Our Extraordinary God Is Our Shepherd, Follow Him | Peter Tan-Chi | August 30, 2026

0:00 As we celebrate 42 years of God's faithfulness through CCF, I want us to know how God has provided for us. Let us transform lives. Therefore, my prayer is that we will learn about who this God is, our extraordinary God who is also our shepherd. What does it really mean to have Jesus as our shepherd? Can you really trust him? Can we really trust him when you don't know what lies ahead? Can we trust his provision, his protection? A shepherd's main preoccupation is for the welfare of the sheep. So come and listen and we will learn together

0:45 what it means to have Jesus as our Lord and our shepherd. Be part of this special celebration. Watch this video and join us. >> [music] >> By the grace of God, I want to remind all of us as we celebrate our 42nd anniversary, God gets all the glory. Let's praise God again. In a secular organization, when they celebrate anniversary, it's usually to honor people. But in CCF, we celebrate anniversary

1:33 not to focus on men. We want to focus on the Lord. We give him all the praise and the glory because every anniversary is a reminder for all of us how faithful God is and what he has done in and through us. But it's all about him. To God be the glory. [applause] The danger of celebrating anniversary are the following. And I want to warn you. Number one, pride. We should be careful that we don't take credit. Pride is thinking it's us that has accomplished this. It's all about God. Amen. Number two, you begin to focus on

2:19 the past. We don't live in the past. Learn from the past, but we move forward. Another danger is complacency. You know, complacency means you know what? There are millions of people in the Philippines who don't know Jesus. There are billions of people all over the world who have never heard about Jesus. So, so our work has just begun. Anniversary is a reminder of the work that God has called us to do. And what has God called us to do? Can you tell me what is the primary mission of CCF?

3:08 Everybody, let's read this verse together. Go therefore disciples >> baptizing them in the name of the father, son, holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. In these two verses, what is the primary verb? In the English language, it's hard to discern, but in the original Greek language, it's very clear. The primary verb is everybody make disciples. So tell your neighbor, make disciples. >> We make disciples to make disciples. How

3:55 do you make disciples? As you go, you see the verb go is supporting make disciples. How do you make disciples? You baptize them. How do you make disciples? You teach them. What do you teach them? To observe all that I commanded you. And one of the command is to make disciples. So I submit to you if you are not making disciples today, you are not involved in making disciples. You don't have a small group that you're discipling. You are not yet a disciple of Jesus. Let me repeat. You can be in CCF for many years. You can know all about the Bible. You can

4:42 have a lot of head knowledge. But until you obey this command to make disciples, I submit to you, you are not yet a disciple of Jesus. You are becoming one, but not yet. So can you turn to your neighbor? Tell your neighbor, "Make disciples." Shall you repeat that to your neighbor? Smile at them. Make disciples. To make disciples. That is our mission. And that's why in CCF, one thing we do, our primary mission, make disciples to make disciples. When I meet leaders, I ask them, "Where are

5:28 your men?" If they are a woman, where are the ladies you are discipling? I always surround myself with a group of men because God commands me to make disciples. To make disciples. Question, how in the world are we going to accomplish this? Think about it. How are we going to do this? Impossible. Because we are ordinary people. But praise God, we have an extraordinary God who will use ordinary people like you and me to fulfill his mission. Amen. Is God extraordinary? Yes or no? What's our topic today? Everybody read. Our

6:16 extraordinary God is our shepherd. Follow him. I will teach you these principles so that you will learn to do the impossible provided you allow God to use you. And how will God use you? Everybody say that with me. Our God is what? Our extraordinary God is our shepherd. Follow him. Now, what's the biblical basis for this? The Bible compares us to what? Sheep. Let's read this together. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him, Jesus. Now, notice something. All of us are like ship.

7:05 Ship is noted for going astray. They have a bad sense of direction. But they are not stupid. Except they are not the smartest. They get lost quickly. So I want you to see a video of a ship that will probably identify probably your life and my life many times. Are you ready for that video? All right, let's look. >> [screaming] >> Why are you laughing?

