PSK 138. Sermon – THE GOOD SHEPHERD KNOWS YOUR NAME!
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PSK 138. Sermon – *THE GOOD SHEPHERD KNOWS YOUR NAME!*
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🕊️ CHRIST’S GOOD NEWS MISSION
Sunday Worship Service — 26th April 2026.
📅 Liturgical Day: *_4th Sunday of Resurrectiontide (Good Shepherd Sunday)_*
📖 Bible Lesson: John 10:1-18; Psalm 23:1-6.
✍️ *Text: _“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”_* — John 10:14 (NKJV).
💕🦅 *Theme:*
*“THE GOOD SHEPHERD KNOWS YOUR NAME!”*
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🎵 *OPENING HYMN MHB. 129 — _”The King of Love My Shepherd Is”_*
1: THE King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His,
And He is mine for ever.
2: Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow
With food celestial feedeth.
3: Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home rejoicing brought me.
4: In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.
5: Thou spread’st a table in my way;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And, oh, what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!
6: And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house for ever.
(Sir Henry Williams Baker, 1868 — One of the most beloved pastoral hymns in Methodist, Anglican, and Wesleyan traditions, drawn from Psalm 23.)
🙏✝️❤️🔥 *SEVEN PROPHETIC PRAYERS*
(Preparatory — Before the Exhortation)
*Prayer 1 — _The Good Shepherd Calls Us by Name_*
Title: Known and Called.
*_“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”_* — John 10:3 (NKJV).
Risen Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, You know every name in this assembly! Speak personally to each heart today, call every wanderer back to Your fold, and let no soul depart from this place without hearing Your voice in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
*Prayer 2 — _Abundant Life Over Every Thief’s Agenda_*
Title: Life More Abundant.
*_“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”_* — John 10:10 (NKJV).
Father of life, we rebuke every agenda of the enemy over this congregation today! Every machination of theft against our destinies, our families, our health, and our prosperity — let it be dismantled by Christ’s resurrection power. We receive abundant life in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
*Prayer 3 — _The Shepherd’s Voice Above All Voices_*
Title: Hearing the Right Voice.
*_“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”_* — John 10:27 (NKJV).
O Holy Spirit, heighten our spiritual sensitivity! In a world crowded with voices of confusion, deception, and despair, grant every worshipper here the grace to hear only the Shepherd’s voice — clearly, consistently, and compellingly, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
*Prayer 4 — _No Lack in the Shepherd’s Care._*
Title: Supplied by the Shepherd.
*_”The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”_* — Psalm 23:1 (NKJV).
El-Shaddai – Provider God, arise over every need in this congregation! Let no partaker in this fellowship be found wanting in provision, protection, or purpose: What the Shepherd supplies is always sufficient — move mightily on our behalf, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
*Prayer 5 — _Through the Valley Without Fear_*
Title: Fearless Through the Valley.
*_“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me.”_* — Psalm 23:4 (NKJV).
Lord of resurrection, speak peace to every valley season our people are walking through! Every health crisis, every financial shadow, every relational darkness — let the Shepherd’s rod and staff restore confidence and conquer fear, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
*Prayer 6 — _The Shepherd Lays Down His Life_*
Title: Love That Laid Everything Down.
*_“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”_* — John 10:11 (NKJV).
Lamb of God who was slain and has risen, we honour the sacrifice that purchased our redemption! Let the revelation of Your selfless love shatter every stronghold of spiritual indifference in us. Let gratitude ignite devotion afresh, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
*Prayer 7 — _One Flock, One Shepherd._*
Title: Unity Under the Shepherd’s Banner.
*_“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”_* — John 10:16 (NKJV).
Lord of the harvest, extend the reach of Christ’s Good News Mission to every lost sheep across nations and generations! Let this congregation be empowered for evangelism, intercession, discipleship, and Mission, until the one great flock gathers before Your throne, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
✝️❤️🔥🦅 *EXHORTATION* 👑❤️🔥
✝️❤️🔥🦅 *Theme: “THE GOOD SHEPHERD KNOWS YOUR NAME —* When the Risen Christ Calls You, Every Valley Becomes a Pathway to Green Pastures!” 👑❤️🔥
📖 Bible Lesson: John 10:1-18; Psalm 23:1-6 (NKJV)
✍️ *Text: _“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”_* — John 10:14 (NKJV).
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In 1940, during the darkest hours of the Second World War, when Nazi forces had swept across Western Europe and the British Expeditionary Force was encircled on the beaches of Dunkirk, an extraordinary rescue unfolded. Over nine days, nearly 338,000 soldiers were evacuated — not primarily by the Royal Navy, but by an armada of private fishing boats, pleasure crafts, and river ferries. The owners of those humble vessels — fishermen, leisure sailors, retired sea captains — crossed the English Channel under constant enemy bombardment to personally fetch their countrymen home. What has passed into history as the *_“Miracle of Dunkirk”_* was, at its heart, a story of individuals who refused to let their own people perish. Each skipper knew the danger, counted the cost, and went anyway. They did not send substitutes. They went themselves.
Beloved, that is the portrait of our Good Shepherd. He did not send a messenger. He did not dispatch an angel. He came Himself. He walked our roads, bore our griefs, entered our darkness, and — when the moment of ultimate cost arrived — He laid down His life with sovereign, deliberate love. And having risen from the dead, He still comes Himself to every soul who is stranded in the valley, encircled by the enemy, or simply exhausted on the journey. Today’s exhortation proclaims with triumphant certainty: the Good Shepherd knows your name, and He will cross every dangerous channel to bring you home.
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*The Stranger’s Voice and the Shepherd’s Voice: A Vital Distinction.*
Jesus opens His teaching on the Good Shepherd with a distinction that every believer must internalise: *_“The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep… the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers”_* (John 10:2-5, NKJV). The sheep do not follow any voice — they follow a known voice. They have spent time in the shepherd’s presence, and familiarity with his call is the product of relationship, not religion.
The contemporary world bombards every believer with a cacophony of competing voices — the voice of fear dressed as caution, the voice of compromise dressed as wisdom, the voice of the world dressed as opportunity. The Adversary has always been a counterfeiter of divine communication. Yet Christ’s promise remains unshaken: His sheep know His voice. The question for every heart in this assembly is not whether the Shepherd is speaking — He is always speaking. The question is whether we have cultivated sufficient intimacy to distinguish His voice from the noise. Time in the Word. Time in prayer. Time in corporate worship. These are not optional spiritual luxuries; they are the training grounds where the Shepherd’s voice becomes unmistakable.
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*The Thief and the Shepherd: Contrasting Agendas*
Jesus draws a devastatingly clear contrast: *_“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”_* (John 10:10, NKJV). Two figures. Two agendas. Two entirely different outcomes. The thief operates by stealth — he enters where he has no right, takes what does not belong to him, and leaves destruction in his wake. The Shepherd enters through the gate — openly, legitimately, with full authority — and His singular agenda is life: overflowing, abundant, resurrection life.
Every believer who has endured seasons of theft — stolen health, stolen destiny, stolen marriages, stolen years of productivity — must hear afresh the Shepherd’s counter-declaration. He has not merely come to replace what was stolen; He has come to give life more abundantly. The Greek word *_perisson_* — translated *_“abundantly”_* — speaks of overflow, of superabundance, of that which surpasses ordinary measure. The Risen Shepherd does not offer minimum sufficiency; He offers maximum flourishing. The enemy may have stolen a season; the Shepherd restores a lifetime: Be strong in your faith in Christ and believe this, in spite of what you have passed through in life!
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*The Good Shepherd Gives His Life: Love’s Ultimate Proof.*
Three times in John 10, Jesus declares the same magnificent truth: *_“The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep”_* (John 10:11, NKJV); *_“I lay down My life for the sheep”_* (v.15); *_“I lay down My life that I may take it again”_* (v.17). This is no accidental repetition. The Holy Spirit is driving home the irreducible foundation of Christian confidence — our Shepherd is not a hireling who flees at the sight of danger. He is the One who ran toward the cross so that we could run toward the crown.
The hireling of verse 12 represents every religious system, every false prophet, every force that pressurises you to lose your faith in Christ’s truth, every cultural framework that demands allegiance but offers no sacrifice. When the wolf appears — when tragedy strikes, when persecution rises, when the valley deepens — the hireling abandons the sheep. But the Good Shepherd remains. He was there in Gethsemane. He was there on Golgotha. He was there in the sealed tomb. And He emerged from that tomb not merely as the Surviving Shepherd, but as the Reigning Shepherd — alive for evermore, holding the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:18, NKJV).
