Bible Questions Are An Invitation To Intimacy

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

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Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Your Bible questions are, I don't know if you thought about this, but they are an invitation to intimacy with God. It's just an invitation like, man, I was wondering about this in the Bible.

I was wondering about that. So, you know, today on Truth Talk Live, what are your Bible questions? What have you been thinking about this week?

What has puzzled you? You know, in order to have a question that's kind of assumed, you need an answer you don't have, so it's an opportunity to learn something. And then I obviously want to learn something, so I have some questions I want to run by you. I would love your questions.

The number to call in with them is 866-348-7884. The other thing about your question is it gets a lot of people out there thinking about that same thing, and again, I may not even come close to the answer, but I know the answer is probably found somewhere else in his Word, and maybe there'll be some other listener that gives us some insight. It's just a fun thing to do on Truth Talk Live.

We've done it a number of times, and we are going to do it again today. It's free for all, like Friday, and so we're going to be free for all on your Bible questions. So here's my questions.

I have lots today, actually, instead of just one. I've been thinking about these all week, so I have been looking, looking deeply into John chapter 10, and you may be aware that in John chapter 10 there's a familiar and fantastic offer of life and life abundantly, and so many of us are wondering, why don't I have this abundant life, but there's a condition, right? And so one of the questions I have is in John chapter 10, in order to have that life and life abundantly, what is the condition, but also, you know, what is the setting? What is the format of that? So I'm going to read a little bit of John chapter 10, and then I'll come back with some more of what my questions are, but if you've got one or you've got an answer, by all means, I want to hear it.

866-348-7884 is the number to call in. If you haven't, I have a comment or something else you want to talk about. Hey, that's what we're here for. It's a live show, an opportunity for you, our truth listeners, to enter into the conversation. So John chapter 10, truly, truly, I say to you, or verily, verily, I say to you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, but he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out, and when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of a stranger.

And so as you're pondering all that, and believe me, I pondered it a lot this week, here's the first question that really just jumps out at me. So clearly, God is talking about something, so for us in the Christian life, what is the sheepfold? What is he talking about that the robbers climbed up into? What is the sheepfold, and what is the door, right? So obviously there's a sheepfold, there's a door, what is that sheepfold, what's the door, and why is the door shut? I don't know if you've ever given that any thought.

I like it. Matthew Henry points it out in his commentary on this passage, that the door is shut. So why is the door shut? And you know, there's these guys, there's thieves, and there's robbers, so who are these thieves?

Who are the robbers, and what's the difference between a thief and a robber, and why does he identify them that way? So those are just the beginning of my questions. I have many more. So I would love your view, I really would.

I'm all about learning and having intimacy with God, and I know the Holy Spirit's pointing out questions to you and pointing out answers to you, so what I would love to hear is your view. We have Buskman in Ohio, I haven't talked to him in a while, so Buskman, you're on Truth Talk Live, good afternoon. Hey, Wally!

Let me get into the buskmobile, let me get into the buskmobile, I'm pumping gas here. Oh, well that's good. Yeah, I love that passage of John chapter 10, and I kind of mapped that out, brother. And off of my memory, Robbie, I'll try to give you what I can remember that I sort of mapped out, because I kind of... Do you remember when we used to diagram sentences in school? Oh yeah, that's exactly right. Remember that?

Oh yeah! I did that with that passage, because I'm so attracted to John 10, I absolutely love it, like you. So what I remember, I even made me a little notepad, Robbie, on that, and I wish I had it with me, but like I say, I'm in the busmobile with the gas pump. What I remembered, that when I broke it down, was basically, God is the gate. Now, Jesus is God, remember? He says, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.

Remember? So I remember the gate being God. So Jesus is the one who brings us to the Lord. He's the one that opens and closes. He's the gate to the Father's heart. Now, once again, Robbie, this is just speculation, this is just me diagramming this passage, but all the Truth Talk Live listeners out there, check me on this, I'd love to hear your comments, but God's the gate, and so is Christ, because I and the Father are one. But then, the wolf would be anyone or anything that teaches against Jesus Christ, and tries to make the sheep, his followers, you and I, his followers, to follow a different gospel. And that would be the destructor, because our souls would be following after a false gospel, or a false narrative, or another religion, and that would be the wolf. The thief and the robber, I believe, are false teachers, Robbie, religious teachers, and they could even be in the Christian realm, you know, that leads you down something that's not biblical.

