30-Apr-23 (John 10:1-10)

Have you ever been outside playing or maybe at a store and heard your mom or your dad call your name? [Wait for answers] How did you know it was your mom or dad? [Wait for answers]
Jesus tells his disciples a bit about sheep and their shepherd in the gospel for today. He says that the sheep follow the shepherd because they know the shepherd's voice, just like you know your mom and dad's voices. I once saw two herds of sheep walking through each other, following their shepherds. None of the sheep got mixed up. They kept right on following their shepherd.
The point of all this is that we need to learn our shepherd's voice just like those sheep did. We need to study Jesus and God, so when we think we hear them telling us to do something, we know we're listening to them and not someone else.

Let's pray right now to ask God to help us with that.
God, we thank you for Jesus, who is our shepherd and who shows us how much you care for us. Help us to study and to learn who you are so we can know when you're asking us to do something. Help us to learn your voice so well that we can follow it even when there are lots of distractions.
We pray in Jesus' name.
AMEN.