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*The Green Pastures and Still Waters: Rest in Resurrectiontide.*
King David, himself a shepherd before he became a king, penned the most beloved pastoral poem in all of Scripture: *_“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul”_* (Psalm 23:1-3, NKJV).
What David understood from tending flocks under the open skies of Bethlehem, he transferred into his theology of divine care. Sheep do not find green pastures on their own; they are led there. They do not locate still waters by instinct alone; they are guided to them. The restoration of the soul is not a self-help project; it is a Shepherd’s initiative.
*Resurrectiontide* is precisely such a season of divine leading. The Risen Christ — who walked the Emmaus road last Sunday — this Sunday stands at the gate and calls His own into meadows of refreshment. Are you exhausted from spiritual warfare? He leads you beside still waters. Are you wounded from betrayal or failure? He restores your soul. Are you uncertain of the path ahead? *_“He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”_* (Psalm 23:3, NKJV). The Shepherd’s navigation is never arbitrary; it is always purposeful, always righteous, always for His glory and your good.
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*The Valley of the Shadow: Where the Shepherd is Most Necessary.*
David does not pretend that the Shepherd’s care eliminates every valley. He writes with pastoral realism: *_“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”_* (Psalm 23:4, NKJV).
The valley is real. The shadow is real. But the Shepherd’s presence is more real than both. Notice that David does not say “if” I walk through the valley — he says *_though_* The valley is an expected terrain on the pilgrim’s journey. What transforms the valley is not the removal of its darkness but the entrance of the Shepherd into it.
The rod and the staff are not decorations of authority; they are instruments of protection and correction. The rod drives away predators. The staff rescues the straying sheep. *_The Risen Christ, who descended into the very depths of death and emerged victorious, is the only Shepherd capable of comforting us in every valley, because He has walked through the deepest valley of all and come out the other side — alive, glorified, and triumphant_*. No valley you face today is deeper than the one He has already conquered.
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*The Table in the Presence of Enemies: Triumph That Confounds*
The Psalmist concludes with an image both startling and majestic: *_“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over”_* (Psalm 23:5, NKJV). The Shepherd does not merely rescue the sheep from danger — He seats them at a banquet table while the enemies still surround them. This is not a private feast hidden from adversarial eyes; it is a public declaration of divine favour. The enemies watch, but they cannot touch. They observe, but they cannot interrupt. The anointing flows. The cup overflows. And the testimony of God’s faithfulness becomes the greatest rebuke to every force that sought to destroy what the Shepherd has chosen to bless.
Beloved, as you exit this place of worship today, you go forth as sheep of the Good Shepherd — known by name, purchased by blood, guided by grace, and seated at His table. The enemy has no final jurisdiction over a soul that bears the Shepherd’s mark. Your valley has an exit. Your shadow has a dawn. Your cup — however empty it has seemed — is destined to overflow. For the Lord is your Shepherd, and in Resurrectiontide, that Shepherd is gloriously, irreversibly, eternally alive!
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*_“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”_* — Psalm 23:6 (NKJV).
Go forth, beloved — for the Good Shepherd goes before you!
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🎵 *CLOSING HYMN MHB. 663 — _“Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”._*
1: SAVIOUR, like a shepherd lead us,
Much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use Thy folds prepare:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are;
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.
2: We are Thine; do Thou befriend us,
Be the Guardian of our way;
Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us,
Seek us when we go astray:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Hear, O hear us when we pray;
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Hear, O hear us when we pray.
3: Early let us seek Thy favour;
Early let us do Thy will;
Blessed Lord and only Saviour,
With Thy love our bosoms fill:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still;
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still.
(Dorothy Ann Thrupp, 1836 — A timeless Wesleyan hymn of pastoral devotion and childlike trust in the Shepherd.)
✝️ *BENEDICTION.*
*_“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”_* — Hebrews 13:20-21 (NKJV).
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Go in peace. The Good Shepherd goes before you.
*Soli Deo Gloria!*
Glory to God Alone!
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