffs infidelity hurts sin hang-ups brokenness hardships I know you want to get to the table him but we got to go through the valley I know we want the blessings but sometimes we have to go through the soft in order to get to the blessings and so I know that when you're going through the turbulence you're wondering hey is God's hands on the wheel and I'm here to tell you that it is his his hands are on the wheel he knows what he's doing if you want to experience the closest of God you walk with him through the valley let me say it again if you want to experience the closeness of God you walk with him through the valley see that's the hard truth about this as so many of us we want an emotional experience we want to feel God we want our hearts to be stirred toward him you know people kind of mean like hey what do I need to do to feel more of God and the Holy Spirit suffer for him because he draws near to those who suffer remember Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they're in the fire oh and there's Jesus and then there's Stephen they're throwing rocks at him till he's gonna die oh there's Jesus Paul says I want to know him and be like him in the Fellowship of his sufferings and be like him in his death I want to know Jesus I want to suffer like him friend I hate I hate that you're in a valley hang on God's not done he's taking you somewhere hang on I came here today to tell you to say hang on and I wouldn't choose the valley I wouldn't have chosen the valley but I know he's taking me somewhere to a blessing so endure the suffering verse 5 you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies shepherds of sheep called a higher land the meso or the table here's a picture it's it's the beautiful place man it's where the green grass is and and and the Shepherd's go to incredible measures to prepare it there's this this flower this plant that grows there called the white kamas and the white canvas is incredibly poisonous to sheep and so before the Sheep get to the table lands the Shepherd has to go in front of them and pick all of those flowers all of those plants all of those weeds so that the sheep can graze freely or they'll lose the herd but once they have once they've prepared it there's no worries there because in the tableland the the Predators they can watch but there's valleys in between they cannot attack a sheep if the Shepherd's there as long as the Shepherd's there a Predator will not come close to it in the tablelands because there's no way for that thing to get escaped there's no way for them to get free and so this is the place where the Sheep can can be free where they can breathe easy where they can enjoy as you prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies my enemies are watching as I enjoy and feast at the Kings table our Shepherd never sleeps you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows Phillip Keller said the sheep's greatest annoyances are little bugs and flies that will buzz around their head this Shepherd goes to such great care to make sure that as sheep are comfortable I don't want anything bothering you I want you to rest here it's a good shepherd God has gone to great lengths to rid your life of worries of this world promising you another world providing for you more than you need surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life not a temporary goodness but an everlasting goodness following you like a shadow looking behind you oh there's goodness and love yours might say goodness and mercy there they are right behind me following me everywhere I go and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever the realization that our Shepherd is good and he's taking us to a place where we will be with him in close proximity in intimacy with him forever and ever and ever and ever this is this is what we're moving towards and we get to start living with that hope today my girls were talking to my son when he was three and they were they were teaching him about heaven this is his first introduction to heaven when he's three and they said Weston you want to go to heaven and he's like no oh and they're like no it's amazing it's like Disney World and he's like you're trying to trick me I'm not going there and and they're like no you want to go there there's lots of chocolate if you want to go to heaven he's like no I don't want to go there I don't want to go there he starts crying and they start panicking they're like Weston a pasta sighs no he didn't and they didn't say that word I'm kidding and uh and I'm like guys calm down he doesn't know what it is he doesn't know what it is Weston Weston if you knew what heaven was you'd of course want to go there you haven't Weston if you knew what heaven was you do anything you could to get there you'd sell everything you have to get there if you knew what it was and I heard this little voice inside of me say do you know what it is do you know what it is remember God is a prodigal father a third point remember God is a prodigal father this requires some explaining because when you hear prodigal you think prodigal son what does it mean reckless what does it mean run away what does prodigal mean here's how prodigal this this is you know Tim Keller wrote a book on this a different Keller Tim Keller wrote a book prodigal God on this idea and so the the prodigal son is called the prodigal son because he spent lavishly then he was making the point Keller was that God is a prodigal God spins lavishly on us that here's the definition having or giving something on a lavish scale spending lavishly God is a prodigal father he gives us a lavish dwelling place his goodness and love it follows us today and you can think may God is big and he's sovereign and he's powerful but if he doesn't love you it doesn't matter and he loves you he's crazy about you he goes to great lengths to try to show you that he loves you and sometimes and I love these moments sometimes he just gives you those little reminders here and I hope that happens for you here at linger I hope I were worshiping you just get a little bit of a reminder that he's good and that he loves you too guys know what I'm talking about those moments in life where everything is maybe you're on vacation maybe the Sun is setting perfectly over an ocean maybe you're walking through the forest and the Sun is coming through and you can feel the warmth as it is it breaks through the branches and the you know the leaves are breaking under your feet and everything is right and you you inhale and exhale it's just all is right in the world those moments where you just experience true joy for a moment that's a preview that's God just saying hey this is what's to come forever and ever and ever it's just a preview it's just the taste it's a sample he wants you to know something he says hey I love you I love you I'm crazy about you how do you know and how do I know you love me my daughter Finley she wants a puppy more than anybody has ever wanted anything in existence this little girl wants a puppy and there's a problem with that Monica and I we see pets different dogs different like sheave used them as an extension of the family you know that they sleep in bed with you that kind of thing and I view them as dogs and so we had outside dogs growing up and and so we sytem signed a prenuptial agreement that we would never have dogs because we just don't see eye to eye and and there's no way my little girl you know she wants a dog but there's no way I'm gonna be able to give her a dog like it's just not gonna happen you're not getting a dog every day daddy I'd really want a puppy daddy this friend got a puppy her daddy really loves her you know and and you're not gonna get a puppy you're not gonna get a puppy but I love my daughter and I delight when she delights and so I did somehow this crazy thing I mean