How do we act as sheep to the good shepherd?

In this episode, I read passages like Psalm 23, and Jesus leaving the 99 for the one, talking about what this means for us as Christians. I discuss the importance of building dependence on Jesus and encourage believers as they look to Jesus as their own shepherd in their lives.  

Transcript

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Savor the Savior podcast. I'm your host, Avery. I am very excited, as always, to be with you guys. And today I'm kind of going like a little bit of a different approach. Just kind of some encouragement and just gonna pull out some scripture and from my study Bible. I'm just gonna kind of read some of the commentaries that they have in it. And if you ever need a way to understand scripture better, this is it. Get a life application study Bible. You can find them on Amazon, you can find them at bookstores, and truly changed my life for all the passages that I had absolutely no idea what I was reading. And even for the passages that I thought I knew what I was reading, you know, it just helps for insight that maybe things that you didn't know. And so honestly, like some of the things I'm gonna be talking about today are just it felt like I was supposed to speak on the idea of like being sheep and what it looks like for the Lord to be our shepherd. And yeah, practically, what does that look like? Living that out, what does it mean? You know, there's a couple passages, you know, Psalms 23 is a very, very common passage, so we're gonna kind of read through that and look through that, as well as there are two different accounts of the lost sheep. I just wanted to kind of go through that, and so yeah, hopefully this is encouraging. I am just gonna start, I feel like we should start with Psalms 23 and just see how that goes. And so, okay, Psalms 23, reading out of the NLT. The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows, he leads me beside peaceful streams, he renews my strength, he guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil, my cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. I love this. And Jesus is speaking of himself as the great shepherd. And to have a shepherd is a very, I feel like it's a very personal thing, you know. If you're shepherding your sheep, then you have that, you know, relationship with them. And that it's kind of, you know, not the same, but I think about my relationship with my dog, even. And if you guys have dogs, you know there's nothing quite like that relationship in that bond, you know, it's just they're your dog, they're your animal, they're your you know, your pet. And when, you know, other other people's dogs are still great, and you'd be like, Yeah, I love that dog, but when it's your own dog, you care for it in a different type of way, you know, and I just love the like personal aspect of that. And so I'm just gonna kind of read some of the the thoughts under Psalms 23, according to my study Bible. In describing the Lord as a shepherd, David was writing out his own experience. He'd spent his early years caring for his sheep. Sheep are completely dependent on their shepherd for provision, guidance, and protection. The New Testament refers to Jesus as our good shepherd in John 10 11 and Hebrews 13 20 and 1 Peter 5 4. And if the Lord is the good shepherd and we are his sheep, not frightened passive animals, but obedient followers, wise enough to follow the one who will lead us in the right places and the right ways. This psalm does not focus on the passive qualities of sheep, but on a shepherd who protects and guides us and guides us. When you recognize the good shepherd, follow him. When we allow God, our shepherd, to guide us, we have contentment. But when we choose sin, we go our own way, and we cannot blame God for the environment that we've created for ourselves. Our shepherd knows the green pastures and the quiet waters that will restore us, and he and we will and we will reach these places only by following him obediently. Rebelling against the shepherds leading is actually rebelling against our own best interests. Remember this the next time you are tempted to go your own way, rather than the shepherd's way. I love this. The shepherd knows better than us. He his authority, he has more authority than us, and you know, God, God created us in his own image and all of these things, but we st he still allows us to be shepherded by him and by Jesus, and we can allow ourselves to do that, you know. Even like the parable of the lost sheep, the lost sheep decided to go their own way, even though it wasn't the way it wasn't, it wasn't in line with what the shepherd desired for them. And the shepherd still sought out for the sheep. And the shepherd was like, Yeah, I, you know, I recognize that you're, you know, you chose this way or you chose to rebel against me in my ways, but that's not gonna keep me from seeking you and pursuing you because that's how much he loves us. And I think that's just a beautiful thing. And even this psalm is just such a reminder and such a testament to the fact that like the Lord never leaves us, like he's always right beside us and he's always walking alongside us, and even in the moments when we do go off and we do, you know, the Lord is consistently turning and he's he's running to us and he's pursuing us because he loves us that much and he understands, you know, that that we're gonna make mistakes, but it's not the mistakes that you make are never enough to keep the savior and the person who created you away from you. He will always pursue after you, he will always