This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit series.
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We would understand...
Ezekiel chapter 34, beginning at verse 1.
And the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the
shepherds of Israel.
Prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to
the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves.
Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
You eat the fat, and you clothe you
with the wool.
You kill them that are fed, but you
feed not the flock.
The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have
you healed that which was sick, neither have
you bound up that which was broken, neither
have you brought again that which was driven
away, neither have you sought that which was
lost, but with force and cruelty have you
ruled them.
And they were scattered because there is no
shepherd, and they became meat to all the
beasts of the field when they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and
upon every high hill.
Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the
face of the earth, and none did search
or seek after them.
Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the
Lord.
As I lived, saith the Lord God, surely
because my flock became a prey, and my
flock became meat to every beast of the
field, because there was no shepherd, neither did
my shepherds search for the flock, but the
shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock.
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of
the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am
against the shepherds, and I will require my
flock at their hands.
The shepherd
seeketh out his flock in the day that
he is among his sheep, that
which was sick, but I will just with
judgment.
Ezekiel describes these shepherds as shepherds who feed
themselves.
They would eat the fat, which means they
took the choices of the offerings for themselves,
and clothed themselves with the wool, but they
would feed not the flock.
These shepherds didn't possess the heart of God,
and because they didn't have the heart of
God, there was consequently no reproving and no
healing message.
The Scripture says, The disease, verse 4, you
have not strengthened, you have not healed that
which was sick, and neither have you bound
up that which was broken.
Neither have you brought again that which was
driven away, and you have not sought that
which was lost, but with force and cruelty
have you ruled them.
The sheep, because they had come under these
ministries, were scattered throughout all the mountains, and
became prey to every beast of the field.
Verse 5 and 6, it says, Because there
was no shepherd, they became meat to all
the beasts of the field.
My flock were scattered upon all the face
of the earth, and I did not seek
after them.
We are living in that kind of a
day.
There's a great spiritual dirt in the land,
and people are wandering all over the place
looking for the word of the Lord.
The letters we get from all over North
America of people seeking the word of God
and not being able to find it.
They say it's in prosperity.
Gospels of self, and where those things don't
exist, there's just an abject foolishness in the
house of God.
We had a dear precious couple in California,
and they were saying that where we are,
we are
because we're under the curse of God.
You see, this precious couple are in a
trial in their life, and people all around
them are, you're not rich, you're under a
curse because you're not prospering like we're prospering.
And little to these people in
a certain country, this airplane was heading to
a destination and through a very mountainous area,
and there were mountains on either side of
a particular corridor that the plane had to
pass through to come in.
Upon the approach to the airport in that
particular country, the plane suddenly veered into the
mountainous area, and according
to the reports, they'd forgotten
the gravity of their calling and the responsibility
that they had
at this time, knowing the treachery, knowing the
danger, irrespective of you've been there before or
not.
And I thought as I read this, in
the same way, it shows
a way that we can identify the likeness
about these men.
There's no soberness.
There's no seriousness about the warfare that we're
in and the high calling of God that's
upon their lives.
And you can identify them by their likeness.
In Jeremiah 23, verse 29, the Lord says,
Is not a rock in pieces?
And do
tell them, and cause people
at all, saith the Lord.
By their likeness, Christ.
That has
to have a constant reproving word and be
brought back continuously in line with the heart
and the mind of God.
I'm dumbfounded at the likeness by which they
can talk about current events and things in
the world and just, there's no sense.
I say, I saw one time a documentary
by a man called Peter Jennings.
Somebody gave me a tape of it.
It was called In the Name of God.
It was of a certain organization that we're
meeting and trying to determine some kind of
doctrinal structure for their organization.
And I watched it in absolute disbelief at
the likeness of these men.
Consequently, they will give a false peace and
a false assurance to the people, even while
they are leading them.
The investigation of this plane crash revealed that
these pilots had failed to respond to the
approach instructions that were given to them by
the control tower.
The control tower was calling, but they didn't
respond.
I believe it's three times the control tower
called and said, you know, respond.
They were trying to tell them, you are
passing a certain area.
You're entering a danger zone.
In the same way, dangerous shepherds are not
shut in with God to seek
God.
You don't have to shut in with God.
Their likeness and treachery, they're not hearing from
the Lord.
Isn't it wonderful when you're flying on an
airplane, I know I like the reassurance when
I'm flying on a plane, to hear the
voice that says, this is your captain, we've
been in touch with the tower and we
have established our course for a safe landing.
If I was going to sit under any
ministry, I'd want to sit under a ministry
where a man or whoever it is stands
in the pulpit and says, I have been
shut in with God and I have a
word from the Lord.
God has, it's a serious, somber thing.
Or it can be a word of serious
admonition.
