Book of Common Prayer

¹² Children, I am writing to you because God has forgiven the wrong things you have done. Your wrong ways have been forgiven because of what Christ did.

¹³ Fathers, I am writing to you because you know the One who has lived from the beginning. Young men, I am writing to you because you have won the victory over the devil. Children, I write to you because you know Father God.

¹⁴ Fathers, I write to you because you know him, the one who has lived from the beginning. Young men, I write to you because you are strong. You believe God's word. You have won the victory over the devil.

¹⁵ Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, he does not love the Father.

¹⁶ Nothing in the world comes from the Father. I mean the wrong things people like to do with their bodies. I mean the things people see and want to have. I mean all the things people are proud of in this life. These things come from the world, not the Father.

¹⁷ And the world will go away and all the things in it that people like to do. But the person who does what God wants him to do will live for ever.

10 Then Jesus went on to say, `I tell you the truth. A person must get to the sheep through the door. Anyone who climbs over the wall to get in is a bad man and steals things. He has come to steal the sheep.

² But the man who comes in through the door, he is the one who takes care of the sheep.

³ The guard will open the door for him. The sheep will listen to him. He calls his own sheep by their names and leads them out.

⁴ When all his own sheep are out of the house, he goes ahead of them. The sheep come behind him because they know his voice.

⁵ They will not go after a stranger. They will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.'

⁶ Jesus told this story to the Pharisees, but they did not understand what he was trying to tell them.

⁷ So Jesus told them again. He said, `I tell you the truth. I am the door of the sheep house.

⁸ All those who came before me are bad people and steal things. They came to steal the sheep. But the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹ I am the door. Anyone who comes in through me will be saved. He will go in and out as he wants to, and will have food to eat.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal the sheep and to kill them and spoil them. I have come so that people may live and that they may enjoy life to the full.

¹¹ `I am the good shepherd. I am the one who really cares for the sheep. The good shepherd is willing to die to save his sheep.

¹² Some people work for pay. The one who does that is not the one who really cares. The sheep do not belong to him. When he sees a bad animal coming, he will leave the sheep and run away. He will let the animal take the sheep and make the sheep run away.

¹³ He does that because he is only working for pay and does not care what happens to the sheep.

¹⁴ `I am the good shepherd, the one who really cares for the sheep. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

¹⁵ So my Father knows me and I know him. I am willing to die to save the sheep.

¹⁶ `I have some other sheep which are not with these sheep. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice. Then all the sheep will be together and there will be one person who cares for all of them.

¹⁷ My Father loves me because I am willing to die. But when I die, I will live again.

¹⁸ No one kills me. I die only because I choose to die. I have power to die and I have power to live again. This is what my Father has told me to do.'