Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice. In order to hear God's voice, we must listen for His voice. Here is how we listen to the voice of God. #Biblestudy #John #WomensBibleStudy #GoodMorningGirls

Today nosotros are going to accept a closer look at John chapter 10.  This is a familiar and cardinal chapter – only it is also deep and profound. Allow's dig in together!

Jesus said:

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep past name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his vocalisation. (John 10:3-iv)

Jesus said of His sheep:

  • They hear his voice (v3)
  • They know his vocalisation (v4)
  • They listen to his voice (v16)

In the volume of John, nosotros see over and over again, Jesus speaking to the religious men of his day and they do not listen to his voice. John 10:half dozen says, "they did not empathise what he was saying to them".

Only in John ten:iii Jesus says, the shepherd knows his sheep Past Name!

Oh how I love this!  If you lot go to a rather large church building like I practise, then yous know a lot of faces just not all of the names –just Jesus knows anybody'south name in that location  He is relational and intimate.

He knows YOU past name.

In Bible times, multiple flocks would share the same pasture and and then there'd be multiple shepherds out in the same field.  When the shepherd called for his sheep, the sheep knew their shepherd's vox and they came.

If you've ever had a dog – you know what this is like.  When I call my dog'due south name – it doesn't matter where she is in the firm – she hears me and she comes to me simply she doesn't do this for strangers.  Her response indicates – she is my dog.  And our response to Jesus' voice – indicates that nosotros are his child.

What are sheep like?

Sheep are harmless animals that are easily spooked. It's humbling to consider that nosotros are like sheep.  They are non tearing or tough or overly intelligent.  They are really rather calm animals (remember about how we count sheep when we are trying to fall asleep). They travel in herds because they are social animals and they tend to follow each other.  They are stronger together and if one wanders off lonely, they are easy prey to wolves and thieves.

It is only inside the safety and security of the shepherd's pasture that a sheep can be healthy and free.

Sometimes we tin can be tempted to wander away from the Lord or from his people. We hear the vocalism of the world, the voice of the civilization and the voice of other shepherds and and then nosotros find ourselves lost and in danger.

In John 10:10, Jesus speaks of the sheep'south vulnerability.  He says:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

But so he says the Shepherd'due south intent:

I came that they may have life and have information technology abundantly.

Oh what a Good Shepherd he is!  He wants to give us an arable life!  We must trust and obey and follow his vocalism so he can requite us the arable life he has planned for u.s.a..

Going on in this passage it says:

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not ain the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees considering he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. (John 10:12,13)

A good shepherd was willing to put himself between any animal that wanted to assail his sheep.  A hired mitt would non be willing to lay his life down for his sheep but a good shepherd would.

Jesus has laid his life downward for his sheep.

He IS our Good Shepherd.

Are you listening to your Shepherd's voice?

Can you lot hear him over all the other voices of family and friends and books and blogs and television and podcasts and iTunes and politicians and facebook debates and instagram feeds and youtube videos and even the thoughts in your own head?

Nosotros live in such a busy culture, with to-do lists a mile long, that the voice of our Shepherd is drowned out.

Oh friends!  We MUST be listening to our Good Shepherd starting time!

Are you lot listening for the Shepherd's vocalization?

Perhaps you feel similar you lot can't hear his voice over the racket of the world. Or maybe information technology'due south not the globe that is the problem…possibly you lot have unconfessed sin in your life or you are ignoring God's voice because yous do not similar what what he is telling y'all to do or where he is telling you to go.

John 10:xiv-16 says:

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Begetter knows me and I know the Father; and I lay downwardly my life for the sheep…  andthey volition listen to my phonation.

Baby sheep may non recognize the shepherds voice so they follow the herd.  Sheep travel in a herd instinctively for survival reasons and as they grow, the footling lambs begin to know the voice of the shepherd likewise.  This is what discipleship does for a new believer.  We must learn to read the Bible for ourselves and know our shepherd's voice.

If we can't hear the shepherd's vocalism – the trouble is not with the shepherd – it's with us.

Are you lot listening?

God is ALREADY speaking, all we accept to practise is kickoff listening.  God speaks to us primarily through his discussion.  His Discussion is the calorie-free.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a lite to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)

Read his give-and-take and do what it says.

When we are dealing with an issue that is non in the written word, nosotros demand to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.   In John 14:26, Jesus explained that he would send the Holy Spirit every bit a helper.  It says:

Only the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Begetter will send in my proper name, he volition teach yous all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Enquire God in prayer to guide you and and so wait on the Lord and watch and listen for his direction.

Sometimes when it seems that he is non speaking, nosotros demand to take a stride out in faith.  Accept one step in the management that you experience he may be leading you…and so wait on God to give y'all further direction.  At times, I have done this only to find that I was way off and was getting ahead of God. Other times, I accept taken a step out in religion and have found I was right in the center of God's will for me.  Ultimately, what God wants from us is for us to yield to his atomic number 82.

Yield to the Shepherd'southward vocalization.

Sometimes he guides u.s.a. through open and closed doors. Sometimes he guides us through godly counselors and godly friends.  Sometimes he guides us during times of worship in our thoughts through the Holy Spirit.

Are you worshipping God and spending intimate fourth dimension lone with him, where you can humbly heed and larn from him?

Are you listening to the shepherd'south voice about your sins?

Are you listening to the shepherd'southward commands to love others and serve him?

Are you listening to his commands to share the gospel?

Are you spiritually tuned in and walking in his volition?

God will impress things upon your centre when you are listening.  When nosotros cannot hear his voice – the problem is within us not God.

Get into the give-and-take.

Stay with the flock where you lot are safe and protected and follow the sheep who follow the Good Shepherd.  Never follow a sheep that contradicts God's Word.

Don't stray from Jesus.  Stay in the Skillful Shepherd's pasture where you are safe and secure.

He loves y'all and then much.

Keep Walking with the King,