We're going to go through some rough waters,
better buckle in.
We're going through some turbulent air, but we're
going to get there because we've been in
touch with the tower, we've got our directions,
we've established our course and we're staying on
that course.
Thy word is a lamp for my feet
and a light for my path.
Hallelujah.
Dangerous shepherds have no reproving word from the
Lord.
In Jeremiah chapter 23 again, verse 18, the
Lord says, Who has stood in the counsel
of the Lord?
And who has perceived and heard his word?
Who has marked his word and heard it?
Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord has gone
forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind.
It shall fall grievously upon the head of
the wicked.
The anger of the Lord shall not return
till he hath executed, till he hath performed
the thoughts of his heart.
In the latter days you shall consider it
perfectly.
The Lord says in verse 21 in Jeremiah
23, I have not sent these prophets and
yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them and yet
they prophesied.
Now here's the mark of a man of
God.
But if they had stood in my counsel,
in other words, if they had been with
me, if they had been conversing with me
and caused my people to hear my words,
then they should have turned them from their
evil way and from the evil of their
doings.
They should have turned them.
This is what the Lord is saying.
They've gone.
They've prophesied.
They've spoken to the people.
But if they had been in my counsel,
if it's me they had been listening to,
if they were truly speaking on my behalf,
they would turn the people from the evil
of their ways.
Because brothers and sisters, it's sin that separates
man from God.
It's not the lack of money.
It's not the lack of self-esteem.
It's sin that separates man from God.
Hallelujah.
If I was going to sit in any
church, if I was not pastoring today and
I had to take my family into any
church, I would want to sit in a
church where a man was standing and bringing
the word of God, a reproving word, that
would cause me to have to examine my
heart and examine my life and make sure
Jesus speaks about the hireling, the man who
is not the true shepherd of God.
John chapter 10.
I'm going to be talking about the characteristics
of a shepherd but also the characteristics of
a hireling.
I remember when I used to have a
sheep farm, and I remember going one time
and visiting another friend who had sheep.
And I remember I got out of the
car and walked in and he had these
poor sheep.
They were dirty.
They were bug-infested, tick-infested, and they
were on this horrible pasture that they had
eaten it down as low as the carpet
that I'm standing on here right now.
There was nothing left.
These poor things were bleeding and pawing the
ground and looking for something to eat.
And, of course, when they get down that
low and there is no pasture, then they
start eating worms out of the ground.
They get full of parasites.
And I stood there dumbfounded.
I said, how can this man call himself
a shepherd and let these sheep get into
this kind of a condition?
You see, not all are true shepherds, and
that's the way it is in the body
of Christ.
Talking about the hireling in John chapter 10,
verse 11, Jesus said, I am the good
shepherd, and the good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep.
That's the characteristic of a good shepherd.
You know, Pastor David is a good shepherd.
I say that unreservedly.
I can say it tonight because he's not
here.
He'd be embarrassed if he was here if
I said that.
But he could hardly stand up this morning.
He could hardly literally breathe because of the
sickness in his physical body, and yet he
got up and came into the house of
the Lord today because he had a word
from the Lord.
He said, there's somebody there that just needs
to be encouraged today, and I need to
come and deliver that word.
That's what God put upon my heart.
The good shepherd gives his life for the
sheep.
He's not living for himself.
He's not living for his own comfort.
And verse 12, the hireling
sees the wolf coming.
You get a picture when you read this
that you think that the hireling just runs
away and leaves the flock.
No, that's not what happens.
It's not necessarily a physical running away.
The spiritual hireling leaves in his heart the
duty that God has given him to do
over that flock.
He sees the wolf coming, which is the
devil.
The devil comes to what?
To steal, to kill, and to destroy.
The wolf here represents the inroads of darkness
into the heart of an individual.
He can see it.
Even though he might be a hireling, he
still will see that the devil is sometimes
making inroads into the lives of some of
the people.
Or sometimes the enemy is coming and weaving
himself into the very fabric of an entire
church body.
The church is beginning to murmur.
The church is getting bitter and divided.
The enemy's coming and working and separating and
dividing.
He sees the wolf coming, but he doesn't
do anything about it.
He goes and hides in the closet.
You see, the true shepherd gives his life
for the sheep.
He loves them.
He will sacrifice his reputation.
He will lay aside all of the projects
of the church, even his own ones that
are dear to his heart.
He will even sacrifice the affection of the
sheep for him when he sees the wolf
coming.
Nothing else matters.
In his heart, he's saying, I've got to
get these sheep home.
God has put them under my hand, and
I've got to stand before God one day
and give an account of what I have
done with what he's entrusted to me.
I've got to get them home.
And so he'll stand and he'll preach in
a manner that will even cause people's noses
to get out of joint.
