Jesus Gives Life Back: The Voice of the Shepherd

You may know this feeling. On the outside, everything says your life is going well. You go to church, you know your verses, you're saved, you love God. The indicator reads 100 percent. But inside, the battery won't hold a charge anymore. You feel empty, tired, out of breath, and you don't dare talk about it much.

In his message "Jesus Gives Life Back," pastor David Pothier opens the Gospel of John chapter 10 and points to a promise that is simple yet stunning: Jesus, the good shepherd, came so that his sheep would have life, and have it abundantly. Not a Christian survival running on fumes. A full, nourished, renewed life.

This article follows the thread of the sermon to help you identify what is draining you, recognize the voice that gives you life, and obey it when it whispers in the middle of the noise.

Outline of the Article

1. The Indicator at 100 Percent, the Battery Nearly Empty
2. Jesus, the Good Shepherd Who Gives Life by Speaking
3. The Thief Who Plants Other Voices
4. Why God's Voice Whispers
5. Hearing Is Not Enough, You Must Obey
6. Tracy Hips: When God's Voice Cuts Through the Noise
7. When You Feel Empty, Jesus Runs Toward You

1. The Indicator at 100 Percent, the Battery Nearly Empty

The pastor shares that he recently had to replace his iPad. Not because it stopped working. The screen turned on, the apps ran, the indicator showed 100 percent. The real problem was that between two sermons, the iPad would go dead. The battery could no longer hold its charge. The device looked full, but it was nearly empty.

This is a fitting picture of the Christian life. You can know God, sing at church, quote Scripture, and still go through your weeks running on empty. You read John 10:10, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly," and you answer "amen" under your breath, because deep down you couldn't honestly say you are living fully right now.

If this frustration speaks to you, you're in the right place. It's not a sign that your faith is dead. It's a sign that your soul is hungry for something other than what you're currently feeding it.

2. Jesus, the Good Shepherd Who Gives Life by Speaking

In John 10, Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd and as the door of the sheep. He explains exactly how he brings his sheep into life: "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. […] The sheep follow him, for they know his voice."

The way Jesus gives you life is not first by changing your circumstances. It is by making you hear his voice. Jesus himself said this when quoting Deuteronomy 8: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." You don't only need a paycheck, a house, a career, or a relationship. You need spiritual food. And that food is God speaking to you.

God still speaks. Hebrews 1 reminds us that "long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son." He hasn't stopped speaking. He speaks through his written Word, he speaks to your spirit by the Holy Spirit, he speaks through your local church. The question is not whether God speaks. The question is whether you are in a position to hear him.

3. The Thief Who Plants Other Voices

In that same passage, Jesus also speaks of a thief. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." There is a thief of life. If you don't understand how Jesus gives you life, you also won't understand how the enemy tries to steal it from you.

The thief cannot stop God from speaking. It is in God's very nature to speak; his Son is called "the Word." The only strategy left to the thief is to plant other voices in your mind to drown out the shepherd's voice.

The pastor names a few of them: the voice of disobedience, of self-deprecation, of "it's too late," of fear, of self-centeredness, of self-pity, of victimhood, of bitterness, of discouragement, of anxiety. You could add the daily noise to that list: notifications, social media, TV shows, pornography, politics, propaganda, the surrounding clamor. All these voices shout. And often, it feels like they shout far louder than the shepherd's voice.

4. Why God's Voice Whispers

The pastor shares a memory. He visits his youngest daughter Naya's kindergarten class. It's free play time: the children are shouting, laughing, running everywhere. The teacher, Mélanie, steps forward and introduces herself in a very soft voice. The pastor, who describes himself as someone who speaks loudly, thinks to himself that Mélanie will never manage to bring calm to this chaos.

Then Mélanie announces, still in her soft voice, that playtime is over. One by one, the children stop, put away the toys, and go sit in their places. The pastor admits he had to throw his judgment in the trash. Mélanie's soft voice had managed to cut through all the noise and reach every child's ear.

That day, he understood something important. God's voice doesn't whisper so that you won't hear it. It whispers because that's the only way to be heard in the middle of this world's noise. If you're reading this article today, it's probably because God's voice has already reached you once. It keeps on doing so.

5. Hearing Is Not Enough, You Must Obey

There's a trap to avoid here. It's not merely hearing God's voice that gives you life. It's hearing it and obeying it. The pastor points out that Deuteronomy 8 begins with: "You shall be careful to do the whole commandment that I command you today." Hearing it and putting it into practice go together.

The letter to the Hebrews repeats this like a refrain: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3:7, 3:15, 4:7). Hearing God's voice without obeying it is not neutral. It gradually hardens the heart.

The pastor tells the story of a young boy named Aaron, a pastor's son, who flatly refused to believe in God. One summer, at camp, Aaron gets angry, hits another child, and refuses to apologize. His father comes to pick him up. Before leaving, he asks him: "Is there a voice inside you telling you what you should do?" Aaron answers: yes, a voice is telling him to apologize. His father asks: "Whose voice do you think that is?" Aaron answers, "It's God's voice." Then he adds, with a mix of humor and stubbornness, "I hear God's voice, but I'm still not going to apologize."

