Author: Kevin Corbin

  • SHEEP ARE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK –

    like sheep, we need a shepherd

    Let’s clear up a misconception about sheep this morning.

    Many people consider sheep unintelligent, but scientific research tells a different story. Sheep can recognize and remember dozens of individual faces, both other sheep and humans, and retain those memories for years. They learn simple tasks, solve problems, and navigate their environment through memory and experience.

    Their reputation for foolishness comes largely from one behavior: they follow the flock. But this is not stupidity. It is survival. Prey animals are safer together than alone, and what looks like mindless copying is actually a deeply practical instinct honed over thousands of years. Their caution around unfamiliar situations tells the same story. What reads as hesitation is often careful decision-making.

    Sheep also possess complex social skills, recognize hierarchies within the flock, and experience a genuine emotional life. Fear, stress, comfort, contentment. They feel more than most people expect.

    So, when the Bible compares us to sheep, it is not calling us dumb. It is saying we need a shepherd for the same reasons sheep do. We go astray easily. We follow the crowd. We are vulnerable creatures who fare better under wise guidance than on our own.

    The comparison is not an insult. It is a diagnosis. And thankfully, it comes with a prescription.

    Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures;
    He leads me beside quiet waters.
    He restores my soul;
    He guides me in the paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake. 

    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.
    You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
    You have anointed my head with oil;
    My cup overflows.
    Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life,
    And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever. Psalm 23

    He knows our problems, and He cares. He gives us the remedy and guidance. The LORD adopts us into the flock by faith in what He has already done and gives us His Spirit and His Word.

    He understands our propensity to wander and stray yet leaves the 99 behind to find the one.

    He blesses us and protects us in this life and beyond. Praise the Lord, for He is the Good Shepherd who knows His own sheep. Praise Him who has given us ears to hear His voice calling.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    Sheep are far more capable than their reputation suggests, and understanding that reframes what it means when Scripture calls us sheep. The comparison is not about our intelligence, but our need for a shepherd, a relationship Psalm 23 describes beautifully.

    KEY POINTS:

    Sheep are smarter than we think, which makes the biblical comparison more meaningful, not less.

    Like sheep, we are vulnerable, prone to wander, and designed to thrive under wise guidance rather than on our own.

    Yahweh (the LORD) is the Good Shepherd who knows us, seeks us when we stray, and blesses us in this life and beyond.

    Some others you may enjoy

    Close to the Master: Embracing Life’s Journey

    The Gospel: The best news you will ever hear.

    The Great Transfer – From darkness to light

    Sheep without a shepherd – Missing the Messiah

  • The great transfer – From Darkness into light

    A man standing in ne shadows moving from darkness to light

    Some friends shared some images of their recent Alaskan cruise on social media. That got me thinking of the Alaska Purchase – where the USA purchased Alaska from Russia. The price in 1867 was $7.2 million, a real bargain. That led me to think of other great transfer stories.

    Most North Americans are familiar with the Louisiana Purchase, in which France transferred land to the US for $15 Million. In a series of purchases, the US bought ½ of what was then Mexico.

    The buying and selling of countries and territories has been going on for centuries. It’s not just an American thing. Countries have been the subject of transfers since near the beginning of time.

    It’s certainly not an everyday occurrence, but it is far from being without precedent. There is a great transfer that is mind-boggling in scope. It’s an event that happened at a specific point in time but is still happening today.

    And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— if indeed you continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Colossians 1:21-23

    By the grace of God, through what Christ accomplished, sinners are transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of Light. We go from being rebellious sinners to children of God. We are no longer slaves to sin but covered under the imputed righteousness of Jesus.

    I sometimes think we really don’t understand how powerful a transaction that was. God, the offended party, stepped in to free those who committed the offense. By His own blood, He redeems people who were His enemies. He pays our price.

    We’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve it. We can’t save up enough good deed points to pay our own way. We are lost forever, separated by nature and choice from the one who loves us.

    For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

    Inconceivable? Unbelievable? Mind blowing? Yes! Yet equally as true. It is the ultimate Great Transfer.

    That’s the reality of the gospel, the good news, the euangelion that the Scriptures proclaim and believers testify to. In one agonizing event, people from every tribe, tongue and age were transferred from darkness to light, a process that continues today.

    Praise God that you have been transferred to His family and tell others that hope is open to them as well.

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    The greatest “purchase” in history isn’t a territorial transaction but the redemption of sinners by Christ — who, at infinite personal cost, transferred His enemies from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Unlike the Louisiana or Alaska Purchases, this transaction was paid not with gold but with the blood of God Himself, and its effects continue to unfold in every generation.

    KEY POINTS

    The Price Was Staggering — While the Alaska Purchase cost $7.2 million and the Louisiana Purchase $15 million, the redemption of sinners cost the Son of God His life — paid on behalf of people who were His enemies and had done nothing to earn it. 

    The Transfer Is Total — Through Christ’s death, believers move from alienation and guilt to being presented before God as holy, blameless, and beyond reproach — a transformation no human effort or accumulated merit could ever achieve. 

    The Transaction Is Still Open — This redemption, accomplished at a specific moment in history, continues to be applied today across every tribe, tongue, and generation, making the proclamation of the gospel an urgent and ongoing mission.

    You might also enjoy “The gospel, “the best news you will ever hear.“