Bible reading for 40.Day 2025 | John 10:16

When I was little, my Sunday School teachers taught me that Jesus is my Good Shepherd.

The words “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Psalm 23:1) are etched in my heart. It has been comforting in my discipleship journey to date, to know that Jesus is shepherding me as an individual.

It is comforting to know that Jesus my Shepherd loves and cares for me.

I know that my Shepherd died for me and He has given me eternal life.

I feel His love and care for me in an exclusive way. It is about me and Jesus.

Who are the sheep?

As I progressed in my discipleship journey, I learned about Jesus the Shepherd of the Church. Christ loved the Church and died for the Church. It is about us and Jesus.

Subsequently, I was also entrusted to shepherd Jesus’ sheep in my local church. He appointed me His under-shepherd and He held Himself out as the Chief Shepherd of the Church.

The church is a community of believers, like a flock of sheep, that receives love and care from the Chief Shepherd and the under-shepherds. The church community is a happy place where believers can do life together with joy. The church community is a place of safety where members can find protection in the Chief Shepherd.

Then there came a time when Jesus directed my attention to the neighbourhood community existing outside the church community. It had always been there but I did not notice it, neither did I care about it. The people in the neighbourhood community were invisible to me.

Eventually, I did start to look at the neighbourhood, in obedience to God’s direction. The Lord must have opened my eyes to see people in a new way.

Herding the sheep

I saw the people in the neighbourhood community as sheep without a shepherd.

Unfortunately, while Jesus was moved with compassion for them, I personally had no feelings for the people in the community.

The words of Jesus in John 10:16 came to my mind:

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”

Jesus considers the people in the neighbourhood community as His sheep that are not in the church community … yet! He wants to bring them in. He loves and He died for the people in the neighbourhood.

In other words, Jesus cares for the neighbourhood community. Can the Church also love and care for the neighbourhood community?

The people in the neighbourhood community are like sheep without a shepherd.

Do we care for and love people in the neighbourhood community?

To love and care for people is to shepherd and pastor them.

The call is for believers to turn Singapore Godward block by block.

The blocks are situated outside the Church. It will take the whole church community to reach the whole neighbourhood community.

Each church community will have to go All In to accomplish the task of bringing the sheep from the neighbourhood community into the fold.

Above all, it will take all the churches in Singapore to reach out, as one, to all their neighbourhood communities in Singapore.

We must go All In, if we want to see Singapore turning Godward.

Let us pray:

Dear Jesus, thank you for being our Good Shepherd. Touch our eyes today and help us to see the people in our neighbourhood community. Impart to us Your compassion, so that we will be moved to love and care for them like You do. Unite us as one, as we take up the task of winning the community, block by block. We do not want to hold back. We want to go All In. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect:

1. Jesus has called the church to reach out to the sheep beyond the fold. What are our present attitudes to those in our community? How can we adopt Jesus’ love and compassion for them?

2. When reaching the neighbourhood community, often we have to meet their felt needs before sharing the Good News with them. What can we do to meet their needs?

3. Ask the Lord to reveal attitudes and prejudices in your heart that may be stopping you from going All In to bring the sheep into the fold. What can you do to change your heart to be more like Jesus’?

Pray:

1. That the Lord will forgive us for the times we have refused to reach out to the neighbourhood communities because it was inconvenient.

2. That the Lord will put His compassion for the lost in our community into our hearts, that we may go out and bring them into the fold.

3. That we will be strengthened in our minds and bodies to commit to regular and active outreach to our neighbourhood communities, that block by block, they will experience the goodness of God and receive Him.

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