Where Everybody Knows Your Name - Louie Giglio

for the next few weeks we're going to be talking about this idea of every body the reason why is because we've been praying lord how do you want us to shepherd the flock you know that's what first peter says that those of us who are in leadership in the church that jesus is building that's what we do ultimately we shepherd the flock and so as we're shepherding this flock through a crazy season we are being the church there you know is a small pocket of voices that are saying you know when is the church going to be back and when is the church going to be open i'm like this church is open the church is open the church that jesus is leading is moving across planet earth right now in our house we love the great assembly but the great assembly hasn't been an option right now but it didn't slow us down from being the church we've had to flex and flow same wine but new wine skins in the last few months we have married people and we've buried friends and buried our family that's what the church is about we've walked with families through the nicu and we've walked with families through icu we've walked with families through covet and we've walked with families through crisis we've called we've texted we've reached out to literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people with a personal touch we have fed families facilitated testing finished a gathering and an equipping site at cumberland for crying out loud we have built a new gathering location during a pandemic we have helped with counseling and done a lot of counseling we have helped pay bills and we've helped people find jobs we swept up after damage was done in our city and we've helped businesses that were damaged get back on their feet again we have facilitated online connection points for the entire planet for kids for students and young adults for community groups and family groups and connect groups we have created resources and created content we've created daily devotions bible studies launched an entire new season of mentoring through flourish we are getting ready to host our first online grove event we have prayed we have planned we have praised god in our parking lots we haven't stopped being the church and so the one thing we haven't done right now is gather in big jam-packed in-person gatherings but that's not stopping us from being the church and it actually may help us be more of the church that god is envisioning us to be it doesn't mean we won't be back can't wait till we're back we miss being back there'll be a moment where uh the churches jam where arenas are jammed where stadiums are jammed those moments are coming but before they arrive maybe this is our opportunity in our moment to become more of the church that god is envisioning become that true community of faith that happens both in the gathering and it happens outside the gathering so we've been praying we've got 2020 still rolling unresolved as it is we don't know all the answers and it's not clear exactly what the path is but we're saying lord as we shepherd this flock and lead these people where do you want us to go and what do you want us to do and the word that just wouldn't leave my heart was the word everybody so there are a lot of people on the other side of the lens right now there is a gathered church all over planet earth right now tens of thousands and and then the aggregate millions of people being in church but the word on our hearts right now for this season is everybody you say well what do you mean when you say everybody this is what we're talking about we want everybody that calls passion city church home we want them to be found in a circle of community growth and accountability we want to know that you're in church not just in a big gathering we want you to know you're a part of church we want you to know we want to know that you're in the word we want to know that you're in a good place with god we want to know that you're in a good place with people and we want to know that you're in a good place in life and that happens when you're found in a circle so that everybody finds their place at passion city church everybody finds their place in the family of god you know in that circle that you matter to god you know that you matter to us at passion city church and through what happens in that circle you know that you matter as god uses you to the city and you matter to the world this is church and we want to make sure coming out of 2020 that people are connected into circles of community growth and accountability and if everybody gets in that zone passion city church is going to come back into gatherings stronger than we were when we left the gatherings and that's the goal of the next few months ahead everybody finding their place to put it in terms that jesus might have used as he was teaching in the gospels we want you to see yourself as a healthy sheep in a well-kept flock with a good shepherd we want you to envision your life spiritually and otherwise as a healthy sheep in a well-kept flock with a good shepherd jesus summed it all up in john 10 27 when he said my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me three simple phrases but so much packed in he said i have sheep so it's about everybody yes there's a flock but i know the sheep my sheep they hear my voice over the clutter and in the fray and with all the confusion and all the noise and all the voices they hear my voice and they follow me that kind of relationship and opportunity is on the table for everybody everybody through christ can know the good shepherd and be led by him in life in another place in john chapter 10 he says these sheep of mine they'll go in and they'll go out and they'll find pasture in other words they'll come in to the house they'll go out into the world and they'll find what we're all looking for that place where we know that we're cared for where we're fed