People will get mad at him, but he
doesn't care because there's something in his heart.
He wants to get the people home.
If you're sitting under that kind of ministry,
thank God with all of your hearts.
Thank God that you're not sitting in a
place where somebody stands and just butters you
up and makes you feel good in your
sin and sends you to hell.
It's not this way with the hireling.
The hireling will not give his life for
the sheep.
As long as the tithes are coming in,
as long as his personal empire is being
built, as long as the projects are going
forth, Jeremiah says it the best, he will
say still unto them that despise me, you
shall have peace.
And they say unto everyone that walks in
the imagination of his own heart, no evil
shall come upon you.
The unjust steward, the unjust, the hireling shepherd
will not bring a reproving word.
Brothers and sisters, oft times God will send
a reproving word into the heart of a
shepherd.
The Holy Spirit sees what's going on in
the flock and we don't necessarily always like
it.
We come into the barn and we've had
a rough week and we just want to
get fed.
We want our ears rubbed and we want
to feel good.
That's the natural tendency.
And that's what a lot of people are
doing this day.
They're heaping to themselves an abundance of teachers
desiring to have their ears tickled.
That's what the Scripture says.
They just want to come in and feel
good.
But a true shepherd, when he sees the
sheep come in the barn, sometimes some have
foot rot and that's got to be dealt
with right away because it'll spread through the
whole flock.
And it's a hard thing.
You've got to sometimes go into the feet
and cut them right down until blood's gushing
all over the place.
That sheep doesn't know what you're doing, but
if you don't do it as a shepherd,
it will die and be lame and it
will kill many others with it.
Sometimes sheep come in and they come up
to you and I just remember from my
own past and they look at you and
they're all so happy you're feeding them and
you look down and you see a parasite's
gotten in under their nose.
You've got to go and you're smiling at
them and they're smiling at you and you've
got to pull out the knife and sharpen
it and grab their head, sit them on
their rump and begin to dig in and
dig that thing out of the nose and
they're looking at you and the tears are
falling.
Why are you doing this to me?
It's the thoughts of the enemy the beast
is from the West.
The Lord says, My thoughts are not your
thoughts and my ways are not your ways.
And so God sends in the heart of
a shepherd a true reproving word.
It's not intended to condemn.
It's intended to heal.
It's intended to bring wholeness.
It's intended to get us on the destination
that we're going in.
Now go to Luke chapter 16.
I'll show you another characteristic of dangerous shepherds.
The parable of the unjust steward.
Luke chapter 16 verse 1.
And he said also unto his disciples, There
was a certain rich man which had a
steward.
The same was accused unto him that he
wasted his goods.
He called him and said unto him, How
is it that I hear this of thee?
Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou
mayest no longer be steward.
Then the steward said within himself, What shall
I do?
For my Lord takes away from me the
stewardship I cannot dig, and to beg I
am ashamed.
The stewardship that they may receive me into
their houses.
So he called every one of his Lord's
debtors to him and said to the first,
How much do you owe unto my Lord?
He said, A hundred measures of oil.
He said unto him, Take thy bill and
sit down quickly and write fifty.
Then he said to another, How much do
you owe?
He said, A hundred measures of wheat.
He said unto him, Take thy bill and
write four score.
And the Lord commended the unjust steward because
he had done wisely, for the children of
this world are in their generation wiser than
the children of light.
And I say unto you, Make yourselves friends
with the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you
fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
An unjust steward is somebody that God has
given authority over his house.
He sent him with the word.
He sent him to cause those that are
under the conviction of the Holy Ghost to
come into the fullness of Christ.
But here's what these dangerous shepherds do.
They themselves are not willing to pay the
price of walking with God.
And there's a deep, deep foreboding, I think,
in many of their hearts that God is
not with them.
And that's why they need these continual conferences
to reassure one another that indeed he's in
their midst.
And they go to those that the Holy
Spirit is convicting, and they take the word
right out of their hearts.
I remember one time I preached at a
conference.
I preached about the bankruptcy of religion that
has no heart for the poor, the bankruptcy
of relationship that won't even consider going to
the mission field.
I preached from Isaiah chapter 58 at this
certain convention and gave an altar call for
people to give everything that they have to
God, to be willing to take up their
cross and follow Christ, and to go with
him anywhere that he asks them to go.
And people got up.
It was a huge gathering.
They got up, and they came streaming from
all over the place.
Many of the people weeping and broken before
God.
They were crying out to the Lord, Lord,
anywhere you want to send me.
God, anything you want from my life.
It was a tender moment when people were
willing to give everything they had to God.
And then right after me, this unjust steward
got up, and he told the people, he
said, go back to your seats.
Everybody, go back to your seats.
Now, they're all weeping.
They're all under conviction.
He said, go back to your seats.