Okay, those would be the thieves and the robbers who come in another way. In other words, you know, they didn't follow the scripture. And so we the sheep will get devoured or destroyed or hope and joy gets stolen from by these false teachers. Feel free to yay, nay, throw up.

I'm wanting to know your view. By all means, that's why we're doing this. Unfortunately, you may hear that music in the background. We've got to go to a break, but you stay with me, won't you? And get the rest of your gas pumped, and I've got to find out about the buskmobile when we come back.

I don't know what it is, so I know everybody else is dying to know. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live today. You know, your Bible questions are truly an invitation to intimacy with God, right? It's an opportunity for you to meet him there and help him to— I mean, he will help you to get those answers. So we're asking him today on Truth Talk Live, and we would love your questions or your comments on the questions we're talking about.

866, the number to call in, 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. So, Buskman, are you still with me? I am, Robbie. That's wonderful. So, to get into a discussion with your answers, which were beautiful, by the way—and so clearly, your first one, that God is the gate, you know, Jesus himself said in verse 9 that he's the door of the sheep, right? So he's pretty clear on that one. And he says, obviously, that, you know, that he's going to be the one that lets people in and out. In other words, that's the deal.

But to find pasture, which I think is—the reason why he lets you in and out is to find pasture. And so that's a really—I'm going to circle back to that one a minute. And then you said that the wolf is anyone who wants to follow other gods, right? Isn't that what you said? Yeah.

Right. The interesting thing about a wolf is the word in Hebrew almost is equivalent to scatter or to scare. And the idea of a wolf having yellow eyes is also connected to that idea in Hebrew because it's sort of a picture language, as you know, and that idea that yellow eyes are kind of scary. And so when you think about it, any time somebody leaves the flock, they're scattered, right? If they go to chase after another god, that makes them sort of wolf bait, you know what I'm saying? That's correct. Yeah.

So I would agree with that completely. And then, again, circling back to the sheep. So I've had some time with that one this week, and I've thought a lot about it, that sheep in Hebrew again—this is just things that I've been thinking about. In Isaiah, where he talked about the Lamb of God, the word lamb, means a grazer, something that grazes.

And the beauty of that idea is that what did Jesus tell Peter? Feed my sheep. In other words, they've got to go out and graze. Well, what are they supposed to graze on? They sure did.

Yeah. What are they supposed to graze on? They're supposed to graze on the word of God, which is exactly what hopefully we're trying to do right now. Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you can have no part of me. Unless you feed, brother Robert.

Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. And so the neat thing about lambs or sheep is not only do they graze, but then they chew the cud. So in other words, it's a beautiful thing to take this stuff in, but it seems like it's almost more fun. Or maybe it's the same.

I don't know. You know, to sit there and chew on it and chew on it and chew on it and chew on it like you've got eight stomachs or something. You know what I'm saying? And that's where you really get an idea of all the different facets of the diamond of which you're studying, which leads into why, interestingly, God quite often through the Scriptures refers to himself as a shepherd, right? Absolutely. Think of Psalm 23, brother.

Exactly. And so along the lines of Psalm 23, how fun is this, right? And by the way, get in on this.

Call us at 866-348-7884. You know, have you ever read Bussman? It's an absolutely amazing book.

It's called The Shepherd's Look at the 23rd Psalm by Philip Keller. I have not, but I will add that to my repertoire. Yeah, I have not. But you've already got me intrigued. Okay.

Yeah, it's absolutely—you can get it as a Kindle for $349. It's an absolute classic. So this shepherd goes through the whole thing and tells you things that you would never know unless you were a shepherd. And things like that, you know, sheep obviously won't lay down when they're hungry, and so he doesn't necessarily force them to lay down.

Once he feeds them, they're able to lay down and then chew the cud. But the thing about the still waters, you know, he leads me beside still waters. According to Philip Keller, he said that sheep are deathly afraid of drowning because they have all this wool, and so they will not go by fast-running water.

And they'll literally die of thirst before they drink from fast-running water because they're afraid that they stick their head down in there that they're going to drown. Well, you think about trying to take in the Word of God or anything else if it's—and a lot of times, slow down, you're moving too fast for me. And so, you know, that's really cool. But the one that has just really intrigued me this week is, right, it says he restores my soul. Right? Sure does. And when that idea of restoring your soul, in Psalm 42—and again, this is what Philip Keller describes for us—it says, Why are you so downcast or cast down, O my soul?

