required: picture of, or toy, sheep
Talk to children about lambs they may have seen at this time of year – tiny new born lambs in the fields… Have you ever thought that you are like sheep?… going along with the crowd… yet sometimes wandering off on our own… Bible often uses the image of sheep and shepherds… some of the very well known part of the Bible are about sheep… 23rd Psalm – The Lord is my Shepherd, the parable of the lost sheep… Jesus saying I am the good shepherd. Shepherds in Jesus day were a little different from shepherds today… no dogs… no chasing from behind… instead the shepherd led from the front… and the sheep followed… they knew their shepherd because of his voice… Jesus said, "my sheep listen to my voice"… Jesus’ sheep are people like me and you… if we are going to follow Jesus… we have to listen to his voice so that we know the right way to go… that’s a hard thing to understand… (grown ups find it difficult too!) We don’t hear Jesus’ voice the way we hear parents, & friends… but we can "hear" Jesus through the things that others do and say… we can hear Jesus in a way that is impossible to explain, when we are praying… and when we believe that Jesus loves us and cares for us… if we believe then we are Jesus’ sheep. his friends – and he cares for us like a shepherd. (John 10: 22ff)
Talks2Children 
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