come after you, always love you, and he will always desire for you to choose him. He will never force you to do it. You have to make the decisions on your own, but he will continuously pursue you all the days of your life, and he will never stop doing that. He will never stop leaving the 99 and coming after you when you are lost and when you do not know your way and when you do not know where to go, he will never stop pursuing you and coming after you. And I I just think that's such a beautiful thing. And you know, if you know, we want we want peace, we want we want control, and we can't get control, but we know who the one who has control, and there are a lot of things that are are out of our hands, but you know, we can be led besides peaceful streams and the right paths when we listen and we look to our good shepherd. You know, I think we want the peace and we want these these right paths, and you know, we maybe we're walking through a dark valley and we want that peace and that security, and it's found in Jesus, and it's found when you follow Jesus and you follow his commandments. I think a lot of the times it's like, you know, we're asking something of the Lord and He is just like, you know, I just want you to like trust me. I want you to follow me, you know. The sheep don't know where they're going. You know, my dog, she trusts me. When we got in the car this morning, she trusted me that I was gonna go and take her to the groomer, but she when I left her there, you know, she trusted that I would come back and pick her up. And I did, you know, she she doesn't know. Like, I can't, I'm I can't tell her, you know, I'll tell her, like, hey, I'm coming back for you, but she doesn't know, you know, and when the Lord is asking this of us, he's asking us, like, hey, trust me. I know you don't know where you're going. I know you don't know where I'm taking you, I know you don't know the future, and I know you don't know what's gonna happen here or in this situation or with this friendship or even with this relationship, you know, I know you don't know if that's, you know, what I have for you in the end or if that's even good for you, but I need you to trust me. And I think when we, you know, align ourselves with God's word and we are living as holy as we can, and we are turning away from the sins that keep us from knowing Jesus fully and keep us from, you know, the best things that he has for us and the will of God that he has for us and what he desires for us, you know, when we are following him as our good shepherd, when we wake up every day and we're saying, no, like I am trusting and I'm following the good shepherd, and I am, you know, I am gonna walk my life and I'm gonna be true to myself, but I'm also gonna be true to God's word. I'm gonna listen to God's word. You know, what what God says is how it is, you know. I'm I'm not gonna listen to the things of this world and the lies that they try to put in my head. I'm not gonna listen to the enemy's lies or the enemy trying to bring me down or or convince me, you know, that that way's better or that my way is better than the Lord's. I'm gonna trust that the Lord knows what's best for me because he is my good shepherd and he knows the future. Why would you ever, why would you ever wanna live a life that is so full of worry and like where you're consumed in your mind with worry and stress and all of these things when you could lay it all down and trust that the good shepherd has your back, that he knows what's best for you, and that he will never leave or forsake you, that his rod and his staff comforts you. Why would you ever live a life anything less than the fullness of the peace that God can give you as your good shepherd? Because that's all he wants to give you. He wants to, he wants you to you to live a life of peace. He wants you to live a life of contentment in him and not in your own way, not in your own contentment of what you see as, yeah, this is fulfilling in the moment, you know. And he wants you to live with that peace. And but we live in such a world consumed by worry, consumed by stress, consumed by anxiety, and you know, some of those things like the anxiety thing, like not always, I understand that, not always can you control that, you know? In some ways, I think I obviously the Lord, I believe, can fully free you from that and save you from that, but it doesn't always go that way. But I will say the things that you can't control and the things that consume your mind on a daily, I mean, if you started writing down all of the things that worried you on a daily and you looked back, you know, even a year from now, like I couldn't tell you what I was worried about a year ago because it's that insignificant. So why would you ever spend your time worrying about those things and you know, freaking out, like, oh my gosh, what's gonna happen with this? What's gonna happen with that? Like it sometimes we blow it up out of proportion of like this is so extreme, and it's not that extreme, you know. The Lord is just asking us, hey, trust me, trust in my ways, you know, be faithful, and he's gonna be like, Yeah, I'm gonna give you opportunities or I'm gonna give you this. And like, he just wants you to step into things and he wants you to really trust him and lean on him and act according to his word, you know. But for the things that you can't control, like I I can't imagine my life without Jesus. I truly can't. And the things that I worry about and what consumes my mind now that I know my savior and I know that he is always there for me, and he is my good shepherd, and I just will not