Amen. Well, when you think about a sheep, when it is cast, okay? And of course, David being the good shepherd that he was, he knew all too well what it meant to be cast down. That a sheep, if it doesn't lay down properly, it lays in the wrong kind of hole, or if it gets too fat, or if it's pregnant, when it goes to get up, if it can't get its legs down just right, it starts to scoot, and when it does, it ends up flat on its back with its legs up in the air, and it panics. That's what a cast sheep is. And so you can imagine this sheep flailing in the air because it can't figure out how to stand up.

And they literally, because of the gas in their stomachs, it will kill them within hours if it's a hot day. That is amazing. This is why I love talking with you, Brother Robbie. You have such insight. Keep going, brother.

I'm going to school. Thank you, brother. Oh, well, this is a lot of stuff that he taught me.

I'm just sharing it, you know. So what the shepherd has to do is, you know, you've got to leave the 99, right? And he's got to keep a count. He's got to know where all his sheep are, because if one of them gets cast, it can die. So quite often, he's going to look for a sheep that's upside down. Of course, all the wolves and the animals know that a cast sheep is easy food, right? And so when you come upon him, you would think, well, I just need to get this guy up on his feet.

But if you do that, you know, you may really injure him. And so what the shepherd has to do... Galatians 6, Robbie. You just sparked in my bus frame. Galatians 6. Restore, brother, gently, that ye might not fall to that sin.

Wow, brother. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, exactly right.

Oh, I hadn't put that together. So what the shepherd does then is put him back on his side the way, or her as the case may be, put her back on her side like she should be, and then gently start to rub their legs to get the circulation going again, because their legs have been up in the air. They lose the circulation. They literally don't have the strength on their legs at that point in time to stand.

And they simply calm, because the animal's totally panicked, because it thinks there's no way out. And so as the shepherd shows up on the scene, just think about it and think how many times we have been cast down, brother. Flailing around with my legs in the air going, I can't get up.

I'm just down. And Jesus comes and gently puts you on your side, right? How beautiful is that? That is amazing. So the music's playing. I love, I love, love, love this stuff, my friend. We're going to be back. We need your questions and your comments.

Maybe you got some more on this answer, on this idea. 1-866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. We'll be right back. Truth Talk Live! You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! Today, what are your Bible questions, right? As Bible questions can lead to intimacy with God, that's just unbelievable.

I absolutely love them. And since I have Busskman still with me, I didn't get to the one question I wanted to ask you, Busskman. What is the Busskman Mobile? I want to know. Oh, well, that's what I drive in.

Yeah, I know. What kind of car is it? It's got a stew mobile. Oh, it's a little 2015 silver Sonic Turbo, Robbie. I got a turbo.

My wife has a turbo. I love that. And so, you know, there's nothing like that.

And so very, very cool. And I would just tell you that I don't know if you, if you've thought about this, I have ever since I was reading about it, that if you were a sheep and you're cast down, that's bad news. Wait! That reminds me, young man. I got a dad joke for you. I knew you would. Let me know if you want to play your music or not, or I'll just deliver it to you dry. Have we got the music, Nick? You know, we like the music.

He's got the music. Go ahead and play it, Nick. Oh, no. Yes, by all means.

You're the best, Nick. Here it comes. He's going to get it. He's, he's, he's trying. Oh, well, I guess we're just going to have to, we're going to have to roll with it.

What you got? Okay, we're rolling with it. Okay.

Because my family is from Great Britain, the UK, we came over in 1898 to the United States. Oh, there it is. Of course. Thanks, Nick. Okay.

So, here we go, brother Rob. Yes. What are Londoners, people who live in London, what are Londoners' favorite rice? Favorite rice? Man, that's a good one. What is, what is the Londoners' favorite rice, Busmer?

Uncle Ben! That only makes sense. That's perfectly acceptable. All right, my friend, I have other callers that apparently want to get on, so I appreciate your call. Always good to have you, brother Robby. Always wonderful.

God bless. Talk to you soon. You too, guys. Bye-bye. Have a great weekend, everyone. You too. I got, Clay is on in probably Durham, I'm guessing, this afternoon.

