WHOSE SHEEP ARE YOU?

Praise the Lord everybody, let everything that has breath praise His holy name! The Lord is truly moving in my life right now, showing me what's inside of me. God has put things in me, some things I did not even know were there, things needed for such a time as this.

These are perilous times for the body of Christ. God is preparing the Church for His son's coming, and He is preparing me so that I can do my part in the preparation.

Lately, God has been showing me that what King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, that there is "nothing new under the sun", is still true today. Today we have our own version of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and we also have another issue that Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians 1:10-13, and that is the confusion of men following other men or Pastors instead of Christ. Verses 10- 13 state 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now, this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

There are many so-called pastors and Church leaders out there preaching and teaching all kinds of doctrine and versions of the Gospel, one more charismatic and mesmerizing than the next. Saints are going around saying "I'm into Olstien", "I'm a Jakes man" or "I'm into Prince or Bernard" and so on. We have become consumers of style and soothing doctrine, instead of consumers of the Gospel of Christ. Paul said "follow me as I follow Christ"(1st Cor. 11:1) But we have become so attached to men that we have been remiss in our duty to make sure our leaders, our Pastors are doing just that, following Christ.

Jesus states in John 10:1-5   1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

    2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

  3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

 5 And a stranger will they not follow but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

 Our ears are becoming more and more out of tune with the voice of the "Good Shephard" because we have become distracted by the many voices of the world and our desires to keep the status quo, to not rock the boat or be seen as a "troublemaker" instead of taking measures to "right the ship" and get things back on the right path, using the guidelines given to us by God.  The Bible tells us in 2nd Timothy chapter about men "5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:" it tells us as a last resort "from such turn away." 2Peter 2:1 states 2 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

The Bible is full of scripture on false prophets and teachers, I'm sure they all started out on the right path but for whatever reason, they lost their way, whether it be from slackness in study or secret sin in their lives, we can not continue to follow them blindly into the abyss, that leads to our and their destruction just because we like their style, or because we've followed them for  years. Jesus tells us that HIS sheep know his voice and another they will not follow. It also tells us in Jeremiah 50:6 - My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place

We cannot allow ourselves to be led away by undershepherds who have forgotten their resting place, causing us to forget ours.

We have to ask ourselves "WHOSE SHEEP AM I?" If you are the sheep of God's pasture, then follow His voice and His word. If your Leader sounds like someone other than Christ and he refuses to get back in tune with Christ, do whatever you have to do to hear God again. Remember, HIS sheep will not follow another's voice.
       
                  God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall

DON'T PLUCK OUT YOUR EYE; JUST CUT OFF THE T.V.!!

Praise the Lord everybody! Let everything that has breath praise His holy name!! As the Lord continues to take me to another level in Him, it still amazes me to see Him at work in me. I'm constantly moaning about my need to spend more quality time with God, in His word, in prayer, and just walking with Him in the "cool of the day".(see my previous post)

My wife and I have about 13 weekly T.V. programs that we enjoy watching together. I DVR them so that we can enjoy them together at our leisure. As you can guess, after a while we begin to fall two and three weeks behind in some of our programs for one reason or another, leading us to have to try and cram in our shows whenever we find ourselves with a little free time. This, of course, causes us to spend less quality time with God.

Many times I have determined to cut down on my television watching only to break my vow to God. I enjoy "The Black List", "NCIS", "Law and Order SVU" and all the other Shows we have bonded over these past six years. The Word of God says that He is a "jealous" God, and I am feeling His jealousy burning against me whenever I spend extra time with the television rather than with Him. God's word tells us in
 Matthew 18:9 (KJV)
9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Now, I like having two eyes, so I went before God and prayed that it would not come to that. I asked God not to do anything rash because of my weakness and disobedience, and the Lord spoke back to me just as clear, "do not pluck out your eye my son, just turn off the T.V.". He made it sound so simple, and after I thought about it a bit, I realized it was just that simple in my case.

I realized that as much as I loved those shows, I loved the Lord even more. God knows the heart of man and He knows mine. God knows that I would trade in all my favorite shows just to spend some quality time in His presence. I know my wife would do the same thing. I know she would not be upset with me if we were to cut out some shows in order to spend more time before the Lord, together and separately.

So why do I find it so hard to do just that? God's word says in Galatians 5:19-25 (KJV)
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The answer to my earlier question is too much flesh! Television provides everything mentioned in verses 19 through 21, and my flesh wants to experience those things, but verses 22 to 25 speaks about the fruit of the spirit and the one I lack the most when it comes to watching television, is "temperance".

Temperance means 1. Abstinence from or moderation in drinking alcoholic beverages. See Synonyms for abstinence.
2. Moderation and self-restraint, as in behavior or expression.

My flesh is always trying to overthrow the spirit of God in me for control of my life. To me, temperance or self-control is one of the most important fruit of the spirit because without it the flesh would quite simply destroy us with all of its desires and lust. Flesh is on parade every Sunday in the body of Christ in America, we have jealousies, lust, pride, envy, and wrath, among other issues. The time is now for Us to live and walk in the spirit as God's word tells us to.
I for one have begun to take back control of how much time I spend watching T.V. and how much time I spend seeking God. Yes, I'm still going to watch SVU and NCIS, but not at God's expense. So no matter how far we fall behind in our shows, so be it. I'm keeping my eyes and just turning off my T.V. whenever He wants me to.
                    God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall