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Ask God: Truly, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Just as a good shepherd herding the flock will protect the sheep, Jesus laid down His life for you and me. Let us acknowledge who He is and give Him all the glory. John wrote these words to assure everyone that Jesus was sent from God.

Good Evening Reader,

I hope you have had a good week. God is so present and causes our spirits to soar. Let us praise Him and lift our voices to Him. Just as He is faithful, so should we be faithful.

May we Praise God for His son.

Merry Christmas.

All Glory to God.

Elvin

I Am the Gate

A Thousand Voices, One Shepherd:

Learning to Recognize the Voice That Leads to Life

Introduction

You're facing a significant fork in the road of life, and voices are calling from every direction. Your phone rings, and texts full of advice flow. People on social media promise you the secret to happiness. Self-help gurus guarantee success in three easy steps. Politicians claim they alone can fix everything. Meanwhile, your own doubts softly say that you're not good enough, not doing enough, not enough period.

Which voice do you follow?

This isn't just a modern problem. Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood in front of a crowd and told them a story about sheep, shepherds, and thieves. But He wasn't really talking about livestock. He was talking about you and me, about the deepest need of the human heart—the need to know whose voice we can truly trust.

In John 10:1-13, Jesus paints a picture that would have made perfect sense to His audience. Everyone knew about shepherds and sheep. But what He revealed that day stood for something much more significant and personal, and powerful than a farming lesson. He was offering Himself as the answer to our most desperate search: the search for someone who truly knows us, truly cares for us, and will never abandon us when life throws us a curve.

Let's discover together what it means for Jesus to call Himself the Good Shepherd, and why that changes everything about how we live today.

The Good Shepherd Knows Your Name

"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" (John 10:3).

Imagine being in a crowd of thousands, and someone calls your name. Not "hey you" or "excuse me" but your actual name. You'd turn around instantly, wouldn't you? There's something powerful about hearing your own name spoken by someone who knows you.

Jesus says the Shepherd calls his sheep by name. In ancient times, shepherds didn't see their flocks as products or possessions. They knew each sheep individually. They could tell you which one limped slightly, which one wandered off frequently, which one was shy, and which one was bold. The Shepherd didn't just know about the sheep. He knew the sheep.

Here's what this means for you: Jesus doesn't see you as a number in a crowd. He doesn't lump you in with everyone else. He knows your name even before you were born. More than that, He knows your story. He knows what keeps you awake at 3 AM. He knows the dream you're afraid to say out loud. He knows the mistake you made ten years ago that you still can't forgive yourself for. He knows the part of you that you keep hidden from everyone else.

And He calls you anyway. Not to shame you, but to lead you.

The world offers you a thousand generic solutions for your problems. "Just think positive!" "Work harder!" "Buy this product!" These voices don't know you. They're selling one-size-fits-all answers to complex, personal struggles.

But Jesus speaks your name. When He guides you, it's not random advice meant for millions. It's a specific direction meant for you, based on His intimate knowledge of exactly who you are and what you need.

The sheep follow the shepherd "because they know his voice" (John 10:4). How do you know someone's voice? By spending time with them. By listening repeatedly. By learning to distinguish their tone from all the other sounds around you. And this is what God wants his children to do—to get to know His voice.

This is your invitation: learn Jesus' voice by spending time in His presence, in His Word, in prayer. The more you listen, the easier it becomes to recognize when He's speaking—and to tune out the voices of strangers who don't know your name and don't care about your future.

The Good Shepherd Puts Your Safety Above His Own

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).

Jesus doesn't stop at knowing us. He goes further—much further. He contrasts Himself with the "hired hand" who "sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away" (John 10:12). The hired hand works for the paycheck. When danger arrives, he calculates the risk and decides he's not paid enough to die for someone else's sheep.

We've all met hired hands in life. The fair-weather friend who disappears when you really need help. The leader who's charming until taking responsibility might cost them something. The person who loves you as long as it's convenient. When the wolf comes—when you face cancer, alzheimers, bankruptcy, depression, scandal, or grief—the hired hands run.

But Jesus makes an astounding claim. He says He's different because He will lay down His life for you. Not might. Not if it works out. He will, period. It's a done deal in His mind before the danger even arrives.

