{"id":3318,"date":"2026-08-01T03:01:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T03:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/?p=3318"},"modified":"2026-08-01T03:02:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T03:02:44","slug":"my-sheep-know-my-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/?p=3318","title":{"rendered":"My Sheep Know My Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u00a0I\u2019m addressing sheep\u00a0misinformation!\u00a0Sheep and shepherds play a big role in the Bible. Most people are familiar with the\u00a023rd<\/sup>\u00a0Psalm\u00a0which\u00a0begins, \u201cThe Lord is my Shepherd,\u201d and for believers in Jesus, He IS the Great Shepherd. Jesus Himself calls\u00a0His followers\u00a0His sheep and says about us in\u00a0John 10:27, \u201cMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u201d Sheep\u00a0often\u00a0get a bad rap.\u00a0They have a\u00a0reputation for being mindless followers. In fact, Karen and I\u00a0saw\u00a0what seemed to be\u00a0this very thing played out years ago\u00a0on an\u00a0Arizona desert\u00a0highway when we couldn\u2019t believe what was happening before our eyes! We were traveling along a miles-long fence\u00a0when\u00a0suddenly ahead of us, we\u00a0saw\u00a0just\u00a0one sheep\u00a0out of a\u00a0huge herd find a\u00a0hole\u00a0in the fence and\u00a0jump\u00a0through it,\u00a0quicklyfollowed by another one, then another one\u00a0and another one\u00a0in single file. Soon\u00a0the whole herd\u00a0became\u00a0aware and\u00a0every onefollowed,\u00a0jumping through\u00a0the hole\u00a0and\u00a0bursting out all over\u00a0the\u00a0highway! Out of the safety of the fenced pasture!\u00a0It was a pretty comical sight and we laughed and shook our heads, \u201cDumb sheep!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However in my studies about sheep lately, I have begun to see them differently. In fact, staying together in a group is the best way to avoid predators. I read that sheep are actually quiteintelligent and possess very surprising mental abilities. Here are a few examples. They have an incredible memory: Sheep can recognize and remember up to 50 individual faces, both of people and other sheep, for over two years. Sheep have an amazing ability for figuring out problems they face: They can find their way out of intricate mazes and figure out how to open gates or latches. Sheep are highly emotional: People don\u2019t realize that they have very deep emotions and feelings. Sheep feel fear, anger, and boredom. They establish strong bonds with other sheep in their flock and are known to feel grief when a friend is lost. Maybe you saw the recent movie, Sheep Detectives, and saw some of this in action! It is more true-to-life than you think!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheep have an incredible ability to recognize individual human voices and sounds and distinctive calls. In places like the Middle East, shepherds from various villages still corral their different flocks in public fenced-in pastures where they share a single pen overnight. In the morning, each shepherd calls out to their specific flock, and only their sheep will get up and follow them out. The rest of the sheep don\u2019t even look up or respond.Because flock sizes are large and the well-being of the flockrequires absolute trust, sheep form a deep bond with their shepherds who raise, feed, and protect them. This means that if a stranger or a different shepherd tries to whistle or call out, the sheep will typically ignore them or even flee. In fact, Jesus refers to this arrangement in John 10:3-5, \u201cTo him [the shepherd of the sheep] the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheep are not driven like cattle. They are led and actually follow. They have an intimate relationship with the shepherd. They are so familiar with the shepherd\u2019s voice that they recognize his face, his whistles and other noises, even his words and how he speaks to them! They know him as protector, guide, and rescuer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years on the roadside, we have been accused of being dumb sheep who blindly follow. Is that true? Absolutely not! Why not? Let\u2019s end this where we began, with John 10:27, and apply it to people! Specifically, the followers of Jesus! The ones He was referring to in the verse, \u201cMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u201d Why? Because the sheep know who He is. They belong to Him. They recognize Him by the sound of His voice and they trust Him. One thing we hear all the time is, \u201cBut I can\u2019t hear His voice!\u201d But\u2026you can! Tune in next week to learn how!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Emil Liko 7\/31\/26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u00a0I\u2019m addressing sheep\u00a0misinformation!\u00a0Sheep and shepherds play a big role in the Bible. Most people are familiar with the\u00a023rd\u00a0Psalm\u00a0which\u00a0begins, \u201cThe Lord is my Shepherd,\u201d and for believers in Jesus, He IS the Great Shepherd. Jesus Himself calls\u00a0His followers\u00a0His sheep and says about us in\u00a0John 10:27, \u201cMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they … Continue reading My Sheep Know My Voice<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3318"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3320,"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions\/3320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bwbministries.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}