7:52 Just like you, just like me. We keep going back to what we have done before. Go astray. It's not because we're stubborn, but we're like sheep. We need help. We need shepherd. Can I tell you something about sheep? That's like you, like me. They are defenseless. They need help. They need a shepherd. You and I need shepherd. And who is our shepherd? Jesus. Notice the characteristic of sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. One of the remarkable qualities of a sheep is they hear the voice of

8:38 their shepherd. They recognize the face of the shepherd. I've seen this with my own eyes. In the Middle East, you see a group of shepherds. All their sheep are mixed up together. But once the shepherd move, his own sheep will follow him. His sheep will not follow other shepherds because sheep have this uncanning ability to recognize the voice of the shepherd. The Bible tells us God is our shepherd. Let's read together. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I want you to notice the following. Number one, who

9:24 is our shepherd? The Lord. Not money, not people, the Lord. Some of you have made people your shepherd or you want to be your own shepherd. No. No. The Lord. Notice the spelling. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Why? Because the name unique name of God is Yahweh. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. This is the very name of who God is revealed in

10:11 the Old Testament. And you know who is this Lord? Jesus. Look, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. God wants you to know something tonight that he loves you. He wants to take care of you. But for you to understand how much God loves you, how much he loves me, God gave us Psalm chapter 23. It's a description of how God loves you. So that you will understand. It was written by none other than David who was a shepherd. So to understand the heart of God, you have to tweak your mind to

10:56 understand what are the roles. What does a shepherd do? Now notice to remind all of us. Let's read this again one more time. The Lord is not was is today very personal. My shepherd. Do you notice the personal pronoun mine in this verse alone? My shepherd I shall not want. Psalm 23 has 17 personal pronoun. I, me, my. Why is a very personal intimate relationship with the

11:42 Lord. That is what God wants you to understand. God loves you. He cares for you. How will he care for you? Notice I shall not want. What does it mean? I shall not want. Now before I explain that to you, I want you to remind yourselves our topic today everybody. One more time. Our extraordinary God is our shepherd. So what must you do? Follow him. Can you do you mind telling your neighbor the theme one more time? Look at your neighbor. Tell them our extraordinary God is our shepherd. Follow him. What does it

12:27 mean? I shall not want. You know I realized something. I shall not want has a beautiful meaning. David who wrote Psalm 23 wrote Psalm 34. He explained the meaning. Everybody let's read together. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. How will you know if something is good? Answer. How will you know if a cake or a dish is good? Louder

13:14 taste. Many of you have heard about the goodness of God. You know how good God is, but you have not tested him. You have secondhand experience. You have religion. You know, but your life has not really been transformed. Can I tell you why? You need to have a personal encounter. The Bible says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Do you know God is good? You will never follow him. You will never commit your life to him until you believe with all your heart that God is good and he loves you. And that is our

14:02 problem with a shallow knowledge of who God is. It's all about knowledge but no experience. God is telling you today taste and see that God is good. Can I tell you something from my own personal experience? I will tell you God is good. Is God good? >> How blessed is the man who takes refuge. You trust him. He is your security. That's the meaning of coming to the Lord. Oh, fear the Lord. This word fear is not literally mean scared. It's reverence.

14:50 is respect. It's worshiping him. So the Bible says, "Oh, worship the Lord. Reverence him. Give him importance." Why are you here today? Why are you here today? Why are you here tonight? You are here to worship. Say that with me. To worship the Lord. Every time you come on Sunday, remind yourself, I am here to worship the Lord. Not just to sing, not just to meet people. It is not a religious ritual. You are here to worship the Lord. That's why I praise God for this uh evening uh session. You know why I see all of you,

15:36 you are all dressed properly. I'm not against people not dressing properly. I'm not legalistic. But if I were you, I'm going to tell myself every time I worship, I meeting the King of Kings. So, how will I wear my clothes? More important, how is my heart? Look at this amazing truth. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. To those who fear him, there is no one. What does it mean? No one. Young lions do lack, suffer hunger. But they who seek, you seek the Lord because you know he's good. And those who seek the Lord, everybody read, shall not be in want of any good thing.

16:24 Therefore, what does it mean? The Lord, everybody repeat after me together. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. What does that mean? If the Lord is your shepherd and the promise is I shall not want. What does it mean? I shall not want means everybody all my needs are supplied by the Lord my shepherd. That's the job of the shepherd to provide. I shall not want means I will not lack what I need but also I will not lack any

17:10 good thing. Amazing. I shall not want means everybody to trust and not complain or covet more than what the Lord my shepherd gives us. Can I tell you why? Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You know, one day, this is some time ago, a young lady came to see my wife. And my wife immediately noticed something was wrong. So my wife said, "What's going on?" She said "Diana I need a husband. I need to get married." My wife said,

17:58 Do you believe that God promised to supply all of your needs? [snorts] And this girl apparently she knows the Bible. She can even memorize this verse. You know what verse in you? Everybody read. My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Oh, my wife said, "If you need a husband, will God supply one for you?" She said, "Yes." And then suddenly she smiled. It's like a light bulb open. She said yes. If I need a husband, God

18:43 will supply. If I don't have a husband now, that means I don't need it now. My wife said, "That's it. If you need a husband, God will provide. If God is not providing, you don't need it now." She got so happy. She said, "I will text all my downline, all all her Dgroup members because they are all beauty queens." She was a beauty queen. If I mention her name, you will all know her. I have I have permission to tell her story, but I still won't mention her name. She was so excited. We will now devote our energy not to look for husband but to serve the Lord. And you know what happened? One year later, we receive a phone call.