The father then explains to his son a dangerous chain reaction: if you hear God's voice and don't obey it, your heart will harden. If your heart hardens, your ear will grow duller. If your ear grows duller, God's voice will seem quieter and quieter to you. And one day, you'll end up believing that God doesn't speak. Many people haven't stopped hearing because God went silent. They stopped listening, and their heart closed.

The good news is that this mechanism also works in reverse. When you treasure God's voice, your heart grows tender, your ear grows sharper, and you hear more and more clearly the one who gives you life.

6. Tracy Hips: When God's Voice Cuts Through the Noise

The pastor then tells the story of a man he met on a trip to Alabama, Tracy Hips. Tracy grew up in a poor family. In 1969, when segregation officially became illegal in the American South, he was part of one of the first small groups of white students integrated into an almost entirely Black school. Raised by a racist father, he himself became deeply racist, and was insulted, spat on, and beaten at school every day.

And yet he never missed a single day of school. Why? Because home was worse. His father, a military man, hated him and beat him daily. His mother, marked by severe mental health struggles, abused him. Tracy finished high school without knowing how to read, cheating on every exam. At seventeen, his father threw him out.

At nineteen, alone, in the small house he was renting, the same house where he had been abused, God's voice reached him. Tracy gave his life to Jesus Christ. He learned to read as an adult, went to Bible college, and later became a pastor who invested his life in tough neighborhoods. He runs an aid organization that gives out new furniture, appliances, and basic necessities to families in need.

But all his life, Tracy waits for one thing: for his father to apologize. Then for his mother to apologize. The apology never comes. Not from his father's deathbed. Not from his mother's mouth. One day, while reading his Bible, he hears God's voice tell him, "Tracy, I am your Father. I am your Father." That day, he picks up the phone, calls his father, and says, "Dad, I spent my whole life trying to earn your love and your approval. Today I'm telling you that I no longer need you to love me in order to be happy. I have a heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally."

Jesus's voice silenced the voices of the thief that had shouted at Tracy for years that he was nothing, that he would never make it, that he was good for nothing. That's what the shepherd's voice does for you too.

7. When You Feel Empty, Jesus Runs Toward You

Maybe your story has nothing to do with Tracy's. Maybe you're simply tired, stressed, anxious, without peace. You don't have life right now. You wake up in the morning and life isn't there. Pastor David Pothier insists: when you feel empty, Jesus doesn't run away from you. He runs toward you. He's just waiting for you to tell him, "Jesus, I feel empty. Jesus, I need to hear your voice to silence the voices of the thief."

The Christian life isn't about pretending everything is fine every hour of every day. It's about coming back to Jesus to be renewed, opening his Word, listening, obeying. The battery recharges at the source, not at spiritual fast-food joints.

Key Takeaways

• Jesus came so that his sheep would have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
• What gives you life is hearing the good shepherd's voice, not just staying busy for him.
• The thief cannot stop God from speaking; he can only plant other voices to drown out God's.
• God's voice whispers to cut through the noise, not to run away from you.
• Hearing without obeying hardens the heart; hearing and obeying renews life.

Personal Application

• On an honest scale, what is your spiritual battery level right now? What's draining it?
• Which voices of the thief come back most often in your head (self-deprecation, "it's too late," fear, bitterness, other)?
• Is there an area right now where you hear God's voice but resist obeying it?
• What moment in your week can you set aside to open the Bible, read, meditate, and let God speak to you personally?
• What heavenly Father do you need to turn to today, like Tracy Hips, to stop waiting for love elsewhere?

Verses Cited

• John 10:1-10 · Jesus, the door of the sheep and the good shepherd
• Deuteronomy 8:1,3 · Living by every word that comes from the mouth of God
• Hebrews 1:1-2 · God spoke by the prophets, then by the Son
• Hebrews 3:7,15 · Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts
• Hebrews 4:7,12 · The word of God is living and active
• Romans 6:23 · The wages of sin is death

FAQ

How can I recognize God's voice among all the other voices?

God's voice never contradicts his written Word. It doesn't put you down, flatter your ego, or push you to play the victim or look down on others. The more you read the Bible, the more you learn how God thinks, and the sharper your ear becomes at telling his voice apart from the thief's in your everyday life.

Does God still speak today?

Yes. Hebrews 1 affirms that God, who spoke long ago by the prophets, speaks to us today through his Son Jesus Christ. Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all believers. Every child of God can hear his voice, through the Bible, prayer, the church, and a conscience enlightened by the Spirit.

What should I do if my "spiritual battery" won't hold a charge?

Come back to the source. Open the Bible every day, even for a few minutes. Pray honestly, including about your exhaustion. Join a small group where you read the Word together. And simply tell Jesus, "I need to hear your voice to silence the voices of the thief." He runs toward those who cry out to him.