 Good morning everyone. Good morning to the students online as well. Let's just begin this time with a word of prayer and we'll start with our session. Father, we thank You for this time Lord. We thank You for Your presence in our lives. We thank You for just teaching us, being with us Lord. You're teaching us Your Word and even as we study together, God, that Your Word minister to each of our hearts. Lord, we pray that Your Word will be like a good seed planted in our hearts, Lord, to bear fruit in our lives. We thank You so much for this opportunity Lord. We thank You that Your Holy Spirit is there with us to give us the wisdom, the understanding that we need of God and thank You Father. We give You all the praise, we give You all the glory in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen. Alright, we've been talking about teacher and lastly we've finished the teacher practical keys to doing the ministry of the teacher. Let's get into chapter 9. Let's look at the third aspect that is the pastor. So firstly we look at the five-fold ministry. We saw the main difference between the ministry gift and the ministry function. We saw that the five-fold ministry is there for everyone and each one of us can flow in all of these gifts that God has given us. And first we look at the ministry of the evangelist. We saw that all of us are called to evangelize to minister. Jesus gave us the responsibility to do that and He just didn't say, okay, go do it. But He gave us His Holy Spirit to strengthen us, to empower us. And even as we evangelize, we come up with new strategies, ideas, use the tools that are available now to evangelize. Then we looked at the teacher. Jesus said the most beautiful example as a teacher. We must be prepared. We must know how to, most importantly, even as we prepare to teach, we must develop the ability to teach. And it's something that comes over time. There are failures that will have mistakes that we will make, but we learn from them and we continue to grow. Here's a very important point that we've been talking about even as a teacher is that we need to look at God's Word and we need to be students of the Word of God. Which means we need to really dive into different aspects of God's Word. So for example, if you're teaching about the Old Testament, you have to get into a little bit of geography, a little bit of history. You've got to get into those things, those intricate details. And that enables you to come up with good allegories, illustrations while you're teaching. Jesus did that. He spoke in parables. He caught the attention of people. He spoke in hyper bowls. He spoke in different stories. So even as we teach, maybe some of us may get opportunities when we go back, your pastor may say, hey, why don't you teach the gifts of the Holy Spirit? So you need to develop the ability. Come up with, if you're teaching youth, for example, you have to come up with some kind of stories, illustrations to bring a point now. Very important is don't come up with some random story. You're talking about Holy Spirit, don't talk about levitical offerings and try to connect them. It's not going to work. So even as you prepare and you give these examples, make sure it connects with each other. So teaching is very interesting. It really empowers us even as we prepare, we begin to understand, we begin to learn. And even now, after so many years of teaching, I learn so much. And all of us, even as we get opportunities, don't look at it as, oh man, I have to go and teach. Look at it as an opportunity to learn. So let's go to chapter nine. We'll talk about the pastor. Now the pastor is I think one of the most famous, you know, among the five-fold function, they say, okay, the pastors, we have the most number of pastors. And how did this word pastor come into being? So Paul is, and the apostle Paul is writing it, he's looking at the pastor as a shepherd. If you look at a shepherd, what is the work of a shepherd to lead the sheep? Yes, protecting, caring, to oversee. So when we look at the word shepherd, it's derived from this word, the aspects of a shepherd. Now a shepherd is somebody who knows his sheep. So no shepherd is going to say, hey, man, there's a wolf there. What am I going to do? The wolf is going to come and eat the sheep. No shepherd is going to stand and say, what do I do? He is going to do something or the other. And it's interesting that Jesus says, computing his ministry, what does he say? I am the good shepherd. So why did he say good shepherd? So we'll talk about that later on, right? So the basic or the most important responsibility of a pastor is to shepherd to look after, to care for. Imagine a shepherd that's looking after a sheep and says, hey, you know, the sheep, he takes the sheep, he takes them for grazing, they eat, and then the shepherd comes back home and says, find your way back. He's not going to do that, nor is the shepherd going to say, okay, whenever there's some grass, okay, whatever is there, let me just take them there. No, he's going to look for the right place and for the right territory to get the good grass for the sheep. Now I read about this in the book of Psalms and Psalms, right? What does David say? He, the Lord is my, he leads me. Yeah. Now here's the interesting thing. During that time, and I read about this article, it's wonderful. During those days, it was not like what we see now, there's grass everywhere. I remember that it was, it's a deserted area, right? If you come out of Jerusalem, it's full of desert, you go get into, if you want to go to Samaria, you want to go to neighboring towns, it's a desert. So the sheep were completely dependent on the shepherd to get that little grass. You know what the shepherd does? It said that the shepherd would go out, would search for places usually at the bottom of mountains, right? Or at the back and in the sides of these mountains would be plants, right? And plants and good herbs. They were not like how we have it here right now, right? It was not like that. During those times, right? So usually the shepherd, what he'd do, he'd go, he'll do and research. Here's some good grass, here's some good grass. And the shepherd will lead the sheep, right? And that's what God, that's what David meant because he knew what the shepherd is. He knew it was not easy to find grass. Now it's easy to find grass everywhere. During that time it wasn't. So he's saying, the Lord is my shepherd and he will lead me to the right places, right? So what is it that Jesus set as an example of a shepherd? Nowhere in the Bible has his disciples called him pastor or anything because it wasn't the functions were not yet there. But we see the attributes of a pastor in the life of Jesus, the attributes of a shepherd. Jesus himself said, I am the good shepherd. So let's look at these verses. Maybe each one of us can open to one verse each. Matthew chapter 26 was 31. Somebody else can open to Hebrew studying 20 and first Peter 2, 25 and chapter 5 verse 4. Let's read those three verses. Matthew 26, 31. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. So Jesus is what? He's predicting Peter's denial. He's predicting his death. What does it say there? Then Jesus told them, this very night you will all fall away on account of me for it is written. I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. Did that happen? After Jesus, when Jesus was dying, how many people were pledging allegiance to Jesus? Approximately. This before Jesus died, how many people were saying, oh Jesus, how many people were probably following him? Thousands? Thousands of people? Then what happened to them? We all went away. The shepherd was struck, Jesus was struck, he says, the sheep of the flock will be scattered. The disciples themselves scattered and then they had to come back, regroup and... So I will strike the shepherd. Jesus is talking about himself as the shepherd. Let's go to Hebrews 13 and 20. Now may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, a great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant? May the God of peace through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. So here in the book of Hebrews, he's trying to bring this comparison between what was there in the old covenant and what is there in the new covenant. And he's saying, hey, we were far away, but through the blood, through the blood of this shepherd, we have been brought close up. Okay, let's read 1 Peter 2.25. 1 Peter 2.25, for you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. This is a very common verse. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd, the overseer of your souls. Right? So one of the... I think you must have heard this many a times. One of the most unique or not unique, but one of the characteristics of a sheep is going astray. You don't have to tell them. They know how to go astray. By nature, they are built to go astray. We've got a couple of them here. If they want food, I'm sure they'll come, whoever's there here will just, you know, lead them and get them. After that, where are they? They're gone. They're not around, their stomach is full, they go astray. So Paul, Peter is referring to the people you're saying, like sheep, we've gone astray. But we are returning back to the shepherd, the keeper, the overseer of our soul. Again, third time referring to Jesus as the shepherd. Right? 5-4. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfounding crown of glory. Again, when the chief shepherd returns. Now it's interesting, right? All of these verses talking about the shepherd, talking about Jesus is saying, here in this portion, the previous chapter, if you look at the previous chapters, Peter is talking to the believers and saying, this is how you have to live. When you live as a believer, these are the rules that you have to follow to have a holy life. Right? And he also talks about persecution. As a Christian, these are sufferings that you will go through. But even after the suffering, you have a chief shepherd. Right? What does it say there? The chief shepherd, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory, which will never fade away. And there are plenty of verses all through the New Testament talking about Jesus as the shepherd. Now John chapter 10, 1 through 29, let's just look at what it says. We may not read the whole thing, but let's just take a few passages from here. And I'll probably read a few of them. Pick up from here, right? So again, Jesus is talking about the shepherd and the, and his flock, right? Okay, verse two, the man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them. And his sheep follow him because they know his voice. Look at verse five, but they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was, what he was telling them. Right? So you see here, how many of you have read about sheep? Do you know what the shepherd does? I think I mentioned this before, maybe in the first semester. You know what the shepherd does? When a shepherd is taking the sheep, right? He's always for grazing, for food. He's always right in front because he knows the sheep will follow. But after the sheep has eaten, what does the shepherd do? He's right at the back. Why? Because it's very easy to go astray. And David the psalmist says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Right? So you've seen the shepherd's staff, right? Everyone's seen the shepherd's staff? So what does the shepherd do? He holds the shepherd and he keeps pulling it. And then once it doesn't listen, he turns it and gives one whack. Right? And the sheep goes