Jesus' sheep hear His voice and follow Him

It's amazing isn't it how we can take certain words and slang them over time and turn them into something God never intended. What I mean is being a sheep in God's word is a good thing, and the wolf a bad thing.

Mat_7:15  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Mat_10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Luk_10:3  Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

Act_20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Luk_15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Joh_10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

Joh_10:26  But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Joh_10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

Today we have the current word "Sheeple"

Definition-

'People compared to sheep in being docile, foolish, or easily led.'

You hear a person called a sheeple and you're implying they will follow anyone anywhere as if that's a bad thing and in that connotation it is a bad thing. Being a sheep to Christ as our Shepherd is an amazingly wonderful thing! Following Christ wherever He calls us to go is desired! I want to be the Lord's sheep! I want to be known by Christ as one of His sheep.  I want to hear my Shepherd's voice and follow Him! 

I don't want to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.  I especially do NOT want to thing I'm a sheep when I'm really a wolf! I don't want to be consumed by self-deceit!

We can be deceived when we DESIRE that deceit in our hearts underneath all the outward stuff we project. If we want our hearts hardened, it will be hardened. We will NOT see if we do not want to see. We will NOT hear if we don't want to hear.  We will be blinded when we choose blindness. People act as if God is causing their blindness, and hard hearts, their deafness, but HE IS NOT. HE is only allowing what a person truly wants in their hearts which HE knows!

No one will be able to say God caused their downfall, not a single person. If we are not known by our Savior when He returns it will be because we did not truly desire Him to know us and we did not truly desire to know HIM.

If someone tells you what you need to do if you love them- and you don't do that, do you really love them?  Your first instinct might be to get all huffy and say if they love me they won't ask anything of me, they're in the wrong. And truly that is our selfish response isn't it? We want to be loved no matter what we say or do, no matter anything we want to be loved. We want to be loved in spite of our faults. It's not wrong to want to be loved in spite of our faults, we need our Savior to love us that way.  But we do NOT spit in the Savior's face by sinning willfully and telling Him He has to forgive us. He loves us, He died for us, something He didn't have to do! He will forgive us if we sin and truly repent of our sins.  If we love HIM we will do all we possibly can to submit to Him and allow Him to work in us enabling us to keep those commandments He died so we could keep.

Please FATHER please bless us, keep us, love us, know us!

In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Amen! 

Will we keep our sheep's clothing on, refusing to be true sheep?

'We've spent so much time twisting the commandments of God around that we fail to see the truth. We strip the moral commandments of their worth substituting ideas of our own and call it good.  Our Savior will NOT know those who do not follow His TRUTHS, HIS COMMANDMENTS.'

I did NOT write these words--

1Jn_2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments

I did NOT write these words--

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Love God.

Love One Another.

And how do we reveal our love for God and for one another?

We've the perfect moral law that teaches us of this revelation of love. People don't want to see it though. They want to take the moral law and rip it apart as if it were a part of the ceremonial laws- laws of ceremony. The moral law is separate from the ceremonial law. The moral law was reaffirmed by our SAVIOR. Remember this--

Mat 19:16  And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Mat 19:18  He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 19:20  The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

Mat 19:21  Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

What law is our Savior referring to here?

The MORAL law!

It is guaranteed that the man kept ALL the moral law- all the ten commandments that comprise the moral law.  He kept the commandments but what he lacked was the heart in the moral law and that is what our Savior came to show by fulfilling the heart of the law in the moral law.  Our Savior revealed HOW to keep His moral law, He did NOT do away with that law, He did NOT change that law.  People had forgotten that the moral law was made up of four laws that reveal our love for God, and six laws that reveal our love for our fellowman.  People forgot the moral law was a law of love and kept it without love which makes it null and void. The man talking to Jesus kept all the law and Jesus didn't tell Him that He didn't. Jesus pointed out where the love of the man truly was, and it wasn't with God, the man had an idol- and that idol was money, his earthly treasure. The man wasn't willing to give up his idol and Jesus revealed this to him. For all that he believed he was keeping the commandments he wasn't truly keeping them from his heart.