And then He proved it.

Jesus wasn't speaking in hypotheticals when He said this. He was describing what He was about to do. Within days of speaking these words, He would be arrested, beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross. The wolf of sin and death was coming for humanity, and Jesus didn't run. He stood His ground. He took the attack meant for us.

Think about what this means on your worst day. When you feel like you've messed up so badly that surely God must be disgusted with you—remember that Jesus already chose you over His own safety. When you wonder if you matter to anyone, remember that the Creator of the universe considered you worth dying for.

The hired hand runs because the sheep "are not his own" (John 10:12). But Jesus says, "I know my sheep and my sheep know me" (John 10:14). There's ownership language here, but it's not the ownership of property. It's the ownership of a deep relationship and commitment. You belong to Jesus not as a possession but as a precious child whom He claims as His own.

This means you can stop working to earn His love. You can stop living in fear that one mistake will cause Jesus to abandon you. The Good Shepherd has already made His choice. He chose you, and He chose to pay the ultimate price to keep you safe forever—forever as in eternity.

The Good Shepherd Gives You an Abundant Life

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the fullest" (John 10:10).

Jesus draws a marked contrast. On one side, there are thieves whose only goal is to take from you. On the other side, there's Jesus, whose goal is to give you something: life to the fullest. Other translations say "abundant life" or "life in all its fullness."

What does an abundant life look like? It's not a promise that you'll be wealthy, healthy, and problem-free. Jesus Himself lived a life of simplicity, met adversity, and went to the cross. Clearly, abundant life means something deeper than comfortable circumstances.

An abundant life is one lived with purpose rather than aimlessness. It's experiencing peace even in storms. It's having hope when circumstances say you should despair. It's experiencing happiness that doesn't depend on everything going right. It's belonging to a loving community. It's being transformed from the inside out. It's knowing that your life matters and has meaning.

The thieves Jesus warns about aren't just external threats. Sometimes the thief is your own shame, telling you you're worthless. Sometimes it's anxiety stealing your peace. Sometimes it's addiction destroying your freedom. Sometimes it's comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we're coming up short. These thieves want to steal your joy, kill your hope, and destroy your sense of purpose.

But Jesus comes with a different agenda entirely. He comes to give. Where the world takes and demands and drains, Jesus offers and provides and fills. Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Following Jesus doesn't mean your problems disappear. It means you face them with a Shepherd who knows your name, who won't abandon you when wolves circle, and who is actively working to give you a life of meaning and fullness that thieves can't touch.

Summary: Whose Voice Will You Follow?

We reached a critical juncture, with voices calling from every direction. Now you have a choice to make.

You can keep following the voices of strangers—the cultural messages, the internal critics, the false promises that sound good but lead nowhere. These voices don't know your name. They'll abandon you when things get hard. And they'll leave you with less than you started with.

Or you can tune your ear to the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus knows you by name. He loved you enough to die for you. And He came to give you an abundant life, not take it away.

The sheep in Jesus' story had it figured out: "They will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize the shepherd's voice" (John 10:5). They learned to distinguish the Shepherd's voice from all others, and that knowledge kept them safe.

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is this: learn Jesus' voice. Spend time in Scripture, where He speaks clearly. Spend time in prayer; the perfect place to practice listening. Spend time in community with other sheep who can help you recognize the Shepherd's voice.

When you're at the next crossroads, and a thousand voices are competing to capture your attention, you'll be able to recognize the one voice that speaks your name with love. The voice that will never betray you. The voice that leads to life.

The overall point of this message is that we should be challenged to diligently learn to hear and understand the Shepherd's voice. He knows our voice, and we should return the blessing by learning His voice.

The Good Shepherd is calling. He knows your name. And He's inviting you to follow Him home.

Elvin

Ask God For Help

Christian faith

PS. Share your newfound knowledge with you friends.

Reader,

Hosea said his people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Knowledge give believers and non-believers a choice. When a person does not know, they cannot choose.

Feel free to forward this lesson to your friends and family.

Grow in the knowledge of God.

Elvin

Send your comments to elvin.aycock@AskGodForHelp.net and let me know what you think of the lessons.

Go to: www.AskGodForHelp.net

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