where things are in order where our lives are what they were supposed to be and somebody's going to lead your life today somebody's going to lead my life we talked about it when we talked about psalm 23 the lord is my shepherd david said well that's a declaration of who his shepherd is but it doesn't matter whether it's the lord you've got a shepherd every one of us is being led today by some body and jesus is on the scene today he's saying i'm the good shepherd and my sheep i know them they hear my voice and they follow me so my first question today is is the good shepherd leading my life jesus opens all this up for us in john chapter 10 and i want to take just a moment to read the whole passage even though it's a little bit lengthy it'll do your heart good today john chapter 10 beginning in verse 1 and you have to put yourself in the mindset of someone in the day of jesus a lot of us are not shepherd people we're not sheep people we're not agricultural people and we're not around the animal community but these people lived in that mindset so they were envisioning what jesus was trying to say john chapter 10 verse 1 he says i tell you the truth the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber the man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep the watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice he calls his own sheep check it out by name that means everybody matters in the economy of god and he leads them out when he has brought out all of his own he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice but they will never follow a stranger in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice i tell you the truth down in verse 7 i am the gate for the sheep all who ever came before me were thieves and robbers but the sheep did not listen to them i am the gate whoever enters through me jesus said will be saved he will come in and go out and find pasture the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy but 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 the hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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 jesus said 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 i lay my life down for the sheep i have other sheep that are not of this sheep hen 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 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 and authority to take it up again this command i received from my father jesus is giving us a picture of what church can be yes there's a flock yes there's a gathering yes there's all of us in christ but there's also this individuality this this sense of being known by god and led by him the sense of being cared for and then there's two pictures in the equation there's a good shepherd and there's the hired hand and you don't want to be led by the hired hand and the the way we know today whether or not jesus is leading us and whether he's shepherding us as we just check the meters in our heart you check the fear meter you check the want meter you check the stress meter you you check the hurry meter and if they're off the chart in the red then you know the hired hand is probably in the equation doesn't really care about you doesn't have your best interest at heart doesn't have your well-being in mind just hustling to do a job and to make a buck and you're expendable in the equation but jesus said if i'm in the equation you can trust things are going to go well and here's how you're really going to know i'm going to lay down my life for the sheep see see in in in psalm 23 says the lord is my shepherd i shall not want so if my want meter is off the chart today like i need one of these and if i can get that and this works out and i can can accomplish this and add on that then things are going to be good and i'm going to feel more peaceful more restful more successful in my heart that's your want meter going off the chart and it lets you know that you're not in touch with a good shepherd who's already given everything he has for you to show you that he cares for you that he's trustworthy that he's going to lead you and you're always going to find yourself going in and out in good pasture with that shepherd if you're afraid if anxiety is running the show it just is letting you know that somebody else is shepherding you some other voice is shepherding you psalm 23 makes me lie down in a green pasture i've been studying about sheep and sheep will not lie down they they do not want to lie down unless a few things are true for them the shepherd i was reading said four things have to be true they have to know they have safety they have to know they have food they have to be free of any irritants and by that meaning that there's not gnats or parasites or something that's uh you know being aggravating to them and fourthly there has to be a sense of peace in the flock there cannot be uh another sheep in the fold that's going at it with them they'll never lie down so for him to make us lie down in green pasture he has to say i'm gonna protect you i'm gonna feed you i'm gonna make sure the irritants aren't gonna get at you and i'm gonna establish peace between you and the people around you because i'm a good shepherd and that's the way i work if i hurry meet her i gotta i gotta rush to this and rush to that and i'm always exasperated about everything if that's off the chart it just is letting us know we heard the wrong voice somebody else let us out somebody else let us in and we might not have made it to good pasture after all it's uh like me going up the matterhorn i've talked about that a lot but uh i i went to vermont mark and i are training to go up this formidable mountain and we're doing some training on site when we get to zermatt and he has a guide that he's hired i have a guide that i've heard they're swiss mountaineers they've been up the matterhorn hundreds of times they they know the way and they're