62 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
62 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
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# Chapter 10
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1. *"I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!*
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2. *But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.*
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3. *The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.*
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4. *After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.*
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5. *They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't know his voice."*
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6. Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant,
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7. so he explained it to them: *"I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.*
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8. *All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.*
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9. *Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.*
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10. *The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.*
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11. *"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.*
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12. *A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.*
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13. *The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.*
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14. *"I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,*
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15. *just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.*
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16. *I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.*
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17. *"The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.*
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18. *No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded."*
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19. When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him.
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20. Some said, "He's demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?"
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21. Others said, "This doesn't sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
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Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God
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22. It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication.
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23. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade.
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24. The people surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
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25. Jesus replied, *"I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father's name.*
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26. *But you don't believe me because you are not my sheep.*
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27. *My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.*
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28. *I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,*
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29. *for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.*
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30. *The Father and I are one."*
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31. Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.
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32. Jesus said, *"At my Father's direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?"*
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33. They replied, "We're stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God."
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34. Jesus replied, *"It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, 'I say, you are gods!'*
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35. *And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God's message were called 'gods,'*
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36. *why do you call it blasphemy when I say, 'I am the Son of God'? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.*
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37. *Don't believe me unless I carry out my Father's work.*
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38. *But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don't believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."*
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39. Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.
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40. He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.
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41. And many followed him. "John didn't perform miraculous signs," they remarked to one another, "but everything he said about this man has come true."
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42. And many who were there believed in Jesus.
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