The Debbie Taylor Williams Podcast

Debbie Taylor Williams: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the inspiration that you gave to John to record the words of Jesus and to record the scenes. And Father, I just ask that today it would be Jesus standing here saying all of these incredible words, and may we hear them with fresh ears, may we hear his voice as we open the Scripture together.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And Lord, would you quicken our hearts and minds to understand that you created us with the ability to hear your voice? And Lord, may we intentionally live and walk by your word, by your voice. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Debbie Taylor Williams: All right, as we open John 10, we have a lot to cover. It's exciting. We're going to see a lot of characters and visuals that Jesus uses. This scene is very familiar to the Jews. Talking about sheep, talking about shepherds. Again, we see Jesus's great desire to relate to his audience, to relate to the people around him.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And I know because I've talked to so many of you, you have family members, you have friends who are not walking with the Lord, or perhaps are not walking closely with him. And it is your heart's desire to speak into them with words and with language that will relate to them.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And so you and I are studying the Scripture on so many different levels. We're learning what Jesus has to say to us, but we're also learning by Jesus's example how he spoke with people and how he communicated spiritual eternal matters. And, oh dear friends, one of the most important things that we can see from our lesson today is not only that Jesus laid down his life for us, just like the shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep.

Debbie Taylor Williams: But we see that as sheep are able to hear and understand and distinguish the voice of the shepherd, you and I, Jesus is telling us, are able to hear, yes, hear our shepherd's voice. And we are able to distinguish his voice from the other voices in our head, from the other voices that we get through the news or the TV.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And I believe if there is anything that our sweet Lord and Savior would like for us to go home with today, it is that you and I do not have to live in fear because of the voices that we have come at us. We do not have to live in anxiety because of the voices that are coming at us. We do not have to live with downcast spirits because of the voice that we may have within our very own self, because of our past, our mistakes.

Debbie Taylor Williams: But instead, you and I can tune our voice, our our minds and hearts and spirits and souls to distinguish and hear the Lord's voice. And it is his voice that you and I can live by. And when we do that, we will be like the sheep who are under the good shepherd's watch. We will be the sheep who are able to have rest.

Debbie Taylor Williams: We will be the sheep who are able to be led to green pasture. We will be the sheep who will be able to lie down at night and go to sleep because we are not listening to voices that cause us to be worried and stressed and anxious and irritable or following the wrong shepherd.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Can I hear an amen to that? Because that is what we need because I don't know about you, but I have found that I have had an increased amount of stress ever since Israel had to fight for their lives against Hamas and this war has been going on. When we hear about the terrible things done to the children and we know that there are little bitty ones taken hostage, how can we not experience something in our very being?

Debbie Taylor Williams: We have hearts of compassion, we have hearts of empathy, we have hearts of sympathy. And so, of course, we are going to feel the stress of living in our world, aren't we? But at the same time, it does us no good. It does the kingdom no good if we just stay bound up, wired up, tense, anxious people. No.

Debbie Taylor Williams: The Lord wants to speak into us the peace he gives, the hope he gives, and the guidance he gives for how we can walk our days in a productive way instead of us just owning all the stress as if the world's situation depended on us. We can pray. There are things that you and I can do. And so this lesson in John 10 is very applicable for us today.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And Jesus is going to use some visuals that may not be as applicable to you unless you are a rancher, unless you have sheep. Do any of you in here have sheep? Are any of you ranchers, farmers? I know a few people are. But for many of us, we have not had this experience with agriculture, with livestock. But if you've had any, you know how aptly true all of this is.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Now, Keith and I don't have any sheep, but we do have just a few little bitty cows. Well, they're not little bitty cows, they're cows. We have a few number of cows, 12, something like that. I don't particularly care about the cows. I would be like the hireling, just I'll go out there sometimes and after Keith had back surgery, I fed the cows and given them the hay and given them their pellets and done that kind of thing with him alongside me.

Debbie Taylor Williams: But, oh, my husband, he loves those cows. And when we go out there, he honks his truck horn, so all the cows come running. And then he gets out, and after he feeds them, and he makes sure that they all have the hay, and the nuggets, and the protein, and whatever they they need, then Keith will wander amongst the cows. And I'm just like, getting away from the cows.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And he will even pet the bull, which I have warned him, "Honey, that bull's head could bump you." But he pets the bull. And and then he stands there, and my husband will count the cows. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12.

