Human Shield
MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION:
If you’re new around here. I’m Virgil Grant, the crazy one. Okay I’m the senior Pastor I’m also one of the leaders around here. We are in a sermon series called The Magnificent Seven, and we are looking at the Seven I am Statements of Jesus from the Book of John. And we’re camping out in the Book of John. Do you want to know who Jesus is? Jesus is telling us who He is in his own words. These are not my words. These are not the cultural way of describing Jesus. This is Jesus describing himself. And we’re in part four, and we’re looking at the fourth I am statement. Jesus says I am then we fill in the blank. The first one, Jesus says, I’m the bread of life. In the second week, we talked about Jesus said, I’m the Lord of the world. Last week, we had the useless prop on the stage. Remember the door? Jesus says I am the door. But this week, we are going to find out more specifically what kind of door he is, you know, because it’s not like if I could just see the prop of a door. If I could see a picture of a door, I’ll be able to understand the image. Right. But because we walked in through doors every single day, and here’s how Jesus tells us in John chapter ten, verse seven.
“Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
John 10:7
And today, we’re going to talk about a sermon that is titled.
HUMAN SHIELD
Would you say that with me? Human Shield. It will make sense in a moment. Okay. So we’re going to read the rest of the passage that deals with Jesus saying that I am the door of the sheep. So in John chapter ten, we’re going to begin in verse 11 and read through 18, then jump down to verse 27. And so Jesus says.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. “The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. “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. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down for Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 10:11-18
Now let’s jump down to verse 27, and I wish I had time this morning to preach this particular passage. Maybe another day.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. ” My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. “I and My Father are one.”
John 10:27.30
Human shield. It is in every drama action movie that’s ever been made. But the bad guy does something bad. Why is Brian always the bad guy? Now Josh thinks because he moved down there, then he’s off the hook. Now, Josh, you’re not off the hook. I just want you to know Josh said after the service last week, I’ll never sit in that seat again. He thought he had it made, But anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. The human shield is. Why is it always a bad guy? It’s never the bad woman, right? It’s always the bad guy. He does something bad. He’s running through the crowd, and the good guys are pursuing him. And what does he do? He grabs a human, and the human becomes a shield for him. And he’s trying to get himself set free because he’s got this human who’s a shield between him and the good guys. Now, some of you are saying I have seen that before in a movie. Yes, you have. It’s like Liam Neeson, right? It’s like he will be doing Taken 94. Right? And he’ll be on his walker, and he’s like, You shall pay to. Right? And this is Daughter that had been taken 94 times. And why are you always taken? Well, dad, they just had candy, and I wanted some candy. No. Just stay away from that. Right. So. And I don’t know if you caught this or not, but in John chapter ten, Jesus actually uses the metaphor of a human shield in John, Chapter ten. It’s not that Jesus was using humans to shield himself, but the Gospel says this. That Jesus became a human so that you and I would have a shield. Now, isn’t that good that Jesus, the Gospel is that Jesus became a human so that you and I would have a shield so that you and I would have protection so that you and I would have a shepherd? Now, can I just say something to you? This is the big idea of the entire message.
EVERYONE HAS A SHEPHERD
Everyone has a shepherd. Everybody in this room, You have a shepherd. Now, I didn’t say it was Jesus. I just said that everybody in this room has a shepherd. Do you know why? Because sheep are never intended to be without a shepherd. A sheep was always intended to have a shepherd. You never see a shepherdless sheep. If you do, they will not live very long. Because you understand that a sheep is a defenseless creature, they have no defensive mechanism that they possess. The sheep were not designed to live in the wild. They were not designed to thrive in the wild. And if you see a sheep in the wilderness, in the wild, that sheep is going to die probably pretty quickly. Sheep are very flimsy animals. And the reason why they’re flimsy you put them in a pasture with all kinds of lush green grass. You, that sheep, will do that sheep or actually eat all the grass until their stomach explodes. They literally kill themselves from eating a good thing. Way too much. Another thing about a sheep that you may or may not know is that oftentimes you’ll find a sheep on its back with all four legs in the air because they’re top-heavy, kind of like a turtle on its back. And if somebody doesn’t come along and help the sheep to get back up, the sheep can never get back up, and as a result, is that it will eventually die. And every individual, because the Bible compares all of us to sheep, every one of us, we have a shepherd. And the question is, who is your shepherd? And what I mean, who is your shepherd? Who is it that leads you? Who is it that influences you? Who guides you? Who directs you? Who has your ear? Who’s the one that speaks the loudest into your ears? And that is your shepherd. Now, let me just give you this is not an exhaustive list. This is just a partial list. But here is a list of some potential shepherds that are in your life.
