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by Sandy Shaw
In John Chapter 10 at verse 14, Jesus Christ, the Son of God goes on to say, “I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father”.
Jesus links his shepherding ministry with the Father, and we link our shepherding ministry with Jesus.
The sheep listen to the shepherd’s voice and move in the direction in which the shepherd wants to move, because the shepherd will always be concerned about safety and security and pasture and refreshing reviving water. The sheep listen to the shepherd’s voice and eat and drink what he has provided for them, and, the tone of the shepherd’s voice should be the same on a Monday or Friday as it is on a Sunday and Wednesday. There has to be a consistency.
If you are a shepherd or pastor or elder or teaching in the Church of Jesus Christ make sure that you provide those who come around you with good nourishing pasture and refreshing reviving invigorating water. That will involve time and effort and study and prayer, but if that is your calling in Christ, then make sure you are faithful and loyal and gracious.
To give below one’s best in the Kingdom of God is a slight upon our Saviour and Lord and King.
The way forward in the Church of Jesus Christ is not to struggle and fight, but to hear and submit and serve and obey and love and sacrifice. The way forward for us in the Church of Jesus Christ is not to resist nor argue nor rebel, but to feed and follow and fellowship.
And, the sheep know the shepherd’s voice. If the shepherd says, now, you be in the flock along with all the other members of the flock, and you will be fed and watered with good things, and if the individual continually says “No”, then the shepherd realises that that individual is not one of his sheep.
Not only do we need good shepherds, but we need good responsive sheep who will hear and submit and serve and obey.
Consider how Peter and James and John and Paul and Silas submitted to the Good Shepherd, and at great cost physically at times.
The loner – the one who thinks that he does not need the protection of being in the fold – the isolated wanderer can be so easily picked off by any of these wild beasts – and any of these many and varied temptations. How often we have seen that over the years, when people have been deceived and diverted and sidetracked.
While Jesus is considering his death, his mind is upon his sheep – here, and of course the night before Jesus went to the Cross. Jesus was always thinking about his sheep and He speaks about having other sheep – are these Gentile sheep – sheep which were not Jews? Verse 16. Jesus was going to bring them in, so that there would be one flock and one shepherd.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ my future is intimately linked with Israel, and bound up with the Jewish root.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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