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My Shepherd

Primary Text:  Psalm 23:1                               September 12 & 13, 2026

Previous Teaching:  Christ’s Ambassadors

1)  Envoys

2 Corinthians 5:17-21:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This Week’s Teaching: 

1)  My Leader & Guide

Psalm 23:1:  The Lord is my shepherd…. 

DQ 1) What is a shepherd? 

DQ 2) What are some facets of the role of a shepherd?

2)  All Like Sheep

Isaiah 53:5-7:  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 

DQ 3) In what ways are human beings similar to sheep? 

DQ 4) Why do humans naturally go astray from God’s will? 

DQ 5) Why do sheep desperately need a shepherd?

3)  A True Shepherd

John 10:1-5:  “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  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 his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 

DQ 6) How do you learn to hear the voice of the Lord? 

DQ 7) How do you learn to follow the direction of the Lord?

John 10:6-10:  Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.  Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who ever came 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. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

DQ 8) What does it mean that Jesus is the “gate for the sheep”? 

DQ 9) What does it mean to have abundant life?

5)  The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-16:  “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 away.  Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.  The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also.  They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”  

DQ 10) What defines the “Good Shepherd”?