Feelings
Sports
Friends
Culture
Money
Power
Education
Parents
Kids
Sex
Now, let’s just walk through these feelings. A lot of people live by their feelings. For a lot of people, their friends are their shepherds. You know, and this is the reason why young people are so important that you find out who your friends are and make sure you pick the right friends because the five friends that you hang out with will be the average of who you will become. And it’s the same thing for adults. Culture is another big one. Can I just say something to you? Culture is probably the driving thing that drives everything that we do and don’t do in the world today. But can I just say something to you that we, the church, The word of God are greater and bigger than the culture that we live in. We are to live and stand upon the Word of God. And the word of God says that there’s only one way to heaven. There are not 100 ways to heaven. There are not 1000 ways to heaven. There are not 10 different saviors. There’s 1 savior, and his name is Jesus. And the reason that he’s our savior is that he came and lived the perfect life. He died the perfect death. He died for my sins. And for your sins. He was put in the grave. And on the third day, he came out of the grave, winning victory over death, sin, and the grave. And that is the reason why we have to continue to declare that if you do not have Jesus as your personal savior, you’re going to die and split hell wide open. Culture says there’s a 1000 ways to God. There are not 1000 ways to God. There’s one way to God because that’s what the word says. And so as we continue on, I don’t have time, don’t encourage me to hang out there. Money, power, sports, the sports that you actually participate in. But a lot of people they’re driven by the sports that they watch. Their entire schedule revolves around sports. There’s education, and there are parents. Do you understand that? There are parents that have been dead for years, and they still influence their children’s lives even today. Because the children are asking, well, what would mom what would that? What would her parents say? What would they have us do? Oftentimes, it’s kids who are the driving force in the lives of families. And that’s really backward, is it not, that your kids are ruling the rules and your marriage is on the backside. Obviously, sex. I mean, there are all kinds of things that can be your shepherd. But the big deal is this. You have a shepherd in your life. And the question is, who is your shepherd, and how do you determine what is a good shepherd and what is a bad shepherd? And the difference is found in John chapter ten, verse twelve. Notice what it says.
“The hired man, who is not the shepherd, and does not own the sheep, will see the wolf coming, desert the sheep and run away.”
John 10:12 (Phillips)
Now, when I read this, you know, I thought of Linda I thought of. Luke, Chapter 15. I thought of the Prodigal Son. Remember the story of the prodigal son? I mean, he was a little antsy, and he wanted his inheritance a little quicker than what culture said. But Dad was obliging. Dad gave him his inheritance. He went to a distant land. Let me just say something to you. A distant land doesn’t mean a physical, distant land, actually. It could be distance because your heart has drifted. But anyway, he went to a distant land. He took his inheritance with him. And the Bible says that he wasted his money on wild living. And we interpret that as prosecutions. We were talking about gambling. We talked about buying rounds of drinks for everybody in the bar and having the penthouse out in Vegas overlooking the strip. I mean, like, he just wasted all of his money. He had friends galore. He had friends because what was he doing? He was buying rounds for everyone. But then the Bible says there’s an economic downturn that is taking place. And then, as a result of the economic downturn that took place, is that all of a sudden, there’s no more cash, there’s no more buying rounds of drinks. There’s no more parties. There’s no more penthouses. And all of a sudden, he looks around. And where are all of his friends? All of his friends have done what they have vacated. They have left. They were bad Shepherd shepherds. They were not there to help him at all. And this is what happens to you and I when we build our lives on the wrong thing. And Jesus says, if you want to know if you’re building your life on the right thing or not, it’s just when adversity comes, it will determine if you’re building your life on sinking sand or if you’re building your life upon the solid rock. And we call Jesus the Good Shepherd for three reasons. I just want you to write these down if you don’t mind. The first one is this. Is that he’s willing to provide.
