Prayer in Persecution

II Corinthians 1:3-11

Introduction

            Show MB Mission video.

            IDOP website states that "Today around the world more than 200 million are suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ." It is important for us to be aware of that and it is important for us to do what we can in response. What we can do about it is pray and it is important for us to do so. Let's take a look at II Corinthians 1:3-11, which was just read, to think about persecution and about prayer in persecution.

I.     The Sufferings of Christ are Abundant

A.   The Sufferings of Christ

            If we think that the Christian life is entirely a life of victory and abundance and blessing, we are missing something important in Scripture. Paul alerts us to this when he says in verse 5, "…the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us..." What are the sufferings of Christ and what do they have to do with us?

            We know that Christ Himself suffered. When he was with his disciples, he repeatedly told them that he was going to suffer and die. Each time he did, they were puzzled and did not understand and on one occasion, Peter even rebuked him for thinking that way. Yet, Jesus did suffer and die. Why did Jesus suffer and die? Why would a good man who healed and served and was a friend of tax collectors and sinners die? Why would a man who knew God's word very well and answered every challenge with wisdom die? We might say that it was because of the jealousy of the Jewish religious leaders who realized that he would take over their place if he ruled. But that doesn't go deep enough. Why was there jealousy in their heart? The deeper reason is that they were not filled with God, but with sin and evil and in fact they rejected God and that is why Jesus suffered and died. Jesus declares this in John 8:44 when he told them, "You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires." What was true of them is true of many in the world. The default human position is to reject God.

            The persecution of followers of Jesus continues today for the same reason. People who reject God hate those who follow God and Jesus has warned us that this is exactly what will happen. We read in John 15:20, "Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you..." The "sufferings of Christ" are the sufferings which Jesus experienced from those opposed to God and all followers of Jesus will also experience suffering from those who oppose God.

B.   The Abundance of Sufferings

            Paul goes on to say that these sufferings of Christ are abundant and he certainly knew what he was talking about. In verse 8 we read, "We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself." What happened to Paul that made him talk like that? What happened in Asia that was so bad that he despaired of life itself? Many have given different explanations. Some suggest that it refers to when they were “fighting with wild beasts in Ephesus” as described in 1 Corinthians 15:32, others that it refers to the time he suffered a beating with “thirty-nine stripes” as it says in II Corinthians 11:24. The list of trials described in II Corinthians 11:23-29 tell us that he experienced many afflictions. Not everything that happened to him has been recorded in detail so we probably can't find out exactly which trial he was referring to. Clearly whatever trial it was, we realize that it was very great since he describes that he was "unbearably crushed" and "despaired of life" and "received the sentence of death."

            We hardly know what to make of such sufferings for we have no point of reference in our lifetime or experience, yet many in the world do. On the MB Mission website, the following story is told.

            "One of our workers in North Africa told us about five female university students who recently became followers of Jesus in his country. Having been rejected by their families, these young women have all paid a high price for their faith.

            One of them recently took the step of baptism and, as she was coming out of the church building where she was baptized, she was seen by a family friend who immediately called her brother. This brother was outraged that his sister had become a Christian. When she came home that day, he physically assaulted her. He tied her to a bed with ropes and, for several hours, beat her and abused her simply because she had chosen to put her faith in Christ.

            It was only in the middle of the night that she finally escaped from her own house. She went directly to the home of another Christian who gave her shelter. Eventually, she made her way to another city where she was given refuge in a church building. Unfortunately, her brother didn’t give up. He contacted the police, tracked her down and brought her back to their family home.

            At this point, we don’t know what will happen with this young woman. How will her family treat her? What will her future be?

            Stories like this are common in North Africa. Many young people are coming to faith in Jesus but they face tremendous opposition from their families and their communities."

II.  God's Role in Suffering

            Realizing that suffering is real is hard to hear, but it is also difficult to answer the question, "Where is God in this suffering?" We turn back to the experience of Paul in his affliction to find an answer.

A.   God Consoles

            The most powerful message in this passage is that in affliction God comforts those who are afflicted. The word for "comfort" is repeated ten times in this text. We read, in verse 3, that God is the "God of all consolation who consoles us in all our affliction" and, in verse 5, that "our consolation is abundant through Christ".

            The word used in all these places means "to come alongside" and has nuances of encouragement and comfort. This is what God does for all those who are experiencing any kind of affliction. The comfort which God gives is the comfort of knowing that our sins are forgiven, the hope of understanding that we are destined for eternity in heaven. The comfort of God also includes the very presence of God with those who are in any affliction and His strength and help to face trials with hope even though they are very difficult. God is present in suffering to console.

B.   God Rescues

            A missionary in a restricted access country writes, "It’s not easy to find comfort when you lose someone that you love, especially when you had been so excited about what God was doing through that person’s life. 

            "Recently, one of our great young church leaders was murdered. His name was Timothy and he was only twenty-four years old. He was a very bright light among our people and many expected him to have a big impact on our community. Timothy was known as someone who loved God and loved his people. Earlier this year, he had graduated from the Evangelical Bible Institute in the capital. I personally supported Timothy in his education and was thrilled about his future as a servant of God in his home province. Timothy was shot on his way to visit a church in a neighboring village. 

Timothy’s family had been familiar with persecution for their faith. Several years earlier, his uncle and three other members of his family went missing. Apparently, the police had arrested all of them at night and taken them away from the village. They were never seen again."

            It is particularly difficult to understand where God is when things like that happen, yet, in this passage, Paul indicates his hope that God rescues. He declares in verses 10, "He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again…" Paul, who stood in the crowd supporting the killing of Stephen, knew that God does not always rescue, but his experience was that there are also times when God does rescue. Randy Friesen tells the story of two missionaries who went out into the desert on camels to share the good news of Jesus with nomadic people and to distribute Bibles. Once when they returned from such a trip they were arrested and accused of telling people about Jesus, which was a punishable offence. They had distributed all the Bibles they had with them and so there was no physical evidence of what they had been doing and so they were released. Stories like that of Paul and of these two missionaries assure us, from people's experience, that God is present to rescue.

C.   God Raises the Dead

            Yet God is present even when he does not rescue because of the hope of all who follow Jesus that He is the God of resurrection. In verse 9, Paul declares His understanding of who God is saying, "He raises the dead." Therefore, there is no hopeless situation for anyone who follows Jesus. There are times when God has rescued a person so that they avoided being hurt. There are times when God has raised a person from the dead, as He did when Lazarus was raised. There are times when followers of Jesus die and the resurrection they experience will be the resurrection at the end when they will be raised to eternal life.

            The truth about God is the same in each case. Whether rescue, whether temporal resurrection or eternal resurrection, God raises the dead. There is no hopeless situation because God is present to raise the dead.

III.          The Role of the Sufferer

            Persecution is real and God is there to comfort, sometimes to rescue and always to raise from the dead. What does the sufferer do in the time of persecution? Although we may not experience the same kind of persecution that many in the world do, the Bible speaks about suffering often enough to give us a clear understanding of the response someone suffering affliction can have. We need to know this because we never know when the time of persecution may come for us.

A.   Patiently Endure

            Paul's description of his suffering helps us to understand that afflictions are very difficult to live with. There is a depth of feeling which we cannot lightly dismiss as we read "we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death." How does that phrase speak to you? The fact that Paul uses two adverbs "utterly" and "unbearably" to describe the way in which he felt crushed tells us that this was very difficult. What is happening to a person when they describe an experience as bringing a "sentence of death?"

            As we read about people who are arrested and imprisoned for their faith today we read about situations in which there are few support services and the food supplied is hardly adequate. Sometimes they are not permitted visits from their family and sometimes their family doesn't even know where they are. In  some situations they are not only beaten, but also threatened with execution. Like what the apostle Paul experienced, these things are difficult and easily leads to despair.

            Yet those who suffer in this way are called to "patiently endure" as we read in verse 6. Although retaliation would be an easy temptation and giving up may seem quite reasonable, the consolation of God comes to those who choose to patiently endure and who trust that God is near.

B.   Hope in God

            Such patient endurance is possible when those who suffer put their hope in God. In fact, it is often extreme suffering which brings a person to hope in God. Such extreme suffering as Paul speaks about here leaves a person in a position where there is no where else to turn.