He said, now, God doesn't do that.
What's happening right now, he says, God doesn't
do that.
God doesn't make you cry.
God makes everybody happy.
And then he went on to tell the
people how that God's purpose is to make
everybody happy.
And the unjust steward says, how much do
you owe the Lord?
And that's exactly what's in this parable.
There'd be a man that'd come and say,
I feel, I feel with all my heart
that God's calling me to the mission field.
I feel that it's India.
I just can't shake it.
And the unjust steward would say, well, sit
down and write 50.
In other words, you don't have to go
that far.
You start a ministry right here in the
church, and you can work here, and we'll
get you involved in something in the church.
Grab a broom or get involved in one
of my projects.
Another man comes and says, I feel that
the Lord wants me to give all to
missions.
He says, oh, well, just sit down and
write half.
They tell the adulterers, don't worry.
You're not going to go into hell for
living in adultery.
And it just goes on and on and
on and on.
They sit, they say, enjoy the ride.
Sit back, take thy knees.
Then suddenly, suddenly, the people who trust in
their lives are scattered upon the mountaintops.
And I see that coming to North America.
Suddenly, suddenly, people are going to be scattered
all over the hills.
They're going to be scattered all over the
mountains looking for oil, seeking places where there
are people who have not based their life
and not based their foundation on self-esteem
and on riches and things of this nature.
But they have come to God.
They have found Christ.
They have embraced him with all of their
heart.
Thirdly, these pilots, they failed to employ the
instrumentation provided to guide the plane safely on
course.
It's an incredible thing.
This was the first time, I think, in
years that an airline actually felt to make
a public apology for the inexplainable lapses of
professionalism in the men that were flying this
plane.
There was instrumentation given to them called automatic
pilot, and that would have guided the plane
safely on its course.
Go back to the book of Zechariah right
before Malachi in the Old Testament.
Go Matthew, Malachi, Zechariah, chapter 11.
Talk again about dangerous shepherds.
Zechariah, chapter 11, verse 15.
And the Lord said unto me, Take unto
thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
For lo, I will raise up a shepherd
in the land.
Now, these are the instruments of a foolish
shepherd.
I'll raise up a shepherd in the land
which shall not visit those that be cut
off.
Neither shall seek the young one nor heal
that that is broken, nor feed that that
standeth still.
But he shall eat the flesh of the
fat and tear their claws in pieces.
Woe to the idle shepherd that leaves the
flock.
Now the sword shall be upon his arm
and upon his right eye.
His arm shall be clean dried up and
his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
Now what the Lord is saying about this
dangerous shepherd, his arm shall be dried up.
In other words, he has no personal strength
in the word of God.
He has no strength whatsoever.
All he has is just a show before
the people.
And his eye will be darkened, utterly darkened,
the scripture says.
We're living in the day when there are
shepherds all over North America and in the
western world that have absolutely no discernment anymore.
They don't know the difference between good and
evil.
They have lived in mixture for so long
that they can't bring a clear, they have
no strength in the word and they can't
bring a clear word of direction to the
body anymore.
They have no discernment anymore at all.
Could you imagine being on a, in a
plane and the pilot come on the intercom
and say, wasn't that a great wind that
just carried us?
We're not sure where we're going but we're
looking for another wind now.
And then you're flying along and oh, here
comes another one and off we go to
the left and wasn't that great and we're
not sure where we are now and oh,
here comes another wind.
It's, I wouldn't want to be on a
plane like that but there are very many
people that have no reservations at all about
being in a church like that.
Everything that comes along in the wind, they
pick it up because they have no direction
from God no matter what it is.
It can be absolute stupidity and foolishness.
They pick it up.
They, they go on healing tangents.
They go on discerning tangents.
They, they go on all kinds of tangents.
They get into prophesying tangents and then some
of the latest things that are happening, they
will, they just embrace everything and people are
wondering, that's why there's such confusion with so
many Christians saying, if these are men of
God then why are they embracing these things?
And what I suggest to you today is
that they might have been men of God
at one time but they don't have any
discernment anymore.
They don't know the difference between good and
evil.
When the pilots of this plane finally realized
that they were off course, they tried to
fly manually.
They tried to switch it to a manual
pilot but it was too late.
They had already missed the marker and the
manual pilot tried to turn the plane around
and when they saw that that was happening
they took it again and tried to control
it by their instincts and steered off again
to the right.
Then a voice warning came, a horn, a
voice sounded and said, terrain ahead, pull up.
Terrain ahead, pull up.
Have you heard that voice?
I hear the voice of God warning the
church throughout all of North America.
Those who have been looking to the things
of this world to satisfy.
Those who have been looking to riches, they've
been looking to self esteem, they've been looking
to manifestations, they've been looking to men, they've
been looking all over the place.
