The Father of the Shepherd

Have you ever been "stuck" in a certain passage or chapter of the Scriptures? This week I have been stuck in St John's Gospel Chapter 10.

Whenever one open the Scriptures we must come humbly before God, asking Him, "what is it that you want us to see?"

I am not going to quote the entire chapter for you here, so if you are interested please stop right now and read John 10. Yes the whole thing! It will take you literally 5 minutes. Get off MySpace and check it out. ;) 

There are a few constant themes through out this passage:

1) Jesus is the Good Shepherd and I (you/we) are the sheep.

2) He is good while there is a thief that is a jerk/punk/jagoff (not good).

          The thief wants to only do bad (you know like steal, kill, and destroy)
          Jesus came to bring us a rich and satisfying life (The point here isnt' a prosperity gospel but      that our lives will be meaningful because they will make an eternal impact on our own live and in the lives of others).

3) Sheep follow the voice of their Shepherd.

That is a great three point sermon, right! 

It is but I felt drawn to the words of Jesus recorded a little later in this passage.

After Jesus mentions that sheep listen to the voice of their Shepherd he brings in the BIG GUY, His Father.

I never noticed it till this week manly because I just started reading the NLT translation this year but here are some exciting and life alerting words of our Lord.

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ANYONE ELSE. no one can snatch them from the Father's hand."- John 10:28-29

There is this sense of eternal security. Which, if we can be honest, we long for. We long to know that even if this world and my idea of what the world should look like crumbles, that God is still Good and he is still in control over my eternal destiney.

You see, I have never been a sheep, but I can image they aren't too worry about the Shepherd leaving them if they "misbehave." But we think that right? We think that even though God saved me when I believed in Him that now it becomes about me earning his favor.

We wouldn't say that directly but we think it don't we?

Let's stop right here, if you are in Christ and He is in you. You are a new Creation! You are born again of God's spirit. Just like Jesus when he was baptized God has stamped his love and approval upon you. This is a gift, its called grace, God's unmerited favor. Before Jesus did anything to deserve favor from God, God His eternal father declared "This is my beloved Son in whom I love."

The Good Shepherd is awesome!  He is Jesus. He is the gate. He is the doorway. He laid down his life so that we could have Real Life. Eternal Life. Not just in length but in how we live.


You are safe and secure in your Father's arms. No one. No one can steal away the Love the Father has for you. The Shepherd brought us to His father. God is more powerful than anyone else. He is more powerful than a man with a gun, he more powerful than the devil, he is more powerful than  YOU and your ability to resist His Spirit.

God wants us to become more like Jesus but when you screw up, make a mistake, or whatever God can still use that to make you more like Jesus! Why, because He is more powerful than anyone else!

May you know that God loves you. Not just a little bit, he really really loves you. He loves you so much that sent His only Son to die in your place. May you know that the Shepherd wants to lead you. May you listen to Holy Spirit as he calls, and draws you into walking and following Jesus daily.