Welcome, Clay. Well, brother Robby, it's Fabulistic Friday, and it's interesting that you're having the discussion on, it looks like many other things. I was ready to talk about robbing and thieving. Oh, good, good, good. I want to hear about, yeah, we're still there, whatever your Bible question may be, or if you've got a comment on who the thieves and robbers are. Well, I wouldn't say it's a Bible question.

It's like, you know, you think about that. In the Bible, in the New Testament, more in the New Testament than it is in the Old, it talks about how the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Okay, both the robber and the thief are people who take things and steal things. Okay, a robber, like say somebody's going to rob a bank, they have a plan that they do. A thief is doing it at the last moment, kind of not unplanned. Okay, so there are certain directions that you can go with that, but when you rob somebody, you know exactly what you're doing. A thief is just, you know, like, well, okay, you know, they just, it's negativity, it's negative, it's a negative process that goes against God the Father's plan.

You know, I think about the, we just got through wrapping up this study in the book of Titus, you know, how Paul was greeting Titus and Crete and how the Crete people are and what an elder is supposed to be. When you know you're blameless, you know, you're going to find yourself, you're not going to be a robber or a thief. You have blame, you know, you're trying to blame somebody else for something and that's what people do who get caught in that situation. I will share that years ago, 21 women, okay, 20, okay, it was about 2003, when I was doing something that I shouldn't have done and I spent 120 days in the Wake County jail because I felt I should drive, but come to find out, the law says you should not drive with a revoked license. Okay, so I didn't know Jesus at the time and I felt that this one particular man, Officer Johnson, about your height, nice, wonderful black man, I feel that he knew Jesus because he would come and check with me and when he, one of the final times that he came and checked on me, he walked away and he says, Edison, just so you know, only 2.9% of the people who are in here are not going to be coming back.

As you will see, there will be people that recycle, sort of like a robber or a thief or other people that have gone against God's plan. Well, as he was walking away and I said, Officer Johnson, thank you so much for sharing this information with me. I said, I'm going to be in that category. Well, you know, this started my slow ascension and climb to getting to know Jesus because there was somebody who had come to visit me, it was a Gideon, had come to visit me and basically shared with me that, you know, there's a plan for you. And I didn't know it and I didn't realize it at the time. But you know, Brother Robbie, the interesting thing to me about that is I come to realize that after that situation took place and after that situation happened, it was amazing. It was just unbelievably amazing because I got to know the Lord, I had people coming to my wife, you know, a few years after that and it just became a, I mean, I've only known Jesus for just a few short years, not a long time, like other people say, oh, I came to know Jesus, you know, when I was younger and all this other stuff. But I give thanks to the Lord for Truth Radio, for you, you know, when I filled out that form online, you know, for the Christian car guy, you know, the form that you fill out and I did that and the Lord created that time for you and I to talk because I was, you know, it didn't happen the way, it was against the plan, but I got to know you.

You're the first person that I got to know on Truth Radio and I feel that opened up the door. That is something that I, that's a treasure that a robber or a thief needs to stay away from because those are blessed moments. Yeah, that brings up a great, I don't know, comment or something as I'm thinking about what you're saying, Clay, because obviously there's a sheepfold which is, you know, the safe place where the sheep hang out for sure in the parable that we're talking about in John chapter 10 and it's fascinating to me that, and I've thought a lot about what you're talking about too, that thieves, you know, are kind of sneaky. They sneak around, they steal stuff, but a thief, but a robber takes by force.

In other words, they'll have a gun or something and they're going to rob you. And so I've thought about that and while I was thinking about it, what you're exactly talking about is that once you get in there, once you come through the narrow gate, once you come through the gate that we're talking about, Jesus, which, you know, you just mentioned, then all of a sudden you are safe from some of that, but interestingly, there's other parts of the Christian life you're not so safe, but clearly there is a gate and it gets us in a place where we certainly, when we're amongst the other sheep, you know, like at boot camp because you came to boot camp with us at that time. You remember, Clay? Yes, sir, I do.

And, you know, I'm going to try to get back to doing that. You know, I just, I would like to share anybody listening out there to truth right now, y'all ever get the chance to go to the boot camp? I think that y'all just got through having one and then there's one coming up in the fall, but you ever get to go to a boot camp and you get to be around these Christian godly men? Brother Robbie's a great example. You know, I know I'm leaving off, you know, several of them, but you get to meet these godly men and it's a God-given blessing because it's not really what you think it is. It's not, you know, going into a boot camp where you're getting, you know, your training instructor is really grilling you down. It's about where you get to go and you get to hear the word of God preached. You get to delve into the Bible.