Debbie Taylor Williams: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And I am just like, "Honey, can we go? There's 12." There are 12 cows. You can stop counting them. There's 12, honey. They're all here. But if there is ever a cow missing, oh my, if Keith's gone out by himself, it may be hours before he's back looking for that one cow. He will find the one cow.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Or if there's a cow that's managed to get itself stuck in the fencing, or if the fence is possibly a little bit down in some place, he is diligent to repair that fence. So even though we don't have sheep, as I study this passage, I can understand the difference. So as we read it, let's look in John 10, beginning in chapter in chapter 10, beginning with verse 1.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Jesus says, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber." Now friends, the context of this is a continuation of John 9. And what has just happened to the man who was blind that God gave sight to? What did the Jews, the shepherds of the nation of Israel, what had the Jewish leaders done to the man who Jesus had healed?

Debbie Taylor Williams: What had they done to him? Had they welcomed him? "We're so glad you can see now. Look at the scrolls. We want to teach you to read." Had they opened the door to him as shepherds of Israel? No, they had slammed that door shut. And Jesus now is saying, I'm the good shepherd, and I'm the door. You can come into the Father's presence.

Debbie Taylor Williams: I'm the door. You can come into abundant life. I'm the door. And he's not saying they're not, but he is saying they're not because he's saying, "I'm the good guy. I'm the good shepherd." He's making it very clear. In verse two, he says, "He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls out his own sheep by name and leads them out."

Debbie Taylor Williams: "When he puts forth all of his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of the strangers." I'm sure you're all familiar as we look at this illustration, this metaphor Jesus gives of the door of the sheep pen, the thief, the robber, the stranger.

Debbie Taylor Williams: If we had the scene all up here, we could have the sheepfold, we could have the shepherds, we could have the thieves, we could have the hireling. We could have all of this. But since we don't, we see that still Jesus gets to explain to us that he is the door, and that he is the good shepherd, and he is one with the Father.

Debbie Taylor Williams: As we'll continue with toward the end of the chapter beginning in verse 19. He is one with the Father evidenced by his works. And so he begins with this image of "I am the good shepherd." Now friends, in a minute you're going to help me recount all the ways Jesus has described so far in the book of John. But here he is giving us an additional "I am."

Debbie Taylor Williams: And when he says, "I am the good shepherd," what should click in every one of those Jews' minds is that beginning from Genesis, God has described himself as a shepherd of Israel, as a shepherd of the Jewish nation. Even in Genesis, we see this profession of being a shepherd, of being one that is known, it is esteemed, it is the profession of the Jews from the time of Abel.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Now Abel was a shepherd. Do you remember? And so many passages, whether you pick a familiar one like Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd." You all know that one. In Psalm 77:20, let me read this one very quickly to you because over and over and over, the Lord God is depicted as a shepherd.

Debbie Taylor Williams: So we find once again that Jesus is making clear who he is. Psalm 77:20, he says, "You," referring to the Lord, "You led your people like a flock." In 79:13, he says, let me turn to that chapter for you. He says, "So we are your people and the sheep of your pasture," repeatedly. In chapter 80, verse one, "Oh give ear, shepherd of Israel."

Debbie Taylor Williams: So this way that Jesus has chosen to describe himself and to say, "I am the good shepherd," he might as well be saying, "I am God of the Jews." And then later on he will say, "I have other people to bring into this sheepfold." So Jesus is once again revealing himself. Now, he tells us ways that a good shepherd can be observed.

Debbie Taylor Williams: In verse 2, the good shepherd enters by the door. There would be a sheep pen, a sheepfold. And he doesn't have to climb over the fence, if this was the sheepfold. He goes through the door. He's the owner of that sheep pen. He is able to do that. He says in verse 3, he calls his sheep by name. Did you know that shepherds would name every one of their sheep?

Debbie Taylor Williams: Just like you and I are able to identify each other and say, "Louise," and "Genie," and we can identify each one. The shepherd gets to know his sheep. He sees them born and he names them. So we see that this is a a caring shepherd who would name his sheep, and he calls his sheep by name. He leads his sheep. The sheep follow him.

