Amen. That was a blessing, was it not? I tell you, I enjoy good music, but I enjoy seeing Christians who love the Lord sing. Amen. Not just the song, but the person and the people behind it. Take your Bible and turn over with me to Luke chapter number two. Luke chapter number two, let's look at verse number 15 and we'll read the scripture. So when you turn to Luke chapter two, if you'll stand with me, Real quickly, and we'll read verse 15 through 20. You'll follow along quietly as you stand there, and then after I read this, we'll pray and I'll give you the message. The Bible says in Luke chapter number two, verse 15, and it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherd said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for just the privilege to be able to sing your praises, be in church, look at your word, teach and preach the Bible. And then God, I pray for every Christian that's in this room today. May we look at your Holy Word this morning. May something prick the heart. May something encourage my heart. May something give me some clarity, whatever the need is, that your Holy Spirit would have reign in my life today. For those that don't know you as Savior, may they see the grace and the mercy that they can have If they just humble themselves, repent, put their faith in you. Lord, may you be pleased and honored in all that we do today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You can go ahead and be seated. Luke chapter number two, the Bible tells us some interesting things take place. Now the book of Luke is said by some to be a storm center when it comes to historical accuracy. There are those who deny the accuracy of the Bible. I don't start from that vantage point. I start from the vantage point of I believe in the accuracy of the Bible." Now, you say, well, that's a flawed position. No more flawed than somebody who says that we all come from monkeys. Or that there was a Big Bang, and the Big Bang was a phrase given for the expansion of energy and matter, and when people mockingly say to Christians, y'all are not very smart because we use science and logic and y'all require faith, and they say, well, tell me, Where did God come from? And we say, well, He's always been. And they'll say, see, your argument is weak and unscientific. You and I can turn the table and say, well, let me ask you this question. When the Big Bang took place, what was present? Energy and matter. And you say, well, what happened? Well, there was an expansion. You say, okay, so everything began with energy and matter. Well, where did energy and matter come from? Well, it's always been. It kind of sounds like, to me, it requires more faith to believe in the Big Bang, two things, as opposed to one thing, which is a God and a Creator in this universe. And so there are some that say that Luke gets in trouble because of the different verses mentioned in Scripture about the history and the timing of everything, but that's not my point in today's sermon. I want you to look with me at Luke chapter number 2 and verse number 8. It says this, And there in the same country, what's the next word? Shepherds. The Bible says there are shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. So if you're gonna have a good shepherd, the shepherd needs to smell like sheep. These guys were out in the fields. They're probably in bad weather, good weather, cold weather, hot weather. Their skin is probably leathery, right? They've been in the elements. They've been around the sheep. When the sheep smell good, they might smell good. When the sheep get in, you know, to some areas of the wilderness that maybe it's not as clean and maybe doesn't smell as good, then they as well take on that same sense because the Bible says, these shepherds were abiding in the field, taking watch over their flock. You know, I think you would all agree with me, thank God for a pastor who has served for so many years that smelled like his sheep because he spent time with you. I cannot say thank you enough to Pastor and Sister Muncie for the opportunity that they have, you know, have given me because in our transition, my family moves up here this coming weekend, but while I was still finishing up my other job, he's constantly making visits and he's retired. You know what that says? He never did it for the money. And I'll be honest with you, I'm just gonna say this publicly and you can forgive me preacher, but they gave you a gift and he turned around and put it right back and I don't understand that. But you know what, that's why everybody loves him so much. Because he's all about giving to others. Because he's a shepherd that smelled like sheep. And notice that the Bible says here in verse number 8, it says, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. So this is a shepherd that is actually there to protect his sheep. which is certainly what he has done through all these years. But I got a little bit curious when I read my Bible. Anybody here that would say, preacher, I think, maybe I'm diagnosed, or maybe you say, I'm self-diagnosed, I'm ADD or ADHD. Both of my hands are up and my leg is moving. You know why? When I read my Bible, I go off on rabbit trails. When I read one word and I'm like, man, I don't know what that word means, I get my dictionary or I, you know, I Google the word, whatever it is, and I start chasing and I can't really read a lot because I'm starting to jump all over trying to figure out that word and the connection and other parts of scripture. So this message is why everybody needs a shepherd. So I was curious, where's the first time in the Bible you see the word shepherd pop up? Take your Bible and turn over to Genesis chapter number 46, and this is the first instance, at least from what I can tell, of the