The Good Shepherd and His Sheep!

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” – John 10:11-16,27-30 NIV

Many of us are keen to find what our zodiac signs are, find what our personalities really are and live according to them. We may even depend on horoscopes to live our lives, because they tell us almost everything to tell us how to live our lives correctly. My Chinese zodiac is be sheep/lamb since I was born in March 25^th, 1991 but I did not look what my natural personalities are. I was kind of living according to the Facebook Horoscopes, even though I probably was doing it for fun. I cannot remember exactly, since it was long time ago. However, Pastor Tim told me that the horoscopes are not really cool for Christians. I know why He said that as Christians should live their entire lives according to the Spirit of God (Romans 8:1-17). In addition, all of us actually are sheep, whether we are true followers of Jesus Christ or not, as the word of God tells us and God is our true Shepherd—the One who came down into the world from heaven, as Jesus Christ (John 1:14), to crucify Himself on the cross for our sins, to pay for our death penalties and has given us eternal life instead through Him (John 3:16-18). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) John 16:8-11 states that not believing in Jesus Christ is sin because if we do not believing in Him, we do not know who we actually are and where we come from, since all of have been created by God to be His image (Genesis 1:27). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) Furthermore, the “hired hand” is probably like any man who proclaims to be Jesus (Matthew 24:4-5) and the “wolf” is  probably of the devil or evil person who tempts everybody that there is no Jesus Christ (1 John 4:3).

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:15-20)

Although bringing and making people to believe in Jesus Christ is God’s job (John 6:63-65),  God has called us to be the light of Jesus Christ to the world (Matthew 5:13-16). We can do this by spreading the love of God (1 John 4:12-13) and by doing good works in Him (Ephesians 2:10). The main reason that we need to be the light of Jesus Christ is that we need to be united as one body in Christ, since each one of us are members of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) Because of this, Jesus prayed earnestly to His Father for this to happen (John 17:20-26).

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17)

In fact, eternal life has already come to those of us who are willing to follow Jesus Christ until the end of the age. This is because eternal life is all about knowing who God and Jesus Christ really are (John 17:3). As soon as we commit our lives to Jesus Christ, we become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the Spirit of God begins to tell us what to do (John 14:15-27), to truly become the righteousness of God. This is because the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of the truth (John 16:7-15). However, many of us think only the Spirit of God begins to move within us when the moments of inspiration comes. If this is true, then there would be no eternal life in Jesus Christ as it is rare to have moments of inspiration. Nevertheless, Spirit of God is within us every second of our lives if we commit our lives to God and if we are willing to follow Jesus Christ until the end of the age, since His Spirit is the also Spirit of the life (John 6:63) and the Spirit of the freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). Because of these reasons, we ought to remain confident in Jesus Christ. This is also because the word of God repeatedly says that He is going to never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:8-14)