We are in the end
time, our beloved Lord Jesus will return, I invite you
to reflect on the
word of God, and prepare
ourselves as
the faithful church of Jesus Christ, with the aim of
being saved from the
hour of trial. On this occasion we will talk about a true shepherd.
Jesus said:
John
10:11 I am the good
shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep.
12
But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own
the sheep are not,
seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and
the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep.
13
The hireling fleeth,
because he is an
hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
Our Lord Jesus
is the good Shepherd he gave his life for us, Jesus did
not run away from
difficulties, he humbled himself, suffered and died on a cross
to save us, Jesus paid
the price for our sins and rose
again, giving us victory and eternal life, he is the good
shepherd.
Completely different
are those who serve God for money, fame
or power, they do not give their lives for their sheep,
they do not care
about the sheep, they
think of
themselves, their needs and desires because they are
hirelings.
The
apostle Paul obeys and imitates his Lord Jesus (the Chief Shepherd, 1
Peter 5:4), Paul also
loves the sheep. We will see
below that Paul writes to his disciple Timothy, from a Roman
prison, often living
in poverty and imprisoned for
preaching the gospel of Christ, and says:
2
Timothy 4:16 At my
first answer no man
stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that
it may not be laid
to their charge.
17
Notwithstanding the
Lord stood with me,
and strengthened me; that by me the
preaching might be fully known, and that all the
Gentiles might hear: and I
was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
18
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will
preserve me unto
his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Paul acts as a Shepherd and not as a hired hand, Paul does not serve
God for money, even in the worst moments when he is abandoned
by his brothers,
his sheep.
In addition, Paul
does not feel like a victim of circumstances, his trust
is in God's
faithfulness, manifested in the presence of Jesus, Paul loves
the sheep.
Paul learned that in moments of greatest difficulty and pain is when the
presence of Jesus
Christ becomes more tangible in our lives, and thus we
achieve greater
communion with God and know him better.
Paul's
permanent struggle is to fulfill the preaching of the gospel, for love of God and
love of the sheep, for which he
asks his disciple Timothy:
2
Timothy 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who
shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom;
2
Preach the word; be instant in season,
out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and
doctrine.
Paul's
great concern is
the great danger that is coming to the church, the great apostasy:
2
Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,
having
itching ears;
Remember that one of the
main signs of the end time is that before the
coming of our Lord
Jesus the apostasy will be manifested (2 Thessalonians 2:3),
and it consists of departing
from the
teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and teachings
will be preached
that do not produce repentance and change in people.
As
an example we can see the teaching of our
beloved Lord Jesus, who
says:
Luke
9: 23 And he said to them all, If any
man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take
up his cross daily,
and follow me.
24
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same
shall save it.
This
teaching is for all disciples of Jesus Christ, when you follow Jesus
you must lose your life for Jesus, that is, you
must give up your
life, give up your dreams, give up doing your will, and you
must be willing to
hear the word of God to obey God's will for your life. Jesus' sheep hear his voice, follow him and obey
him.
Taking up the cross is
synonymous with dying at your
will, just as it was in Paul's conversion, having an encounter
with Jesus, Paul
said to Jesus, what do
you want me to
do? (Acts 9:6), and this was the beginning of Paul's
obedience to the
gospel of Christ.
Unfortunately, given
the apostasy at present, in many Churches the opposite
is taught, the
doctrine of Self-realization is taught, that is, it is said
that God only wants to
fulfill your dreams,
your will, your desires, and as a result of this we have the church of Laodicea, a successful and
prosperous church in
its own strength, to which our Lord Jesus says:
Revelation
3:15I know thy
works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spue thee
out of my mouth.
17
Because thou sayest, I
am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Why is this happening?
First, this occurs
because teachers and pastors will teach according to their
own lusts. (2
Timothy 4:3)
Their
own lusts, refers to their own desires, that is, love for money, fame, human
recognition,
sex, etc. Due to the above, these spiritual
leaders will not place emphasis on loving Jesus, they
will not place
emphasis on sanctification,
obedience,
nor in the need to take
up the cross.
Many spiritual leaders love the World and turn to the things
of this world (2Ti
4:10)
We see this in some
false Prophets:
Micah 3:5 This is what
the Lord says: As for
the prophets who lead my people
astray, they proclaim ‘peace’ if they have something to
eat,but prepare to
wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them.
There are currently Prophets who do not really love Jesus, they only
prophesy out of
interest in temporary
things like fame, money or power. Do
not be fooled by Prophets who say that times of prosperity
or greatness are
coming, it is not true, we are in the end time, violence
will increase,
rebellion will increase, but God in his love, through these
difficulties, will
purify the church of Jesus, and furthermore, he will deliver
his faithful
church.