19:32 Can we invite you to be our non and ninang? My goodness, they got married and today they are happily serving the Lord. What's my point? God knows what you need and he will provide it on one condition. Look at me. Follow him. The Lord is my shepherd. What must you do? Follow. What's the message today? Our extraordinary God is our shepherd. What must you do? Follow. When you follow him, you'll be amazed. He will provide for all your needs. But if you don't follow him,

20:19 don't expect the shepherd to be able to take care of all your needs. You know why? You are not following him. So what's your job? The Lord is our shepherd. What must you do? Follow him. Now to show you how much he loves you, look at the next verse. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. Notice the verb. He, our shepherd, makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. Now, you don't understand the power of these

21:04 verses. Let me explain to you. Makes me lie down. Do you realize the verb of that phrase is causative? What is causative? He will make sure that you will be able to lie down because sheep will not lie down if they're hungry. Sheep will not lie down if they are nervous, if they are afraid. They will never lie down. They will only lie down if they are satisfied. The Bible tells us he will make me lie down. That is the work of our shepherd. His

21:50 tender loving care. He will make sure you reach a point where you can relax. What is green pasture? He makes me lie down in green pasture. When you think of the word pasture, what enters your mind? Green pasture, a place of abundance. Am I correct? Lots of food. Whose job is it to look for green pasture? The sheep or the shepherd? Louder. >> Shepherd. Our shepherd is responsible to lead you to the green pasture. What's our problem? We think we know better than our shepherd. We don't follow him.

22:38 Many of us are thinking we know better than our shepherd. And that's why we don't follow him. Some of us are jealous. We look at other people. We look at their family. We look at their job and we think, "I deserve something better. I should have a better green pasture." My friend, our shepherd knows the green pasture for you. What's your job? Follow. Notice. He leads me beside what? Quiet waters. What is the meaning of quiet waters? Sheep will never drink running water. In their mind, they are afraid they will

23:23 drown. Their wool will absorb the water. So, they will not drink. Instinctively, they're afraid. But the shepherd knows. So the shepherd will make a small dump. He will look for rocks, stones, make a dump, and then the water will become what? Steel. When the water still, the ship will drink. It's a picture of how tender our Lord is. He knows your fear. He knows your concern. And he said, "I'm your shepherd. I will take care of you." What's our problem? Sometimes we think God is not able to bring us to our green pasture and that's why you are restless. We are always fighting. My friend the

24:11 best example I can think of is the author himself David. You know the Bible tells us years ago God told Samuel, "I will send you to Jesse the Bethleite. I have selected a king for myself among his sons. The background God of this story is God wanted to choose a new king, a new president. Imagine now God is going to choose a new president for the Philippines. And God says go to your family. Okay, your family. One of your sons will become the next president of the Philippines. You as father Jesse, will you be excited? Yes or no? Louder.

24:57 Of course. So what did so what did Samuel do? He went to the family of Jesse. Now if you are Jesse what will you do after telling you hey one of your sons will become the king. May I meet your sons? What will you do? Will you present your son? Yes or no? Louder there. >> Of course. So he presented in his mind the most qualified. He presented the eldest. His name was Eliab. And when Elihab was there, God says, "Not Eliab." He presented the second son. The name was Abinadab. God says, "Uh-uh, not Abinadam." He

25:43 presented the third one. God says, "No, not this one." So he presented the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh. And someone said ah none of the above. Now let me ask you a question. How many sons did Jesse have? How many? You don't know? Hey, read the entire Bible. Okay. Jesse has how many? Eight. Why did he not present the last one in his mind? The last one has no potential. Maybe he looked down on the last one.