giving us some technical training and some mental training on on lower elevations before we go up the summit and i love my guide he is about my size actually a little shorter than me he's kind-hearted he acts like he cares for me and likes me we have a good rapport our chemistry as we're doing our climbing routines is good and he's assuring me the whole time louis you're going to make it you're going to make it up that mountain just one foot in front of the other that's all we're going to do just one foot in front of the other and we're going to be at the top and then we're going to be back down again and i'm like i really am starting to believe this guy so we go up the night before our summit and we're sleeping at the hornley hut way up on the matterhorn and we're waiting for our guides to arrive and a little bit later into the night uh mark's guide shows up and i'm like where's my guide and he goes i'm sorry to tell you your guide got sick and he's not gonna be able to guide you tomorrow and i'm like uh oh not good he goes no but we got a replacement guide and and he's a boss i mean he he knows all these mountains like the back of his hand he's as good as they come you're gonna be in great hands and i'm like okay that's that's good to know um so he comes later in the night don't meet him to the morning and so we don't even have a chance to really get to know each other but i find out uh in the process that he got called in on short notice he's supposed to guide another guy on another mountain in the alps the next day so he's got to get me up get me down get back to zermatt get to zurich get somewhere else get to another mountain and get another guy ready to go up something else tomorrow so his whole mentality is i gotta get you up and down as fast as humanly possible and the best news of all this new guide was six feet four and you're like what does that have to do with anything it means that when he put his foot up to the first place he was gonna go as you're going up the matter hornet it was about like me trying to put my foot on the top of this table right here it was just like i don't think my foot goes up there and i'm not really sure how this is going to work and so we get out early in the morning there's a little huddle for the maybe 50 60 folks that are summiting this day in the front of the hornley hut it's a required little meet-up we slip out the back don't even go to the meet-up because he wants to get a head start on everybody we're out in pitch dark he disappears 120 feet of rope up says when i get up there you'll feel me tug the rope and then you just go where i went and i mean his first step is like eye level to me bam bam bam bam and i'm like oh no and all day long and i owe this guy my life by the way if you ever see this and hear it i love you thank you shelley thanks you um passion city church thanks you you did in fact saved my life but come on man you're stride unbelievable and i couldn't my little legs i mean it just wasn't working and the whole time it was like we got to go we got to go we got to go we got to go we got to go we gotta hurry we gotta hurry i gotta get you up i gotta get you down i gotta get somewhere else i got something else to do and some of you hearing that right now you're like that's exactly what my life feels like right now i feel like i can't keep up all the strides are too big the the holes are out of out of my reach it feels like everything is it's just a day late it feels like everything is a rush it feels like everything is a stretch and everything is a strain and it may be it may be because the good shepherd isn't in the equation it's not his voice that you're following maybe some hired person who's just temporarily in the scene somebody you're in a relationship with or somebody you went into business with or somebody that you started listening to or somebody that you invited into your circle and they're not really looking out for your long-term best case scenario it's just a lot of push and pull to get it done you're sort of like a commodity in their equation and today is a day to say you know what i want to come back to this idea of being a healthy sheep in a well-kept flock with a good shepherd i want to hear his voice i want to know that he knows me and i want to follow jesus the one who lays down his life for the sheep and the way that this happens in in our world is when you find yourself in a circle yes connected to the shepherd but knowing that the shepherd wants to put you in a flock that christianity and church work not when you're just soloing out here and popping into a few online messages and when possible a few online gatherings thinking i'm in church or i'm a part of church i went last sunday and i might go next sunday and not realizing that somehow you are not growing the way god wants you to be growing you're not serving the way god wants you to be serving and you're not experiencing the power the miraculous power of the kingdom of god in your life all the while in church but somehow possibly getting lost in the crowd and then when there wasn't a crowd to get lost in anymore you were just lost and the best way to keep from getting lost in a crowd is to be found in a circle to be found in community with other people where you can grow and have accountability and become everything god wants you to be it's kind of like going to a football game you know it's like how do you not get lost in a stadium of 90 000 people well for one thing you recognize some people that you went to school with or some people that you knew from work and and it's a surrounding that you've been in before but how do you not get lost in a stadium with 60 70 90 100 120 000 people in it well the way you don't get lost is because of the tailgate that you had before the game you you texted your friends everybody knew the spot everybody brought what they were supposed to bring you showed up at the appropriate time and