Sermons @ Shepherd

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus lays it all all down, his entire being and essence. The Good Shepherd places people, principles, and God above all else. We are in need of a Good Shepherd to guide us in these troubling times. John 10:11-16.

When life is difficult, complicated, confusing, we need a good shepherd. The hired hands are only in it for themselves, but the Good Shepherd lays down everything for the sheep. We follow the Good Shepherd by being open, knowing each other, and being good shepherds ourselves.

Jesus says "I am the gate for the sheep." As both sheep and shepherds, our focus should be on the gate - Jesus himself - so that he might show us how to follow and lead.

Gates are often used in our modern society to keep others out. When Jesus says "I am the (sheep) gate", he speaks not as a barrier to God, but as the way to abundant life. John 10:1-10.

The Gospel of John begins with light. In the story of the healing of the blind man from John 9, Jesus notices the blind man, just as he notices us. When Jesus is the light of the world, our mission is to do the works of God by shining that light of Christ into the world.

Often when we see the suffering of others, we want to find blame or fault. Jesus is only concerned with compassion. Jesus is the light of the world, the God that we can see.

What does it mean to entrust our lives to God? We are often good at trusting ourselves but entrusting ourselves into God's hands seems scary. Hear what Jesus says about trusting our lives to him. John 6:29-35.

It's easy to say "Jesus is the bread of life", but much more difficult to say "Jesus is the bread of MY life." When Jesus becomes the bread of our lives, only then is it possible for us to love our neighbors with no exceptions.

We might share with a friend or workmate that we have high cholesterol or a bad back. But would we share if we suffered from depression? Or bipolar disorder? Learn about NAMI and the church's response to mental illness in our culture.

How do you maintain our connection to God while in exile? This is the relevant question for the American church today. Like Daniel, we dig deep into our reservoir of faith so that our influence might be wide in our communities and in God's world.