00:00There is something I think Christians sometimes get completely backward.
00:06Jesus talked about sheep.
00:08He talked about shepherds.
00:11He called himself the good shepherd.
00:14He talked about leaving the 99 to find the one that was lost.
00:19He said his sheep know his voice.
00:22He even told his disciples that he was sending them out like sheep among wolves.
00:29But Jesus was using that as an illustration.
00:33He was not telling you to spend your life acting like some timid little sheep that keeps its head down,
00:40follows whatever crowd happens to be moving in front of it,
00:44and never has enough courage to stand up for anything.
00:48How can you be who God made you to be if you spend your life following and trying to be
00:54everybody else?
00:56And you know what?
00:57That is not the life that Jesus himself demonstrated.
01:03It's certainly not the kind of life he asked you to live.
01:07Think about what Jesus actually said when he sent his followers into a hostile world.
01:13He told them,
01:14I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves.
01:18But he did not stop there.
01:20You see, he immediately told them to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
01:29And that's Matthew 10 verse 16.
01:31I want you to think about that, brothers and sisters.
01:35Jesus knew they were walking into danger.
01:39The world today is filled with danger.
01:43He knew powerful people would oppose them.
01:46Christianity today is being opposed all over the world.
01:50He knew people would lie about them, reject them, persecute them, and sometimes even kill them.
01:59And his instruction was not be scared.
02:03It was not do what everyone else tells you to do.
02:07It was not keep quiet so nobody gets upset.
02:11He told them to be wise.
02:14He told them to remain innocent.
02:17And just a few verses later, he told them not to be afraid.
02:23That does not sound like weakness to me.
02:26It sounds like courage with character.
02:29And maybe that's something you need to hear today.
02:32Because following Jesus does not mean surrendering your backbone.
02:37It means surrendering your life to God.
02:41Those are two very different things.
02:44You can be humble without being weak.
02:47You can be loving without becoming a doormat.
02:51You can forgive somebody without agreeing with what they did.
02:55You can show grace while still standing firmly for what you believe is right.
03:02Look at Jesus himself.
03:04Jesus was compassionate enough to sit with people everyone else rejected.
03:09But he was also courageous enough to confront religious leaders directly.
03:17I'm going to ask you to read Matthew 23 sometime.
03:21Jesus looked at some of the most powerful religious figures of his day.
03:26And he challenged their hypocrisy publicly.
03:30He didn't do that because he enjoyed confrontation.
03:33He did it because truth mattered.
03:38Then, I want you to look at what happened when Jesus entered the temple.
03:42He saw people turning his father's house into a marketplace.
03:48He did not shrug his shoulders and say,
03:50Well, I don't want to offend anybody.
03:53He acted.
03:54He overturned tables.
03:56He challenged what was happening.
03:58Whatever image you have of Jesus, you cannot honestly read the Gospels and come away believing that this was a
04:09timid man who simply just went along with what everybody else was doing.
04:15Jesus, Jesus could be incredibly gentle.
04:20But gentle does not mean weak.
04:23That distinction matters.
04:26Sometimes the strongest person in the room is the person who does not need to scream.
04:33Sometimes courage looks like calmly saying,
04:36No, I will not participate in that.
04:41Sometimes courage means walking away from people who are trying to pull you somewhere you know you should not go.
04:48Sometimes courage means admitting you were wrong.
04:53Sometimes courage means forgiving somebody when your pride wants revenge.
05:00And sometimes courage means standing almost completely alone because everyone around you has decided that truth is inconvenient.
05:10You see, Jesus prepared his followers for exactly that.
05:16He said,
05:17Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
05:23That's Matthew 10, verse 28.
05:26And those are not instructions for cowards.
05:30Jesus was teaching people how to become fearless about the things that ultimately matter.
05:38Then consider what he said in the Sermon on the Mount.
05:42You are the light of the world.
05:46And you are.
05:47And a light does not hide because darkness might disapprove of it.
05:52Jesus actually said that people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
05:58They put it where it can give light to everyone around it.