We also see this great apostasy in many Apostles, Pastors and Teachers, and
in current
spiritual leaders, as the Prophet
Zechariah prophesied:
(NIV)
Zechariah
11: 4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd
the flock marked for slaughter.
5
Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell
them say, ‘Praise the
Lord, I am rich!’ Their own
shepherds do not spare them.
God speaks of sheep marked for the slaughter, that is, believers who are on their way to eternal death,
because theirleaders do not correct them, they do not teach
them the word of
Jesus, these sheep are not united to the vine like branches, they are believers who do not they bear fruit and
are lost, their Shepherds
are only hirelings, they are interested in money, for
this reason, the
hirelings do not admonish their sheep, they do not want to
bother them, they do
not preach the need for repentance, change and consecration, as a result these sheep
do not order their
lives before God.
What does the Prophet
Zacharias do next?
Zechariah
11: 7 So I shepherded
the flock marked
for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock.
Then I took two
staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I
shepherded the flock.
8
In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them
These sheep
(lukewarm believers) are
also
responsible for their false conversion, because they love the false Shepherds and reject the true
Shepherds
(represented by Zacharias), these lukewarm believers do not want to be corrected, because they love
this world, and are
not willing to give up their own lives and desires for the
sake of Jesus.
As a
result of the rejection of the sheep, the prophet Zechariah says:
Zechariah
11:9 and said, “I will
not be your
shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish.
Let those who are
left eat one another’s flesh.”
10
Then I took my staff
called Favor and
broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the
nations.
The church in general
loves the things of this world,
as a consequence the
same church removes
God from their lives (you cannot serve two masters), and
as a consequence
the grace and
protection of God will
also be removed, we
will see this in
the coming years, with an increase in violence, war,
plagues, climatic
disasters and with the great economic crisis that will
bring hunger to this
world.
There is always hope, there will be a faithful remnant or church of Jesus
that will believe
and obey the words of
Jesus, that is
why the Prophet Zechariah
says:
Zechariah
11:11 It was revoked on that day, and so the
oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the
word of the Lord.
However, most current lukewarm
believers do not love
God, and do not want to convert and pay the price of
being Christians, so they
will finally betray Jesus for the
riches of this world, and they will sell Jesus just like
Judas did. Then
the Prophet Zechariah says:
Zechariah
11:12 I told them, “If you think it
best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
The true Shepherd who is
not a hired hand, who
only seeks that his sheep love Jesus
and obey him, will forgive and leave everything in God's
hands, and God will
judge his cause, as God tells
the Prophet:
Zechariah
11:13 And the Lord
said to me, “Throw it
to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued
me! So I took the
thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the
house of the Lord.
The
great Apostasy in the church will mean that God will judge
the rebellion of his
people, and also the wickedness of the world, as a consequence the
union and the grace of God will
be broken, and the protection of God will be lost, and
finally, God will
allow the Antichrist to rise,
which our Lord Jesus will defeat in his Second Coming:
Zechariah
11:14 Then I broke my
second staff
called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and
Israel.
15
Then the Lord said to me, “Take again the equipment of a
foolish shepherd.
16
For I am going to
raise up a shepherd
over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the
young, or heal the
injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the
choice sheep,
tearing off their hooves.
17
“Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the
sword strike his
arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his
right eye
totally blinded!”
You
are responsible for your spiritual life, seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that
God
provides you with a true Shepherd.
I
encourage you to order your life, whether you are a Sheep or a Shepherd,
Our God chose you to obey
Jesus, lose your life for him, you must sanctify yourself (the
Holy Spirit will
help you), you must
give God first place
in your life, and the grace of God in Jesus Christ will
strengthen you and you
will overcome. That is why the Bible says:
1
Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace unto you, and
peace, be multiplied.
Remember that only
the church of Philadelphia, that is, only
one of the seven churches received Jesus' promise to be
saved from the hour of
trial, because
they obeyed him.
Believing and keeping
the faith means obeying the
words of our Lord Jesus, loving him and giving him first place
in your life,
just as Paul did:
2
Timothy 4:7I
have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith:
8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
only, but unto all
them also that love his appearing.
If
you really love Jesus Christ and want him to keep you from
things to come, you will love Jesus and you will prepare, and you will make decisions
to turn away from
sin and to make sure that Jesus is your first love.
God
loves you, the grace of God is in Jesus. Our Lord Jesus wants to keep you from the hour of
trial. It is time to
wake up and
prepare.