OWNERSHIP
Now, can I just tell you something? This is the thing that we love about Jesus, but it’s also the thing that we hate about Jesus is that we want Him to be our Lord. But there are certain areas that we don’t want him to be in, Lord. We want to compartmentalize our life. We want to just give Jesus access to just a portion of our life. And the rest of her life, we want to control. But that’s not how it works. Because just think about this. The shepherd is the sole owner of the sheep. The shepherd has authority over the sheep. The shepherd provides protection and guides. The sheep directs the sheep has to be in close proximity. You never hear the sheep going, Well, we’re just going to obey the shepherd when we want to. And the rest of the time, we’re just going to go out and live and do whatever we want to do. That’s not how it works that it’s not how it works for you and I. Jesus wants to be our owner. He wants to be our authority. He wants to be in charge of your life. He wants to be your Lord. He wants to be your shepherd. He wants to be completely and totally in charge of your life. And you and I are like, God, you can have this part of my life, but you can’t have this part. Hey, God, you can have this. But when it comes to my finances. Oh, no, no, no. I’m in control of my finances, my sex life, a no God, you have no access whatsoever to that. That is totally in my control. Me going to life group heck No God, I’m not doing that. Serving in the local church. I’m out on that. And we want to compartmentalize our life. And folks, the reality is, is that God wants to be in complete control and wants to be the authority in your life. And there are two reasons why he should be the authority in our life. Number one is because he made us this is not on the outline. You have to write this stuff down. He made us. He created us. Look at what Psalm 100 verse three says.
“Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Psalm 100:3
Now some of you are going, No, no, no, no. God didn’t make me. I’m a self-made man. Well, here’s the question, Brian. Are you grown kidneys in your garage or what? I mean, like. I mean, nobody makes themselves, right? I mean, God created us all, my friends, it says here. He made us and not we are selves. We are his people. And we are the sheep of his pasture. God has complete authority over our lives because he created us. He made us. And as a result of that, he has complete authority. But number two is that he paid the ransom. So he bought us when we drifted away. Now, look at what look it says. And first, Peter, 1:18. We have the whole ransom metaphor here.
“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.”
1 Peter 1:18a
Jesus says You know what? I am the hostage. I’m the one that’s going to die so that you can be set free. Ransom to save you from the empty life. And if you’re here this morning and you feel as if your life has no meaning, has no purpose. It is empty. It is because you do not have Jesus in your heart. Because when Jesus takes up residence, everything changes. Now, the next slide.
“It was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.
It was the precious blood of Christ.”
1 Peter 1:18b-19a
He wants to be the owner of you. Why? Because he made you, and he bought you. He doubly paid for you and I. Isn’t that wonderful? There’s a second thing that makes Jesus good. And it makes him the good shepherd.
FRIENDSHIP
Jesus wants to be your friend. There is intentionality from my point of view of why he uses the word shepherd because it means personal. It’s a great analogy. He wants to be a part of our lives. Now here’s the reality, Heather. We use good in a lot of different ways. I mean, we even say there was a good hot dog. I mean, I don’t like hot dogs. I mean, I’ve never seen a good hot dog. Maybe you have. I just haven’t. I mean, we used good for a lot. You know, and I ask you, Heather. Hey, how are you doing? I’m doing good, which means probably not really good. Do you know what I’m saying? Because if she was good, she would put, like, a modifier to it. I’m doing really good, Pastor. Thanks for asking. Right? I mean, it’s kind of like that. But when they go good, it really means good, but not great. No. In Greek, the word good has several different ways it can mean.
Good in Greek means listen, beautiful, lovely, pleasant, profitable, rich, or fertile.
Now, when you think about that analogy of the word good, though, the analogy that we see the most often in Scripture where good is applied is to the land. This good land, this land that’s flowing with milk and honey, which means that there are no rocks, there are no pebbles, there’s nothing standing in the way. And when you think about Jesus being your good shepherd, I’m telling you that he’s a good shepherd. In him, he’s a pleasant shepherd. In him, he’s a profitable shepherd. He’s a rich shepherd. You can grow your life in him. He’s a fertile shepherd. Things can grow in him. And he wants to be your friend. He says, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. He says, My sheep, they know the sound of their names being called. He knows your name. You are not just one in billions of people. You’re one in a billion, folks. Is that You’re precious. He knows your face. He knows everything about you. And you’re are a precious soul in his sight. He is a good shepherd because he wants to be friends with you. Now, here’s something that I learned about shepherds and about sheep this past week that I didn’t know is oftentimes a shepherd who really loved and cared for their flock. They would often call their sheep nicknames, and they were given nicknames based on the circumstances that they would find them in. You know, there would be one. There was always the straggler, right? There would be one that would be limpy or gimpy or whatever, you know? They’d have different names. And I want you to know something. Is that the world, the parents, your coaches, your teachers, your siblings, your family, your neighbors? They have to pronounce a name over you, but it’s not the name that your good shepherd has given to you. And I’m here to tell you this morning that what God says about you and what God calls you is greater than anybody else. And you may be here this morning, and maybe someone has told you that you’re worthless, that you’re lazy, that you’re never going to amount to anything. Maybe someone has called you out and said to you that you’re unwanted, that you’re not good enough. But this is not what your master says. Your master says your name is bold. Your name is beautiful, your name is majestic. Your name is wanted. Your name is strong. Your name is courageous. Your name is valuable. He calls you chosen. He calls you a child. He calls you royalty. He says you’re worth having. You’re worth knowing. And you’re worth dying for. It’s okay. You can clap in church.
Now, here’s the thing. Why is this important? Voices and names are heard audibly. Again. Voices and names are heard audibly. And so, therefore, whoever has your ear is the shepherd in your life. Whoever you’re listening to. And we put the list up earlier, and all of those things could be true. But again, those are not an exhaustive list. Some of you watched 6 hours of Netflix. A day. When you read the Bible for 2 minutes a week. geuss who your shepered is. If you watch endless Hours on Tik Tok or YouTube videos and you spend 2 minutes a week reading the Bible. Guess who your shepherd is. If you’re always listening to podcasts, if you’re always reading a variety of books, guess who you’re shepherd is, and see folks, here’s the reality that God wants to be your shepherd. God wants to be your friend because God wants to speak life into your lot. God wants to speak love into your heart. And you have the choice every single morning when you wake up to take out your Bible and to do your devotion to read a passage from the Bible. And let me just promise you something. If you start reading the Bible, God will start speaking to you. I promise you that. Because God’s always speaking. God is speaking in this service. God spoke last week. Even though you were not here, you missed out on what God said. And let me just tell you something. God’s going to speak again next week, and he’s going to speak whether or not you are here or not. But God wants you to be here because every time that you listen, everything that you call out to God, God is always going to speak to you. God’s never going to hit the shady button on his phone. He’s never going to send you to voicemail. He’s never going to decline your call. He’s always going to take your call. And the thing that I love about Jesus is that Jesus is so good that his goodness is enough for you and for me. Let me say that again. His goodness is so good. It’s enough for you. Because think about this. What happens? What happens? When someone here. Strays away from the path. What happens to someone who’s in recovery as an addict, and then he or she engages in addiction again? What happens to that individual? What was that person who knows right from wrong? And even though they know right from wrong and they’re walking down the right path, then all of a sudden, they take a hard right or hard left, and they begin to walk down a different path. And they’re walking down the path of death, the path of addiction, the path of prison. What does God do? What does God think about that person? What is it? What is God’s response? Do you know what God’s response is? God’s response is found in Luke chapter 15.
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?”