let the minor things consume me, and I will not let those things rule me because oh, there's a verse. I got it. There's a verse in Matthew 6, verse let's go back to verse 30 thirty. Oh, this is also good. Okay, um, let's go to Matthew 6, verse 25. That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life more than food in your body more than clothing? Look at the birds, they don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly father already knows all your needs. Seek first the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. Why, why, why would you bother worrying when your savior, your creator, has the whole world in his hands? Do not the there are minor things, there are things that are not worth the consumption of your mind. I think yes, it is natural for us all to worry to some extent. And I think there are like healthy worries, but then I also think there's an extent of like unhealthy worries of how much we're letting it consume our mind. I think the enemy uses that, you know, to not let God's peace over our mind and to prevent the Lord from giving us peace in moments where we are just letting the worry consume us to an unhealthy extent. And we are just reminded, like the Lord, the Good Shepherd, He doesn't desire for you to live a life full of worry. That's not a life of contentment and peace. You know, there's there's a peace that the Lord has for you, and there's a hope at the end of all of this. We yes, we deal with sin and suffering and all of those things, which is horrible. It is. I I don't have a like solution for you right now. The Lord knows he will redeem at the end of this, he will he's bringing he's gonna bring back hope and he's gonna bring back everything good and of him. You know, there will be no more sin, there will be no more suffering when he comes back and he will just make everything whole again and he will redeem that. But as of right now, we still have to navigate that. But for worrying, don't let it take up more than what it should. And remind yourself, the Lord is your good shepherd. He does not want you to fall, he will still be with you in the darkest valley of your life. Lean on him, look to him. If you go off on a sheep, you're way worse off than leaning on the good shepherd, even when you're, you know, upset and in in a difficult time. You know, I can't the days I remember very vividly, the days that when I was younger and something bad would happen, and I the last thing I wanted to do was turn to God because I really was like, Isn't he just supposed to be like I praise him when things are good? Like, isn't that how it's supposed to go? And completely false, not it at all, not how it's supposed to go. God is a God who desires to be with you through the highs, through the lows. He does not, he is not someone, you know, he's never caused the evil that you experience. Satan was the one that turned away and decided that he wanted to be like God. And so then came sin and then came suffering and all the things because he rebelled against God, but that was never God's desire or design, that was never his purpose, you know. He gave Adam and Eve choices and wanted to give them the choice to obey and to follow him and trust his words and what he said, and and they didn't. They turned from him and they believed the serpent when the serpent was telling him them lies. And because of that, you know, sin entered the world, and the the Lord had to, you know, put boundaries and parameters, and then he had to set send his son to die for us so that we could have that personal relationship with him, so that we can pray right to him, and we don't have to do all these things, so we don't have to prove ourselves, and we don't have to, you're saved by grace, grace by faith alone. You don't have to do anything else to have Jesus in your heart. You can literally just be like pray a prayer and say, God, I believe you as my savior. Thank you for dying for my sins. I believe that you are the son of God, and I want to accept you into my life, and I want you to rule my heart forever. Amen. And you literally can have Jesus in your heart. I know that's like crazy, but that's like that's literally how it is. You don't, you don't have to be baptized to be saved. You should be baptized, you don't have to be baptized to be saved. Scripture is very clear about that, and but obviously Jesus got baptized, so it is still important. It is a public declaration of an inward decision. Action, it shows everyone you're you're committing in front of everyone, you're showing everyone, hey, I made this decision, but it it's from an inward decision, you know. That baptism, the water does nothing. It is literally the Lord only, and it is Jesus by his holiness that that you can be transformed. And the baptism, it's a set of sign, it's showing you you are dead and now you're alive. Your old sins are gone and you are made new in Christ. And so you come out of that water and you are made new in Jesus, and he is washing you white as snow. And so good. So let's go to some of the parables. Let's go to Matthew 18. Matthew 18. Parable of the lost sheep. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than the ninety-nine that didn't wander away. In the same way, it is not my heavenly father's will that even one of these little ones should perish. Just as a shepherd is concerned enough about one lost sheep to go search for the hills for it, so is God concerned about every human being he has created. When you come in contact with children who need Jesus, steer them towards him by your example, by your words, and by your kindness. And right before this parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18, you actually have everybody arguing about the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And it's kind of crazy. It's literally like the disciples actually came to Jesus and was like, Who is the greatest? He actually tells you, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. And anyone who is becomes as humble as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It's really easy for us and as culture has created for everybody, and we do have this like, oh, like everybody can be independent, and like independence is a good thing, and I'm very independent in general too. But if your independence leads you to be independent only on yourself, you won't get anywhere. And you know, the Lord is very clear like to be when you're a sheep, you're actually dependent on a shepherd, and so you know, that's not independent in my own way of like, yeah, maybe I want to do, you know, some things by myself. I want to have, you know, I can build my bed by myself, I can put up picture frames by myself. Like, that's good. But when it comes to big decisions that I have to make and things like that, I want to be fully dependent on Jesus. And when it comes to the things that are out of my control, that is when I give the chance of like, no, like I'm being fully dependent on the Lord, and I know that He knows what's best for me. I know that the Good Shepherd has my back. I know he is my shepherd, and he's never going to, you know, lead me astray. And I'm just trusting that. And I feel like that's what we have to do. And so becoming little children, little children are dependent on their parents. They're dependent. Their parent is gonna take them where they need to go. My dog dependent on me that I'm gonna take her where needs where she needs to go, what she needs to do, you know. She has to get groomed, you know, she's her ears are gonna get gnatted and she's gonna get all tingly, and you know, she wouldn't want that, but she doesn't even know that that's what's happening. And if she wants to swim, if she wants to whatever, she has to be cut so she can swim, so she can, you know, she doesn't know any of that though. So we have to be, you know, we're she is dependent on me, but I need to be dependent on Jesus, and I need to be dependent that the good shepherd knows where he's taking me, and that even when I'm Walking through a really dark valley in the darkest of valleys and multiples of them that I know on the other side, you know, the Lord is, and even at the very, very end of it, no matter how many dark valleys that you go through, at the end of it, the Lord is going to be standing there, open arms, and you are going to get to spend eternity with him. And that is what you're looking to. That is the hope that you can cling to. That no matter what you walk through in this life, that at the end of it, you will be reunited with Jesus for the rest of your life. You will be able to spend eternity with your creator, and there will be no sadness, there will be no sin, there will be no suffering, and Jesus will reign forever on the throne, and you will be able to be with him forever. And it's the most beautiful thing. It truly is the most beautiful thing. And so we have to become like children, dependent on Jesus, and a culture that is telling you to depend on yourself and that you are enough by yourself, that you don't need anybody else in the world. They even like have this culture, even like women have this culture of like you don't need a man, like all this stuff. And it's like the only man you really need is Jesus. You don't need like an other man, like that's true, but you need Jesus. We all need Jesus, and that's the only man that we all need. And you don't need any other man, to be clear, but the Lord will honor the things that you know, if if you are seeking him earnestly, and as you seek him with all your heart, and you truly obey his commands and you live according to his word, I truly believe like he will bless you with things that you know you ask for and the things that you really want. And so as they align with his will, you know, not everything that we want aligns with his will. And so we really have to like dabble of like, oh, like what does that exactly mean? And how does this does this align with God's will? And the things that I've learned in my seasons of singleness, I would not trade for the world, and I'm so grateful that the Lord was able to refine me and grow me and stretch me in these seasons that I'm currently in, and I I literally wouldn't change it for the world. And you know, obviously I really do desire a family one day and that kind of thing, but I'm also in no rush, like the Lord has been so sweet and so kind and already, and I am fully I'm just so content with where he has me and the things that I'm learning in the season of life that I'm in, and I'm just grateful for it, to be honest with you, and I'm trusting that one day, you know, he will give me a husband, and I will be very grateful for when that day does come. But until then, I am very content that Jesus is my best friend and he will always be my best friend. Don't get me wrong, but the more dependent that I become on Jesus now, I feel like the the easier it'll be to continue to stay dependent on him when I add someone else to my relationship because you know that is kind of until you are married with that person, you know, you're still gonna be devoted to that person in some way, but it is just harder. And when you get married, you have to balance the like, oh yeah, like my got God is number