there were people that you know maybe a few new people in the mix you met some people that you didn't know before but this was your crew this is our tailgate this is our circle if you will this is the people that i know so now when we go from the tailgate into the stadium i don't feel lost in the stadium because i've got my people maybe the game ends and we end up back at the tailgate post game and that's what church looks like it's not just showing up at buildings it's not just saying i want to be in the crowd it's saying before we got to the gathering i had my circle and after the gathering i had my circle i love the great assembly but i also want to be known and included in what god is doing and that's the way god intended it from the beginning when the church was born we see this in acts chapter 2. when the church was born it was about everybody it wasn't for a select few super spiritual people who got in a little bible study huddled together and did a deep dive into some of the text and really came to understand the things of god when the church was born it was an everybody idea you see it in the very beginning of acts 2 and you see it at the end it says when the day of pentecost came they were all together in one place suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest look at this on what on each of them now it wasn't well we're going to send fire from heaven and oh you're going to get some fire and oh maybe you'll get some fire and oh you look spiritual you'll get a little bit of fire no the tongues separated and came to rest on everybody and then look at the next verse all of them every single one of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other languages as the spirit enabled them now this particular miracle as you know the gospel was going to be preached that day to people from all over the known world in their own languages by people who didn't speak their languages and god didn't say hey this is going to be amazing watch out today tom over here is going to be able to speak to people from northern africa in their language and it's going to be an amazing miracle no it was like everybody's going to be involved today we're going to proclaim the gospel to the whole world today right here in jerusalem and everybody is going to be a part of it because this kingdom this gospel this miracle is for every body god wants you to be involved he wants you to know that through christ you have access to all the promises through christ you have access to all the power through christ you have access to the plans and the purposes of god it's not for the minister for the pastor for the church leader for the super spiritual door holder to do the stuff everybody has access to the promises everybody has access to the power and everybody has access to the purpose of god we see it at the end of the chapter now the church is born the gospels preached thousands of people get saved we're like no we want to just keep it small and do a little thing over here on the side no this gospel was preached and thousands of people put their faith in jesus on day one we're a part of an exploding mission but how does that mission survive it survives when everybody finds their place in the family of god look how the chapter ends in verse 42 they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer every one keyword everybody was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles all the believers just underscored again everybody all the believers were together they had everything in common selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising god and enjoying the favor of all the people and the lord added to their number daily those who were being saved so is it temple courts or breaking bread in homes yes is it the great assembly or is it a circle yes is it coming together and packing out gatherings or is it gathering with two or three other believers and saying let's go deep in our faith let's get in god's word let's get in prayer together and let's do something together to change the city the answer is yes god is all about the great assembly and he's all about gathering together in the temple courts but he wants you to find your place in a circle a community where you can grow and have accountability and become everything he wants you to become and when this happens in both sides of the equation the tailgate and the stadium are all working together the church is stronger than it's ever been and we have made this subtle shift of saying hey if i just show up to the big thing i'm good and then i can go do my thing and live my life and you know go my own way that is not the way christianity works that's not the way the church was born that is not god's plan and intention for you his plan is for you to be in a circle and in that circle to find god and to grow in god like never before and if you you're saying today well you know i feel like i'm pretty good i'm i'm watching a talk online occasionally i got my worship music i got a new christian book that i just got on amazon and you know i've got a couple friends will encourage me occasionally and we text back and forth i think i'm good i don't really know that i need to get in a circle well i want to encourage you some reasons why you need the circle some reasons why the circle is what the good shepherd wants for you number one jesus is in the circle it says in matthew 18 20 wherever two or three are gathered in my name i am there in their midst now that obviously doesn't mean that i can't be out on my own anywhere on planet earth and be in fellowship with god it just means that the way community is derived the way the flock is established is that two or more gather not in some name or for some cause but gather in the name of jesus he's there in the midst it doesn't mean he's not somewhere else it just means there's a way to know him that's more powerful when you're in the community of other people who