26:29 Why would I waste my time presenting the last one to Samuel the prophet? But you know, I learned something. You just follow the Lord and your green pasture will eventually be there. What do I mean? Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel and the Lord said,"None of this." So Samuel said "Jesse are these all your children?" Then Jesse said, "Ah, one more." But he's just a young boy. He's a shepherd. You know what someone said? bring him

27:15 here. Let me see. And that's what they did. They brought this young man David to Samuel. And you know what happened? The Lord said, "This is the one." So Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brother, and the spirit of the Lord came mighty upon David from that day onward. David was so ordinary that even his own family did not consider him as any potential future leader to be king. But you know what is the difference? God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Amen. And when God's spirit came upon David, the Bible tells us from that day onward, David

28:02 became a different person. You and I are ordinary. But when God gives you his spirit, what happens to you? You become extraordinary. Are you extraordinary or ordinary? You tell your neighbor, you are extraordinary provided you have God's spirit. What's the lesson? Your green pasture will eventually happen. Men can forget you. Even your own family members can neglect you. Even your own company can bypass you. They can neglect you. But not God. You just follow the Lord and eventually your green pasture

28:48 will happen. Did David enter the palace as a king immediately? No. So where was his green pasture? you know his green pasture wherever God wants you to be. So David had to run for his life. David, King Saul was so jealous he decided to kill King David. So David kept running and running and running. Can I tell you why? Because during that time, God's green pasture for David was to be where he was. He needed to be trained. King David can never be a king

29:35 at a young age. He lacked experience. He lacked wisdom. Do you know how long David had to wait? He kept running. You know how long? If you ask me, at least 14, 15 years. David became king and entered the palace only when he was 30 years old. So in the meantime, what was his green pasture all over the place? But the day came when he entered Jerusalem as the king. Friends, I don't know about your life. Some of you are not happy where you are now. May I suggest no matter where you are right now, wherever you are, that's your green pasture. But you keep

30:21 following your shepherd and someday you will honestly say, "Wow, God is amazing. You will hit the greenest green pasture for your life. Your green pasture and green pasture may not be the same, but you keep following the Lord." Amen. Now what do you notice? Our shepherd guides us. He guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. What does this verse mean? He guides me in the path of righteousness. God wants us to be righteous for his name's sake. People don't understand this verse.

31:07 God is saying, "Because you are my child, for my own reputation, I will make sure you live and act properly." What is my proof? Let's read together. Those whom the Lord loves, everybody, he disciplines, discourages every son whom he receives. This is a promise. Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. How many of you like discipline? Can I tell you something? I don't enjoy discipline because it is painful. Look at what the Bible is saying. All

31:53 discipline for the moment seems what? Not to be joyful but sorrowful. It's painful. However, to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. In other words, the end product of you following the Lord is to walk in the path of righteousness. God wants you and me to choose the right path. Your job is to follow him. What if we don't follow him? He knows how to discipline us. Let me give you a story that happened just this

32:40 week. My friend in a Dgroup meeting, one of our members told us what happened to him. He went to the restaurant and he fainted. He collapsed and they couldn't wake him up. He could not move. So they rush him to Cardinal Santos, the nearest hospital from that restaurant. He wanted to say something. He said, "I could hear, but I cannot move. I could hear. I cannot open my eyes. I cannot speak." You know what he wanted to say? Cardinal Santos Malian. Very expensive. Oh, you think it's a funny story? is a

33:25 true story. This guy is very rich. He plays golf in Walkwalk. So I know he can afford it. But so I said, "What happened?" He said, "I finally was able to open my eyes. I thought I was dead, but I'm still alive." When I opened my eyes oh in his mind, he's dead. And I said, "What happened?" He said, "For the next, I don't know exactly two, three days, they kept giving him all kinds of tests, but they could not find out what's wrong with him." So I told him, "What is God trying to tell you?" You know, it's very scary if

34:13 you completely faint and you cannot move and you cannot wake up even though you can hear. It's scary. They don't know what's wrong with him. But I said, "Okay, what's the lesson?" Would you like to hear his lesson? God told him, "Life is temporal." Life is short. Will you please tell your neighbor, "Life is short. Life is temporal." So I asked him therefore what must you do? I must live my best to serve Jesus. That

35:00 my friend is he guides me in the path of righteousness. God will use everything for you to choose the right path. In my case, would you believe it? How does God train us? discipline us. I've never been hospitalized in the past until 1981. I was hospitalized. I was 30 something. My wife told me, "You need to go to the hospital. I was weak. In the hospital, my uncle was the director of the hospital. After checking, he said, "You cannot get out. Stay here. Something is wrong with you. While in

