Jesus Is the Good Shepherd — John 101-18 Charlie Houck

Charlie tells the story of a woman named Eileen — a mother who protected her children from a dangerous husband, left the marriage, and was publicly excommunicated from her church in front of the entire congregation on a Wednesday night. Her ex-husband later went to prison. Her church never acknowledged what they had done. It's a horrific story, but Charlie suggests it might not be entirely unfamiliar — because a lot of people have been hurt by someone they trusted to protect them.In John 10, Jesus responds directly to the moment the Pharisees cast out the man he had just healed from blindness. He names three types of wicked shepherds that his people have faced throughout history — the thief who harms in secret, the robber who abuses in the open, and the hired hand who abandons at the first sign of real danger. Charlie takes those categories into the room and asks the congregation to locate their own story in them. Then he opens Ezekiel 34, where God delivered a devastating verdict against the spiritual leaders of Israel: you fed yourselves while my sheep went hungry, sick, injured, and lost. "I am against the shepherds."The answer to all of it is the same. Jesus is the Good Shepherd — not just a servant leader, but a shepherd king who seeks, heals, and lays down his life for the sheep that every other shepherd abandoned.Part of the "God Is On Your Side" series through the Gospel of John.Preached at Mesa Church, San Diego, CA.