know him that's why the shepherd doesn't just say i had a sheep and i i led my sheep and we were good i took my sheep in and i took my sheep out and my sheep had pasture no he said i'm putting my sheep in a flock why because it'd be good for me as a shepherd hello if the sheep reproduce it would be good for me as a shepherd if the flock stays strong it would be good for me as a shepherd if we had some little lambs and so this whole idea and picture and beauty of the shepherd is from to say it's not just about me and you it's about me and you in a flock like you so that you can be strong and ultimately strong enough to reproduce where there's another believer because of you and then another believer because of that believer and then there's some baby believers and the flock stays strong and the flock grows what if this was our prayer 2020 we don't know all of what's coming for the rest of this year but we want to be this acts 2 church we want god's favor and we want god to add somebody to our church who has put their faith in jesus every single day oh it's wednesday great who put their faith in jesus today thursday good news someone put their faith in jesus friday yep somebody put their faith in jesus every day every week every month somebody is standing on the promise of jesus accepting the invitation of a good shepherd and therefore the church is growing what happened to your church when you couldn't gather for six months seven months eight months uh well we got stronger we when we came back together it turns out there were more of us than when we split apart come come to find out when we came back together we were stronger than when we last saw each other come to find out church isn't all about the gathering although we missed the gathering church is about gathering with other believers and going stronger deeper and faster together in christ and then seeing other people coming along in our flock jesus is in the circle if you if you want to experience fully experienced jesus get in a circle with some other people so the question over all this is starting to rise up right who's in your circle no no not well my husband you know we're together my my neighbor my best friend no who who's in your circle who's in there with you or maybe another question is there anybody you're noticing right now who needs a circle and you're not just looking out for you but you're thinking i wonder if i could help create a circle for them second reason why the circle is important because in the circle everybody knows your name you know i remember way back in the day i loved being old for stuff like the 80s don't you love the 80s if you got to live through that and in the 80s there was a pretty popular television show and i mean just a little signature of the theme song everybody would know it instantly in fact it goes like this you [Music] okay what is uh any millennials know this you're like louie we have access to the internet and youtube we know these things cheers took over america and the world in the 80s why because they created a place you say it where everybody knows your name doesn't matter what walk of life you walk into cheers and you're known and this is a picture of what community looks like and it's a picture of what church is supposed to be the chorus we can all sing along i think we can do this can we just drop in there everybody knows oh come on you you didn't sing with the worship but you can sing with us at home i love the 80s people are rising up right now [Music] it's pretty powerful cheers where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came see there are people that know your name but they're not glad you came so there's a couple things going on there that we want to see happen in the circle but then check this out you want to be where you can see that our troubles are all the same see that's everybody that's getting in there in life and going oh i'm not the only one struggling we're not we're not the only people that are having a hard time in this area we're we're not defective turns out there's other defective people and i can see that now because i'm not isolated over here trying to compare myself to everything on social media i've actually got people in the circle who care for me and they know my name we we strive for that at a gathering we actually have people in our gatherings that are looking for people so that we can learn your name even in a gathering of thousands of people but in a circle everybody knows your name you don't need a name tag everybody knows when you walk through the door and hopefully they're glad you came the third thing that happens in a circle is your understanding of god grows in the circle you're like no i can grow with god just fine all by myself well the scripture gives a different perspective and i love how it says it in this specific place in ephesians chapter 3. for this reason i kneel before the father from whom this whole you see it family in heaven and on earth derives its name i pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power he's like that's what i want through his spirit and your inner being so that christ may dwell on your hearts through faith and i pray that you being rooted and established in love check out verse 18. it may have power here it is together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of christ and know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god that text is telling you that you're not going to comprehend the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of god's love for you and the world by yourself that happens together with all the saints it happens in community it happens in a circle the fourth thing that happens in a circle is that you're cared for and you care for others and as a shepherd over our flock that's my number one concern and it's our team's number one concern we just want everybody to know that we care and we want everyone to be