Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from David Crowder singing Forgiven … lovingly singing of how we are forgiven by our Lord so that we can forgive others.
"Feed My sheep!"
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Highlight Verse[s]: John 21:17 [ESV] ... 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to Him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
… Jesus restoring Peter three times with the commission for Peter to go and become a shepherd of the lost and feed God’s sheep.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 21:15-19 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… After His Resurrection, Jesus singles out Peter. who had denied the Lord thrice and gives Him a thrice given restoration and renewal with God’s charge to go “feed His sheep.”
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 53:6 [ESV] … 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
… We’re all wayward sheep, which the Lord, our Messiah, has chosen to save and feed so we can become His shepherds in this world.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 28:16-20 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… After the resurrection, just before Jesus ascended back into Heaven, He commissions His remaining Disciples to go tend the flock of the lost, seeking them, leading them, and feeding them just as He had done for His flock of disciples; and now that is our “Great Commission.”
Reference Passage : … Luke 4:18-20 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus, quoting from the Prophet Isaiah, declares His mission on earth to God’s people; and when we find ourselves carrying out His mission, we become shepherds of His flock.
Reference Passage : … Johns 18:15-18, 25-26 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter denies Jesus three times before the Lord went to the cross.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, cites a word by Oswald Chambers showing that all Christians are called to the hard work of being a shepherd to God’s people, following our Lord’s example. … The ODB author wrote: In a lecture in 1911, Oswald Chambers reflected on being a young shepherd in the highlands of Scotland: “When you have to carry across your shoulders a dirty old [goat] and bring it down the mountain-side, you will soon know whether shepherding is poetry or not.” He didn’t want to romanticize this form of labor as “poetry” but rather called it “the most taxing, the most exhausting, and the most exasperating work.” The hard work of shepherding people is what Jesus entrusted to Peter, for Peter would face criticism, misunderstanding, and other challenges in caring for His flock.
Don’t you just love that scene in John 21 (see link above) where Jesus, having returned bodily from the resurrection, singles out Peter, who had denied the Lord three times just before the cross (see the John 18 passages). And Jesus intentionally gives Peter three times to declare His love for His Lord, … charging Peter thrice to become a shepherd of God’s people, seeking them out and feeding them as they (WE) need to be fed.
And think about it. All of us have denied our Good Shepherd, as wayward sheep at some time in our lives, haven’t we (see Isaiah 53:6? But in His mercy and grace, Jesus came to become our Good Shepherd and to save us from ourselves, restoring us with His blood, and coming back from the dead to charge us, as He did with John (see highlight passage) to feed His sheep. And we read of that commission in Matthew 28, don’t we? … It’s the “Great Commission,” … which Jesus imparted to all of His disciples (that’s us too!) when He ascended into Heaven.
And I pray that we take that commission seriously today and moving forward in our lives, … for Jesus Himself has charged us to carry out His mission as His shepherds on earth. … And whenever we find ourselves carrying out the mission of the Good Shepherd (see Luke 4:18-20), we are “feeding His sheep” and carrying out the Great commission.
So, dear one, let’s go feed His sheep today!
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for Your forgiveness and for the opportunity we have to feed Your sheep.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me to go out today and do whatever it takes to feed Your sheep. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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