The Familiar Voice
Notes
Transcript
Sound is a crazy concept if you think about it. Is just particles bouncing of other particles which makes noise. The noise travels and bounces off your eardrum and sends electrical signals to your brain. That’s not even the weirdest parts. Did you know that you are causing the air particles around you to vibrate at the same tone and frequency every time you speak? You are doing this without even realizing it.
So why don’t we all sound the same? If sound and voice is just air particles bouncing into each other sending electro-signals to our brains, how are you pick a voice out of a crowd? Or how can a voice cause you to feel a specific way?
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
Jesus is our Shepard. When we are honest with ourselves as believers, we have to admit we know His voice. Do we always choose to listen or obey? How many times have you tried to convince yourself or someone else that something wrong was right? Here Jesus says that if someone tries to come in over the wall they are a robber and thief. Jesus voice will never be hard for you to hear or understand as a believer. Once you are a follower of Christ, you are His sheep. And His sheep know His voice and run away from any other voice that tries to lead them.
Jesus also says that He calls His sheep by name. He has a personal relationship with you and is calling you into His family.
Think about it this way. Do you avoid asking your parents for permission when you know the answer will be no? Or maybe you go between both parents trying to get the right answer? We do that with God all the time. Then we complain about not being able to hear God’s voice.
The part that has always struck me as odd in this is that none of the sheep ignored the Shepard’s voice. In fact, they ran from anyone who wasn’t their Shepard.
Small Group Questions:
As Christ-followers, we know Jesus voice the more we spend time with Him. How do we know the difference between Jesus voice and the robber?
What are some ways you have ignored God in the past? How can you change that going forward?
Why would a robber try to come over a wall instead of through the gate?