cared for so how do thousands of people get cared for people say all the time i don't want to go to a big church i want to go somewhere where i'm known i want to go somewhere where people know my name i want to go somewhere where i can be cared for and i say well you don't have to pick between a big church and a little church because there can be little church inside big church and that actually makes big church more powerful when there's an amazing little church inside of it when there's tailgate before the game in a tailgate after the game you get both the game and you get to tailgate and you get to church and the gospel and the explosion of acts 2 and you get the community that we all crave and you get cared for so in a circle you care and people care for you you don't just show up and say let me tell you my story you show up and listen to other people's stories so maybe this week it's all about somebody praying for you but next week it's all about you praying for somebody else this week they're meeting your need but next week you're understanding somebody else's need and you don't have to have a plan or a program or a degree or permission you're like i know she has a need i can meet that need i'm going to meet that need i've been cared for i'm going to care for somebody else i've been served i'm going to serve somebody else and you know how that happens it doesn't happen in a big gathering there's not a moment in a big gathering hardly ever where you go oh i see betty over there i'm going to care for her no that happens in a circle where you're cared for and you care for other the fifth thing that happens is you learn to defer in love look how paul goes on in chapter four as a prisoner for the lord then i urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received be completely humble and gentle my goodness can we just broadcast that to the world be completely humble and gentle gentleness by the way is a fruit of the holy spirit so you know the shepherd's leading and you know the spirit is operating when there's a spirit of gentleness it doesn't mean that you don't hold fast to truth it just means that you operate in that truth and out of that truth with a spirit of gentleness on your life why is that important because we're all in process why is that important because you're going to be in circles with people you don't agree with why is that important because your neighbor is not going to see it the way you see it why is that important because we're all coming to understanding under the head of jesus under the authority of the scriptures we're all seeing things differently so as we're operating under christ and connected to christ in our circle we want to defer to people in love so we're going to be completely humble and gentle and then look what it goes on to say be patient bearing with one another make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is over all and through all and in all [Music] and what our tendency is going to be is to create a circle with all people who think like us look like us believe like us but the flock won't grow unless you're willing to be in a circle with some people who don't see it the way you see it that doesn't mean that every opinion is equal it doesn't mean that everybody's view of god is the same everyone is invited to the table of the lord but it is the lord's table jesus says whosoever will may come everyone and everybody can come to the table of mercy and grace but you got to remember it's his table and so he's going to set the pace and serve the meal he's going to create the atmosphere and teach everybody the manners he's going to do the transforming and the changing and he's going to get all the glory but in the process of that there's got to be some deferring in love if the flock is going to grow if more people are going to come to know jesus if more people are going to be saved repent turn change their lives experience jesus be forgiven be changed be filled by the spirit and be raised up to brand new life there's going to have to be some deferring in love there's going to have to be some humbling and there's going to have to be some gentleness in the equation and i believe that happens best in a circle number six it happens in a circle you put down roots it's very unlikely that without a circle of growth and accountability that you're actually going to develop the kind of root necessary to produce the fruit that you want we all want the fruit but you just gotta look around and say who's digging down and putting in the root oh i want my life to be this i want god to do this i want this favor on my life i i want to end up in this place and you're like yeah that's all great but you understand you have to put a root down to get that fruit right and that's happening in a circle that's what we read just above so here we are i pray that you talking about you guys together will be rooted and established in love that's in this community together and then lastly in the circle you're covered and you're accountable you know accountability is one of those words we don't like we're like i don't like accountability i don't want anybody checking up on me i don't want it you know i can get into legalism real fast and i don't want any of that in my life and i just kind of you know i'm doing good i don't really need anybody like prying but accountability if you think about it it just means count ability that there's somebody there that says you matter there's somebody there that says i know you there's somebody there that says this is for everybody there somebody there who says hey all these promises these are for everybody man and you can access all these promises all this power you can access this power this purpose of god on planet earth you're supposed to be a part of that man you're counted in with all of us and you're covered here that's why i think crossfit was such a thing i'm saying such a thing like it isn't