35:46 the hospital room, you know, God knows how to speak to you because I was in the hospital. I have only one position up. What do I look at? Ceiling. When you look at the ceiling, what do you see next? What's over the ceiling? The roof. What's over the roof? Heaven. So God spoke to me. God says, "Peter, I want you to be serious with your Christianity. Be serious with your life. Be serious in serving me." That is where CCF got started. The Lord told me disciple people to make disciple and be serious about it. So the birth of CCF in

36:31 the hospital room. [applause] Some of you are undergoing challenges, financial, family, health, I don't know what it is, but God is asking you to make a decision until you learn to listen and follow him. I'm afraid the discipline will continue until you learn your lesson. Our shepherd loves you. He's extraordinary. He's the greatest person in the whole universe. He loves you. But he's tender. He's caring. He wants to lead us in the path of what? Righteousness.

37:17 And then what else? Look at the next verse. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Rod and staff. These are the instrument of a shepherd. A rod is something like this. It's a weapon. If you see a wolf coming, you can hit it and kill the wolf. A staff is something long. So when the shepherd goes astray, what will the staff do? He will bring it back. It can be painful when he yanks him. But notice this verse. Though I walk through the valley of the

38:03 shadow of death, notice, even though I walk, it's a certainty. You will walk through the valley and it can be scary. Shadow of death. It's okay for Christians to be scared. But notice Psalm 23:4. Even though I walk through the valley, the valley is not the destination, the valley is a passageway to the mountain. Why? Because in the valley, the grass dries up. You need to go through the valley to go to the mountain where the

38:49 snow is still melting during summer, where the grass is fresh, where the grass is green. But you cannot reach the mountain top if you don't go through the valley. Valley is also symbolic. It's it's it symbolizes the low point of your life. Some of you are go undergoing right now a valley of what? Discouragement, depression. I don't know what it is, but you need to go through valleys to go to the mountain. There's no exceptions. If you are in the valley right now, I'm happy to tell you it is temporal. I walk through the valley. You walk through.

39:34 It's not your destination. You have something better. But you need to go through the valley. How do you go through the valley? You can be scared. Your only comfort is this. The comfort over fear, anxiety is this. Everybody read. You are with me. The pronoun changes from he guides me, he leads me to you. It becomes personal. David is suddenly talking to God himself. You are with me. You see the changes in grammar is something personal. My friend, to overcome fear, to overcome anxiety, you need the presence of the shepherd

40:21 with you. That's the only cure. Many of you are always scared. You're full of fear. What may happen? This may happen, that may happen. My friend, the only antidote is the presence of the Lord. I will tell you a true story that happened years ago. and the power of God's presence to help people. How many of you have heard of JC Penney? Raise your hand. J Penney. Raise your hand. Come on, guys. Don't be embarrassed. I know you love shopping. You know JC Penney? J I'll show you J C Penney. Okay. JC Penney is one of the top department store in the United States. In 1934,

41:08 they already have 1,400 stores. It was the biggest at that time. People don't realize JC Penney came from a Christian home. His father was a pastor and he practiced Christian values. He was brought up with God's truth. In fact, the name of his first store is called the golden rule. What is the golden rule store? It's found in Matthew. Do unto others as you want them to do to you. He was the first businessman to practice honesty. He put a price tag on each product. Years ago, there is no price tag in any stores. You

41:54 have to ask somebody and they can cheat you. If they see you are rich, they can jack up the price. But not JC Penney. He wants to be honest. So, God bless him. But then something happened. Are you aware? Have you heard of the recession that happened years ago? There was a recession in the states. People lost their job. Banks closed. He began to lose money because he invested in banks. He invested in real estate and personally he was going bankrupt. He was so anxious. He became sick. Except there's a problem. The doctor do not know the cure because they do not know the cause of

42:41 the problem. I realize if you are having financial problem, you can be so anxious, you can be so fearful. Yes or no? Money problem can cause people to lose weight, anxiety. And that's what happened to him. He was so anxious. He does not know what to do. But the doctor cannot find a cure. So he was brought to the hospital because the guy was dying. In the hospital they could not find out what's wrong with him except he was dying. He lost weight. One morning he got out of the hospital room. As he was walking, he heard music because in that hospital, there's a chapel where doctors and nurses meet

43:28 early in the morning to sing, to study the Bible. And he heard this amazing song. Would you like to know what song he heard that cured him? The title of the song is God Will Take Care of You. I want you to listen to the music to the lyrics. A beautiful song. Let's hear that music that he heard. [singing] [music] Beneath his wings of love, God will [singing] take care of you. [music]

44:15 God will take care of you through every day [music and singing] or all the way. He will take care [music] of you. God will take care [singing] of you. care of you. [music] >> Do you believe God will take care of you? When he heard that song, God spoke to him. God says, "I will take care of you." Then he said, "Lord, I cannot take care of myself in Tagalog."