Luke 15:4
And when he finds the sheep, what does he do with the sheep, my friends? What does he do? Does he kick the sheep? Does he smack the sheep? Does he tell the sheep how dumb and stupid the sheep is? No. He picks the sheep up with gentleness. He rubs the sheep. He caresses the sheep. He puts the sheep back over his shoulders. Not the convicted. Not to make you feel guilty, not to make it feel shameful for all the acts that he did. He brings them in, puts them on his shoulders, carries him back to the flock, puts him back into the safety of numbers, and says, Listen, I want you to be restored. I want you to be forgiven. I want you to be a part of my family. And listen, there may be consequences. There may be things you may be dealing with addiction for the rest of your life. But here’s the real deal. You never have to do it by yourself. Because I will always be there with you. You never have to do it alone because you have the body of Christ who will be there, encouraging you and cheering for you every step of the way. So. Jesus is a good shepherd because he wants to be our owner. He’s a good shepherd because he wants to be your friend. But number three, he wants a.
PARTNERSHIP
With us. And this partnership with us is what makes him a good, good shepherd. I think about this story from Luke chapter 15. How the shepherd went chasing down the one sheep, and they went chasing down the one sheep because he’s bringing the one sheep back to where? To the pen where there were 99. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think about the economics of farming, having one sheep as a farmer doesn’t really constitute being a farmer. It seems like a pet owner. Do you know what I mean? But if you have 100 sheep. That would seem a little bit more efficient, a little bit more effective, and you could get a lot more wool, and you can make some money at farming. Now, the thing I learned about the Middle Eastern farmer this past week is that you see sheep farmers or shepherds sometimes leading the flock from the back of the flock. He’s driving the flock. He’s hitting the flock. The flock is moving. And the research shows that. A shepherd who’s driving the flock from the backside doesn’t want to know the names of the sheep. He’s driving the sheep to the slaughterhouse. But when you see a shepherd out front. And he is speaking, and he knows the sheep, and they know his voice. Then he’s providing them with peace. He’s providing them with presence. And as a result, Listen to me. In production, the productivity of the wool increases. And so all of these sheep who finds peace in numbers. They find that when the shepherd leads the sheep in big numbers is that the war will increase. And when the farmer goes to shear the sheep, there’s more wool. Now think about that. There is productivity in being a partner with God. Because think about this, Heather, you got a little bit of wool. I got a little bit of wool. Tim’s got a little bit of wool. Mark has got a few gifts. John has a few gifts. Drew has a few gifts. Robin has a few gifts. We bring all of those together and productively. We’re following Jesus, and we’re all sacrificing a little at a time. And guess what happens? Productivity impact, transformation, and contribution go up in the community. We’re able to do what? Have multiple campuses. We’re able to offer multiple and more ministries in the community. We’re able to see 10,000 people to be on the journey of living the all in life. We can start really pushing back. Darkness in central Kentucky. We can actually contribute, and we all can become legacy makers because while we are pooling our resources together, we’re being productive. We are each contributing a little bit to the greater good. And that’s how we get there.
There’s something else I want you to notice. Something I want you to hear. That we live in a world that says.
“Jesus, yes, church, no!”
I love Jesus, but I’m not hip. Can I just tell you something? The number one question I get asked is, hey, Pastor, do I have to go to church in order to worship Jesus? That’s the number one question I get asked. I mean, Pastor, hey, I’m in my duck blind. It’s early in the morning. I’m seeing the sunrise. I’m seeing, you know, just the beauty of God’s creation. You know, I can worship God out in the duck blind, right? You know, Pastor, I just love when me and God, we’re on tee box number one. I get out of the golf cart. I take my golf club, I swing the club, and the ball goes right down the Middle of the fairway. I get in my golf cart. I’m breezing down the fairway. There’s just something beautiful about the wind that reminds me of God. Pastor can just worship God in the duck blind? Can I not just worship God on the fairway? On the Greens. Here’s what I would say to you. Get your worship bone in the duck blind. Get your praise on driving down the fairway in your golf cart. And just remember this the only one who cares about you being on the fairway and on the duck blind and the only one who wants you in the one and the only one who wants you on the fairway is the devil himself. Look at what Jesus said in John chapter ten, verse twelve.
