Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign friends, this is Pastor Chuck Allen, and welcome back to another weekday podcast. Today, I want to go back to the Gospel of John in chapter 10, beginning in verse 25. Now, on the weekday podcast, part of what we try to do is give you a little bit of scripture and a little bit of commentary, and hopefully, between those two, what you're really getting is a cup of encouragement. So welcome. Just take a breath and join me on this journey, because I want to sit with a handful of verses From John, Chapter 10 from the New Living Translation. Those words, if you let them, can settle way down into the nooks and crannies of your soul, and they can change the way you see yourself, the way you see God, and the way you walk through this world. So here's what's happening. Jesus is in the temple. The people are pressing all around him, and they're asking, are you the Messiah? Tell us plainly. And here's what Jesus says. I have already told you and you don't believe me. The proof is in the work I do in my Father's name. But you don't believe me because you're not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me and he is more powerful than anyone else.
[00:01:19] No one can snatch them from the Father's hand. The Father and I are one who.
[00:01:25] That is a mouthful, y'. All. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. That's something that's so intimate.
[00:01:32] Not just belief as an idea, but relationship as a reality. Not just rules, but total recognition. Not just a crowd, but a flock. You're known, you're seeing, you're called by name. This is life with Jesus.
[00:01:46] So you see the movement happening here. Jesus isn't talking about a checklist. He's talking about a connection. The sheep listen because they know the shepherd's voice. They follow not out of obligation, but out of trust, because they are known, because they are safe, because they are seen.
[00:02:06] And then Jesus says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me.
[00:02:13] This is radical security, y'. All. This is belonging that cannot be broken. This is the kind of assurance that lets you breathe deeply even when the world is in chaos.
[00:02:24] And then 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. The Father and I are one.
[00:02:34] This is the heart of it. Union. Jesus in the Father, One the sheep held in hands that never let go, kept. The promise isn't that there won't be wolves or trouble or questions. The promise is that you're held. You're safe. You're seen. You belong. He's got you.
[00:02:55] So maybe the invitation for us today is to just stop and listen. To slow down enough to hear the voice of the shepherd. The voice that calls you by name. The one that calls and leads you out, that brings you home.
[00:03:10] To trust that you are held, even when you feel lost. To believe that nothing, no mistake, no fear, no darkness can snatch you from those hands. Because the shepherd's grip is stronger than your doubts, friend. The Father's embrace is wider than your wandering.
[00:03:28] And the voice that calls you is the voice that will never, ever, ever let you go. I'm so glad you listened in to today's weekday podcast. So go in peace and have a great day. Bye, now.
