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FROM LUTHERS PRAYERS:

My Lord Jesus Christ, you are indeed the only Shepherd, and I,sorry to say, am the lost and straying sheep. I am anxious and

afraid. Gladly would I be devout and cling to you, my graciousGod, and so have peace in my heart. I learn that you are asanxious for me as I am for you. I am eager to know how I cancome to you for help. Anxiously you desire above all else to

bring me back to yourself again. Then come to me. Seek andfind me. Help me also to come to you and praise and honor youforever. Amen.

The 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters,he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his names sake.

Even though I walk through thevalley of the shadow of death,

I shall fear no evil;for thou art with me;thy rod and thy staff,

they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before mein the presence of my enemies;thou anointest my head with oil,

my cup overflows.Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me

all the days of my life;and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

FOURTH SUNDAY

OF EASTER

God of all power, you called from death

our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of thesheep. Send us as shepherds to rescue

the lost, to heal the injured, and to feedone another with knowledge and

understanding; through your Son, JesusChrist our Lord, who lives and reignswith you and the Holy Spirit, one God,

now and forever.

GOSPEL: John 10: 11-18

(Jesus said): I am the good shepherd. The goodshepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired

hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the

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sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runsawayand the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not

care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know myown and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me

and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for thesheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason

the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to

take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay itdown of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and

I have power to take it up again. I have received thiscommand from my Father.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ?

I am the good shepherd.

John x. 14

These are comforting words, which set beforeour eyes a gracious picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, and

teach us what sort of a Person He is, what sort of work

He does, and how He is disposed towards men.And if you ask me whether Christ is saintly, I

answer without hesitation Yes, and I place Him like ashield before my own saintliness, and I trust in Him with

my whole heart. For I was baptized in Him and havereceived in the Gospel a letter and seal, that I am His

dear lamb, and that He is my good shepherd, who seeks

His lost lamb and deals with me in no legalistic way. Hedemands nothing of me, neither does He drive me on;

He does not threaten, neither does He frighten me, butHe shows me His sweet grace, and lowers Himself to

me, even beneath me, and takes me upon Himself, so

that I now lie on His back and carried by Him. Whythen should I be afraid at the quaking and thundering of

Moses or even of the devil? I am under the protection ofthe Man who has given me His saintliness and all that

He has, who supports me and upholds me that I cannotbe lost so long as I remain His lamb and do not doubt

Him or wilfully fall away from Him.

Sermons from the year 1532. W.A. 36. 296.

Taken from the book:

Day by Day We Magnify Thee by Martin Luther

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