We are of the Same Flock

John 10:15-18

When reading the Scriptures, does it bring up questions in your mind on what you have thought to be true, or what your church or some teacher has taught and you took it as the gospel?  What you do at that moment is of the utmost importance; going to someone who has the answer to your question is the right thing, but who is that person?  Jesus told us the following; “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)  And there in lies a gigantic problem, we act as if He does not live inside of us and we run to someone else, now that someone may be a commentary, a pastor or teacher, all who or interpreting the Scriptures, but the Spirit of truth is always your first choice, He is the author of the book.  The apostle John goes further to explain who has the answer to your question; “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)  Have you experienced the Spirit of truth, I have and He is always my first choice, when it comes to questions on living life on planet earth.

So have you considered what Jesus is telling His disciples in John 10:16, “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  Who are those sheep that Jesus is referring to as not of this fold?  I am sure that it was also a question the disciples wondered about, but the Spirit of truth began to answer it for them.  Jesus after the resurrection came to Thomas and showed Himself and Thomas said, “My Lord and my God.”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  (John 20:28-29)  Do you understand that at that moment Jesus had you in His mind!  Often God seems to break the rules in order to move us earth critters out of our comfort zone of rules and traditions, and God did that with Peter to show him that the Gentiles were to be part of God’s plan, yes God so loved Gentiles that He gave Peter the big picture of His will, found in Acts chapter ten.  

In the last sentence of John 10:16, Jesus says, “ So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  How did we get all of these denominations?  Is that being one flock, and is that having one shepherd?  Take out the labels, and look at the substance, all the denominations that teach, One God, in three forms, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teach that all mankind are sinners, and that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to show up on planet earth in the form of a baby, whose mother was a virgin named Mary, and this Jesus lived among us for a while and died for our sins on a cross, and now lives in us by His Spirit and is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  That salvation is a free gift to all who will accept it by faith, and it is mankind’s choice that keeps them from a having a personal relationship with Jesus and the Father.  Those are of one flock, all others are like the thief that tries to come in some other door.  Yes we do things different, our traditions and our order of worship are not the same, but if we have the above in agreement, we are of the same flock, with Jesus as our Chief Shepherd.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice