Hey, Bridgetown Church and to all of you listening online, love and peace and joy to all of you, John

Mark Comer here. Welcome to the Bridgetown Daily for Monday, May 18th. To start off our week together

in the presence and peace of God, let me just read over you from Jesus Himself in John chapter 10.

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. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No

one lays it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and

authority to take it up again. This command I receive from my Father. I love the idea here. I

mean, gosh, there's so much in that. I just want to go back and meditate on more later. But I love

the idea from Jesus' own mouth that he is our good shepherd or another way to translate the Greek

word there is pastor. It's funny. One idiosyncrasy of Bridgetown Church is that we don't call anyone

pastor, at least not as a title or a moniker. I'm not pastor. Nobody calls me that or pastor

when people who are new to our church call me that. I, in my best attempt at gentle love say,

hey, you know, just call me John Mark. And one reason for that is our reading of Jesus' warning

in Matthew 23 about the religious leaders who love to be greeted in public and called by special

names of honor like rabbi or Father. That's interesting or instructor. And Jesus basically

go read it in your own time, but just said, don't do that. You have one father who is God and one

teacher who is the Messiah. And then he said, quote, the greatest among you will be your servant

for those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Now, Jesus, of course, here, I don't think was laying down a legalistic rule to follow kind of

for all time and all culture. He's dealing with a heart posture thing that whether you have a

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