You get to, you know, I heard you sharing with Brother Busman just a bit ago. I wouldn't say you chew and you chew and you chew and you chew. At some point when you're chewing, you're digesting. And I really get a kick out of it when I look at people and I share them. I love being digestively fed His word. When you can hear things, when you hear pastors, you know, you get little snippets of Pastor Robert Jeffress, you know, Pastor Adrian Rogers, you know, outside of hearing all the other pastors that are on the, you know, the radio talking about what they're talking about. This is such a God-given blessing. You know, it reminds me of the old hymn, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine.

Yeah. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Oh, I hate that. New hearing these pastors. Clay, we got to, I don't know if you're hearing the music behind you, but again, I thank you so much for your call. I thank you for your testimony and I thank you for your friendship. And so we need more calls, 866-348-7884.

We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live today. What is your Bible question?

You know, Bible questions are an invitation like, man, I need to learn something, God help your Holy Spirit to show me what this means, you know, to dig into the depths of this passage. What have you been thinking about this week? What have you been studying? And maybe you'd like to run some of it by us. We'd love to hear it.

866-348-7884, 86634truth. I truly love, love, love disciples and disciples have questions. And so what might your questions be? And here's one of those that never ceases to just make me ponder. It's like when in John chapter 10, he talks mostly about this idea of a sheepfold. And so what is a sheepfold?

I asked that question at my Christian Businessmen's Committee meeting in Mocksville this week. And one of my best friends that I've known and walked with for years and years and years, he told this story, it was a beautiful story, about a man that had gotten all caught up in drugs and alcohol and those kind of things and gone way off the tracks. And his mother finally got up with him, found him while he'd been trying to run away and met him at some restaurant. And he said what burned into his soul was when his mother looked him deep in the eyes and said, are you ready to come home? And then Gaither looked at me and he said, to me, the sheepfold is home. And by that he means heaven. I understand that when we're in God's presence, that's when we're home, right? That's the idea of the gate, right? If we've come in through the gate, then we can literally be in God's presence, which again is literally home on all sorts of levels. And so what are your thoughts on the sheepfold, 866-348-7884? Clay a minute ago was talking about our boot camps. And I know that one of the fun things we get to do before a boot camp, actually the day before, we pray around the camp.

We go to the front gate, we literally do, and we ask God to protect it. But obviously provide a haven, a place that's like that sheepfold, a place where you feel accepted and loved and wanted. Like people want you to be there and people love you and where you just feel that sense of home, like I can totally be myself here because these people love me for who I am, not what they want me to be. What does that feel like to you?

What does home feel like? What does the sheepfold feel like to you? Those are all thoughts that run through my mind. And isn't that what our churches are supposed to be? They are supposed to be a sheepfold, a place where Jesus is there, and if He's there, then there's nobody there to throw a stone, right? Not only that, but that whole idea of love.

Well, beautifully, I don't know if you've given this much thought. I love this a lot, is that when you really look at a lot of the stars of the Bible, they were shepherds, right? Abraham was a shepherd, Isaac was a shepherd, Jacob was certainly a shepherd, and Moses, right?

He was definitely a shepherd. And then when God transfers the reins from Moses to Joshua in Numbers, there's a whole passage in there, maybe I think it's Numbers 17, but anyway, I know that He says that for Joshua now will be the shepherd of the sheep. And then, of course, King David spends all that time out there, and so, you know, in learning how to shepherd the sheep, and what Jesus goes on to tell you in John chapter 10, is that you learn to love as a shepherd, right? That you lay down your life for the sheep. And when you think about King David out there defending his sheep against the lion and the bear and all those things, you know, clearly, he was laying down his life.

You know, you go throwing a rock at a lion, I think, you know, you're laying down your life for the sheep in that kind of way, right? And so, fascinatingly to me, and I think this is absolutely beautiful, when you look in the Song of Solomon, which is, you know, Solomon is obviously David's son, and when you see the star of the woman, which is the bride of Christ, as far as I'm concerned, the Shulamite woman, the bride in the whole allegory of the Song of Solomon, what is her occupation, by the way? Because, you know, she asks, you know, where should I feed my sheep? And, of course, the Solomon character, which means peace, which is essentially Jesus, tells her, follow the tracks of the sheep, and feed your, you know, kids beside the shepherd's tents. In other words, she is not unlike all these others, a shepherdess. And then, this is just truly beautiful, when you look at what he calls her, it's always translated, in every translation I can find, as the Beloved.