            As long as we have a solution, it seems, we will look to that solution. When a difficulty comes, we look around to consider what resources we may have. Most often we discover hidden resources and ways of dealing with the difficulty with those resources. But when the situation is such as Paul describes here when we are "utterly, unbearably crushed," when we despair of life and when we feel as if we have "received a sentence of death" then we are far beyond any resources we may have. At that point, Paul points to the strategy which he used in that situation. The difficulty of affliction drove him to the place where he says "we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." When the difficulty is beyond us we come to the place where, as Paul says in verse 10, "on Him we have set our hope." Often it takes such an experience to move us to the place where we stop relying on ourselves and on our resources and we rely on God.

            So are we ever out of resources in any situation? No! Because God is the one who raises the dead, we can always put our hope in Him. Oh that we would learn to put our hope in Him much sooner than we often do.

C.   Console Others

            As I have said already, the major theme of this passage is consolation. The message of this passage is that those who experience suffering gain an ability that is only accessible to them. They experience the consolation of God in a way that can never be understood theoretically, but only by experience. Therefore, those who suffer deeply, experience the consolation of God and gain the ability to console others through that experience.

            We understand this. The person who comes through cancer has a word to speak and an authority to speak to another person who is going through cancer. They are able to say to them, "this is what God did for me when I went through it." The same is true in every trial and also in the trial of suffering for faith. Therefore, we who have not experienced similar suffering and consolation have very little that we can say to those who are experiencing suffering. In such a situation, the best thing we can do is to be with them in compassionate silence.

            But those who have been persecuted gain experience of God's comfort and that experience becomes a way for them to encourage others. They are able to speak out of their experience and serve God because of what they have lived. Something the persecuted church knows, that we do not know, is that God comforts those who are being persecuted. The greater the persecution, the greater the comfort. We hardly know that and wonder how they can survive. As much as our knowledge might lead us to offer a word of wisdom, the truth is that we are the ones who have something to learn and those who have experienced God's consolation in their suffering are able to console others who experience the same thing.

IV.         Our Role in the Suffering of Others

            But what about us? This passage has shown us that there is persecution and that God comforts those who are persecuted. Although we may not be able to offer consolation because we have not had similar experiences, is there something we can offer? Paul addresses this as well.

A.   Help by Prayer

            We read in verse 11, God "will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers." What can we do? We can pray!

            Yet we wonder. What does prayer do? In the end of this verse we read "many will give thanks…for the blessing granted us through the prayers…" There is more to the verse, but this part of the verse helps us understand what prayer does. When we hear about those who experience affliction we pray. The phrase, "the blessing granted us through the prayers" tells us that God acts in answer to those prayers. As a result of what God does, He is thanked for what He does. This tells us several important things. It tells us that God acts to do whatever God will do and He receives the glory because of what He does. It also tells us that our prayers have a part to play. God acts in answer to our prayers. Exactly how that works is something I do not know, but this verse clearly tells us that our prayers are important. So we must pray for the persecuted church.

B.   The Prayer of Many

            The other important message is that God's help comes "through the prayers of many." I have sometimes been reluctant to suggest this. In other places the Bible tells us that God is sovereign and will do as He chooses. The Bible also tells us that God is able to save by few or by many. Yet this verse tells us that in such situations the prayers of many are important. I believe that this is because prayer in persecution is a part of the spiritual battle we are in. It seems that in spiritual warfare more prayer matters. Therefore, we cannot say, "my prayers don't matter." Therefore, all of us must be diligent and keep on praying for the persecuted church.

Conclusion

            So let us pray. In your bulletin there is a sheet with prayer requests for the persecuted church. There are three lists. One comes from MB Mission and the other two come from the organization, "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." I would like to suggest that you can pray alone or in groups of two or three, as you choose. I would suggest that the people in this section pray for list 1, this section list 2, this section list 3 and that section list 1. Then I would encourage you to take the lists home and continue to use the prayer list to guide your pray. If you check out idop.ca you can find more resources to help you in future prayer.

            Let's pray and in a few moments we will close the service as we sing together.