one, and then it's my spouse. But there, you know, you have to always seek God first. And if you don't find God, is you know, because God is perfect, because He is the full fulfillment that you would ever need, placing any of the things on your spouse rather than God that aren't meant to be on your spouse will fall short because they are imperfect, and so it's really hard to balance a relationship that is not all centered and all focused on the same thing. So, anyways, I am just really content with where I'm at right now. I don't remember where this is going. Oh, being like children, be fully dependent on Jesus. He is your good shepherd, act like it. What is your what are your thoughts that go throughout the day? You know, are there thoughts that you are like, oh, I don't know? And you know, ask yourself, is this like, am I being shepherded by my shepherd or am I acting like a sheep or am I acting like a shepherd? You know, ask yourself those questions. And so, yeah, we're gonna go to Luke 15 now, and I'm just gonna start at verse one. Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach, and this made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even eating with them. It's so crazy because we do want to read scripture and be like, wow, that's so crazy. Like, I can't believe they were upset at him for eating with sinners, and we literally do this too, not even realizing it, but I think when people are, even if people are public about you know their sin or maybe they don't realize they're sinning or you know, living an ungodly lifestyle, we our first instinct is to just flame them into like no grace. Like everybody's first instinct is to not ever have grace. I've seen this so much with Christian content creators, I don't even like those words, like Christian, I don't even like influencer words, or people who are Christian and represent, say they represent Jesus and they are, you know, they have platforms or they're even on podcasts or on Instagram and all these things, and one thing that they do, they say, or maybe is perceived wrong, they will get absolutely flamed for it. People will just post and post and post and post about all these horrible things that people are about people, and it is just the way I literally feel like it's doing so much more harm than good in the way that we use it and we go about it. And um Jonathan Pogluda said in his book the your story has an end your story has a villain, and he says it so good that like the enemy's like goal is to disunify the body of Christ because Christ's goal is to unify us and to bring us together, and all the enemy wants to do is just tear you apart. Because if he can tear you apart from other believers and from other followers of Jesus, then he's doing exactly what he was supposed to do. And that is just it's just so sad. But you know, these the Lord is trying to, you know, unify and he's bringing together people, and yes, he sits with sinners, but he never, you know, he never says, Yeah, remain in that sin. You know, he'll say go and sin no more. Um, however, he doesn't condemn them, he doesn't let them stay where they're at. And I think with how we Christians sometimes approach everything, we are so quick to we're so quick to judge and even like comment. And, you know, there's I think there's a healthy way of like calling people out of things. And um I think that is really good for you know, Christian mentors, but sometimes I just wonder how much good is it doing if, you know, 50,000 Christians are commenting on someone's posts and flaming someone for something that they did when, you know, I don't really think that was people's intention at all. And people, people are just really, really quick to be mean, even Christians. And maybe it's more so Christians than regular people, like sometimes regular people, but I'm just like this feels really mean. I'm like, we're supposed to be a body of Christ and we're supposed to be unifying and like building each other up. And I think there's a way to like call people out in a healthy way, then and also, you know, it's also like how are people gonna receive it too? You know, you have to be careful of that too. And so, anyways, but Jesus, let's go back. 15. Okay, picking up in verse 3. So Jesus told them this story. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Well, he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go search for the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends, his neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep. In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and turns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and haven't strayed away. Guys, the Lord cares so much about his people, and he there is nothing more that he desires than to be in relationship with you and to lead you and to be your good shepherd, you know? It's like he has been waiting to shepherd you, and he wants to shepherd you, so let him shepherd you because literally, best decision you could ever make, truly. And it may seem foolish for the shepherd to leave 99 sheep to go search for just one, but the shepherd knew that the 99 would be safe in the sheepfold, whereas the lost sheep was in danger, because each sheep was of high value. The shepherd knew that it was worthwhile to search diligently for the lost one. God loves each individual so much that he seeks out each one and rejoices when he or she is found. Jesus associated with sinners because he wanted to bring the lost sheep, people considered beyond hope, the gospel of God's kingdom. Before you were a believer, God sought you and he still seeks