a thing all of its various forms now that have sprung up across the culture it's all now about the circle it's not that there aren't places where there are two football fields wide of individual workout stations those exist still but the pendulum swung towards accountability i'm going to go to a place to a box i'm going to get in a crew i'm going to have people my name's going to be on the wall i'm going to be in the computer system my workouts are going to be logged in everybody's going to have access to my results and everybody's going to be there covering me in the process so if i'm straining for something i've never reached for before they're going to be two other people there to make sure i don't have a wipeout if i do pass out or throw up on the floor there's going to be somebody there to grab a drink of water there's going to be a covering for me there and there's going to be accountability for me there and you just talk to people the results come in the circle that's not to say there's not a lot of lone rangers out there that have gone and run a thousand miles and done an amazing workout but for the average person there's got to be a circle and there has to be people there has to be somebody who counts them they have to become accountable and that's what the good shepherd is all about this picture that jesus gave doesn't really light you and me up most of us we've never been around cheap pens we don't know a lot about that process and when you're thinking sheet pen you're maybe thinking like me it's a split rail fence or it's post with a with a wire fence in between and you can see in and see the sheep but when jesus said sheep pen his listener immediately knew what he meant he was talking about a fortified structure stone walls as high as a person something that a sheep definitely couldn't jump over and something that would maybe cause a wolf to think twice about trying to jump in and that pin of stone walls would have a tiny opening just big enough for a sheep to get in and the sheep would come in one by one and they would go out one by one oftentimes multiple flocks would come in at night to the same pen and then the next day the shepherd would go out and he would say all right guys we're rolling team team louie here we go and all of team louis would go hey that's our shepherd we know his voice and he knows us and we follow him so we're rolling out the other sheep would go we don't know that voice we don't know that shepherd we're gonna hang out till we hear our shepherd's voice and then all the sheep would go out they would go to good pasture because the shepherd would go ahead and then when they would come back in the shepherd would stand at the gate and check them in there is so and so there is so and so there is so and so they all have names i'm inspecting them i'm checking them out i'm making sure they're healthy they don't have any issues i need to attend to i'm making sure they look good feel good and i'm counting them in so that at the end of the day all my sheep are in the pen [Music] and then the shepherd he wouldn't close the gate and go get dinner he was the gate so he would crouch down or lie down in the opening rod in hand keeping watch through the night wolf comes coyote comes this is the way in and you ain't coming through here the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep in that circle that's where he gets to do that for you but he's doing that for you all over the board today it's jesus saying do you know my voice because i know your name can you hear my voice if you can follow it because the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy he'll run you ragged it'd be that picture like jesus said when he came into jerusalem and he he wept over the city and he said look at him they look like sheep without a shepherd so harried and frazzled don't know which way to go they need a good shepherd who can lead them in and lead them out and they can find pasture and i want to be that good shepherd for you i was studying that gate and i came across this sort of bible video if you haven't been to the middle east or you haven't been around shepherds anywhere in the world you don't know this picture it just did something for my heart to see it and know that that's my jesus taking care of me so i want you to just watch this little short clip and i'm going to come back and pray for us [Music] [Music] [Music] so you have a place in the family of god you have a shepherd [Music] he's putting under shepherds in your life but you have the good shepherd and you have a place with him in the family of god but you have to step in you got to find the tailgate and you you can't just substitute uh you know i'm not sure i'm ever going back to church i watch five different churches online every sunday and it's amazing i watch this guy and watch that person watch this church that's not church and i can say that because we're one of the ones you're watching that's good it's teaching it's encouraging but that's not a good shepherd leading you in by the narrow gate jesus said that narrow gate leads to life it does when you put your trust in him for salvation he is the gate that leads to eternal life but he also leads you through that narrow gate every decision of life to life and he wants to lead you today [Music]

Channel: Passion City Church

Views: 20,144

Rating: 4.8654432 out of 5

Keywords: louie giglio, passion city church worship, louie giglio sermons, passion city, giglio louie, city church, passion, giglio, passion city church sermons, Atlanta, passion church, louis giglio, cumberland, temptations, live church, live worship, live worship songs, live worship music, live worship songs 2020, passion city online sunday gathering, where everybody knows your name, everybody, louie giglio messages, Worship Matters, W2O2R2S2H2I2P

Id: j2cC6TShiiM

Length: 50min 22sec (3022 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 14 2020