From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>
To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"
Sent: Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 5:11 AM
Subject: 9-29-22 THOUGHTS
9-29-22 THOUGHTS
As we navigate this world of ours, do we know strange voices all too well? To a degree, maybe the “sheep metaphor” is lost on us who know much more about screen time and cell phones. Most simply our text says we need the right SOURCE of information and guidance. Satan tells the LIE, God tells the TRUTH. So who really leads my life today? “Where is my treasure”? If Jesus came to give me ABUNDANT LIFE... Am I living that life? We talked about RELATIONSHIP yesterday, and we are on the edge of that today. We do not want to be “snatched and scattered”! Nor do we want to be “tossed to and fro”! [Eph 4:14] I find beautiful the words “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Am I following the VOICE OF GOD?
John 10:1-15 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
The sense of Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Church is powerful in our context...
Col 1:9-10 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; [How are we doing here?]
My Prayer:
Father God, thank you for our Good Shepherd, Jesus the Christ. Help us to hear his voice. Help us to know what we ask as we ask it. Help us, O God, to see the real and live the real, and be the real. Teach us to discern the right and to shun the lie, always. Make our lives a living sacrifice for you. Give us a zealous desire to be filled with the knowledge of You. Help us to walk worthy and to bear fruit. We want to be good sheep. In Jesus name, Amen.
[pray for our sister Heather]