I hear a voice that says, lift up
your head for your redemption draws nigh.
I hear a voice that says, if you
be risen with Christ, seek those things that
are above and not below.
Lift up, terrain is ahead.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you.
I hear the voice of the Lord calling
again to His church.
Lift up your heads.
Look unto me.
David said, I will look unto the hills
from whence cometh my help.
Not the hill, but over the hill.
I will look for the one, the Holy
One of Israel.
I'm not going to look and there's such
a danger.
These dangerous shepherds have people's focus on the
things of the world.
They tell the people that you need to
be rich to be happy.
There are whole movements of thousands of people
that are sitting and listening to these lies
in the western world right as we sit
here tonight.
There are others that are telling them you
need greater self-esteem to, and that's why
Christ came to give you greater self-esteem.
Understand that what my Bible says you need
less of yourself and more of Christ.
We need more of Him and less of
ourselves.
We don't need the riches of this world.
The scripture says if riches increase set not
your heart upon it.
It's here one day, it's gone the next.
Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God.
Don't worry about what you're going to wear
or where you're going to sleep.
Don't be preoccupied with these things.
As a matter of fact Paul says in
1 Timothy those that preach these doctrines of
gain being godliness are destitute of the truth.
They're destitute.
They've lost.
They're dangerous shepherds.
They have no steady course.
Are you following?
There are people visiting today and people in
the future that are going to be listening
to this message on tape.
My exhortation to you is the question are
you following a ministry that seems to have
no steady direction?
Is it carried about in winds and leaping
on one track or tangent after another?
And if so you're under the ministry of
a dangerous shepherd.
No matter how polished or presented they are
the end result is that your life, your
family will end up scattered upon the mountains.
Ezekiel 34, 5 he says, and they were
scattered because there is no shepherd.
And they became meat to all the beasts
of the field and they were scattering.
There's a lot of talk about all kinds
of moves of God going on in the
world and some of them are genuine but
sad to say many of them today are
not and they're going to leave the people
scattered and absolutely destitute.
Now back in Ezekiel 34 there's a promise
of God for all who still want to
hear.
Ezekiel 34, 10 Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I am against the shepherds.
I will require my flock at their hand
and I will cause them to cease from
feeding the flock.
Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore.
I will deliver my flock from their mouth.
I see the delivering hand of God coming.
I hear a word coming from the Lord.
God's going to begin to raise up shepherds.
They're not necessarily known.
They're not men of renown.
They may be hidden in secret places all
over but God is going to leave Himself
with a testimony for all who still want
to hear.
The Lord is going to establish a word.
I will deliver my flock from their mouth
that they may not be meat for them.
For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I
even I will both search my sheep and
seek them out.
And that's what the Lord is doing even
this day.
As a shepherd seeks out his flock in
the day that he is among his sheep
that are scattered, so I will seek out
my sheep and will deliver them out of
all the places where they have been scattered
in the cloudy and the dark day.
The Lord, the good news of the gospel
for those who are caught in these kind
of ministries is that the Lord has provided
a parachute for them.
You can get off of these flights.
You can get out from under these leaderships.
And that parachute is called humility and repentance.
It comes from the heart that says, Father,
forgive me for following shepherds that cater to
the lusts of my own divided heart.
Brothers and sisters, and I speak to those
that are going to be hearing this message
in the future on tape, you wouldn't be
sitting under these ministries if you didn't have
a divided heart.
That's why you're there.
Your heart's divided.
Part of you wants the kingdom of God
and part of you wants the lust of
your own flesh.
Part of you wants the sacrifice of walking
with Christ and taking up your cross and
following Him.
And part of you wants to live in
ease.
The carnal nature is enmity against the things
of God.
The carnal nature does not want to die
to itself.
The carnal nature does not want to suffer
poverty and settle for the riches of knowing
that we have the treasure of Christ within
this earthen vessel.
The carnal nature wants to sit back, drink
a Diet Coke, and fly into heaven with
ease, singing the songs of Zion.
No thought of sacrifice.
No thought of giving anything up for the
kingdom of God.
No thought of saying, Lord, what's your will
for my life?
That's the carnal nature.
It would be interesting if we were able
to assemble all of the Western Church and
have two gigantic churches with two sermon boards
out front.
One is Pastor, I don't know what we
call him, Pastor Disaster, preaching on success and
prosperity, the way to eternal life.
And the other one would be Pastor Faithful,
sermon topic, you must die in order to
live under Christ.
It would be interesting to see where the
people would go.
It's sad to say in the Western world
the bulk of the people would go into
Pastor Disaster's church and end up scattered upon
the mountains.
And that's exactly what has happened.
They're following the lust of their own heart.
And if truly we have an undivided heart,
we would sit in these places and be
horrified.