Debbie Taylor Williams: He heads out, and the sheep know that they can follow their shepherd because they trust their shepherd. Their shepherd is not going to lead them in the wrong place. He goes ahead of his sheep. He provides abundantly for his sheep. And yes, in the image that we're given of the sheep pen where there was only one entrance, he would at night, after he had brought his sheep into safety to keep them from the wolves and the predators at night, he would actually lay his body down in that open gateway as a provision and a protection from any predator that might come in.

Debbie Taylor Williams: So this is a very graphic how Jesus as our shepherd is going to lay down his life, literally on that cross, so they can hammer him down and him lay down his life. He gives his life for the sheep. He gives his life for us. And he stays with the sheep, friends. And we need to remember that. You are never alone.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world." You are not alone. You are never alone. As the shepherd stays with the sheep, Jesus stays with you. He protects the sheep. He knows his sheep, and he gives eternal life to them. This is the picture that Jesus gives of the good shepherd. But he also gives the picture of the bad shepherd.

Debbie Taylor Williams: As we continue reading, he says in verse 7, "Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out to find pasture." And he's giving this visual, there might be you and me, Pat might bring both of our herds of flocks of sheep into this sheep pen.

Debbie Taylor Williams: But then Pat might get up earlier and get outside and start leading her sheep, and she would call her sheep, and my sheep wouldn't follow Pat because they know their shepherd's voice. My sheep would hang out back here with me. But, oh, if Pat's sheep heard Pat's voice and started to go back out this back door, then Pat's sheep are going to hop up and they're they're going to follow her voice.

Debbie Taylor Williams: They're going to follow her voice. Follow her voice. Friends, this is why it's so important that you and I learn the voice of the Lord in our daily decisions, in our daily thoughts, in our daily actions. Jesus could not be more clear about this. But he talks about how the thief, in verse 10, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

Debbie Taylor Williams: This is Satan. And friends, he is so loud right now. Satan is so loud right now. His voice is deafening in our nation. His voice is deafening in our nation. And he has one intention: to kill, to steal, and to destroy. That is the voice of Satan. And he is not good.

Debbie Taylor Williams: As I was studying this lesson and and I got to this point, "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy." I could not help but draw the parallel to what has happened in our nation just recently, where you and I, we as a nation, sat and decided if babies alive within their mothers should live. "We'll let them live." Or, "No, die." Hmm.

Debbie Taylor Williams: I don't know how do you vote? Where is the outrage over you and me having the choice over another person's life? The voice of Satan is screaming. And people are following the voice of the enemy. I'd like how James Dennison wrote regarding the decisions that people are making who support abortion in the second and third trimesters particularly.

Debbie Taylor Williams: He says, "As the fetus grows to this point, it is simply too large to suck out of the womb. So the most common method of terminating the child's life is called Dilation and Evacuation. After the mother is put under anesthesia, so the mother doesn't feel anything, abortion providers go in with suction and instruments to empty the uterus. These gynecological instruments are used to dismember the fetus in the womb."

Debbie Taylor Williams: So we have been horrified, we good people, that Hamas went into Israel and chopped off children's heads and dismembered people. But we are sitting in our nice little nation and voting on whether or not babies will be dismembered in our nation. You tell me how that's right. You tell me whose voice that is. It's a loud voice and it's one of many, many voices that is going on.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And friends, we need to know which is the voice of the thief, in verse 10, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and which is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ Almighty who has come to give life and give his life so we can have life, and not only give life, but give life abundantly. There is a great divide.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And many, even in our good nation, are confused about what is the right voice to listen to. The thief, he describes, he says he wants to kill, steal, and destroy. He leaves the sheep to the wolves in verse 12. He is not concerned about the sheep. And friends, my heart goes to any woman who has felt in a situation where she had to get an abortion.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Back in 1999, I I wrote a poem in my book of poems, The Scarlet A, and my heart going out to that woman because I have had people that I've known who have gotten abortions. But aborting the baby does not end the pain and the suffering within the woman. One of the phrases I wrote is, "People may not know it or not know what to say, but God said it clearly when he gave his son away."

Debbie Taylor Williams: "Jesus confirmed it according to his will, there's nothing death or life can deal. The cross didn't fill. Just in case it's been a while since you've heard these words to you, God offers forgiveness and love. He can make a brand new you." We as Christians ought to be loving our sisters who perhaps have suffered abortion, but we need to be offering them life abundant, not feeding them the lie that what they are doing or perhaps the choices they are making are not those in alignment with Christ who gives life abundantly.