word shepherd being mentioned in the Bible. Now here's the backdrop. Genesis chapter 46 is Jacob is going to travel to Egypt to see his son Joseph that he hasn't seen in years. Joseph is now second in command or prime minister of Egypt and he has just found out that his son is still alive. His heart is so full. He cannot wait to see his son. The reunion when those guys come together, the Bible tells us Joseph put his head on his neck and he started to weep, he wept bitterly and he kissed him and they embraced because they haven't seen each other for a long time. And then notice something the Bible says here in Genesis 46 in verse number 31. And Joseph said unto his brethren and unto his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh, that's his boss, Pharaoh and say unto him, my brethren and my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan are come unto me. Now look at verse 32. And the men are, what's the next word? Shepherds. I believe that's the first time in scripture you see the word shepherd. Now, as we go a little bit further, now that tells me something about Jacob as well as Joseph and the whole family. So they work out in the field, right? They take care of the animals. We go a little bit further in verse 32. The men are shepherds for their trade has been to feed, what's that next word? Thank God for cheeseburgers. Read on a little bit further. And they have brought their flocks. And so I would assume that that would refer to even sheep and lambs and what have you. He says their flocks and their herds and all that they have. You know what's interesting? There's something special about, and I've never done it, but I would like to be able to do it, and that is to raise your own meat. Because contrary to popular thought, meat doesn't come from Kroger's. But that's what a lot of people believe. That's what young people believe. I heard someone make a statement not long ago, and that is one of our problems in society is we're getting further and further away from the farm. Chew on that for a while. Because when you live on the farm, you need a family. Because you need, you know, many hands make light work. And when you have a family and you work on the farm, stay with me, you're not dependent on the government You're depending on God to make it rain. Now, you can work in a lab all day long, and yes, you can have, you know, light, and you can have, you know, the mist and everything, but you're doing lab-grown food, and I get all that, but if you're going to go out and do it organically, You need God involved in on this. And so these men were ones that were bringing in all of their animals and their cattle and their sheep. And by the way, let me take a little detour. We're living in a society that's trying to make you feel bad for eating beef. Isn't that ridiculous? Let me tell you what it's all about. It has nothing to do with climate change. It has nothing to do with flatulence and belching of a cow. It has nothing to do with the greenhouse gases. They're using all of those arguments to try to control the masses. What they really want is for you to be dependent on government and independent of God. Listen, friend, I thank God for government when government follows Bible principles, but at the end of the day, we don't need bigger government. We need less government and we need more God. It was Ronald Reagan that said in 1981 in his first inauguration speech, he said, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. And so listen, as we look at scripture, we're seeing a world that is turning on God in so many areas, even in what we eat. We go a little bit further. Look with me at Genesis chapter 46 and look at verse number 5. In Genesis chapter 46 verse 5, this got my mind spinning. Genesis 46 and verse 5, it says this, And they took their cattle and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all of his seed with him. Verse 7, His sons, his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all of his seed brought he with him into Egypt. Now, if you're bringing animals and livestock, if you're bringing your children and your grandchildren, now stay with me. If you're bringing your grandma and grandpa, can you move fast? No. You got to go slowly. You know why? Because you'll injure somebody. The little kids can't keep up. The older people can't keep up. The animals can't necessarily keep up. See what that tells me? You've got to lead on softly, as the Bible says, in another place in Scripture. You've got to be able to lead. And you know what's interesting? Dictators want to push, push, push, push, push. Leaders lead softly and gently. because they care about the condition of their sheep. Here's an application. As a husband and as a father, it took me a long time to realize this. I can't just say this is what we're going to do and just put the pedal to the metal and just go. You know what? I'll just be honest with you. I hate moving. I hate moving. You know why? Because arguments come up. You want it to go there? OK, you want it to go there? Or we're going to move on this day. OK, let's get everything ready. But we're not ready. And we're just going back and forth, right? And you know the great thing about arguments is then you eventually get to make up when the wife apologizes. For some reason, I can't see where my wife's seated. Oh, there she is. Can I tell you, I've had to apologize way too many times. But you know what, if you're going to be a good leader, if you're going to be a shepherd like Jesus, sometimes you need to know how to lead gently and softly, because if you go too hard, you can hurt people. Take your Bible, go back. You're in Genesis 46. Let me show you the last thing in this chapter. Genesis 46 and verse number 33. And I'll give you this thought. If