Jesus Is the Shepherd

If a brand-new believer sat down with Pastor Brady Boyd and asked to be discipled, this is the passage he would open first. It answers the question every follower of Jesus has to settle: who is leading you? In John 10, Jesus gives His answer in one sentence. He is the shepherd. The harder part is the other half of that sentence. If He is the shepherd, we are the sheep.

The word disciple means learner, follower. Not someone who knows historical facts about Jesus, but someone who has made up their mind to walk the path He has marked out, every day. That kind of following starts here.

The Thief and the Shepherd

Jesus draws the line plainly in John 10:10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. Pastor Brady pointed out that there is nothing beautiful in any of those three words. Wherever the enemy is at work, in Africa, in Colorado, anywhere in the world, beauty gets stripped away. But Jesus came that we may have life, and have it to the full. Where people are flourishing, where there is unity and growth and joy, you find God.

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

Then Jesus contrasts the shepherd with the hired hand, who sees the wolf coming and runs away because he cares nothing for the sheep. Pastor Brady was direct about who that describes: leaders and caretakers of the church. Both kinds are still present today. Some run the first time something rough comes. Others live among the people and care deeply for their souls. Jesus says of Himself, I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

Six weeks into the life of the Village Church, Pastor Brady said that is exactly what he has enjoyed about being a pastor again: greeting people in the parking lot, learning names, lingering after the service with no second service to rush off to. Whether you are broken, messy, or doing great, you belong here.

Nobody Wants to Be a Sheep

Here is where it gets uncomfortable. We would rather be called lions, or eagles, or tigers. Pastor Brady asked an AI tool this week for the most popular team names at Christian colleges. The answers came back Lions, Knights, Eagles, Bears. Not one is called the Sheep. Can you imagine the mighty lambs?

There is nothing heroic about a sheep. Sheep are defenseless, helpless creatures who could not survive long without the care of a shepherd. They need endless attention and meticulous care. They have mob instincts, they are prone to parasites and disease, they are stubborn, and they panic at the first sign of danger. Pastor Brady showed a video of a shepherd pulling a sheep out of a ditch. The sheep is thrilled to be rescued, takes five steps, and lands right back where it started. His verdict: that was Monday. Full of hope when you got up, and four steps later you are back in the ditch.

"We must admit that we're sheep before the Lord can be our shepherd."

That admission is harder than it sounds, especially for an American mindset that does not like to say maybe I am not enough. But it is the starting point. I need Jesus to lead me. I cannot do this in my own power or my own strength. The moment you admit you need a shepherd is the moment of salvation, and confessing every day after it that Jesus is Lord is a lifelong wrestling match of the soul.

The Lamb Became the Shepherd

We are all looking for someone to defend us and protect us in a violent, dangerous world. The good news of Good Friday is that the perfect sacrificial lamb of heaven is now our shepherd. He was sacrificed for us, and we were invited in to come under His care.

And we need a real shepherd because the wolves are real. Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Pastor Brady's counsel when someone asks him about a voice they have been listening to: pay attention not only to what they say but to how they say it. There are a lot of people spouting truth with anger. Ask why they are saying it, and what it leaves in your heart when you hear it.

Go Find the One

Jesus is always looking for His sheep. In Matthew 18, the shepherd leaves the 99 on the hills to look for the one that wandered off, and he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

During worship, Pastor Brady said the Lord gave him a word for the church: start inviting people, because we are about to see salvations and water baptisms. He admitted that a lot of us have gotten sloppy in our evangelism. Meeting in a hotel helps, since people from the lobby have already been invited in. But the ask is simple. Tell people, come with me to church, I'll save you a seat.

"I don't want to ever belong to a congregation that doesn't care about the one."

He told of his own prodigal years. His mother prayed he would bump into Christ followers every single day, and everywhere he turned, in every town he lived in, he kept bumping into Jesus people. Somewhere right now there may be a mom in Iowa praying for a prodigal living in Colorado Springs. You might be the Jesus people they are supposed to bump into.

No One Is Coming to Rescue You

Then Pastor Brady told a personal story, one he said he asked Pam's permission to share. Last year, for the first time in 44 years of working, he was forced out of his job. It crushed him. At 59, the phone went quiet, and he felt like he was wandering in the desert with his compass spinning.

He went to a friend's ranch in southwest Arkansas where, alone in the woods, the Lord spoke to him: Brady, no one's coming to rescue you. It was not a death sentence. It was a revelation, because the rest of the word followed. I'm enough. I am your shepherd.

He had to go back to the starting point and decide again whether he really believed Jesus was his shepherd, or whether he was about to take matters into his own hands. He knelt there and said it: Lord, you are enough. My hope is not in people, not in institutions, not in some government. You are the anchor of my soul. Ten minutes later, with barely a signal in the deep woods, his phone rang. It was Phil Long Music Hall, calling to say the space was open on Wednesday nights if he wanted it.

Many of us are waiting on someone else to rescue us: a politician, some heroic figure, a job that suddenly opens up and solves everything. There has to be a pivotal moment where you kneel before the Lord and confess, Jesus, you are my shepherd, and you are enough.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Pastor Brady closed by reading Psalm 23 over the congregation as a prayer, and asked everyone to really receive verse 6.

"Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Then he read a list he wrote down as he thought back on that moment in the woods. He cares about my rest. He cares about my emotions. He cares about my daily decisions. He cares when I'm sad, when I'm lonely, when I'm afraid, and when I'm threatened. He cares when I have a financial need. And He deeply cares about my eternal future.

Human beings will fail you. Institutions will disappoint you. At the end of every day, you have a shepherd who knows you, walks with you, and sees you. The Lord is my shepherd.

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