Hello I Am: The Good Shepherd
April 11
John 8:53, 56-59 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?…” Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
I am the resurrection and the life
The resurrected life starts now
Good Shepherd
Gen. 48:15 May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day
Why Sheep/ Shepherd
Sheep were the animal of Middle East
Why Sheep/ Shepherd
Sheep are weak animals
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way
Why Sheep/ Shepherd
Good leaders are like shepherds: Feed, Guide, Protects, With Compassion
Acts 20:29-30 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
I am The Good Shepherd
John 10:3-5 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
The Good Shepherds guides
We are protected by knowing his voice
John 10:7 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.
We are owned by the shepherd
John 10: 11-14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me
Ownership brings higher levels of attention and care
John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
I am Jesus’ own
1 Cor. 6:20 you were bought with a price
We are Jesus’ own
Isaiah 40:11 “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”
Listen to the Shepherd’s voice