Growing in Maturity

John 10:27 

Introduction

            Did you see the report which came out this summer about Dale Irby who retired from his job as a gym teacher at Prestonwood Elementary School in Dallas? The report and pictures told that he wore the same outfit for his school picture every year for 40 years? The paper reported, "The tradition began as a big mistake that his wife, Cathy, turned into a running gag. In 1975, Irby was embarrassed to discover he had unwittingly worn the same shirt and wool vest he had worn the year before. His wife made him a dare: do it a third year in a row. Then Irby thought five would be funny. Then five turned into 40." That story motivated Jonathan to try to do the same thing and so far he has done it for 2 years in a row. Time will tell if he is able to sustain this goal.

            That may be funny, but if we met someone whose Christian life was exactly the same as it had been 40, 20 or even 10 years ago, that would not be a good thing. If we as a church were exactly like we were in 1960 when the stone was set in place when this building was built, that would not be a good thing. Following Jesus means that as individuals and as a faith community we must grow.

            Our theme for this week will come from Ephesians 5:8-21 which invites us to talk about growing in maturity. I would like to examine this theme from John 10:27 where we read, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."

I.     My Sheep Hear My Voice

A.   Hearing His Voice

            Do you recognize this image? It "comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, and is titled His Master's Voice. It was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly formed Gramophone Company. According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog, a fox terrier named Nipper, had originally belonged to Barraud's brother Mark. When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited Nipper, along with a cylinder phonograph and a number of recordings of Mark's voice. Francis noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded voice of his late master emanating from the trumpet, and conceived the idea of committing the scene to canvas." Wikipedia

            There are a lot of voices out there. The voice of reason invites us to do what makes sense. The voice of culture invites us to be aware and current. The voice of duty calls us to do what is right. The voice of law calls us to obedience. The voices of our peers are comforting voices. The voices in our own head sometimes confuse us about which voice we should listen to. Many of these are good voices which we rely on, but among all the voices we hear, is the voice of Jesus the voice of the master in our life?

            I read the following on a web site: "Judith Fain is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Durham. As part of her studies, she spends several months each year in Israel. One day while walking on a road near Bethlehem, Judith watched as three shepherds converged with their separate flocks of sheep. The three men hailed each other and then stopped to talk. While they were conversing, their sheep intermingled, melting into one big flock.

            "Wondering how the three shepherds would ever be able to identify their own sheep, Judith waited until the men were ready to say their goodbyes. She watched, fascinated, as each of the shepherds called out to his sheep. At the sound of their shepherd’s voice, like magic, the sheep separated again into three flocks."

            Do we hear our Shepherd's voice?

B.   Knowing and Being Known

            When my brother calls me on the telephone, he doesn't introduce himself. He doesn't say, "Hi, George, this is your brother Ed" as if I didn't know. He just begins talking. As soon as he does, I know that it is him. There is something about the inflection, the tone, the volume of his voice which I immediately recognize. We have known each other for a long time and we have had lunch together often and visiting together many times. We have a relationship and because of that, I recognize His voice.

            The key to hearing the voice of Jesus is having a relationship with Him. He says, in this verse, "my sheep" hear my voice." How do we become one of the sheep that have a relationship with Him? We enter into a relationship with Jesus when we recognize that He is the Son of God who came to earth and who died for our sins and rose again to forgive our sins and to give us eternal life. When we acknowledge that, He comes to live within us and enters into a relationship with us and we become His sheep. Then we will hear and recognize His voice.

            Jesus spoke this verse to a group of Jewish religious leaders who were challenging Jesus. They wanted Jesus to declare that He was Messiah, not because they were uncertain and wanted to have clarity, but because they did not believe and wanted to find some way of destroying Him. So Jesus says to them in verse 26, "You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep."

            The interesting thing is that they knew a lot of religious things and they appeared before all the people as being very religious. Religion should be about knowing God and understanding God, but when God showed up, they did not recognize Him. That was why they did not hear the voice of Jesus. It was unbelief that prevented them from hearing Jesus. They knew religion, but they did not know Jesus.

            Could the same thing be said of us? Do we have all the trappings of religion, but we fail to hear the voice of Jesus because, in fact, we don't believe in Him? If we don't believe in Him, we will not belong to Him and if we don't belong to Him, we won't hear His voice. It is only those who are His sheep who hear His voice.

