#414 - MY SHEEP LISTEN - (12/8/21)

During this LEARNING TO HEAR series I’m taking a different approach to these devotionals. I want to us work harder at searching the scriptures for ourselves. We will use the ‘Come to Jesus Daily’ method below to help us with this. It’s well worth the hard work involved!

TODAY’S TEXT

I’ve included my reflections on today’s text below. However, I encourage you to pray and spend time reflecting (writing can be helpful) using the 5 questions below before reading my thoughts.

i. †GOSPEL - 'Gaze on the cross'- What does this text reveal about salvation through Jesus?

ii. UP – What does this text say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?

iii. IN – What does this say about me, the church and how we are to relate? Is there a promise to believe, command to do, attitude to have, something to avoid, is there forgiveness to seek or give?

iv. OUT – What does this say about my community and mission?

v. DO - This has two components. Firstly, list as many possible ways that you can think of that one might apply the text (actions or attitudes). Secondly, hear - Pray about how the Holy Spirit is leading you, specifically, to respond.

MY REFLECTIONS

1. †GOSPEL

Jesus’ sheep listen to Him and come to Him to be saved. Jesus calls us to Himself through the people and circumstances that spoke to us of the gospel. The lost sheep of God will always listen and respond. The proof of salvation is faith and following.

In Jesus, we are gifted with eternal life and will never perish. This reminds me of John’s words,

2. UP

God is pictured as a shepherd who speaks and leads His people. He protects us now and for all eternity. God is pictured as more powerful than anything that could come against us; Jesus says of Himself, “No-one will snatch them out of my hand”. Jesus is a loving and mighty Shepherd and Saviour.

3. IN

Jesus’ sheep listen to His voice. We have a new heart that loves Jesus. He knows us. To know us is to love and be intimately involved with us. If we truly know Jesus, we will follow Him. If we know Jesus, we can rest assured that we have eternal life, will never perish, will be protected now and forever.

4. OUT

Jesus says of those who are rejecting Him,

Those who are lost sheep will listen to Jesus’ voice and will turn and follow Him. Our success in sharing the gospel depends on the grace of God working in those we are speaking to.

5. DO? - Here are a few examples of application that I’ve come up with:

An application could be to give time to meditating on what it means to be Jesus’ sheep and for Him to be our good shepherd.

It’s clear that Jesus wants to speak to us and we are to obey. This is something that we need to constantly come back to. It’s very easy to become religious rather than relational.

Are we assured of eternal life and Jesus’ protection? Do we need to realign our faith?

HEAR - Pray about how the Holy Spirit might want you to respond.

COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY

During this LEARNING TO HEAR series we are going to take a different approach to learning from the Bible together. We will use the ‘Come to Jesus Daily Method’ together (Gospel, Up, In, Out, Do) - you will have to do all the work!

1. Icebreaker - How has God spoken to you from the Bible this week? (During this LEARNING TO HEAR series, we are seeking to develop a culture of listening to God out of His word)

2. Select a text of scripture. (You could use the text from Sunday’s message or something of your choice.)

3. Read and recall. (Read the text and ask each person in the group to put it into their own words.)

4. Please go through these questions together:

i. †GOSPEL - 'Gaze on the cross'- What does this text reveal about salvation through Jesus?

ii. UP – What does this text say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?

iii. IN – What does this say about me, the church and how we are to relate? Is there a promise to believe, command to do, attitude to have, something to avoid, is there forgiveness to seek or give?

iv. OUT – What does this say about my community and mission?

v. DO - This has two components. Firstly, list as many possible ways that you can think of that one might apply the text (actions or attitudes). Secondly, hear - Pray and share (if it’s appropriate) about how the Holy Spirit is leading you, specifically, to respond.

5. SIV - Finally, it would be helpful to talk and pray about how we are doing in regard to Serve, Invest and Invite. Do you have any encouraging stories or any plans in this regard? How do you want to pray in regard to our mission?