this is the first time shepherd is mentioned in your Bible, the Bible says they're traveling to Egypt. They had all their cattle with them. That's their line of work is shepherding. But then I want you to notice this. The world hates shepherds. Genesis 46 in verse number 33. It shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say, what is your occupation? That ye shall say, thy servant's trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. Now watch this phrase. For every shepherd is an, what's the next word? unto the Egyptians. Egypt is a type of the world. And so the Bible says here Pharaoh and the Egyptians look at the Hebrews, but the Bible doesn't say that the Israelis were an abomination. It says the shepherds. Now yes, in this chapter, that's when it says shepherds, they viewed the Israelis as less than. I get that. But in this particular passage, We're told they viewed anybody doing shepherd work as below them. I'll be honest with you. I'm a little bit sick and tired in our country that if you have a college degree, you're smarter than someone who doesn't. That is not true. You can kiss that goodbye. That's arrogance to the top. That's narcissism. Just because you have a piece of paper hanging on the wall and you were able to write a letter or rather write a report and pass a couple of tests, certainly you earned something, sure. But can I tell you, there's a lot of intelligent people out there with a high intelligent quotient who have never finished college and even chose never to go to college because for whatever reason they said, this is my path in life. Listen, we don't need to compare ourselves among ourselves because the Bible says that's not Hey, thank God for those who can get an education. And I'm saying, listen, if you can accomplish that, that's wonderful. Education is certainly something we ought to pursue, but we ought to be in pursuit of knowledge, not just simply a piece of paper. But I'm glad for those that have a blue-collar work ethic. Right? They know how to work hard. If you can add that to education or knowledge, you can get somewhere even bigger and faster, certainly. But the Bible says they looked at them and they were the abomination unto the Egyptians. You say, Preacher, where are you going with this? Now stay with me. If a shepherd leads others, leads family, leads his sheep, leads the flock or that of the cattle and the herd, now stay with me. It's important for me to know this. If I make the wrong move, it affects how many people? A whole bunch. I don't know about you, I'm tired of making mistakes. I'm tired of saying, I shouldn't have done that. Or I should have said this. And we'll never stop dealing with that. But I think we can learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. But here's what I don't want to do. I don't want to be in a position that says, I'm not going to listen to others that are older and wiser because I want to show them I know what I'm doing. You know what you call that? Pride. I don't want pride. And we all deal with it. But it'd be a lot better for me to say to the older generation, teach me something that I don't know. Teach me something that maybe I think I know, but maybe I'm not catching it. Because I want to make sure as I lead my family, And every man in this room should take this personally. In 2025, let's thrive in 2025. And let's say this, I want to lead my wife, I want to lead my kids, I want to lead my job and my employers and employees and everybody else, even at church and say, I want to lead people closer to the Lord and I want to make sure I make wise decisions. How do you do that? It goes back to who are you following? Paul said this, follow me. as I follow Christ. I've never forgotten this statement and that is this, I cannot determine how somebody will influence me. I can only determine who will influence me. I'll chase a little rabbit trail. I like it when people say things that shock you and get their attention. You know why? Because they're not concerned about offending me or anybody else. I love that. When somebody gets up and says, here's what it is, and they just say something that shocks you and you sit back and you're like, man, that guy's got guts. That's a double-edged sword. I don't want to just listen to somebody because he delivers something in a manner that nobody else is willing and has guts to say it. I want to look at how he's living his life and what he stands for. And if it doesn't line up for the Word of God, I don't care if he's got the number one podcast in the world. Y'all chasing that trail? I want to listen to those who are following the Word of God. That doesn't mean I can't learn from everyone, but I know this, the more I read after someone, the more I listen to someone, they're going to influence me. I can only determine who, not how they influence me. Can I tell you where I want the influence to come? I want it to come from the pages of this book. Take your Bible and go back with me to Luke chapter number 2 real quickly. Luke chapter number 2 is we look at the shepherds and notice how in Luke chapter 2 the shepherds end up doing a couple of things that I want to point out this morning. The Bible says in Luke chapter 2 verse 9 The angel of the Lord comes to them, and then they're afraid. Verse number 10 of Luke chapter 2, he says, don't fear. He says, I've got good news for you. Verse 11, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Now, I like to ask questions. By the way, let me just say this. If you have any questions, please ask. First of all, I'm asking a lot of questions, because I'm learning a lot of how things work at church. And you say, preacher, I'd like to know this. Ask the question. Ask me. If you're not sure I've got the answer, and that's OK, because