            The logical next step which we would expect in this verse is that it would say that those who hear the voice of Jesus know Him, but that is not what the text says. Instead, we unexpectedly hear, "I know them." We also need to be aware of the connection between "My sheep" and "I know them." We are His sheep if we know Him, but even more important, we are His sheep if we are known by Him. What does it mean that He knows us?

            I have sometimes walked through a hotel and noticed a wedding reception going on and thought that it would be very easy to attend the reception even though you wouldn't know anyone. The groom and his family would assume you were friend or family of the bride and the bride would think you were friend or family of the groom. Is it possible that there are some people who think that they are part of the kingdom of God when in fact they are not? This verse reminds us that we become members of God's kingdom not only when we choose Jesus, but also when we are known by Him. When Jesus says, "I know them" he is affirming that they are the ones who belong. If we are known by Him, it indicates that we are not just freeloaders at the heavenly banquet, but guests who belong. It means that we are in a relationship with Jesus. We know Him and He knows us. The fact that He knows us means that He is committed to us and will communicate with us and speak to us. It means that He knows our hearts, our thoughts and our intentions. It means that he even knows our failures but still calls us His sheep and gives us eternal life. It means, as the next verse says, that deserving or not He has given us eternal life and we will never perish and no one will take us out of His hand.

C.   Growth In Hearing

            Yet relationships are never formed in a moment and so it is with Jesus. We may enter into a relationship of being His sheep, but that does not mean we will always hear and recognize His voice. Today we are talking about growth in the Christian life. We become His sheep in a moment, but it takes time and effort to build a relationship with Him in which we will increase in our ability to hear and recognize His voice. What are the things we can do to hear His voice better?

            I said earlier that there are a lot of voices out there. Some of those voices are good voices. They help us discern wisdom and grace and understanding. In so doing, they lead us towards Jesus and help us hear His voice. But there are also voices out there that lead us away from hearing Him. There are voices that distract us, voices that lie to us and voices that confuse us. If we want to hear the voice of Jesus with clarity, we need to get rid of these other voices. Sometimes these voices come from association with certain people so we need to stop associating with them. Sometimes they come from things we read or watch on television and we need to stop reading or watching those things. If we want to hear the voice of Jesus better, we need to get rid of the voices that prevent us from hearing His voice.

            There is a voice that will always lead us to hear and understand Jesus and that is the voice of Scripture. A few years ago I taught a Sunday School class with College and Career aged young people. For a period of time we did a project of studying the gospels with the specific goal of trying to understand Jesus. We read a portion of the Gospels and we asked, "What is Jesus like and how can we imitate Him?" It was a very helpful study and we saw in it many aspects of who Jesus is and it helped us learn to recognize the voice of Jesus. If we listen to the written voice of Jesus in Scripture, we will also learn to recognize the heart voice of Jesus as He speaks to us.

            The project which we carried out as a College and Career group also illustrates another important way in which we learn to hear the voice of Jesus. We did the study in community and as we looked at the life of Jesus together and as we talked about Jesus, we learned from each other. If we do all our study and meditation on our own, we may have difficulty distinguishing between the voice of Jesus and the voices in our own head. For that reason, it is important to learn to listen to the voice of Jesus in community.
That is why we have emphasized participation in a small group.

            When you see someone cup their hand to their ear, what does that mean? It communicates, "I can't hear" but it also communicates something else. It communicates, "I want to hear." It communicates a level of attentiveness. A comment in the Pulpit Commentary quips that it is "all in vain if the sheep wander out of earshot." What does this (hand cupped to the ear) communicate when it comes to listening to Jesus? If we want to listen to Jesus, we also need to learn to be attentive to His voice.

            How do we become attentive? The noise between our ears is sometimes so loud that it prevents us from hearing Jesus. The noise in the world around us often drowns out the voice of Jesus so that we don't hear it. In such a context, it will take a concerted effort to stop the noise out there and the noise in here long enough to listen. One of the best ways I know to increase our attentiveness is in silence. I try to listen to the voice of Jesus, but often the busyness of the day and all the ideas running around in my head make it hard to hear. Once in a while I take time just to be alone with Jesus in order to listen to Him. Often I hear his voice best in the middle of the night when all the other voices are quiet and I choose to pay attention to Him.

            Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice." If we want to grow in maturity, we will need to learn to hear and recognize His voice.

II.  They Follow Me

A.   Those Who Hear…Follow

            In 1897 the book, "In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?" was published by Charles Sheldon. It is the story of a pastor who challenges his congregation to not do anything for a whole year without first asking, "What would Jesus Do?" The book has sold more than 30 million copies. It is remarkable that the book was such a draw. What was it that allowed the concept of walking in the steps of Jesus to become so popular? Or is it that remarkable?

            In the 1990's the second part of the title of that book suddenly took on the status of a popular motto which came to be known as WWJD – What Would Jesus Do - and many people wore WWJD bracelets. It is remarkable that the concept of doing what Jesus did became so popular. Or is it that remarkable?

            It is remarkable that people who don't know Jesus would be attracted to the idea of following Jesus, but it is not remarkable that those who hear His voice will follow Jesus. Jesus declared that the normal expectation is that "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me." In fact, it would not be remarkable to say that those who hear His voice and do in fact follow Him do so because they hear His voice. Hearing the voice of Jesus because we are known by Him leads to obedience to the voice of Jesus.

B.   Growth in Following

            The truth is, however, that we don't follow Jesus perfectly the first day we begin to hear His voice. This is where growth in maturity really is necessary. We don't get following all at once and we must grow in maturity.

            Have you ever learned a complicated routine? Perhaps you have learned to play a piano or learned to crochet or any other thing. I remember when I taught skating lessons. I could have thought it's easy to skate. Just put the kids on the ice and they will take off and enjoy gliding around the ice very quickly. It doesn't work that way. The worlds greatest hockey players and the world's greatest figure skaters learned to shuffle along on one blade without falling before they learned to skate, but repetition and practice and training have brought them to the place where they don't even think about skating, they just do it, and in fact they do it in a remarkable way.

            Growing in maturity in following Jesus is similar. We cannot expect that we will hear Jesus' voice accurately from the beginning and clearly all the time. We cannot expect that we will follow His voice perfectly from the beginning and all the time.

            It is as we learn to hear and recognize the voice of Jesus that we will also grow in following it. When we hear Jesus tell the gospel story to Nicodemus in John 3, we hear the voice of redemption and we learn not only to accept redemption, but to tell others about it. As we hear the voice of Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more" we learn from Jesus not to judge others, but to be gracious and forgiving and we learn to walk in holiness. As we listen to Jesus condemn the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders in Matthew 23, we learn to hate hypocrisy. As we watch Jesus wash the feet of His disciples just before he went to the cross, we learn servanthood. As we listen to the voice of Jesus, spoken through His Word or whispered in our ears, as we are attentive to Him, we gradually learn to follow His voice in the every day of life and as we do, we grow in maturity.

C.   Following Jesus

            As we learn to follow, however, we need to remember that we are not following rules or principles, but Jesus. The verse says, "They follow me."

            Many religions including the Old Testament have given us a list of rules to follow. Even the New Testament gives us guidelines and principles. We must follow these, but as we do, we need to remember that ultimately we must not follow the rules and principles for their own sake, but we must follow Jesus. This is the great difference between the Old Testament and the New. In the Old Testament God promised a new way. We read in Ezekiel 36:26, "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." When we follow rules, it is easy to make a list of rules and make a check mark every time we obey one of the rules. As the sheep of our Good Shepherd, however, we are called to something else. We are called to learn obedience by listening to His voice. We are called to listen to the voice of Jesus as we hear it in Scripture and as we are attentive to His personal presence in our lives.

            In some ways it is much more difficult and uncertain to follow Him in this way than to follow rules and some people have a hard time with that. It means that we need to remain attentive to Him at all times.

            Yet it is much easier to follow Jesus than it is to follow rules. When we follow Jesus we live by a relationship and we always have access to the source and we always have His guidance.

            May we grow in following Jesus!

Conclusion

            C.S. Lewis said, "It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."

            Growth involves change. Many find that difficult, but if we don't change, we lose out. The means of change, of growth in maturity is learning to hear the voice of Jesus and following it.

            We are His sheep! May we hear His voice and may we follow Him!