back inside quietly. He's trying to hide from the shepherd. Is that whack needed? Yes. Very much needed. See, three or four times the shepherd is going on pulling it. Come on, don't go. You're going to end up going somewhere else. And then I can't come running, searching for you. Right? So you come back. Come back. This is adamant. No, I'll go this way. One whack. Right? It comes back to its place. Right? Now after the whack, also some sheep will say, no, I want to go. Then the shepherd will try his best. Don't go, don't go. Right? He will try his best to protect. This is what, you know, we see here in what, you know, what Jesus is saying here. He says verse three, the watchman opens, he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. Doesn't mean he's got pet names for each of the sheep. He knows what he's trying to say is he knows his sheep and the sheep know the shepherd's voice. They recognize the shepherd's voice. Right? Picture this. This is a room that is closed right now. What if, you know, maybe one of your parents come outside and they call your name? How many of you will recognize that you'll say, hey, it's a voice that I remember. What is he doing here? Yes? Imagine my dad just comes here and says, Paul, I know it's my dad because I've heard that Paul a million times in my house. I just know his voice. I don't have to, I don't have to think who's that I will know. Right? Secondly, what he's doing here. That is the second question, but I will know. Right? The same way the shepherd, the sheep know the shepherd's voice. Right? When a sheep is grazing and have you seen those? I think I saw, I showed one video sometime back. I don't know if I have that video. Maybe next week I'll get that video. The shepherd and there's, there was this whole empty land and somebody's taking this video. Right? I'll show to you maybe next week. This is empty land just like what we see here and there are sheep everywhere. And there were two shepherds. Right? One shepherd is calling sheep. None of them are bothered. The sheep are just looking and continuing to eat. But the moment the shepherd of this sheep started calling, they all ran and came to the shepherd. Both were shepherds. Right? Both had a way of calling the sheep. But the problem was this shepherd was not the right shepherd for that sheep. Right? So they know the voice. In the national, they know. Imagine in the spiritual, Jesus is saying, I am the good shepherd. So we as a sheep, will the shepherd speak to us? He will speak to us. Will the shepherd, will we know that it is his voice? Right? We should know. Now, if we don't know, that means we haven't spoken much to the shepherd. Hey, the shepherd is there, but I haven't spoken to him much. I'm not able to recognize his voice. Many times people ask, how do I know that this is God? Common question. Right? How do I know that it is God speaking to me? How do I know that it is not my own feeling? The shepherd's voice is leading. We will understand it if we are a sheep. Right? So look at a few aspects here. First one, the shepherd speaks. No shepherd is going to sign language to the sheep. I imagine that or imagine the shepherd is just standing there and saying, when will the sheep come? He'll stand the whole day. They will sleep there also. It will not come. He has to call it. Only then the shepherd will come. Right? So the sheep will come. So the shepherd speaks to each one of us. When we are praying, when we are reading God's Word, God will speak. Is Jesus the shepherd? Yes, we saw. He is the chief shepherd, the overseer of our soul. He will speak. It's just that we have to get into his territory. Get into his presence. Say, God speak to me. Right? Two, the shepherd knows. This is a challenge that we all face as believers. All of us. Right? Sometimes we have plans. We make plans. Those plans don't go as the way we want it to. Right? All of a sudden there's a change. And we say, God, why? Why is this happening? Common thing. Right? All of us have gone through it. I have gone through it too. Right? God, why? I thought this is the way that we should, you know, looks good. But it's very important that as sheep and as believers, we align ourselves to what God is doing. Align ourselves to the will of God. The book of Proverbs says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. And Isaiah says, my thoughts are not like your thoughts. Our ways are not like your ways. Because my ways of thinking is way higher than what you think. You may think small. I'm thinking big. You may think this way, but I'm thinking a different way. You may think, okay, ministry may be like this, but I'm thinking for you, it's like this. Have you ever wondered why is it that people in ministry is built? This, for example, why is it that certain people go through so much of persecution and some of us don't go through anything? Everything is so smooth in ministry. Right? Now it's not that God loves us more and, you know, causing let them go through problem. No, there's a certain kind of way that certain kind of leading that God has. He knows what is best. Right? So even in our lives, question to be asked is God, these are plans that I've made. These are things I want to do. Will you lead me? Help me to know your plan. Help me to know your purposes. Right? So even as you, you know, most of you are here, maybe stay back third year. What do I do after that? God, which church is going to call me or which pastor is going to call me, which minister is going to call me to preach? We may have a lot of thoughts, but he knows how to lead you. Now the shepherd knows, but the sheep must be sensitive to hear. What happens to us as believers sometimes is God is speaking to us, but our mind is crowded. There are so many thoughts. How many of you, when you start