45:02 You see the problem with JC Penney? He was so successful. He was dependent on his own strength. He did not realize there come a point in your life when you need to surrender. You are no longer the master of your own destiny. He realized only God can help him. So he said Lord I cannot I'm not able to take care of myself. Will you take care of me? And then that morning they use a Bible verse for the pastors. I mean for the doctors. You know the devotional verse was Matthew 11:28. Let's read. Come to me all who are weary

45:49 and heavy laden and I will give you rest. When he heard those verses, according to his autobiography, he was 56 years old when this happened. He surrendered his life to Jesus. And the doctor could not explain it. He got well. What the doctors could not do, what medicine cannot do, the Lord did by simply allowing him to meet and surrender his life to Jesus. And that same year, he got baptized and joined a church. What's my point? The Lord is our

46:36 shepherd. What must you do? Follow him. That's how he got cured. And you know what happened? Look at the next verse. God wants you to know something. He loves you. Look, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. What does it mean? You notice something? You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Do you know the meaning of the word table? It's a picture of a party of a joyful reunion. David is now saying, "You, God, is now

47:21 inviting me to a party in the presence of my enemies." What can you learn? Peace, security is not in the absence of enemies. It is it's in the presence of the Lord. You see, David understood what is more precious than green pasture is the presence of the shepherd. Do you realize sheep will not panic even if there's a wolf as long as the shepherd is there? A sheep will keep eating. There's a wolf, but there's a shepherd. The sheep is

48:08 relaxed. They don't panic. My friend, you must understand something. Your security is not in the absence of problem. Your security is not in the absence of challenges. It's in the presence of the Lord. Are you living in the presence of the shepherd? And that's why I always tell people, watch out for your private life. Your private life, what you do privately when nobody's watching you is most crucial because it determines whether you are sincere in following the shepherd. Publicly, you can pretend to follow the shepherd, but privately, how are you?

48:55 God looks at your private life and that's my challenge. Every moment I want to make sure you pray for me that I will be living a life that's pleasing to God privately. What else do you notice? You have anointed my head with oil. You know by reading this you may not know the full meaning. A good shepherd will put a special oil in the head of the sheep. Why? Because during summer there are flies. The flies will go to the nose of the ship to lay eggs. And when those eggs will hatch, the maggots will begin to grow and it will drive the ship crazy because it

49:42 will eventually go to the brain. It's dangerous. And when the ship will be eating grass, there are snakes in the ground. When the snake smell the oil, they would not touch the ship. So here's a picture of the heart of God. How tender, how loving, he wants to protect you. So that's the meaning you have anointed my head with oil. It's also symbolic of God's blessing. When David was anointed with L, it's a picture of blessing also, not just protection. You see, our shepherd protects us. Our shepherd provides, our shepherd guides, but the Bible, he wants

50:28 to bless us. Notice, my cup overflows. I wonder whether you can honestly say at this point in your life, your cup overflows. It's an overflowing life and that is what God wants you to have. But you cannot experience this if you don't what? What's the message today? Our extraordinary God is our shepherd. What must you do? Follow. Last week again in my Dgroup meeting, you know, in our D-group meeting, we share. One of the businessmen told me what happened. He said there was a Compass missionary asking him for support. So he gave 5,000 pesos. But the

51:17 Compass missionary said, "Not enough. I need to complete my support raising 20,000. I need 20,000 extra." You know, my friend was telling me, "My business is not doing good." By the way, those of you who are in business, you know this year is not good for business because the Iran war. So I understand what he's talking about. His business is not doing well. So he was telling the girl, I don't think I can give you extra 20. But he was so bothered that night. God kept telling him, you give me, you help. Remember what is the job of the sheep? What must you do? Follow the shepherd. Now the

52:05 shepherd is telling him you give. You know, reluctantly he sent the money 20,000. The next morning he had a breakfast meeting. In that breakfast meeting, he met his oldest brother, his eldest brother who is very successful. And the eldest brother had breakfast with him. Without him saying anything, the eldest brother told him immediately as they sat together, I am going to support your daughter for her to complete her education in London. Do you know how much is the tuition fee

52:52 of my friend's daughter's education? 2.5 million a year. and he did not know where to get the money to finance her daughter the second year. But here is this businessman, his brother told him, I will take care of her financing up to graduation. That means for the next three years. Wow. And he was telling me, Peter, I invested 25,000 pesos. The next morning, God promised 2.5 million. What is the percentage of return on investment? Oh, I tried computing.