by supernatural strength got her a puppy for Christmas I know I know pray for me and uh and we did the box and the bow and everything and in that moment and and then the next day it was like what did I do I got you a puppy you know and wahoo and-and-and and now you know you got to take care of a puppy and they're a lot of work and and and so I told her one day I said hey the other day actually I said you ever want to know if you ever wonder like if you're ever just going through life and you're like man does my daddy love me you look at that dog you look at that puppy and you know that I love you I made a sacrifice for you I set my desires aside for you and God says you ever want to know if I love you you look at the cross would you look at the cross you see and I'm crazy about you I'll climb mountains for you run through walls for you bustin doors for you I'll go Liam Neeson on taking for you like I will leave I'm gonna get you I'm crazy about you ok I love you so wait what hi I would kill for you I would die for you I did you want to know if I love you look at the cross David David wrote this he's a shepherd anointed wented his king in 1st Samuel 16 like can you imagine shepherd didn't have voting rights in the pasture equivalent today of like someone who had no place to live smelt like sheep the Cinderella story same dough comes hey there we got to find a king is that this one is that this one is that this one is that this one is this one no there's nobody left oh there's the one in the field it's him he's anointed king but you know what he does then he goes back to tending to the sheep and then he goes and he plays the harp in Saul's Court he's got to be walking around the palace like this is my palace but I'll just serve the king and then he saw the armor bearer like he's in this he's risking his life caring Armour for the king it's really gonna be his armor like this is the role that he's playing but he's just trusting in an act of humility because God is my provider no he's my shepherd I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters he restores my soul he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake and even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Goliath I'm not gonna be afraid because you're with me and you checked me and you correct me and you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows and surely goodness and surely love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in your house forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and so when I'm in a cave with this guy who hates me and wants to kill me I don't need to kill him and when there's a guy in the land who's twice my side blaspheming and an entire army who's afraid give me a rock for your name's sake for your name's sake so remember John 10 Jesus said very truly I tell you I'm the gate for the Sheep all who have come before me are thieves and robbers but the Sheep have not listened to them I'm the gate whoever enters through me will be saved they will come in and go out and find pasture the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy I have come that they may have life and have it to the full I am The Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep David knew the shepherd he knew the Shepherd I want you to remember that Jesus is your provision I want you to remember that Jesus is your protection and I want you to remember that Jesus is proof of a prodigal father I got over my fear of flying healed from it not afraid to fly get on a plane worryfree the way that it happened people always say Manhattan did that happen I wrote next to a pilot one day on a plane he was sitting back there and I just was asking a lot of questions I'm like man I guess this thing's safe you're like yeah man it's say it would mean this is safe I think I just don't like to fly you know and he goes oh yeah it's safe I'm like dude you know aren't you ever afraid the wings gonna fall off a true I've really asked he said how many times you've read the news and like oh there's a plane in the wing just fell off and he's like these these wings can go straight up and he started telling me about the plane but but then he started telling me about the pilot he said you know these guys they used to fly fighter jets and Mach speeds you know I said I said well when you hit bumps are you worried she said worried he said we're having fun I said come on you're not having fun he said that's the only part of our job that's remotely interesting like like these things fly themselves from one place to another sometimes we get to hit some bumps and actually like grab the will and move to another place like the rest of it it's on autopilot he's like we're having a blast up there like you're really having fun he's having a blast he said besides you know how many times those guys have flown like next time you get on a plane you look at the pilot especially a commercial airline you look at the pilot look at his gray hair look at the stripes on his sleeves that represents tens of thousands of hours maybe hundreds of thousands of hours flying that piece of metal from one place to another you're a bump on his agenda like his resume is flawless the fact that you see him means he's never read like he's he's got you you know and I'm like really and he's like yeah these things they pretty much fly themselves like you've got nothing to worry about he said hey just look at their resume I want you to remember that God God's created everything you see he breathed it into existence you remember when his people were caught up in slavery he rescued them what he did was he parted the sea and he made a way for them and then he delivered their enemies to them and he unlocks wombs and he provides water from Iraq and he provides manna from heaven and he brought down the walls of Jericho he frozed the Sun allowing victory he's toppled Giants with tiny stones he's brought fire from heaven he shut the mouths of lions he preserved life in the belly of a well he's fed thousands with the few loaves he gives the weak strength he heals the sick he's made the blind see the Deaf hear the mute speak the lame walk and he's overcome evil and he's made a way through death for you and me by the death and the resurrection as his son Jesus Christ that we will live with him forever we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever and ever and ever what are we afraid of his resume is flawless he controls everything and he loves you he's crazy about you he's got a plan for you he's a good Shepherd let me pray don't then we're gonna worship my father you have saved a wretch like me giving us life after life father I have a son Weston you know him I don't want to lose him I can't think of a person I would lose him for not one we got that you would give your son for me that you would give your son for these people while we were yet sinners you died for us father you're our Shepherd what do we want you make us lie down in green pastures they just beside still waters god restore ourselves or would you guide us in passive righteousness for your name's sake and we are in the valley of the shadow of death would you remind us that you're protecting us watching over us that you prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies that you care about our comfort you love us that much we have more than we could ever need our cup overflows and you surround us with goodness we just need to look around us even now and love and we get to dwell in your house forever at your table forever at the wedding feast forever we get to be with you forever with Jesus forever cut why thank you thank you you

Channel: lingerconference

Views: 2,893

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: -Ak4jIpAA80

Length: 47min 14sec (2834 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 06 2018