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
\u201cJust as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and\u00a0I lay down my life for the sheep.<\/i>\u201d Jesus has related His deep connected relationship with His flock. (Vs 14-15<\/b>) He knows them and they know Him. There came a time in our lives when who Jesus is as Savior and Lord became a sure knowledge that brought us out of the wild. It was indeed God who foreknew us and predestined us to become His children. (Romans 8:29<\/b>) It was God who loved us and brought us to salvation. Our triune God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who from eternity past set their eye upon us and loved us. The oneness of God is essential to know.\u00a0\u00a0God is one in every way, they are never separated from each other and they never separate in will and action.\u00a0\u00a0Just as He is not separate from His word to us, just as He is one with it and so Jesus was the Word incarnate, God is one in everything and in every way.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus Himself came down to be our Savior but doesn\u2019t the entirety of the Word show hand of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our salvation?\u00a0\u00a0All of our triune God worked in union for our salvation.\u00a0\u00a0All were part of the plan. Each playing a unique role and all of the one involved in each other\u2019s unique role, though in truth, all are one though three in all. In these verses we see the oneness that Jesus brings us into.\u00a0\u00a0We are brought into that oneness though distinctly not being God Himself, of who there is only one (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 44:6)\u00a0<\/b>and who does not share His divinity with any man or other being. (Deuteronomy 4:39, Isaiah 42:8<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Only God truly knows Himself fully.\u00a0\u00a0Those who reject belonging to Him cannot know Him. (1 Corinthians 2:14)\u00a0<\/b>We who love and serve the Lord, who call Jesus Savior and Lord, have been into the unbreakable unity and perfect love of the triune God.\u00a0\u00a0We know Him. (1 Corinthians 2:12<\/b>) How deep the work of Christ!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd\u00a0I have other sheep that are not of this fold.\u00a0I must bring them also, and\u00a0they will listen to my voice.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0As the Lord loved His disciple even before they were born, so He loved us.\u00a0\u00a0As He had a plan for the lives of His disciples with Him, so He has a plan for ours.\u00a0\u00a0As He prayed for the Apostles, so He was praying for us.\u00a0\u00a0How great and wonderful our Lord Jesus who included us in His prayers to the Father. Into infinity past He passionately knew and loved us.\u00a0\u00a0In His perfect foreknowledge the reality of our future response to Him was utterly real and palpable, though He would wait for us.\u00a0\u00a0He was more than ready for us to come to Him, He was more delighted than parents looking upon their new born baby.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you Jesus! (Ephesians 1:4-5<\/b>)<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there will be\u00a0one flock,\u00a0one shepherd.<\/i>\u201d All who love the Lord Jesus are one.\u00a0\u00a0God does not look upon worldly races or cultures, He looks at the Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0Time is nothing to Him, the ones who first loved Him are in the same group as we who love Him now.\u00a0\u00a0His two great commandments are first to love Him with all that we are and second to love each other as we love ourselves. (Mark 12:29-31<\/b>) Even to consider each other and to love each other before ourselves. (Philippians 2:3<\/b>) If we all love each other in this way that we have been commanded to love then His will is done. (1 John 4:12<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0In Matthew Jesus said that all the laws and commandments are fulfilled in love.\u00a0\u00a0Not the love of the world, but His love. Then we become one.\u00a0\u00a0Now each one of us becomes one with God and so if we are to be one with God we must be one with each other.\u00a0\u00a0No disharmony amongst the Godhead and we certainly shall not bring it with us.\u00a0\u00a0If we don\u2019t love as God has called us to love, if we don\u2019t love a brother or sister, then we cannot be part of this unity with God.\u00a0\u00a0He will not allow those who will not love to bring that evil into His Godly unity.\u00a0\u00a0There will be no stone in that sandal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor this reason the Father loves me,\u00a0because\u00a0I lay down my life that I may take it up again.<\/i>\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\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0Jesus laid down His life because of His own will.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus laid down His life in obedience to the Father.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus was led to the cross by the Spirit of God.\u00a0\u00a0In all things the will of God is singular.\u00a0\u00a0He is His own council.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus loved the Father and so was obedient to Him.\u00a0\u00a0Just as we love Jesus and are obedient to Him.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God for the great love He has for us and for delivering to us the inviolate invitation through Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0He is so good to us!<\/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":[129,1872,1841,2527,100,93,94,1874,1871,17,10],"class_list":["post-3001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-corinthians","tag-deuteronomy","tag-ephesians","tag-isiah","tag-john","tag-mark","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-philippians","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3001","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=3001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3002,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3001\/revisions\/3002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}