It's like, oh, my love, I would compare you to the chariots of Pharaoh, and that kind of thing, throughout the Song of Solomon, he says it constantly, oh, my love. Well, that word love, there, oh, my love, that label he has for his Beloved, well, that is an extension of the word shepherd. And so it is, that his shepherd's qualities are right, that he cares for the sheep so much, that he would be willing to lay his life down for the sheep.

And so, when you sense that, you know, in whatever shepherds that you have in your life, you might even get a chance to shepherd some folks yourself, right? Because I think the whole thing in John chapter 10, when you begin to look at it, is Jesus gives you this offer of life and life abundantly, but you've got to hear his voice, you've got to follow him. Well, where is he going? Well, Jesus has always been going to the Father, I mean, he tells you that time and time again, and so if you're going to follow Jesus, where are you headed? As he says, no one comes to the Father except through me. And so here's the picture, here's the destination, we're going to follow Jesus, where is he going to take us? He's going to take us home. He's going to take us there to be, you know, again, in the Father's presence in that sheep hold.

But also, if you're following Jesus, and what he does is occupation as a shepherd, well, in his own way, isn't he telling us all that this is our opportunity to take up our own cross and follow him as we have opportunities to lay our life down for whatever shape, you know, that we have a chance to associate with, or that God allows in our life that we can begin that idea of loving on him, right? And one of the things that I have always loved about my Christian businessman's group, my band of brothers I walk with, with Masked On Journey, with my church, with the Sunday school class, my special needs Sunday school class, if I always, you know, hugs are free. You know, like people are hugging one another because they truly love one another. People are crying together because they truly feel accepted.

People are sharing deep, hurtful stuff. Because they can, because it's a hospital, right? And so when you get around sheep, you're going to find that most of them, they graze a lot. That's good. They're in God's Word because that's where they can find home for now. You know, that's what the idea of lambs are is that they're going to be out there grazing. And so we have this opportunity to graze with the Good Shepherd. And with that, right, we realize that we have the whole 23rd Psalm at our disposal, right? And surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Well, if in that book I was talking about earlier, a shepherd's look at the 23rd Psalm, he ends it with this. And one time, in fact actually twice, I had to tell friends that they didn't have long to live, maybe 24 to 48 hours. Their wives had both asked me to do it when this news came because they both knew that at one point in my life I faced the same kind of thing.

God chose to save me, but in both those cases it didn't happen. And what I shared with them was this. What Philip Keller said in this is that sheep leave green pastures behind them because if they're properly shepherded, their manure fertilizes, they don't cut the grass too low that it will kill the pasture. In other words, when you want to follow the tracks of the sheep, look for the green pasture, right? And so that's the beautiful thing of your life, is that as you feed on God's Word and you do all those things, you leave behind you this beautiful track that anybody with eyes to see can see this pasture. And see, goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life and not only all the tracks that you led there for the other sheep to follow, but then they too will leave those green tracks behind their life and it goes on and on and on for eternity so that someday when we're all up there at home, we'll be able to share this time with God and sit there in amazement with one another in those hugs, in that full acceptance, in that love, in that place that our hungry souls, our cast-down souls, as we described earlier, have a chance to remain with God forever, right? And that's the idea that, again, it's clear throughout the Scriptures from Abraham and clear through into Revelation.

You're going to find that this idea of the Good Shepherd is there because, again, we tend to be bad boys, and so we need all the help we can get. And again, it's been a great week here at the Truth Network, and we're so appreciative. I know we got calls from all over, didn't we, Nick? I mean, we got calls from Ohio and Virginia and South Carolina and North Carolina.

Clearly, obviously, our flagship station is here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. But again, we're so grateful for all of you listening. We're so grateful for all the calls and, most of all, that through each and every one of you that call, we get to sense God because we know that He's right in there with all of us. And so, again, we are so grateful for your listening today. And so when you think about your Bible questions, just keep pushing in because inside the Scripture is the answer to your questions, and the Holy Spirit will take you there and just fill you like a sheep, right? You get a chance to chew on it and chew on it until you digest it, and then you get to use it in your life and everybody else's. Thanks for listening. We will talk to you next week.