I don't, ask the treasurer. Ask the deacons. Ask the trustees. It's a good thing when people ask questions. It's a bad thing when nobody asks questions. There's a bigger problem, usually with the shepherd. Y'all with me? Ask questions. You say, well, I'm worried I'm going to offend. No, you're not. I'll be more offended if I know you have a question. Or even this, if I know you have a criticism and you don't criticize me to my face, but you do it behind my back, I'd rather you say it to my face. Are you with me? I can respect a person who says, preacher, you're wrong. I don't respect someone who goes behind somebody's back. You know what you call that? Dirty. Nobody's got it right. Amen? We need to ask questions. And so as we ask questions, we can come to the right position and the right location. But I started asking a question according to verse number 11, he says this, unto you is born this day in the city of David. Well, what's the city of David? Take with me to Luke chapter two, look at verse number four. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth onto Judea, onto the city of David, which is called, what's the next word? Bethlehem. Oh, this is where it gets good. Now, Jerusalem is also called the City of David, but that's another sermon for another day. Here, the Bible says, the City of David is where Jesus is born. Now, when they announced, when the angels announced to the shepherds, Now that's another thought. They didn't announce it. God didn't say, let's tell the kings and the political leaders. Let's tell the rich people. He said, no, I want you to go to the shepherd, the common man. I'm glad because the Bible says the common man heard him gladly. God was interested in the common man. So he went to the shepherds. The angels announced that the Savior of the world has been born. By the way, who is Jesus? The Bible says he's the chief shepherd and bishop of our souls. And where is he born? He's born in Bethlehem, the city of David. Why is that so important? Because the city of David is named after David because he's the shepherd boy who became king. Are y'all with me? Psalms chapter 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What a beautiful picture there. So then he says this, it's called Bethlehem. What does the word Bethlehem mean? It means the house of bread. Thank God for carbs. You read the Old Testament, in Isaiah it says, butter and honey shall he eat. Thank God for the day I discovered honey butter at Golden Corral years ago. And believe me, I'm a Baptist, I'm not a Methodist, no offense to the Methodists or the Presbyterians, but I believe in immersion, not sprinkling, taking my bread and immersing it in honey butter. But understand this, the Bible tells us it's called the house of bread. And why is that so good? Because in John chapter 6 verse 33, Jesus said, I am the bread of life. No man's gonna hunger. No man's gonna thirst. And by the way, this is so important because of what Luke says in chapter 4. Look over to Luke chapter number 4 and notice in verse number 4 as he quotes the book of Deuteronomy. In Luke chapter number 4, the Bible says here, And as Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every... What's the next three words? Word of God. I'm thankful for food. But I learned a long time ago, if I want to get closer to God, sometimes I may want to give up some things and spend more time searching for spiritual food. And this is what satisfies. You know, excuse me, you know, I've interpreted several meetings in the past of Alcoholics Anonymous. I've interpreted some Narcotics Anonymous meetings for some deaf people that have been in attendance. It's really interesting, because they'll talk about God, they'll talk about the Creator, they'll talk about the One that they believe, but they don't really drill down and get specific. And I understand they're trying to bring in everybody and, quote-unquote, not make anybody uncomfortable, so they just talk about the higher power. And as they go one by one, I've heard them use different phrases, go through the 12 steps, But I'll never forget the first time I was in that environment. As everybody was talking about, say, hi, my name is Doug, or hi, my name is Jeff, or my name is Susie, or whatever, and I'm dealing with this. Here's what a lot of people have a misnomer about AA and NA. Oh, that's for those people, right? That's for the bad crowd, for the low people. You know, the only people that go to AA and NA are the, you know, maybe the waiters and waitresses and truck drivers and the factory workers. Can I tell you what? There's a lot of doctors in there. There's a lot of attorneys. There's a lot of business people in there. I've seen principals and teachers, in addition to the truck drivers and waiters and waitresses. You know what I've realized? That the people that come into those meetings, some of them are very, very successful and have a lot of money. And I've walked away and I thought, how in the world could somebody like that who's been successful get into such a trap where now all of a sudden they feel like their life is spiraling out of control? And whether it be alcohol, whether it be drugs, or the list could just go on and on and on, At the end of the day, every single person, if we're honest, we've all sinned against a holy and a righteous God. There is none good, no not one. And if I think I'm better than somebody else, that's the first problem. I need to realize that I am not worthy of anything that God has ever given to me or will give to me, and that I need God more than I need anything else on this planet. My IQ doesn't make me good. My talent doesn't make me good. If I have anything that I can say, I am thankful for, I should give thanks to God Almighty because He's been good to