People would sit and be horrified and say,
that's not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's not what I'm reading in this book.
That's not what God's been speaking to my
heart.
But it's because of a divided heart.
In the history of Israel, over and over
again, when the people's hearts became divided, God
allowed shepherds to be raised up.
He didn't send them.
He allowed them to be raised up.
They were shepherds that catered to the lust
of the heart of the people.
They came in and fleeced the flock, built
their own kingdoms and projects, and subsequently left
them scattered upon the mountains.
Fed them a word of ease, a word
of compromise, a word that didn't even make
any sense.
In many churches now there's not even any
word anymore.
They've gotten down now to plays and skits.
I haven't seen these things and I don't
really ever want to see it unless the
Lord wants me to see it.
But I understand there's skits and plays now,
role acting in the house of the Lord
instead of a sermon on Sunday morning.
God help us.
We have sunk so far in North America.
My heart's cry is, Jesus, in this last
hour of time, raise up shepherds once again
after your own heart, like David, who came
out of nowhere in Israel.
Raise up men and women of God who
fear the Lord more than they fear the
faces of the people who have only one
project in mind and that's to get into
the kingdom of heaven and to be faithful
to the charge that God has committed unto
their hand.
Oh God, raise up shepherds once again that
will challenge the hearts of the people and
bring them into the true place of the
Lord's blessing.
Oh Father, it's got to be the cry,
forgive me for following these shepherds.
I want you to be my shepherd.
For those who cry this prayer, the Lord
says in Ezekiel 34, verse 13, I will
bring them out from the people.
I will gather them from the countries and
bring them to their own land.
I'll feed them upon the mountains of Israel
by the rivers and in all the inhabited
places of the country.
I will feed them in a good pasture
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall
their fold be and there they shall lie
in a good fold and in a fat
pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of
Israel.
I will feed my flock and I will
cause them to lie down saith the Lord
God.
I will seek that which was lost and
bring again that which was driven away.
I will bind up that which was broken.
I will strengthen that which was sick.
But I will destroy the fat and the
strong.
I will feed them with judgment.
Now how can you know that you're under
a ministry that has been ordained by God?
I'm going to show you.
Go to Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd.
David said.
If you truly are a child of God,
that's got to be the cry of your
heart.
Oh Lord, be my shepherd.
Oh Jesus, I don't want to be scattered
on the mountains when it's all over having
lived an illusion that somehow I was going
in the same direction as those that are
truly called by your name.
Jesus, I want you to be my shepherd.
David said it this way.
The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want I shall not want.
Many of these shepherds, they lead the people
by causing a continual longing, in particular for
the things of this world to be sold
in their hearts.
A longing, a longing, a wanting.
They're never satisfied.
They have to run to one convention after
another.
They have to give more to get more.
But in Jesus Christ, if Christ is my
shepherd, the longings of my heart shall be
filled.
There will be a continual revelation of Jesus.
Not of the things of the world, not
of some new scheme and plan, but a
continual revelation of Jesus.
That's what David said.
The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
The pastor who stands and has a word
from God will say to the people, Do
you have a need in your life?
Then you need Jesus to fill that need.
Do you have something wrong with your life
or your self-image or whatever the case
is?
Then you need Jesus to come in and
put that thing to death and fill the
gap.
There will be a continuous revelation of Jesus.
The book of the revelation, the last book
in the New Testament, is the book of
the revelation of Christ.
And when Jesus came, He spoke to the
church of the things that He appreciated about
them.
But the revelation of Christ will bring into
view those hidden areas of the heart and
enable God's people to lay them down and
to take up Christ and to embrace Him
like they once used to embrace the things
of the world.
There will be a continual revelation.
There will be a lifting up of Jesus
in that place.
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures.
David says in Psalm 119, I will run
the way of thy commandments when thou shalt
enlarge my heart.
Psalm 37, 3 says, Trust in the Lord
and do good, so shalt thou dwell in
the land and verily thou shalt be fed.
Psalm 34, verse 8 says, O taste and
see that the Lord is good.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
I know a sheep can't lie down until
it feels secure.
A sheep can't lie down until the needs
in its heart have begun to be met.
A sheep can't lie down until it's feasted
on good pasture.
If you're sitting in a place where the
Spirit of God is under a ministry ordained
of God, this book will be opened continuously
and good pasture will be given.
You'll be sent to eat up Matthew and
Mark and Luke and John and Acts, Romans
and First Corinthians, Ezekiel, Daniel, Psalms.
Oh, there'll be a banquet set before you.
He makes me to lie down in good
pasture.
And those who come and begin to develop
this understanding of the Word of the Lord
will say, How could I have lived on
that scarce pasture?
How could I have survived on somebody stepping
up?
And it's gotten to the point today, folks,
where they don't even read a scripture anymore.
