May 31, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in John? Here’s today’s reading:
John 10 (NIV)
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.........Continue Reading
There could no better picture of God and His people other than Shepherd and sheep. Pastor did a section of his daily words about the qualities of sheep a while back and they are so needy, so simple, and so easily led astray….as we can be! He also discussed the tireless efforts of the Shepherd to care for them which is a constant job whether the sheep realize it or not. They will eat the wrong things, they will follow a friend off the side of a cliff, they are not even good at grooming themselves and the Shepherd is there to care for it ALL….as God is here for us, ALL of us!
““I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—”
John 10:14 NIV
https://www.bible.com/111/jhn.10.14.niv
John 10
John 10!- three times he says I will lay down my life for you, the life in Christ is richer and fuller, it is eternal, I love where he says the sheep know his own voice and they follow him because they know the voice. My bible says Jesus is the gate to Gods salvation for all of us. We need to listen to his voice.
Jesus continues defining Himself with poignant I AM statements and here describes Himself as the good shepherd. What a difference there is between the hired hand and the good shepherd. He sacrifices for the sheep and leads them to places that would be good for them. How important it would be for the sheep to hear the shepherd’s voice. It would bring a calm to an otherwise antsy and scared herd. But even more important would be for the sheep to heed the voice of the shepherd. It is incredible to me that God would seek to have such an intimate relationship with us and be willing to take care of us so well. Praise to Him that He gives us eternal life and no one can take that away from us.
And it’s tough to imagine the gaul of the Pharisee….if you are the Christ than tell us plainly…..like He hasn’t already…they must have missed that when they were working on their defense against what Jesus was saying as He was saying it….So Jesus speaks as clearly as He can…I and the Father are one. How do you like those apples?
John 7-13
Jesus defines Himself and what that means for His sheep.
“I am the door of the sheep.”
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for 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.”
Jesus is loved by the Father.
Jesus has authority over His own life and death.
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
The response Jesus is looking for: belief (defined by those who do not). Those who do not believe are not His sheep.
“I told you, and you do NOT BELIEVE. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do NOT BELIEVE, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.”
“If I do not do the works of My Father, do NOT BELIEVE Me; 38 but if I do, though you do NOT BELIEVE Me, BELIEVE the works, that you may know and BELIEVE that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
“Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” 42 And many BELIEVED in Him there.”
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”