Our Savior TAUGHT us how to know Him, will we learn from Him? 

Will we keep our sheep's clothing on, refusing to be true sheep? God forbid!

May our Savior help us to be HIS sheep!

In His love!

Amen.

We want to belong to Christ.

Picking up from yesterday--  'How many people wear sheep's clothing. Obviously so many that some of them don't even know they are wearing the sheep's clothing. Imagine that, not knowing what clothes you have on. Of course we are figuratively speaking but the truth is how is it possible we don’t know what we are wearing and in the figurative sense, how is it possible we don't know that we are NOT Christ's?'

How can we know we are Christ's?

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

1Jn_2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1Jn 2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1Jn 2:5  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

1Jn 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Joh 14:22  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Joh 14:24  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

*******

THIS IS TRUTH-

1Jn_2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

So let's all be fooled into wearing sheep's clothing rather than being real sheep by NOT keeping our God's commandments!

We LIE to ourselves! We put on the pretty clothing of pretend following and leave it at that, so is it any wonder our Savior will say He doesn't know us?

We analyze and pick apart things until we make them read the way we want them to so we can ease our conscience.  We'd rather have lies that make us feel good than truth that demands we feel the pain, every pain of our willfulness in sin! We need to feel the agony of our weak flesh and not in some sick, tv movie psycho way, but in the way that brings us to repentance, to seeking forgiveness over and over if need be. 

We've spent so much time twisting the commandments of God around that we fail to see the truth. We strip the moral commandments of their worth substituting ideas of our own and call it good.  Our Savior will NOT know those who do not follow His TRUTHS, HIS COMMANDMENTS.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD.

May we know and be known of You, LORD and SAVIOR!

Please Father, may we be known.

All through the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

What Clothes Are You Wearing?

We need to be known by God-

Joh_10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

God KNOWS those who are His.

Joh_10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

God KNOWS those who follow Him in all truth.

Rev_2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars

He KNOWS our works. He KNOWS our labor. He KNOWS our patience.

Rev_2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

He KNOWS our works. He KNOWS our tribulation. He KNOWS our poverty, He KNOWS our blasphemy.

Rev_2:13  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

He KNOWS our works. He KNOWS where we dwell.

Rev_2:19  I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

He KNOWS our works. He KNOWS our love. He KNOWS our service. He KNOWS our faith. He KNOWS our patience.

Rev_3:1  And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

He KNOWS our works.

Rev_3:8  I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

He KNOWS our works.

Rev_3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

He KNOWS our works.

He KNOWS US!

So when He tells those who think they are His but aren't that He doesn't never knew them it isn't that He doesn't know the things they've done, obviously He must in order to know that He doesn't know them. He doesn't know them to be HIS. They are NOT His sheep! They are NOT of HIS fold! He knows enough about them to know they are pretenders, not truth seekers. 

Mat_7:15  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Sheep's clothing.

How many people wear sheep's clothing. Obviously so many that some of them don't even know they are wearing the sheep's clothing. Imagine that, not knowing what clothes you have on. Of course we are figuratively speaking but the truth is how is it possible we don’t know what we are wearing and in the figurative sense, how is it possible we don't know that we are NOT Christ's?

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, Jesus Christ.

May His will be done.

Amen.

Remember and Be Known

Remember.

Remember. Why? Because there is potential to FORGET. 

Some families make a huge deal about remembering their personal history. Tales are told and passed down generation to generation.  There are things that we don't want to forget, and there are things we'd love to be able to forget.

A sure way NOT to forget something is to have reminders.  Our phones can give us alarm reminders, our computers the same, we can write notes and stick them where we'll see them, and even tie a string around our fingers to jog our memories. We need reminders and often the older we get the more reminders we need. Then again, some people are naturally forgetful while others remember lots of things and seldom forget.

Our Creators did not want us to forget them.

When you don't want someone to forget you, what do you do?

You give them reminders.

