Now that's what I call a Good Shepherd!

In the gospel of John, chapter 10, Christ presents Himself as the good shepherd. But He is a very interesting kind of shepherd, isn't He? In fact, He said that He gives His sheep ETERNAL LIFE! Not even death itself can pluck them out of His hand.

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (John 10:28)

The Greek word 'tis' in this verse is translated by most English Bibles as "anything" or "anyone", but actually inlcudes both of these. It literally means "any". [To remember this Greek word, just think of the song, "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus"]

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone, anything, anybody, any force, any entity, any being; neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, shall snatch them out of my hand. - Pastor B's translation of John 10:28

This good shepherd is not just some good teacher that has nice things to say about how to be a good Jew, or how to be a loving neighbor. This good shepherd gives His followers eternal life!!

It amazes me how there are still so many people out there that don't believe Jesus presented Himself as God. The Jews of His day understood that He did so, for they accused Him of blasphemy and made several attempts to stone Him.

After declaring to the Jews that He was the good shepherd that gave His sheep eternal life, and telling them that He and the Father were one, "the Jews took up stones again to stone Him."(Joh 10:29-31)

The first record of them doing this was in John 8:57-59 when Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM".

Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (Joh 8:57-59)

I love going through the gospel of John on Wednesday nights because it is such a powerful book. Tune in tonight at 89.3 FM at 7:00 p.m. if you can't come by and join us (5195 S. Washington Ave. in Titusville on east side of U.S. one about a mile north of the 405 overpass). For those of you on the internet you can catch the Wednesday night teaching tomorrow on our web site. We're in John 10 tonight! :)

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.