06:02So, why would you hide your faith every time somebody might disagree with you?
06:09Why would you pretend to believe less than you do because you are worried somebody might think differently about you?
06:17You do not have to attack anybody.
06:21You do not have to insult anybody.
06:24You do not have to become arrogant or obnoxious.
06:28But you also don't have to disappear.
06:33Jesus told you to shine.
06:36There's a difference between following Christ and following the crowd.
06:41The crowd actually appears repeatedly in the story of Jesus.
06:45And the crowd was not always right.
06:49Crowds praised him.
06:52Crowds abandoned him.
06:55Crowds misunderstood him.
06:57And eventually a crowd shouted for his crucifixion.
07:01So, being surrounded by people who agree with something has never automatically made something true.
07:10Jesus did not teach you to follow crowds.
07:13He taught you to be who God made you to be and to follow him.
07:19That is what the shepherd and sheep illustration is really pointing toward.
07:25The important thing about the sheep is not that they are mindless.
07:30It's that they recognize the shepherd.
07:34Jesus said in John 10,
07:37My sheep listen to my voice.
07:39I know them, and they follow me.
07:44Notice who they follow.
07:46Him.
07:47Not every politician.
07:49Not every preacher.
07:51Not every celebrity.
07:53Not every trend.
07:55Not every social media mob.
07:58Not every person who claims to speak for God.
08:02They follow Jesus.
08:05That means your responsibility as a Christian is not to become easier for people to control.
08:13Your responsibility is to become more deeply grounded in Christ.
08:18And the more grounded you become, the more courage you should have.
08:35Nobody voluntarily carries a cross because they're looking for an easy road.
08:42The cross represents commitment when commitment costs something.
08:47Jesus never promised that living truthfully would always make you popular.
08:54He never promised that faithfulness would always make you comfortable.
08:59He never promised that everybody would understand you.
09:04He taught the opposite.
09:06So when you feel pressure to stay silent about something you genuinely believe,
09:12Christ has taught you to remember who you are actually trying to follow.
09:18You don't need to become aggressive.
09:22You don't need to become hateful.
09:24You don't need to treat people who disagree with you like enemies.
09:28Jesus told you to love your enemies.
09:31And that might require more strength than almost anything else he commanded.
09:36Anybody can love the person applauding them.
09:40Jesus.
09:41Well, Jesus challenged you to love the person attacking you.
09:46That takes strength.
09:48Anybody can tell the truth when everybody agrees.
09:54Try telling the truth when the room becomes uncomfortable.
09:58That takes courage.
10:00Anybody can claim faith when life is easy.
10:04Try trusting God when everything you expected falls apart.
10:09That takes faith.
10:11So, yes, Jesus talked about sheep.
10:15But don't turn his metaphor into an excuse for weakness.
10:20The shepherd, Jesus described, was leading his people somewhere.
10:26He was preparing them to walk into a hostile world carrying truth, mercy, forgiveness, courage, and love.
10:36You are not called to blindly follow the crowd.
10:41You are called to recognize the voice of Christ.
10:44And when you know that voice, you should become harder to manipulate.
10:50You plan that way, yes, he is.
10:55You have never warned you to honor the flesh.
11:02But don't get shy.
11:03You have never 아니에요.
11:03You have never Bel Feeded.
11:05You have never told him again.
11:08You need to insult the Lord.
11:10You have never been what to do to forgive.
11:12And with Aliens.
11:17and you can follow Jesus without following everybody else. So the next time somebody
11:26imagines Christianity as a bunch of sheep wandering around doing whatever they're told,
11:33remember what Jesus actually taught. Know your shepherd. Know his voice. Stand for what he taught.
11:43Love people fiercely. Tell the truth courageously. And when the crowd starts walking in a direction
11:52Jesus never told you to go, you don't have to follow them. You already know who you are following.
12:05My name is Douglas Van der Graaff and I believe in Jesus Christ.
12:09God bless every single one of you. Every single one. And everyone you love. Bye-bye.