Debbie Taylor Williams: This lesson could not be more applicable to us. We've already looked at how Jesus said he is the door and that we are to enter through him and be saved and have abundant life. And of course, this is a visual, it's a picture of how we will enter through him into heaven. We will be saved and have abundant life eternally in heaven. All praise to him.

Debbie Taylor Williams: He talks about his sheep, and I don't know if you know much about sheep, but sheep are dumb, they're dirty. And they have a tendency if they've got too much wool on them to become cast down. Philip Keller in his book, Psalm 23, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, talks about this. And and perhaps you've come today as one of Jesus's sheep and you are cast down.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And Psalm 42:11, he cries out, "Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?" Have you felt disquieted? Disquieted? Have you felt that way? He explains that to have a cast down sheep is an old English shepherd's term for a sheep that is turned over on its back and cannot get up by itself anymore.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Have you ever just felt like, "God, I can't get up. I can't do this. I'm so depressed. I'm so down." And you're just down on your back perhaps literally. And he says, "A cast sheep is a very pathetic sight, lying on its back, flailing frantically, struggling to stand up without success." "It is essential for a careful sheepman to look over his flock every day, counting them, to make sure they are all up and on their feet, and he will look for any who might be cast down."

Debbie Taylor Williams: And one of the ways he'll know if there is a cast down sheep is he will see the predators flying overhead because a cast down sheep can very quickly die. He talks about how this cast down sheep is often the strongest and sometimes the healthiest sheep that becomes cast down. But the shepherd is always watching. If you have come in here today and you are cast down, and your soul is cast down and disquieted within you, be assured, dear sheep, that you have a shepherd who loves you, who is watching over for you.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Pay attention to him. Listen for his voice. The sheep hears their shepherd's voice, they know their shepherd's voice, they follow their shepherd's voice. And this is extremely important to know your shepherd's voice. Friends, I'm afraid this is not something we teach well in our churches. Do you know how to discern God's voice, the Spirit's voice over the thoughts and the voices in your head?

Debbie Taylor Williams: Caroline Leaf in Switch on Your Brain writes about this from a neurological point, and she talks about how free will and how our choices are real spiritual and scientific facts. Deuteronomy 30:19, how you can develop your spirit through choices you make in your mind to be led by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 2:20. When you think, what you think, builds thoughts, and these become physical substances in your brain.

Debbie Taylor Williams: As he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7. You are designed to stand outside yourself and observe your own thinking and change it. Romans 12:2, 2nd Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 3:13-3:14. Friends, pay attention to your thoughts. Are they true? Are they right? Are they lovely? Are they pure? Are they honorable? All of the things that Philippians tells us to guard and think on those things.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Voices can be deceptive. But not only the voice, but the words and the actions have to match. Because we know that some politician can stand up and their voice be very pleasant and their words sound very nice, but their actions not following. This is what Jesus is describing of these shepherds. They may speak Scripture. They may have a nice voice to listen to.

Debbie Taylor Williams: But if their actions are not caring for the sheep, if their actions are not following, then those have to match up. Psalm 29:3-4 speaks of the voice of the Lord, and I'd like for you to read these Scriptures referring to the voice of the Lord out loud with me, please. When we read them out loud, they are implanted on our minds and hearts more, and I want us to look at just a few of the Scriptures regarding the voice of the Lord.

Debbie Taylor Williams: So read out loud with me. "The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic." Exodus 15:26, and he said, read with me, "If you give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight and give ear to his commands and keep his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer."

Debbie Taylor Williams: Friends, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord regarding what you eat, and what you drink, and where you go, and what you say, it makes a difference. 1st Samuel 12:14, read aloud with me, "If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was your fathers."

Debbie Taylor Williams: We see this principle of sheep are able to hear, know and follow their shepherd's voice. We can be assured that God has created us with the capability to know, hear, and follow our shepherd's voice. It is critically important how well do you know your shepherd's voice? Are you intent on continuing to learn his voice? Are you following his voice on a national, world, and a very personal level in your day-to-day decisions?