53:38 1,000%. Is that a good investment? >> 1,000% 100 times return. My friend, I'm not telling you now. If you give, you will have 100 times return. All I'm telling you is this. You follow the shepherd and then you will be able to say my cup overflows. The problem with many of us, you are not able to experience your cup overflowing. You don't have this kind of stories because you never give God a chance because you don't follow him. You follow him when it's convenient. You don't follow him when it's not convenient. Look at the last verse.

54:25 Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Notice surely is a certainty for sure. Goodness and loving kindness. You know what's loving kindness? It's a combination of two word grace and mercy will follow me. Who is saying this? David. Do you know David what he did years ago? I think you remember he committed what? Adultery. It's a bad sin. He committed murder. He conspired to kill the husband of

55:12 Uriah, the wife of Bat I mean the husband of Bashibba. So David did a lot of horrible things. Some of you remember only the horrible sin of David. But you have not heard of his repentance. David is a man who understood the meaning of repentance. When God convicted him, he repented. Because he repented, he can honestly say at the end of his life, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me. You see, it does not matter what you have done in the past. Sure, it's painful. David suffered the consequences of his sin. He was forgiven, but he suffered a lot in

55:59 his family. His own children murdered his other son. There was immorality in his family. There was rebellion. God was disciplining David but David understood his job is to follow the shepherd and the Bible tells us at the latter part of his life the Psalm 23 was written not when David was young when he was old already and look it says surely goodness and what loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life My friend, this word follow me is not strong enough. In the original language, it means it

56:45 will overtake me. The goodness of God will overtake you. The loving kindness of God will overtake you as you walk with him. I look at my own life. Many times I don't deserve it. But when I look at my life, honestly, I can tell you the goodness and the loving kindness of God has overtaken my life. I look at my wife. I look at my children. I look at our business. I look at all of you. You are a blessing. The goodness of God has overtaken my life. [applause]

57:32 Not because I deserve it. I followed my shepherd Jesus. I failed him many times. But in my heart, I follow him. My friend, you don't have to live a life of regret. You may have done something wrong in the past. You cannot change your past. Just like David, you repent and begin to follow the shepherd. And I will guarantee you something. You will not regret it. Many people will die with regrets. You know why? They don't trust

58:19 the shepherd. Many of you are struggling when it comes to obedience. The Christian life is not difficult. It is impossible. The only way you can live the Christian life is you follow the shepherd. Look at his ultimate blessing. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The final destiny that David was after is not even the green pasture. It is something better than the green pasture. It is the very presence of God. David said, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord how long? Forever and ever." Notice, David understood this. "One thing I've

59:04 asked from the Lord, that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to meditate in his temple." One thing that David is preoccupied about. One thing I've asked, one thing I shall seek that I may dwell in the presence of the Lord to behold his beauty. My friend, you will only say these things if you know the shepherd. You see, when God becomes our greatest treasure, his presence becomes our greatest pursuit.

59:51 As we close, may I remind you, our extraordinary God is our shepherd. You follow him. Can I tell you why? Because what is more important than green pasture is not what our shepherd can provide. The greatest blessing is the very presence of our shepherd himself. One day you and I will leave this world. At the end of your life, I guarantee you one thing. If you walk with Jesus, you will end up in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Would you like to be in the house of the Lord forever and ever?

1:00:37 Do you know why many of you cannot be sure that you will be in the house of the Lord forever and ever? Why you're afraid to die? The reason why you're afraid to die is simply this. You are not even sure you belong to Jesus. How do you know Jesus is your shepherd? two tests tonight. You can be sure if you pass the two tests. Number one, the hearing test. And number two, the fit test obedience. My sheep hear my voice. Are you listening? Test number one.

1:01:22 Some of you are not hearing. You are so preoccupied with your own agenda. You cannot hear. Number two, they follow me. Do you pass the test? You serious tonight? Can you honestly say, "I am hearing. I listen to the voice of my shepherd and I follow him." If you are not sure, I have good news for you. It doesn't matter what you have done in the past. Today I want you to know something. God invites you to come to him. He wants to be your shepherd. Not just your savior, your shepherd. Look at his invitation.