Just get up and tell stories and even
worse, jokes, you know, in the house of
the Lord.
Get up and joke.
And there's no word of God anymore.
And the people that are going to come
out of this are going to say, How
could I have lived on that kind of
pasture?
Oh, God, thank you for your mercy.
Thank you for your mercy, Lord.
David said, He leads me beside the still
waters.
If Christ is there, peace.
Pastor David talked about it this morning.
Peace, the comforter comes into your life.
As we begin to surrender to God, as
we give Him our all and all and
open our lives and hearts to Him, the
peace of Christ, the comforter comes and the
peace of Christ comes into our lives.
John 14, 27, Jesus said, Peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you,
not like the world gives, give I unto
you.
It's a peace that says, Come what may,
the Lord is my shepherd.
Come what may, He's going to walk with
me.
Come what may, He's going to get me
home.
Come what may, He's going to keep me
intact.
He's going to give me strength against my
enemies.
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.
Hebrews 4, 11, The writer says, Let us
labor therefore to enter into that breast, lest
any man fall after the same example of
unbelief.
For the word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit and of the joints and marrow
and as a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
He restores my soul.
He not only brings in the oil, but
He brings in the knife too as well.
If the Lord is leading His shepherds, there
will be a knife, as I shared with
you earlier, come in and cut the bugs
out of your nose and take the rot
out of your feet and then pour in
the healing oil.
Hallelujah.
He restores my soul.
God's house is a place of restoration.
What did He say through Ezekiel?
I'll send shepherds and I will restore.
I will bind up the brokenhearted.
I will seek those that were lost.
I won't tell them some candy-coated story.
I won't say to them that despise me
it shall be well with you.
I will talk to them about their sin
and as they humble themselves before the Lord,
then they will come and I will restore.
I will heal them.
I will pour the oil of my presence
upon their lives.
They will rise up and say, this is
our God.
We have waited for Him.
This is our God.
And the Lord Himself will say, I'm the
Lord of the, these are my people.
David goes on to say, He leads me
in the path of righteousness for His name's
sake.
Proverbs 3, 11 and 12 says, My son,
despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither
be weary of His correction.
For whom the Lord loves, He corrects, even
as the Father, the Son, in whom He
delights.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for
His name's sake.
Be not like the horse or the mule,
the Scripture says, that have to be led
with a bitten bridle.
Come with a willing heart.
And say, Oh God, lead me in the
paths of righteousness.
Lord, I'm interested in getting to heaven.
I want to get home.
And no matter what you send across my
life, I know that nothing can happen unless
you allow it to happen in my life.
I know that all things work together for
good to those who love God and are
called according to His purposes.
Jesus Himself, in surrendering to the leading of
God, said unto Pilate, You could have no
power over me at all unless it were
given to you of my Father which is
in heaven.
Oh God, lead me in the paths of
righteousness.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord.
Whom the Lord loves, He chastens.
He chastens, even as a father to son
in whom He delights.
And that's my heart's cry.
It's been now for almost 18 years.
Oh God, lead me in paths of righteousness.
Lead me that way that you want me
to go.
I don't care what anybody else is saying.
I don't...
It doesn't matter where they're going.
Lord, You're my shepherd.
Lead me.
And oh God, set me in a place
where there are men who are following You.
Not following their own minds and not following
visions of their own hearts and not following
the trends of the day and not getting
their messages off of the internet.
But Lord God, they're hearing from You and
they're walking in paths of righteousness.
Lord, give me somebody to follow that I
can follow who will lead me in a
path of righteousness.
The Apostle Paul said to the early church,
Follow me as I follow Christ.
Hallelujah.
Then he says, Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
When you're in the house of the Lord
under the ministry of shepherds of God, there's
an assurance of protection and comfort that comes
to you.
You had that so evidently this morning.
An assurance that through your trial you're not
alone.
The Lord says, When you walk through the
fire, I'll be with you.
When you walk through the water, I'll go
with you.
It is written in the book of Hebrews,
I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you.
Proverbs says, There's a friend that sticks closer
than a brother.
Jesus will always be there if your heart's
towards Him.
When you go through the valley, you don't
have to be afraid.
There are valleys in every one of our
lives.
I pity the poor people that are sitting
under ministries today where they're taught that if
you go through a valley you experience that
somehow you're under the disfavor of the curse
of God.
What an absolute lie.
Oh no.
On the contrary, it's an opportunity to see
the faithfulness of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
When you walk through the valley, you're not
going alone.
And David uses the word through.
I like that word through.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, not into with no
exit but through.
I'm going in and I'm going through.
I'm coming out the other side because God
is with me.
There are dangerous shepherds all over the western
world now that are telling the people that
there's nothing ahead of us but peace and
prosperity and good and wonderful days.