If you can you visit them, you talk with them, you make your presence known to them. The surest way for people to forget you is to not have any contact with them. I'm not saying everyone will forget you over time without contact, I still remember people from my childhood. Those people I remember might even remember me, it's possible. However there are many people we forget through the years too. Some of those people remember us even when we don't remember them.

If you want someone to know you how do you accomplish that?

Another person can't know you if you don't communicate with them. You could live with a person for years and not know them if you don't communicate with them, if you don't interact with them. You may thing you know them and they may think they know you, but in truth we aren't known and do not know without interacting and communication.

Our Creators, our Redeemer wants us to remember them and they want to know us.

How we accomplish this is written in God's word to us.

Do we want God to know us?

We should.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Yes, we should want our Savior to know us.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In His amazing love.

Amen.

God asks us to remember

Remember….

Today I came face to face with the extreme deterioration of a person's ability to remember. I've seen alarming glimpses into someone losing their short term memory- my mother has Alzheimer's Disease. It's heart breaking. The ability to remember is such an important part of life. When the memory goes so much is lost. 

Our God has asked us to remember. 

When we are asked to remember something we make a determination subconsciously if not consciously, how important that thing is we are supposed to remember.   Such as life or death remembering. If a life depends upon your remembering something you do all you can to remember, don't you? However if it's a matter of remembering to pick up some milk for a snack of milk and cookies later- and you forget- no one dies. There might be disappointment but no loss of life.  Remembering a loved one's birthday is important, feelings get hurt terribly when you are forgotten, but is that life threatening? No.

God has asked us to remember.

Does it matter WHO is asking us to remember? Are we more likely to make sure we remember something if someone we deem important asks? If the President of the United States asked us to do something would we take any chance on forgetting to do it? Some who don't like the president would say, "Sure thing."  So maybe it was your boss and your job is dependent upon it, or your mother or father who asks you to remember.  Would a strangers asking you to remember something be more important to you than a loved ones?

When our CREATOR asks us to remember something what importance do we place upon His request?

When our REDEEMER asks us to remember something what importance do we place upon His request?

Having the ABILITY to remember things is IMPORTANT, and we realize this more when we see people losing that ability. As long as we are capable of remembering things we MUST make it our duty to remember.

If our Savior tells us to do something in remembrance of Him, it is very important we do what He tells us to do.  If our Creator tells us to do something in remembrance of Him we do what He tells us.

Exo_20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy

Luk_22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

More tomorrow by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Amen.

Remembering- Created and Redeemed

(More on this days later…) Recap…

'We must be sustained by Jesus Christ our LORD!

When we partake of the symbolic ritual for our spiritual life we are RECOGNIZING our SPIRITUAL life, we are RECOGNIZING WALKING in the Spirit!  We are making an outward symbolic show of a WAY OF LIVING! This is a LIFE SYMBOL! A SPIRITUAL LIFE SYMBOL!  We are asking to walk in the Spirit, in the NEWNESS of life!

Rom_6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in NEWNESS of life.

We are proclaiming our new life symbolically!

Is it any wonder we should NOT enact this symbolic ritual lightly? If we don't recognize the importance of the ritual of what it's truly symbolic of and what it means to us as we proclaim our new lives then we are making an EMPTY gesture that means absolutely nothing! '

When we are baptized by full immersion we are making a declaration-

Reread the above verse- Romans 6:4 Therefore we are BURIED with HIM by BAPTISM into DEATH-  that like as Christ was RAISED up from the DEAD by the GLORY of the FATHER, even so WE ALSO should WALK in NEWNESS OF LIFE.

When we enter the water we are entering our spiritual grave.  When we are lowered beneath the water we are buried under the water in our spiritual grave and if we are never raised from that water we would physically die.  When we are raised from our spiritual grave we are raised into a new spiritual life, our OLD life buried, our sins forgiven, we have a NEW LIFE.

This symbolic act - baptism by full immersion- reveals our desire to live a new life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Another symbolic act we are given …

Luk 22:14  And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.

