John 10:7-18\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0<\/i>So Jesus again said to them,\u00a0\u201cTruly, truly, I say to you,\u00a0I am the door of the sheep.\u00a08\u00a0All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.\u00a09\u00a0I am the door. If anyone enters by me,\u00a0he will be saved and will go in and out and\u00a0find pasture.\u00a010\u00a0The thief comes only to steal and\u00a0kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.\u00a011\u00a0I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd\u00a0lays down his life for the sheep.\u00a012\u00a0He who is\u00a0a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and\u00a0leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and\u00a0scatters them.\u00a013\u00a0He flees because\u00a0he is a hired hand and\u00a0cares nothing for the sheep.\u00a014\u00a0I am the good shepherd.\u00a0I know my own and\u00a0my own know me,\u00a015\u00a0just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and\u00a0I lay down my life for the sheep.\u00a016\u00a0And\u00a0I have other sheep that are not of this fold.\u00a0I must bring them also, and\u00a0they will listen to my voice. So there will be\u00a0one flock,\u00a0one shepherd.\u00a017\u00a0For this reason the Father loves me,\u00a0because\u00a0I lay down my life that I may take it up again.\u00a018\u00a0No one takes it from me, but\u00a0I lay it down\u00a0of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and\u00a0I have authority to take it up again.\u00a0This charge I have received from my Father.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd\u00a0lays down his life for the sheep.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Clearly Jesus is the Good Shepherd.\u00a0\u00a0He is the One who loves the Sheep because they are His own. He is the Creator and so all the sheep exist because of His hand and His love.\u00a0\u00a0He created them, He covered their sin, from the Garden of Eden until the present day and forever.\u00a0\u00a0In Genesis God speaks of Himself in the plural during creation.\u00a0\u00a0At creation He states \u201cLet us\u201d at the making of mankind. (Genesis 1:26<\/b>) When speaking of the consequence of the sin of man the Lord God once again spoke of Himself in the plural \u201cus.\u201d\u00a0(Genesis 3:22<\/b>)\u00a0John 1:1-3<\/b>\u00a0clearly states that\u2019s Jesus was with God and was God \u201cIn the beginning.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0So the sheep are His creation.\u00a0\u00a0However among the sheep are both those who belong to Him and those who do not.\u00a0\u00a0Those who did\u00a0\u00a0not belong to Him are those who by the means of His gift to them of free will, chosen not to love, believe in, and follow Him.\u00a0\u00a0(John 3:18, 36<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0But oh, the marvelous truth is that He is the \u201cGood\u201d Shepherd and the boundaries of His goodness are unlimited.\u00a0\u00a0How sad that those who reject Jesus as Savior and Lord will never know the unlimited love of Jesus for us.\u00a0\u00a0They only perceive what their limited unsaved minds can conceive.\u00a0\u00a0But for those who love the Lord Jesus, and respond to the call to serve Him, His goodness is perceived as an endless horizon, seen and never fully grasped.\u00a0\u00a0Oh how good is Jesus to all, and especially to those who love Him and acknowledge who He is.<\/p>\n
\u201c12\u00a0He who is\u00a0a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and\u00a0leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and\u00a0scatters them.\u00a013\u00a0He flees because\u00a0he is a hired hand and\u00a0cares nothing for the sheep.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Previously in\u00a0V10:1<\/b>\u00a0Jesus speaks of a thief and a robber who enters the sheepfold not through the gate.\u00a0\u00a0They cannot enter through the gate because they do not belong among the sheep.\u00a0\u00a0They are among the sheep not out of love but for nefarious reasons, to harm and kill them.\u00a0\u00a0(V10:10<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Now Jesus is speaking of a hired hand and that person is different than the thief and robber.\u00a0\u00a0The hired hand has been hired to take care of the sheep and while the seas are smooth does what he is being paid for.\u00a0\u00a0But when the seas turn rough, or deadly, he abandons ship to protect himself without a care for the sheep. He is the babysitter who runs out of a house on fire and leaves behind the baby in the crib.\u00a0\u00a0This is a disreputable person who does not love those he is hired to protect and who, in fact, cares nothing for them.\u00a0\u00a0He is there for himself and not for his charges.\u00a0\u00a0This definitely applies to those who pastor as a job and not from the deep love of Christ flowing through them.\u00a0\u00a0The hired man needs another place to earn his wages.\u00a0\u00a0He does not love the flock and he does not love the one to whom the flock belongs.\u00a0\u00a0Clearly we need to beware a wolf hunting among the flock, and also the thief and robber, but we should not trust the hired hand to do what he is unwilling to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the Good Shepherd.\u00a0I know my own and\u00a0my own know me.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0Jesus is the Good Shepherd.\u00a0\u00a0Those who belong to Him recognize Him as the one and only.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We know Him because He first knew and loved us. (1 John 4:19<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Those who know Him as Lord and Master, as the only way for salvation, have received a full measure of His love and grace. We see Him smiling at us, His smile stops us in our tracks, and we want to be with the one who smiles at us.\u00a0\u00a0He has the ability to save us and keep us.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you Jesus!\u00a0\u00a0Thank you Jesus!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/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
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 10:7-18\u00a0–\u00a0So Jesus again said to them,\u00a0\u201cTruly, truly, I say to you,\u00a0I am the door of the sheep.\u00a08\u00a0All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.\u00a09\u00a0I am the door. If anyone enters by me,\u00a0he will be saved and will go in and out and\u00a0find pasture.\u00a010\u00a0The thief comes…<\/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":[1865,100,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-genesis","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996","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=2996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2997,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996\/revisions\/2997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}