The wisdom of Forrest Gump says, "Life is like a rubber band; harder you go forward, harder you snap back. So do not make slip-ups." But we all make slip-ups at times, and many of us feel as if we are pulled back from any progress.
I'm excited that my favourite verse in the bible is the climax of the reading we have just heard. Isn't it wonderful that Jesus wants each one of us to experience "life in all its fulness"? But how can we find that, and overturn FG's wisdom?

1. Jesus warns us against false advice (v.8). Jesus warns in this passage against "thieves & robbers", who are only trying to profit by the leadership they give to others. The world is full of people offering us advice on how to live, often selling it to us at a high financial price. That's true of the cures offered to our woes by so many from advertisement executives to psychologists. "Look more beautiful, buy this new invention, eat better, exercise, meditate, take this holiday", and all the rest - we're all the time being told that there are things we can do to be happier. But these things do not speak to our inner self, they only massage the surface of our lives. Even most of the programmes that claim to speak to our inner being fail to bring us the kind of change which sets us free to be all we were meant to be. If we want to find fulness of life, we need to stop looking in the wrong places and following the wrong guides.
Where are you looking to find fulfilment? In your work, your family, your leisure activities, your retirement fund, your home, your friends.... These things may well have their place in life, but they can never bring us true fulfilment. If we make them the goal of our life, or our guiding lights we will be disappointed. We'll be robbed of life in all it's fulness.

2. Jesus claims to be the gate for the sheep (v.7). In Jesus' picture here, we are like sheep who need to be cared for, who need good pasture and leadership. He makes it clear that there is only one way to find that, which is through himself. That's what he means by saying he is the gate. Notice that he does not say that his teaching or example is the gate by which we can enter the sphere of fulness of life - it is he himself who is the gate for the sheep. It is only through a personal relationship with Jesus that we can become all we were meant to be. \\ v.9 "whoever enters through me will be saved."
I think this rings true in human experience - we are influenced by many things, but for the vast majority of us, we are most shaped by the people with whom we share our lives, especially those with whom we share the closest relationships. For good or ill it is our parents, our brothers & sisters, who most influenced us when young, and then our friends and teachers. Later our husband or wife, our children & our interaction with them, are the biggest shapers of our lives, and our friends, work colleagues, and other close contacts. For Christians, humanly it is our friends in Church who most shape our Christian understandings & lifestyle. Here incidentally we see underlined the potential of International Student Ministry, of which we have been reminded, and in which new opportunities may be opening for us as a Church. We need to examine the influences of other people on our lives, but above all we need to consider whether we are sharing with Jesus the kind of close relationship which allows him to share with us his abundant life, the eternal life which begins now & goes on for ever.

3. Jesus offers to supply us with all we need for abundant life. Jesus tells us that he wants to go ahead of us through life (v.4) to show us the best & safe ways to walk through life. He thus offers to be our leader, our example, our provider. With the background of Old Testament use of this image, for example in Psalm 23, Jesus' hearers knew he was offering to give them the spiritual food and drink they needed to nourish the spiritual side of their lives, and to be a leader of the best kind. This continues to be Jesus' offer to us and to all.

• We all need guidance for our lives in many situation - Jesus provides that.
• We need to understand how life should be lived - Jesus shows us.
• We have a spiritual side which needs feeding - Jesus gives the food we need.
• We need forgiveness and a relationship with God - only Jesus offers this.
• We search for peace, love, joy, and all the best qualities of life - only in Jesus can these deepest satisfactions be found.
• Indeed whatever we need for fulness of life is available in Jesus.
  Read the testimony of Edward Howell (Twelftree p.196)

4. Jesus asks us to play our part. How can we experience this fulness of life for ourselves? It is a free gift of God's undeserved goodness, his grace. But, as with any gift, we need to, to receive it. Here's Jesus' explanation:
v.3 "The sheep listen to his voice." We must accept Jesus as the one whose voice we will keep on listening to and obeying. This we can only do

• if we make it our positive habit to read the bible, where we read Jesus' words,
• if we pray, talking to him about what concerns us, and then being quiet enough to let him put his ideas into our minds in reply,
• if we meet with other Christians, including in worship like today, and listen to what they say seeking to hear if God has things to say to us through them.
  It takes time to get to know when it is God speaking to us in these ways, or when it's our own wishful thinking, or just other people giving their opinions! Are we listening & learning?

v.4 "His sheep follow him because they know his voice." We have to learn to obey, to follow, what Jesus communicates to us. Often he will only tell us the next thing we need to hear if we have acted on & responded to the last thing he communicated! We must commit to Jesus as our Lord, the one who has the right to tell us what to do, trusting that this will always be for our best.
v.5 "They will never follow a stranger." We have to learn to reject the false advice and temptations of other influences, indeed, Jesus adds, to run away from them. If we are caught up too much in our work, family, materialism or anything else, we will stop listening to Jesus' voice. So however good anything else may be, we must beware of it over-influencing us.

5. Jesus offers fulness of life. Jesus does not offer us anything we want, or an easy life, or wealth, or even happiness. But he does promise fulfilment if we learn to make his values our own. He fulfils the OT promise, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalms 37:4) Make Jesus the focus of your life and you will find fulfilment. "Jesus, be the Centre" should be our song & prayer.