Debbie Taylor Williams: We're going to go very quickly over 19 through 42 because we see that Jesus said he is one with the Father and this does not mean one person, rather it means one in essence, one in nature. Again, I'm going to ask you to read aloud with me because as we look at this, we see it was the Feast of Dedication, which I meant to explain more about this feast that came about during the time of the Maccabean Rebellion when Antiochus Epiphanes, a horrible ruler, desecrated the temple and finally, a man by the name of Maccabee led a revolt against it and they regained the temple in Jerusalem, they cleaned at the temple and they reestablished the Jewish sacrificial system in the temple, and so this is commemorated year after year, it's what we call today Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And this is at this time, we're getting more and more close to when Jesus will go to the cross. It was winter. Jesus was walking under Solomon's Portico, which was a covered area with columns. Likely, it could have been raining, a kind of a cold day, and we see that the Jews then gathered around him, and you know when it says, "the Jews," it's likely talking about the Pharisees, the scribes and the leaders.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And to me, it almost seems like a pack of wolves who have encircled him, not because they love him, not because they want to be taught, but because they want to attack. "If you are the Christ, tell us plainly," verse 25. "I told you. You do not believe." "The works that I do in my father's name, these testify," he said, "I've told you. You've heard my voice, and you've seen my actions.

Debbie Taylor Williams: You've seen my works. You do not believe because you are not of my sheep." I want to read here what John, I'm sorry, Paul of Calvary Chapel Ontario Oregon says about this. He says, "Be careful about that phrase where Jesus says, 'Here's why you don't believe, it's because you're not part of my sheep.' He is not telling them that because they're not his sheep, they can't believe."

Debbie Taylor Williams: "He's telling them that their unwillingness to believe the evidence that they have seen and heard effectively renders them outside of the flock. It's their unbelief that is at the root. We become the sheep when we put our faith in Jesus the shepherd." But they were refusing it. He says, "My sheep hear my voice," verse 27, "I give eternal life to them."

Debbie Taylor Williams: "They will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my Father's hand. My Father who has given them to me, has given me this flock of sheep, is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." We are one in essence, one in nature, one in spirit. And friends, in John 17, when Jesus is praying, Jesus prays in his high priestly prayer that the Father will make us one.

Debbie Taylor Williams: And it's the same word. There's different words for one in the Greek, the number one or or this word, one in essence. And Jesus prays that we will be one with him and the Father, one in spirit, which that will come to full fruition when we are in heaven. Now, for us to close, I have something important that I want us to do together.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Because if you can even imagine them saying, "If you are the Christ, or if you are the Messiah, just tell us plainly." He says, "Oh my goodness, look at all everything I've done." Read aloud with me all the ways, A to Z, so far, that Jesus has demonstrated himself to be. Think about it. Read aloud. He is above all, all seeing, authority, baptizes in the Holy Spirit, the bread who came down out of heaven, the bread of life, the bridegroom, Christ, creator, the finger of God, friend, from above, from God, the gate, the door of the sheep, the giver of life, the giver of living water, glorified by the Father, the glory of God, God, the good shepherd, grace upon grace.

Debbie Taylor Williams: He is the healer, the holy one of God. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door of the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am he. I am. I and the Father are one. I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, judge, king of Israel, lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who lays down his life and will take it up again.

Debbie Taylor Williams: He is life, light of life, light of the world, light, living bread out of heaven, living water, Lord, Messiah, Christ, not of this world, omniscient, one who is from God, only begotten son, pleasing to the Father, a prophet, rabbi. He raises the dead to eternal life. He is the righteous judge, sanctified and sent into the world, the savior of the world, savior, sent by the Father, sent from God, Son of God, Son of man, Son of the Father, spirit.

Debbie Taylor Williams: He is teacher, temple of God, the Christ, the prophet, the resurrection and life, the Son of God who has come into the world. He is the Son, the teacher, true light, true, truth, word, working, son of God. Oh my goodness. Tell us plainly if you are the Christ. Let's pray. Let's listen to the voice of Jesus.

Debbie Taylor Williams: Father, I thank you for my friends who've joined with me today to celebrate you. And oh, Jesus, thank you for explaining that as sheep, who dumb as they are, can know their shepherd's voice and follow their shepherd's voice. Lord, we can learn your voice and follow your voice. And for that, we give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus name. Amen.