1:02:08 Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Notice the qualification to come to him. What's the qualification? You are weary, heavy laden. Some of us, some of you are weary. You are tired of your sin. You are tired of your addiction. You are carrying a heavy laden of guilt. And God is saying, "Come." You see, God is never like this. Uh-uh. You are so bad. I don't want you anymore. God is telling you tonight, "Come. I want to be your shepherd." But you guys are running away from him. Come. What is the promise? Come to me all of you who are weary, heavy laden

1:02:57 and I will give you rest. Some of you have been to CCF many years but you have never surrendered your life. You know about religion. You know a lot of things about Jesus but you have never experience him as your shepherd. You know why? Because you are never committed to listening to him and following him. Tonight, I want to give you that chance. Listen to him and follow him. Would you like Jesus to be your shepherd? Let's bow our heads and pray. If God has spoken to you, wherever you are right now, and you say, "I want Jesus to be my shepherd." Not

1:03:43 just my savior, to be my shepherd. I will listen to him. I will follow him. That's your desire. Will you raise your hands? I'll pray for you. Anybody else? Praise God. You want to be serious? All right. Kindly stand up. I'll pray for you between you and the Lord. I want to give you this opportunity. You speak to our shepherd. You tell him. Anybody else? You must stand up. because you are serious. You say, "Lord, I'm tired of running my own life. I want you to be my shepherd. I want to listen to you and I will follow you." Anybody

1:04:29 else? All right. Those of you who really want to make this decision, will you raise your hands upward like surrender? You surrender to the Lord and pray this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you. I will trust you as my shepherd. Be my shepherd. Guide me. I will trust you. I will follow you. Help me to be able to trust you from my heart. That you only what's you only want what's best for me. Thank you Jesus that you gave your life

1:05:16 that I may live. Thank you for being my shepherd. In Jesus name we all pray. Amen and amen. God bless all of you. Happy 42nd anniversary. God bless. Happy 42nd anniversary CCF family. Welcome to Sunday FastTrack where you ask real life questions and we give you biblical truths. I am Kim Suiza and we are here today with Dr. Peter Tanchi to answer some of your questions. Happy anniversary pastor Peter. >> Praise God. >> Praise God. Now thank you for reminding us about God's faithfulness as our shepherd in your message. But are you

1:06:02 ready to answer the questions? >> Yes, I'm ready. >> All right. When you look at the church's journey from a small house church to a global movement, what moves you most about how God has shepherded CCF through the years? >> You know, I realized it is all about what God is doing because the truth is we started as novice. I didn't have any seminary degree when I started, but I only knew the Bible. So God knew our heart and remember what I said his spirit will take over. So God guided us as I look back step by step even the leaders he has developed it's all about him. It's amazing when you look back >> and you can never say it's us. It's his ideas. >> Amazing. It's all about God. And now how

1:06:48 can we move from simply knowing about Jesus to genuinely trusting him as our shepherd? That's why it's important to know the Bible because God reveals himself and he's telling us he's not just our savior, he's our shepherd. Meaning he wants to take care of us. Our problem is we're ignorant. Satan wants to deceive us so that we won't put our trust in him. So the more you know him, the more you will trust him. And the more you trust him, the more you will love him. And the more you love him, the more you will serve him and then you keep following him. It's that simple. The problem is we don't trust or know the shepherd.

1:07:34 >> Psalm 23 describes God's provision, protection, and promises. Now, which of these is often the most difficult for us to trust? And how can we grow in that area? I think the hardest is really trusting that our shepherd cares for us and because he cares for us, he provides, he protects and he gives promises. But the root problem, if you ask me, is not able to trust him. And not being able to trust him is a function of not knowing him. So you got to know him. And to know him, you pray. You ask God to make himself real. But you will only know him more and more if you follow him. There are

1:08:20 certain truth you will never know until you obey. Because that is the reality of the Christian life. You must obey first and then you see. Not see and obey. >> And for our last question, when Psalm 23 says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," does that mean God will give me everything I want? He will only give you what is good for you. Some people cannot they are not able to handle money. I've seen this and you see this in history. People who wins the lottery, they get worse because they don't know how to handle money. Some people cannot handle power. Some people cannot handle authority. Some people cannot handle uh success. So God will calibrate what is

1:09:07 good for you. And for some people, what is good for them may not be what they like, but at the end of their lives, they can honestly say, "Goodness and mercy will overtake me." >> There you have it. Thank you so much, Pastor Peter, for answering all of our questions. And that's it for CCF Sunday Fastrack. Happy anniversary, everyone. >> God bless. Heat. Heat.