me. And by the way, if I have the attitude that, oh, that'll never happen to me, take heed lest you fall. I don't want to fall. And you say, well, preacher, how do you help those people? Well, there's a lot of ways that we can talk about that. But ultimately, at the end of the day, they need to get into the Word of God. What's going to help somebody more than anything else is to break the strongholds. It's going to be the bread of life that they dig into every single day. But as we look in Scripture, we can see how the bread of life changes our life. Look with me at Luke chapter 2, verse number 12, real quickly. And the Bible says they told him the sign. He says, you shepherds are going to go find this baby. And he says, verse 12, the sign will be unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Another little rabbit trail, according to Ezekiel 16, verse 4, those that did not swaddle their newborn baby was considered physical abuse. So they would take strips of cloth and put it on that baby because they believed it would help their limbs to grow straight. So they were telling the shepherds, you'll find a swaddled newborn lying in a manger, and that's the one you're looking for. Look with me at Luke chapter 2 verse 13 and 14, it says, These angels, this heavenly host, begin to glorify God. Now let me give you the sermon in the next five minutes, alright? First thing these guys do, according to verse number 15, It came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and... What's the next word? You know what's part of the problem with the world today? The world doesn't see God. They don't. Here's what they see. They see a lot of money. They see a lot of success. They see a lot of struggles. They see a lot of heartache. And they ask questions. Well, if God really was real, why would he allow this to happen? You ever heard that before? How come God didn't do something? Or why did God allow that to happen? And I'll be honest with you, I don't know the answer to those questions. But I do know this. God is good. And God is always right. My pastor tells a story and I have never heard him say this story. I've actually I've never heard him talk about this until lately and he's now in his 60s. His father died when he was I think 18 or 19 years of age. His dad was 40 or 41 years of age 40 I believe when he died of cancer building a church in Hazard Kentucky. Their church was growing. They had a big bus ministry, Christian school, and they had a lot of people there from the mountains that were coming every week to Sunday school. They had a high day of over 900 people in church in Hazard back in the 70s. He got sick with cancer in his late 30s and ended up dying at 40. But he tells more and more about the story lately as he's gotten older now. I've listened and I've watched how you could tell that even as he's been in life and ministry for so long, there's still something that still speaks to him and he misses his dad. But if I'm not mistaken about the story, his dad has on his tombstone, God is good. How can you say God is good When a man is 40, serving the Lord is taken that quickly. And when people that are hurting other people, committing horrible crimes, and injuring other people get to live. I don't know the answer to that question, but I can simply say this. God is always right. He's always good. And one thing we know this about the 40-year-old Sam Fugitt. When he passed from this life, He woke up in a much much better place. We often look at it from my vantage point. I wish we had more time with him. But now he's in heaven and his children are serving the Lord. All I can say this is God is always good. We go a little bit further. They went to go see their shepherd. They went to see their Savior. Look at verse number 17. The Bible says, Not only did they go see the Savior, they wanted to talk about the Savior. We go a little bit further in verse number 20 and we'll end here. The shepherds returned doing something according to verse 20. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God. What did they do? When they met Jesus Christ, it literally transformed their life. I'll never forget, this has been a long time ago, but George W. Bush was the governor of the state of Texas. In 2000, he became the Republican nominee. He was asked to speak at a local high school in Lexington in around October or September of 2000 when he was running against Al Gore. I was asked to, at the last minute, because they couldn't find somebody, they asked me if I'd be willing to interpret for his speech, and I said, sure, I'll be glad to do that. They said, we don't know if there'll be any deaf people there. I said, that's fine, I'll interpret. If nobody understands what I'm signing, or if everybody understands what I'm signing, I'll be glad. It's a great opportunity to meet a politician and maybe in my lifetime, the first president I get to meet in person. And so I remember going through all the background checks and I remember standing in line. They had a little aisle that came from the back of the platform that opened up into the gym at Henry Clay High School. And I'm in an all black suit and I don't know what color tie. I was, you know, a lot lighter. And I had a shaved head, you know, head in terms of a high and tight haircut. And I was standing there like this with my hands here, and right next to me was a Secret Service agent. As George W. Bush was walking through, shaking everybody's hands on this side, and the crowd is out there and people couldn't really see everything, he's coming by and he looks and makes eye contact with that Secret Service agent. And I'm standing here like this, and he's standing like this. He's got his earpiece in, and I'm thinking, I'm going to get to shake the hand of a future