praying, say, okay, thank you, Jesus for this beautiful day. And then all of a sudden, what else for breakfast? And then you think about the classroom, you think about, because the mind is that it's designed that way. There's nothing wrong. Right? When we pray, when we go to God's presence, it's normal that our thoughts can go wandering. It's a normal thing. Right? Sometimes you'll fall asleep and you'll be wondering where was I in the prayer? Which prayer? Right? All these things are normal. But as we continue to grow, that's why, you know, we need to mature in the things of God. As we continue to pray, as we continue to grow, we must understand that I need to get into God's presence. I need to tune my mind. I need to tune my thinking. I need to transform my thinking. Right? The enemy may say, hey, you're sleepy. You wonder, you know, think about this. Think about that. Be still in his presence. Being still is not always physical. Right? You can walk around. You can, you know, just take walks around and pray, but your mind is still. But you can sit in one place and pray, but your mind is not still. Physically still, mentally, you're all over the place. Right? Now, remember that for us, when we get into God's presence, right? When we want to know him, we need to surrender. We need to say, God, you are the shepherd. We are the sheep. And I must be willing to hear your voice. And when we hear his voice, we will be able to follow. Let's pick up a few from here, right? He says, I tell you the truth. Verse seven, I tell you the truth. I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever come before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. Look at verse 11, very emphatic verses. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. Self-explanatory. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. It was 15. Just as the father knows me and I know the father, I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, talking about the Gentiles. Look at that, very emphatic verse 14. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Do you know your shepherd? Because the shepherd knows you. The shepherd knows us. Do we know the shepherd? That's a question that we must ask. So the shepherd knows, how do I get to know what is his will for me? How do I get into his presence? How do I align myself? It's very important that we learn to align ourselves to God's presence, to God's leading. There will be times when God will bring things in our life. You may feel, hey man, I'm not prepared for this, but we align ourselves. We align ourselves. We say, okay. When I got into ministry, I never thought of it. I thought, okay, I'll go back and work in the corporate sector. But when I joined, I was really excited. But then there was so much I wanted to do. But I was just doing one thing. Going and visiting people in hospitals. It was a very small thing. But I enjoyed it. God, I want to do so much more. I want some more opportunities. And every time I would pray, God would minister to me. Many times, I wanted to just say, hey, let me just do something else. But God would minister. Go back to God's presence. And say, God speak to me. And every time God would speak, it was not like the heavens opened and God spoke. He spoke through his word. And God was very annoying and encouragement. Continue, Paul. I know what I have for you. Just stay strong. I know this is a season that you're going through. I know it is not something that you want to do. But I need you to do it. So that this testing, the perseverance, your perseverance is strong. Paul writes about it as well. He takes us perseverance and character, character, hope. And there's so much that God does through these testings and training that we need. So don't be in a hurry to finish and just do whatever it's good to do whatever God wants you to do. But know his will for your life. Begin to seek God. Ask God. Speak to me. Hold on to that verse. It's very simple. And these are verses I hold on to. As a shepherd, Lord, you will speak. You're not going to see which is a black sheep, which is a white sheep, which is the sheep, which is glimping and which is the sheen. You will speak to your sheep. Are we broken? Are we perfect? No. But he will speak. So resolve that in your heart. My God, you will speak. Every morning when you wake up and when you wake up go to God's presence and say, God, speak to me in your own special way, you speak to me. Right? Three, the shepherd leads. We saw that, right? He leads us. Some says, the shepherd leads us in the parts of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. So David is writing this in a difficult season. He's saying, even though I walk through these valley of the shadow of death, was David in the valley of the shadow of death? He was not only in the shadow, he was in death almost. He was going to die anytime. He was going to be killed anytime. His life was so uncertain. Only after Saul passed away. He moved on. Only after he died was David's life at peace. Even when he had about 400 soldiers with him before becoming the king, he was still very weary. Saul can come anytime, attack him. But David is saying, he leads me in the parts of righteousness. Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even he leads me in the in a quiet pasture or by a gentle stream. He's the shepherd of my soul. So when God leads us, sometimes it's very hard to understand and follow it. But we must we must obey it. We must say, okay God, wherever you're leading me, help me to trust in you. It's like this, you're blindfold yourself. How many of you, father or your mother or a relative, they blindfold you and say, hey, I'm going to take you somewhere. Will you be scared? But if some guy, some person who you know for two months says, come, I want to take you somewhere, what will you do? You'll say, I'll blindfold one night. I'll keep the other one open. Why? It's still not yet. You've not yet built that trust to that person. The shepherd leads us. If we trust in him, we will follow him. He will obey him in all his ways. There are so many stories I can share when I remember I was in Bible college. One day I was praying and God said, I want you to pray in the evenings. I said, God, after college, during those days college would be morning, one hour lunch, afternoon sessions, two sessions in the afternoon. So we finished at about four o'clock. Four to five was worship and prayer and so by the time you go you're so tired. One day God spoke to me and said, you pray in the evening. I said, nobody's praying. I want to play cricket, play football or something. I want to rest. How many of you want to rest after college? Obviously, right? You've got so much going in the whole day and you just want to rest. I said, no, God, I can't do this. Morning already you're making me get up so early. Evening also you're saying, what is this? I said, no. And it kept bothering me. So I didn't do it for about two weeks or eventually I asked one of my friends, I said, hey, why don't we pray in the evening? He said, hey, no, I want to be fresh and I pray. I like morning prayer. He said, okay, we'll sit. So I remember in the hostel, I would sit alone and begin to read. Everyone was watching me, all the boys. We had some 20, 25 boys in the hostel, right? Huge place. All of them were watching me. What is this guy doing? So I'll be reading the word and then I'll start praying. I would all be walking around saying, what are you doing? I'm playing cricket. Obviously, I'm praying. So then they would be come, we'll go play and so much of distraction. I'll say, God. So then what happened was I prayed. I said, God, there's a single room on top. Give me that room. Evan, I will pray. I don't always disturb them. So just a couple of weeks later, there was a problem with the tiles of that room that I was staying in. So they needed to repair the whole thing. So Paul, you go up and stay in two weeks. And I knew God was serious about it. So come back home. Six o'clock. Six thirty, start prayer. So we would pray alone. And I remember saying, God, this is not fair. It's not fair. It's too tiring. Everyone are enjoying. Everyone doing whatever they want. They have tea, they have biscuits and all. They're enjoying tea time. They're all going to, I'm here. There's being in this room. I called the minister. I did that. I remember doing that for the entire from the second semester onwards till the end. So from seven to nine and then nine I would go have dinner and then just go to sleep. Same routine 4 in the morning. Wake up. So that is the reason I never speak to anyone in college. Don't talk to me. Because I was just so, there were times I was so tired. I just feel like it's too much that's happening. I just wanted to sleep. So then Sundays I would come and rest. But I thank God because those times really encouraged me. Those times really empowered and strengthened my inner man. It helped me to understand so much that those opening the way God works the way God leads us. It just helped me so much. So there are sacrifices that God will make us do. When he wants to achieve something in us there are sacrifices. It's how we take it. We can look at it as I don't want to do this. Or we can look at it as God for you. It's a choice. That's all I would say. It's a choice. So for example now we are pastors. Nobody is going to question me. Nobody is going to ask me. Did you pray? Did you read your Bible? Who is going to ask? Nobody will ask. I will call this the last. Nobody will ask. Nobody will ask. But I know the value of being in God's presence. Because everything that we do in ministry flows out of that time in God's presence. It's not the gifts and talents are good. But when it's anointed there's power in that. So go back to God. Ask him to lead. He will lead us. Next point. The shepherd sacrifices for his sheep. Did Jesus sacrifice for his sheep? Not just a few things. He sacrificed his entire life. He gave his life for us. And here it's saying a hired servant will run away when the wolf comes. But the real shepherd will be willing to face the wolves, the lions, the bears, willing to face them because he's willing to sacrifice his life on the lion. What did David say? To King Saul. You're a small guy. How will you go defeat this Goliath, this giant of a man Goliath? David said, hey, I killed a lion and the bear with my own hands. Can you picture that? This is David. Maybe 13, 14 years old. Right? 12? Was he 12 when Goliath happened? Yeah, maybe 12 years old. Sorry, I'm not sure of the age but we can look it up later. A teen small boy, he's saying hey, King Saul, I have killed a lion and the bear with my own hands. No rifle and all. With my own hands, I've killed that versus put so casually there. I've killed a lion and the bear in my own hands. So he's done that many times. Right? So he was willing to sacrifice his life for the she. Jesus is willing to do that. He's done it. He's willing to do it now also. There are sacrifices we have to make because he has done the greatest sacrifice for us. Right? The shepherd cares and protects the sheep. He cares for us. As a shepherd, he cares for us. Now, what is the role translate all of this that we are doing? These are the roles of a pastor. If we are shepherding a church, if we are a pastor of the church these are things we must do. Right? He cares and protects for the sheep. Jesus cares for us. He protects us. Right? What does he say in Psalms 91? I've set my angels in charge of you. Right? No weapon fashioned against you shall prosper. A thousand may fall at your left. Ten