There are others that are saying that the
church is going to rise up and conquer
the world and then Christ can come back.
I feel so sorry for the people under
their ministries because the Bible says that everything
that can be shaken is about to be
shaken.
The earth is going to reel to and
throw like a drunkard and not be able
to rise again.
The Bible says men's hearts are going to
fail and for fear of the things that
are falling upon the earth.
The Bible says there's going to be an
increase in plagues.
There's going to be an increase in distress
among nations.
There's going to be an increase in wars
and famines throughout the whole world.
But the Bible says in the midst of
it all there's going to be a righteous,
holy remnant bride that's going to rise up
in the midst of it.
Hallelujah.
This bride is not looking to the things
of the world to satisfy.
This bride is looking up unto Him.
But I feel so sad for those that
are sitting under the ministries that have their
focus on the things of the earth because
when everything begins to be shaken it's going
to happen just like it says in the
Gospel of John.
They're going to run around with no oil.
That oil is the presence of Christ.
That oil comes from having sat under His
Word.
That oil comes from a repentant heart.
That oil comes out of deep abiding relationship
in Jesus Christ to the power of the
Holy Ghost.
That oil comes through having a vessel that's
consecrated to the purposes and plans of God.
That oil comes out of a personal Gethsemane
experience.
That oil comes out of coming to a
place of saying, not my will but Thine.
That oil comes out of saying, Lord, I
count it a privilege to suffer the reproach
of this world.
I count it but done that I may
win Christ.
That oil comes from saying, Lord, whatever Your
cross is for me, whatever pathway You have
for my life, oh God, be my shepherd
and lead me and I'll walk with You,
Lord.
If it's through good times, I'll walk.
If it's through hard times, I'll walk.
I won't question You, God.
I will walk with You.
Lord, I know I'm in the palm of
Your hand and You said, nobody can take
me out of the palm of the Father's
hand.
Nobody can take me.
Hallelujah.
I will walk through it all.
Hallelujah.
And come out the other side in absolute
victory, not in my own strength, not having
looked at the things of this world, but
Jesus having looked to You.
Brothers and sisters, we need the oil of
Christ to get through the coming days.
Hard days are coming on all of the
western world.
The whole world is going to reel.
We need the oil of Jesus Christ and
it comes through surrendered lives.
Lives that say, Jesus, touch every area of
my heart that You want to touch.
Oh God, I won't hold back from You
and I know that You won't hold back
from me.
What a relationship.
Hallelujah.
What a covenant relationship with the Holy God.
Hallelujah.
And almost lastly, David says, Thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of mine
enemies.
You anoint my head with oil and my
cup runs over.
Lunch time.
I was flying one time into Texas and
I had to take about six or seven
or five or six different flights.
I don't remember how many.
There was a lot of them anyway.
These little planes flying all over the place.
No, actually it wasn't Texas.
I'm sorry.
It was up in the Arctic.
I had to take all these little planes
and land in a town that I had
to get up and get in another one
and another one and it was these peanut
flights you call them.
I don't know if those are fly once
in a while.
They don't have a meal.
They just feed you peanuts and after a
day of eating peanuts I told the stewardess
she came down I said, what's for lunch?
She said, peanuts.
I said, I've eaten so many peanuts today
I'm starting to feel like a flying squirrel.
But I want to tell you when you're
under the ministry of True Shepherds of God
these men will instill in you a love
and a hunger for the word of God.
They will sit you down when you come
into God's house to a banquet of the
word of God.
No peanut flights no peanut flights in God's
airline.
Hallelujah.
But you're sat down to Luke and John
and Acts and Romans and Corinthians and Psalms
and Nehemiah and all of the good books
like Ezra in the Bible.
Hallelujah.
Lunchtime.
You prepare a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies.
What do you think the table is?
It's the word of the Lord in the
presence of mine enemies.
God opened the word to us today and
I believe that many of the enemies of
darkness have been scattered.
The powers of hell have been discomfited that
were against many of your lives.
You may not even understand it but you
embraced the word of God.
You came and you were fed and maybe
the devil was preparing a lie and a
crafty type thing against your life or your
family and you embraced the word of God.
God prepares a table in the presence of
your enemies.
You anointed your head with oil.
That's the anointing of the spirit of God
as you surrender to the word of God.
My cup runs over.
Hallelujah.
Truth is in my inward parts.
Christ is on the throne of my heart.
My cup runs over.
And then David says lastly, surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of
my life and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.
David is saying I will arrive safely home
between the mountains, between all the difficulties, all
the snares and traps that the enemy has
laid for my life.
If the Lord is my shepherd, I will
land, I will dwell in the house of
God forever.
And maybe you can say...
This is the conclusion of the tape.
you