president. Man, I'm so excited. I'm just waiting. And then as he makes eye contact, I kind of nodded. And then he begins to turn, and I stuck my hand out like this. Well, he didn't see my hand, and he just walked over to the other side. And I went like, anybody ever been there before? I went from being this big to this big. I remember standing on the platform as he was giving his speech. And whatever he said that day, as I was signing to the crowd, and I don't think there was any deaf person there that day, and I thought, you know what, I'm going to give him a gospel track. And as soon as he was done, I'm from here to that PA system or the wall. And as soon as he was done, I made a beeline to him. I said, Mr. Bush or Governor Bush, I said, I'd like to give you something. He said, what is it, young man? And I was 23, right? And so I reached into my pocket like this. Now, thankfully, I was not on some list. I pulled out a gospel tract. I gave it to him. And the tract said, if you die today, are you 100% sure you can go to heaven? And Governor Bush grabbed it, looked at it, and I said, sir, do you know the answer to that question? He said, yes, sir, young man. I trusted the Lord as my Savior. I promise you, I'll read this. He put it in his pocket. We shook hands, and we left. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized it was not a good thing for me to reach like this. I'm 23. There's a lot to learn, right? All of that to say this. I want people to know how good God can be in your life. He changes your life when you meet Him. I don't have time to dive into this, but everybody needs a shepherd. For the people that say, I don't need a shepherd, I beg to differ. You're gonna need a shepherd when you're on your last dying deathbed. You're gonna need a shepherd. You really need a shepherd even right now when you act like, I don't need one. But I'll say this, he's a good shepherd that if you say, I don't need him, and then all of a sudden you start to think, maybe I do need some help, I promise you, he'll let you come back. Turn over with me and we're finished. Go to 1 Peter chapter number 2. What is 1 Peter chapter 2 all about? 1 Peter chapter 2 is Peter paraphrasing Isaiah in chapter 53. But in 1 Peter chapter number 2, the Bible says, talking about in verse 24, through his stripes we are healed, quoting Isaiah. In 1 Peter chapter 2, he says in verse 25, for as ye were as sheep going, what's the next word? Astray. I got saved at 12 years of age on January the 6th of 1991. I got baptized two or three weeks later on Super Bowl Sunday. You remember when the New York Giants were playing the Buffalo Bills and the kicker kicked the ball and he missed it, went wide right? That was the day I got baptized, when the Giants beat the Bills. And the Bills lost four Super Bowls from that day to the next three or four years. But after I got baptized, I didn't have anybody to help me grow spiritually, and I fell away from God. And from my seventh grade year until about my junior year in high school, I wasn't walking with God. And by the way, as a result of that, I got in trouble. I did some things I shouldn't have done, and I regret those, but I'm thankful for God's grace. But I remember finding church and I remember getting back into church as a junior in high school and hearing the preacher open the Bible and preach God's Word. And as I started to say, I don't know about that. I took my Bible and went home. and I started making notes. Now this was long before the internet, so that if I needed to find out what is a word meant, I had to go get the dictionary and open it up, right? I had to, if I wanted to study something, y'all remember the day when you used to have salesmen come to your house and sell you a whole package of encyclopedias? I remember grabbing those and going through those. I remember getting books about the Bible and reading. And I started making notes and highlighting my Bible. And after that, as I started to study the scripture, and I'd hear the preacher preach, and then I would make more notes on that. And then I began to realize, man, I'm starting to grow in grace and get closer to God. And then when the preacher said, turn to this book, I could get there quicker, because now I've been in it all week. And when he said, turn to this, And I realized something was changing. And I'm thankful that God changed my life through the power of His Holy Word. It's the shepherd of Jesus Christ that when I went astray, He said, you can come on back home. I'll take care of you. I'll feed you. I'll put you on my shoulder and bring you back. And I'm thankful that when we go astray, He lets you come back if you want to. And let's finish verse 25. You as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls. Shepherd is capitalized. Right? Can I tell you this? If you follow a preacher, you will be disappointed. If you follow Christ, you never get disappointed. Yes, you have to follow a preacher. Paul said, follow me. But the most important part of that phrase is as I follow Christ. When that person stops following Christ, I keep following Christ regardless of them. Let's be like the shepherds. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the scriptures today. Thank you, Lord, that you've given us multiple opportunities to return back home. And God, if there's anybody here that's never been saved, may they put their faith in you. If there's a Christian that says, I used to live for God, may they say, I want to return back to the shepherd and bishop of my soul. And God, for the Christian that has been faithfully serving you, may we keep our eyes upon you, the chief shepherd. And Lord, follow you all the days of our life. Lord, may you have your will and way in this invitation. It's in Jesus' name we pray.