for those who are yet lost. We can understand how God would forgive sinners who come to him for mercy, but a God who tenderly searches for sinners and then joyfully forgives them must possess an extraordinary love. This kind of love prompted Jesus to come to earth to search for lost people and to save them. And God wants to give this kind of extraordinary love to you. Wow, so good. So, so good. The Lord does not want anything from you, he just wants to be in a relationship with you, he just wants you to be led by his voice and to follow his voice. You know, sheep, actually, there's something really fascinating about sheep. Okay, this is so beautiful. I pulled up a Bible commentary that I just love, and it's called Enduring Word Commentary, and I'm looking up like under Psalms 23. So I'm just gonna read kind of some of this stuff. It's remarkable that the Lord would call himself our shepherd. In Israel, as in other ancient societies, a shepherd's work was considered the lowest of all works. If a family needed a shepherd, it was always the youngest son, like David, who got this unpleasant assignment. Jehovah has chosen to be our shepherd, David says. The great God of the universe has stooped to take just such care of you and me. We also see that David actually felt that he needed a shepherd. The heart of this psalm actually doesn't connect with the self-sufficient, but those who acutely sense their need, the poor in spirit, as described as a Sermon in the Mount in Matthew 5, it's also just finding great comfort in the idea that God can be a shepherd to us in our personal sense. The Lord, as a shepherd, knew how to make David rest when he needed it. And just as a literal shepherd would care for a sheep, the implication that a sheep doesn't always know what it need what it needs or what's best for itself, and so it needs help from the shepherd. Wow. Philip Keller in A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 writes that sheep do not lie down easily and will not unless four conditions are met. Because they are timid, they will not lie down if they are afraid. Because they're social animals, they will not lie down if there is friction among the sheep. And if flies or parasites trouble them, they will not lie down. Finally, if a sheep are anxious about food or hungry, they will not lie down. Rest comes because the shepherd has dealt with fear, friction, flies, and famine. That's crazy. The shepherd knows when the sheep needs green pastures and knows when the sheep needs still waters. And these just are images rich of comfort, care, and rest. So good. The shepherd is a guide, and the sheep didn't know where green pastures or still waters were. All it needed to know where was where the shepherd was. And the Lord would also guide David to what he needed, and he will also guide us to what we need. And so, yeah, wow. So powerful, so good. Okay, I am just gonna close us out in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you so much for who is listening on the other side of this screen device, whatever they're listening on. Lord, I just thank you for the person that you've created them to be. I thank you that you have created them with a purpose and a plan, God, that you desire to be their good shepherd, Lord. I pray that they would cast down their worries and their fears that are holding them back from what you have for them, Lord. I pray that they would lay down the worries that captivate their mind daily, Lord, and the things that are just not of you and the things that they cannot control. Would they lay those worries at your feet and be reminded that you are the good shepherd, that they do not need to know where the green pastures are because you do. And when we trust in you and when we let you lead us, that we know that you will bring us to the places that we need to go, God. As we follow you, as we trust in you, as we read your word, Lord, and as we seek you in your truth, God, would you continue to lead us where we need to go? Would you continue to shepherd us? Would you continue to comfort us, God? Would you help us to be the sheep that we are called to be, Lord? Would we continue to not act self-sufficiently, but would we continue to depend on you in the ways that you have called us to? Would we depend on you like sheep depend on a shepherd, God? And would we be reminded that no matter how many times we might run off and we might try to go into the wilderness, that you are constantly seeking us and seeking after us, and you are leaving those who are protected and already called righteous to come and seek the one who is lost, God? Would you continue to remind us that you are seeking after all of those that are lost? And would you continue to touch the hearts and the minds and the people of this world, God? And would you continue to remind them of your love, God, and how how steadfast it is and how much and how wide, how deep, and how your love is for us, God. Would you continue to lead us and would you continue to guide us? God, give us peace, God, give us comfort, and God help us to let go of things that are not in our hands and just let you have full control over our lives. In Jesus' mighty, mighty name. Amen. All right, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And go subscribe on my YouTube if you haven't yet, because I have like 15 subscribers, and it'd be kind of cool if I had a little bit more. Um, but yeah, love you guys. Don't forget to savor the savior. Let him be your good shepherd this week. And I love you all. So have a great day, whatever day you're watching this on, and we'll see you back next week.