John 10:1-6\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0\u201cTruly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is\u00a0a thief and a robber.\u00a02\u00a0But the one who enters by the door is\u00a0a shepherd of the sheep.\u00a03\u00a0To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to\u00a0his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and\u00a0leads them out.\u00a04\u00a0When he puts all his own\u00a0sheep\u00a0outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know\u00a0his voice.\u00a05\u00a0However, a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know\u00a0the voice of strangers.\u201d\u00a06\u00a0Jesus told them this\u00a0figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them\u00a0meant.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cTruly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is\u00a0a thief and a robber.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0We know that Jesus is our Shepherd.\u00a0\u00a0God spoke to the people using the example of shepherds because the people would understand.\u00a0\u00a0When the shepherd and sheep were out in the open the shepherds would use brush to surround the sheep to keep them for straying. However when they were in town they would put them in a common sheepfold that was built with stones.\u00a0\u00a0Multiple shepherds might use the sheepfold at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0The Israelites were aware of thieves and robbers who wanted to enter into the sheepfold to steal sheep.\u00a0\u00a0The was usually assisted by an accomplice.\u00a0\u00a0The thief would climb over the wall of the sheepfold.\u00a0\u00a0Once the thief was inside, he would kill a few sheep and throw the dead bodies over the wall to his partner. Those who came into the fold by jumping the fence did so for one reason, to steal, kill and destroy the sheep.\u00a0\u00a0They did not love the sheep, these thieves came to benefit only themselves.\u00a0\u00a0(V10<\/b>)<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the one who enters by the door is\u00a0a shepherd of the sheep.\u00a03\u00a0To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to\u00a0his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and\u00a0leads them out.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0The legitimate shepherd comes in through the door.\u00a0\u00a0The doorkeeper (guardian of the gate) recognizes the true shepherd and opens the door for Him.\u00a0\u00a0Then the Shepherd called out to the sheep, who recognized his voice and followed him out.\u00a0\u00a0Some shepherds said their sheep even recognized the name the shepherd had given them and responded to their names.\u00a0\u00a0(Revelation 2:17<\/b>) A shepherd\u2019s sheep know his voice and follow him.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhen he puts all his own\u00a0sheep\u00a0outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know\u00a0his voice.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Note that the shepherds at the time that Jesus lived did not drive their sheep but led them and the sheep trusted and followed them.\u00a0\u00a0In the western world the sheep are driven, and often by sheepdogs.\u00a0\u00a0Our shepherd goes before us and leads us in the path He has already gone.\u00a0\u00a0He knows where he leads us and knows how to keep us safe on that path.\u00a0\u00a0Praise our good Shepherd!<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know\u00a0the voice of strangers.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Really, people of the world will follow the one they have chosen.\u00a0\u00a0If the world and the enemy of God, then they will follow where he leads them.\u00a0\u00a0But those who love and serve the Lord will follow Him and be safe with Him for all eternity.\u00a0\u00a0All who love Jesus know and are led by Him.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus told them this\u00a0figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them\u00a0meant.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0The Jews who rejected Him never did understand what Jesus was teaching, but the humble heard Him and followed Him.\u00a0\u00a0The Jewish authorities were the same ruling families for generations.\u00a0\u00a0This parable was plain even to the fake shepherds of the Jews that Jesus was describing them as the bad players who only steal, kill and destroy the faith of those seeking God.\u00a0\u00a0But the ones who had a heart for God had a heart for Jesus. Today it is the same.\u00a0\u00a0Many reject Jesus and find the Bible flawed and foolish and there are many false leaders.\u00a0\u00a0But those who love and serve Him know that Jesus gave to all who would follow Him words of eternal life and security in it.\u00a0\u00a0And so we live eternally with Him.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/i><\/p>\n John 10:1-6\u00a0–\u00a0\u201cTruly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is\u00a0a thief and a robber.\u00a02\u00a0But the one who enters by the door is\u00a0a shepherd of the sheep.\u00a03\u00a0To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to\u00a0his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[100,94,1874,17,711],"class_list":["post-2969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2969"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2970,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969\/revisions\/2970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}