12 Nov 10
            Good morning, dear people.
            You guessed it…nothing new…I’m in another hurry.  I have a lot of details to address before arriving to carry on with that mill job at 9am.  So bye bye… Blessings.  Love.  Dad/Ray
 
12 November 2010
Passage: John 10:1-21
Focus: “…there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”  John 10:16.
            The whole of verse 16 reads: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also.  They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
            I hope you can see yourself represented by these words of Jesus.  We who are fenced in and penned up within a different period of time, about 2000 years distant from that particular “sheep pen,” still have the option of becoming one of His sheep.  “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3).
            We all know that there is only ONE Jesus Christ, only ONE heaven, only ONE source of authority (ONE Bible, ONE Word of God), and all that—but it’s still very easy to allow the picture to become blurred by all the controversies that abound within the flock.  There are a lot of different spins that different sheep will apply to the Gospel, to the Scriptures, and to the voice of the LORD.  Without attempting a lot more comment, I would just like to encourage you to narrow down the fundamental priorities of your task and responsibility—your homework assignment (How about calling it your “heart-work assignment?”).  This assignment is both simple and taxing—but must be done.  (1) DETERMINE WHO AND WHAT IS THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD. There’s a lot of noise out there—some of which claiming to be “His voice,” but isn’t.  (2) DETERMINE WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS OF BEING HIS SHEEP AND DO YOUR UTMOST TO LINE UP.  If we will do what we can in response to His Word, He will come along side to help us to do what we can’t.
            I am confident that your pursuit of these priorities will be richly rewarded.
 
“A Christian heart is confirmed by a Christian liver.”