Luk 22:15  And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:

Luk 22:16  For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

Luk 22:17  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

Luk 22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

'THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.'

And we know that Paul reprimanded early Christians telling them that when they got together they weren't to eat the LORD'S SUPPER to satisfy their hunger or need to drink- they could eat and drink their ordinary meals not use the remembrance symbol to fill their bellies. The remembrance symbol was just that - something to partake in solemnly while REMEMBERING our Savior's sacrifice!  

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.

1Co 11:21  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

1Co 11:22  What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

1Co 11:23  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

Paul explained the symbolic ritual that was for our NEW SPIRITUAL LIFE!

Jesus said-

THIS IS MY BODY- a broken body- broken bread.

THIS IS MY BLOOD-  a NEW TESTAMENT.

We all know a 'last will and testament', is something that reveals what is bequeathed upon those who remain after someone dies.  Jesus' NEW TESTAMENT His Sacrifice took the place of the OLD TESTAMENT of animal sacrifices.  Jesus' blood took the place of the animals blood that pointed to a more perfect sacrifice.

When we rise in newness of life, a spiritual birth, born again in Christ- we must be in CONSTANT remembrance of this new life and how it came to be.

We must NEVER partake of the Lord's Supper without truly remembering the reason we are breaking the bread and drinking the wine. If we partake of the Lord's Supper hoping it'll stave off hunger and thirst of a physical nature we are not REMEMBERING our Savior and His Sacrifice!

Truly this SPIRITUAL RITUAL is an amazing opportunity to relive our baptism in Christ.

A spiritual sustenance necessary for a spiritual newness.

We are BURIED with Christ in baptism and raised to NEW LIFE as He was raised to new life.

We recall the DEATH, the SACRIFICE that led to the BURIAL of our Savior, and symbolically we ACCEPT the Sacrifice made so we could LIVE a new spiritual life!

We have to comprehend what we are symbolically remembering as we partake in the Lord's Supper, to eat and drink it without that forethought truly is to do it in vain.  Is it any wonder we are told we are eating and drinking to our own damnation when we do not comprehend the spiritually sustaining ritual in the symbolic spiritual sustenance we are eating and drinking?  As we put the symbol of bread in our mouths and it is broken we must remember the broken body of our Savior.  As we put the symbol of wine in our mouths and drink it we must remember the blood that our Savior shed so we might life. We must remember the SACRIFICE that SAVES US, giving us a NEW SPIRIT LIFE-  a newness of life, born again not of flesh but of spirit, this is what our SAVIOR died to give to us!

Without the REMEMBRANCE - the ritual is senseless and in vain, it is spiritually deadly.

1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

We SYMBOLICALLY show the LORD'S DEATH- by REMEMBERING the LORD'S DEATH.

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

We must EXAMINE ourselves and by this we mean we MUST know WHY we are partaking of this Spiritual Ritual. We are partaking because we are REMEMBERING what was done for us by our SAVIOR!  We are acknowledging our NEED of FORGIVENESS found in our SAVIOR- HE DIED so we could be FORGIVEN! HE is the Supplier of our Atonement, through Him we are made One with our Creator, our Redeemer, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We partake of this ritual of Spirituality- knowing that as we physically eat and drink we are doing this to affect ourselves Spiritually.  We are WALKING in the SPIRITUAL. We are walking in the newness of life, a life everlasting offered to us through the death and resurrection of our Savior.

 A spiritual remembrance.

 Much as we are to remember the Sabbath Day, we are in REMEMBRANCE to enact the ritual of the Lord's Supper.

We remember the Sabbath so we never forget we are created beings and not beings who created ourselves, or just happened to find existence haphazardly.

We remember our Savior's Death so we never forget we've been offered redemption from our fallen sinful state, we've been SAVED by a Redeemer.

Created and Redeemed.

Please, Heavenly Father, help us to be Yours! Let Your will be done in us! Keep us in YOU. Help us to NEVER FORGET we were created and we were redeemed! 

Thank you! All glory and honor unto You!

All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Amen.