The Sheep and the Shepherd

Wk 35 Day 7

John 10:3-5 (NLT)
³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”


.. Jesus was teaching that He is the good shepherd.

SHEPHERD:

v. 3b "He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

.. He knows His sheep by name
.. He leads them out - He's got headship; leadership over them; He walks ahead of them
.. He gathers His own flock - those who belong to Him and even those who don't belong to the sheep pen (v. 16) - He is compassionate even to those who don't (yet) belong to the sheep pen.

SHEEP:

.. Know the shepherd's voice (v. 4b) - learned to hear His voice and is able to recognize it
.. Don't follow the stranger's voice because the sheep don't know the voice - sensitive to the voice of the shepherd
.. Runs away from the stranger - does not "get into" what the stranger's voice tells them to do because it is not the right voice.

1. Learn to recognize the shepherd's voice - get to know the voice and get so familiarized with it
2. Be sensitive to the voice of the shepherd; follow the voice of the shepherd to where it leads.
3. Run away from the stranger's voice immediately (the stranger/hired man usually does not care about the welfare of the sheep; he runs away when the "wolves" come; not trustworthy at all)

BELLE:

.. Praise God, I can hear the Good Shepherd's voice; yet I have to be consistent in hearing Him more
.. Filtering out the unnecessary noise (stranger's voice)
.. I just need to know the Shepherd's voice well enough (dollar bill illustration) to be able to know which one's NOT his voice. It won't be too hard to recognize as long as I am sensitive and getting to know Him more!


// LORD, I only want to listen to You, my Good Shepherd. I pray that you will make me so sensitive that I will be so sure to only be lead by You as I walk through the course of life. Please guide me, as You said you would, and please help me to be yielding to where your staff gets me back on track if at times I step away from where You want me to be. I trust in You and I know that You know everything about me (by name!). You are awesome. I lift this up to You by the power of the Holy Spirit and in Jesus' name, amen.