(Jesus) “The wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”
John 10:12c
Sheep know there’s productivity in numbers. But not only is there productivity in numbers but there’s also safety in numbers. There’s something about safety gathering together as a body of believers each and every Sunday. There’s something about safety. When we meet together in the homes throughout the week, there’s something safe about us coming together, ministry teams, and we’re doing and serving together. There’s something about coming together and witnessing a baptism, about singing a new song, about seeing a life transform from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. There’s something beautiful about the safety of being in numbers. So this partnership is about productivity. This partnership is also about safety. But can I give you the third part of this partnership? And these are from the lips of Jesus.
It’s about continuing the mission that’s in the shepherd’s heart.
There’s a mission that is in the heart of Jesus that we have latched on to as a church. And this is not Virgil’s mission. This is not the Elders’ mission. This is not the staff’s mission. This is the mission of Jesus. And I want you to look with me at John chapter ten, verse sixteen, and you need to hear this. Go ahead. Just put it on the side. The worship team is ambitious this morning.
“You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one shepherd.”
John 10:16
And one will be one flock and one shepherd. Ever happen is with the second coming of Jesus and until the second coming of Jesus. Listen to me, my friends. It is our job to keep adding people and sheep to this pen. Now, let me tell you something. A church like ours that is growing, a church like ours. We had 1229 people last weekend. We’re averaging over 1100 people already this year every single Sunday. And the tendency. The propensity, the trajectory, oftentimes is for the church to switch into the mode of being a country club. And friends. I’m not interested in being a director or an executive director of a country club. I want to be the chief surgeon at the hospital. I want Eastside to remain a hospital for those who are hurting, those who have no hope, to those who need love and attention. That needs help, that needs aid, that needs medical care, spiritual care. I want us to remain a hospital for the hurting world that we live in because there are not too many places where they can find help. In this day and age and the help they do find is not getting help from the Good shepherd is getting help from a shepherd. And friends. I want Eastside to remain a hospital, and I want to have a hospital on every end of this community within reach of people that are in their community. And the only way that we accomplish that is through partnership. And so I want to ask you to just stand right where you’re at. As you’re standing. I told you at the end of the service I was going to have you come down front. Now, the reason why I’m having you come down front is not that I believe that there’s more of Jesus down front. Then there’s in the back risers, which I personally believe there is, but that’s another story. But Jesus is everywhere, right? I mean, his spirit is here.
What I’m asking you to do, I’m asking you as active obedience. An act of courage. It is for you to step out of your comfort zone to come down front. And say to the Lord. Not to me, because I must go down with you, saying to the Lord. That we’re going to. Keep Jesus as a good shepherd. He’s going to be the owner of my life. He’s going to be the owner of Eastside. He’s going to be a friend of ours. He will be the friend of sinners. We’re going to partner with God. We’re going to have hospital after hospital all across that community. And we’re going to continue to have one emergency center after another emergency center to help people. And what you’re doing is that you’re going to come down front and the act of coming down the front. This may be a breakthrough because a breakthrough is found on the other side of action. Now, some of you’re standing there, and you sit there and go, well, I know Jesus. I love Jesus. He knows me. I don’t have to move. I don’t have to do what the pastors asking. And you’re right, you don’t do anything. But that’s the voice of complacency. The voice of complacency, just as you’re, you’re just enough right where you’re at. You don’t need to do anything. You just stay right there. But you know what? On the other side of your action, on the other side of you coming forward, the other side of you coming down and raising your hands and singing and worshiping. There’s a breakthrough on the other side. And the breakthrough is what God does in my heart. But what he also does in the heart of this community. And so as we sing, I’m going to ask you to come and as an action step, as just your declaration, my declaration that God is the owner. He’s the good shepherd. He owns it all. He’s our friend. We’re a partner with him. We’re just asking him and declaring to him our allegiance and our dependence upon him.