thousand in your right. It shall not come near you. Right? All of this is protection. And so as shepherds even we must you know maybe going further some of you may become pastors care and protect your sheep. And we talk about roles and responsibilities of shepherds in the next lesson. But this is just a few characteristics that the shepherd cares and protects for his sheep. The shepherd gathers the sheep brings them together. So the shepherd does not say go away from here. Don't come here. He gathers the sheep. He brings them together. So how can we translate this here? The Lord will never reject us for what we do. The Lord will never say you are not obeying my commandments you are living in sin go away. No. He welcomes us into his presence at all times. He gathers us. Someone says he is gathered in the praises of his people. He inhabits in the praises. He comes in. And when we pray, when we seek God when we look to him he gathers us. Some of the verses say like an eagle gathers its eagles. And powers is the eagles with its wings. He gathers. So when we go to God's presence pushing us away. But as a shepherd he gathers us. He calls us in. He draws us into his presence. Let's read Mark chapter 6 and verse 34. And Jesus when he came out saw great multitude and was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. When Jesus saw the people he was moved with compassion sheep without shepherd. What happens with sheep without shepherd? They go astray. They don't understand what's happening. They are not aligned to what they have to do. And imagine this. Jesus is looking at these thousands of people and saying they don't have a shepherd. They don't have anybody to lead them. They don't have anybody to guide them. There are so called shepherds, the Pharisees but they are not good shepherds. They are not doing what the shepherd must do. And his heart was moved with compassion for the people because they were just lost. They had no idea. They had no idea that they are seeing the Messiah that they've been waiting for. Jesus himself says in his military he says what you people are seeing the prophets in the old desired to see you are seeing it but you don't understand it. Like sheep without understanding. And so Jesus was compassionate. His heart was moved because these people had no leader. So if we look at it that God has a design for all of us as believers. He has designed churches. He has designed leaders. He has designed pastors to be there. Of course we know he's our chief shepherd but he's also appointed shepherds over seers all across this world for the church. He's appointed them. And as shepherds these are things that we must do. We must know that the shepherd speaks the shepherd knows the shepherd leads. The shepherd sacrifices. He cares and protects. The shepherd gathers his people. Right. I just look at a few texts here from the shepherd in the Old Testament. Numbers 27 15 to 23 and maybe we can also look at Jeremiah 315. Numbers 27 15 to 23. Let the Lord say let the Lord gather the spirits of all flesh set a man over the congregation who may go up before them and go in before them who may lead them out and bring them in that the congregation of the Lord may not be like she would which have no shepherd. And the Lord said to Moses take Joshua the son of men with you a man in whom is a spirit and lay your hands on him set him before a lazer, the priest and the congregation and inaugurate him in their sight and you shall give some of your authority to him that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before the lazer the priest who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the urn. At his word they shall go out and at his word they shall come in. He and all the children of Israel with him all the congregation. So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before the lazer, the priest and before all the congregation and he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. What a picture this is, no? There's Moses Moses, there's Joshua. It's like an induction service that's happening. Moses is there, Joshua is there God is telling Moses take Joshua take Elijah all the people gather everyone and I like those words used here. It says here in verse 19, make him stand before Elijah the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in the presence. Commission Remember we have commissioning service that's what it is here. Commissioning service, right? Permission him before the people. So let the people know that this person is now the leader because it goes on here. He says he uses the word give verse 20, give him some of your authority so that the whole Israelite community will obey him. Give him some of your authority, meaning place on him authority that people will obey him. So again, you'll see the role of a shepherd and you see the role of leaders here. Let's read one more verse. We don't have time but Jeremiah 3.15 and then we'll close Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15 Jeremiah 3.15 and I will give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding 3.15, did you read that? Jeremiah 3.15, then I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. So again, we see a lot of references of the shepherd so when Jesus is talking about the shepherd and in the Old Testament, the shepherd the reference is still the same the reference, the attributes is that they have leadership, they have qualities of being a leader and these are things that these are attributes or responsibilities. We look at more responsibilities next class but these are attributes that a leader should have and follow. We'll stop here. We'll pick up from next class. We'll look at responsibilities and rewards of a pastor. Thank you so much. Thank you everyone online. Have a great day. God bless.