John- Believe In Jesus And Live!-Part 5- " Hearing The Shepherds Voice" Series

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John- Believe in Jesus and live!

Part 5

“Hearing God’s voice”

Back ground text-- John 10:1-18

Focus text—John 10:3-5

I have told ya’ll a few times about a couple of Blue Healers I had while I was working for ANLACO on the Flat creek Division.

I had a lot of different dogs while working on this ranch and I was blessed at having 2 very exceptional dogs and even further blessed by having them both at the same time.

I can tell you I was very proud of those dogs, Butch a big old Blue healer that looked more like a pit bull and Koon dog , a little fine boned healer that was about 1/3 the size of Butch.

I was proud of them for their abilities , but let me say right off , I had little to do with them being the dogs they were, I simply taught them how to sit , how to stop and come to me- Everything else they learned by watching other dogs, by natural instinct and by pure desire.

These were good dogs

They were good in the brush

They were good in the pasture and they were good in the pen

One of their best chararistics was that they paid attention and they listened to my voice

Like most really good dogs

These dogs would not work for anyone else

If you have working dogs

Then you know

Every time you get together in a pen with a bunch of cowboys

Everybody wants to tell your dogs what to do

This really irritates me

But these dogs knew my voice and they absolutely refused to work for anyone else

To the point where they would not even get in the truck for anyone else

One fall as we did every year we had sold calves from the 4 combined ranches that made up ANLACO

We had hauled all the cattle to the pens down at Glad Oaks and after the sorting and weighing we were loading out the trucks

The man who had bought 5 loads of the cattle was there helping or supervising the loading of the trucks

And

He had been watching my dogs work all day so he decided that he wanted to try and buy them

Mt first reply was “you don’t have enough money to buy my dogs”

Which was a stupid reply

He owed a big ranch, He had just written a check for 5 truckloads of steers I was working for a small salary and a house

He in every imaginable way had enough money to buy those dogs

My next reply when I saw the look on his face was

Please don’t make me an offer; I don’t want to sell my dogs”

And then I said

“They won’t work for you anyway”

To that he said something on the dirty side of Bull Corn

So

I had to prove it

I put the dogs in the cab of a truck and told him to let them out after I drove off

Once I was gone, he could try and get them to work for him

I stayed gone about 15 min

When I came back the dogs were sitting in the shade

The men were extra hot and tucked out

And

He had to admit that I was right

My dogs would not work for anyone else

Butch and Koon dog knew my voice but more importantly listened for my voice\ but most importantly they trusted my voice

This is where we come to in our study of John today

John has been showing us who Jesus really is in an attempt to cause us to believe in him

And here in our passage for today

We see that Jesus wants us to know his voice

Let’s read John 10: 1-18

Then I will break it down and put it into use in our lives

“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! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 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. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me[a] were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.[b] They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.