NOT SOME FANCY WORLD LEADER!

PART ONE - THE MODEL OF THE CHIEF SHEPHERD

Whenever a world leader gets ready to travel, the protocols and advance teams  are a thing to behold.  For instance Queen of England travels with massive luggage, four different outfits per day; her press/publicity people; doctors; nurses; special dietary counsel  and  a whole lot more!

Whenever a modern US president travels either to a foreign trip or a fundraiser in Hollywood, the modus operandi is the same – forty limousines; fighter jets; C-130 transport planes; support staff etc etc. Both of these two highest profile world leaders’ travel costs their countries run sometimes into the 10’s of millions of dollars, depending on the length and distance of the travel.

When the Creator of all of this; the Creator of Life; the Creator of the Universe and galaxies outside of our own; the Ancient of Eternal Days….when He decided to come to the earth; coming off the Throne of Heaven, He had no sanitized hospital room; no heated blanket and no doctor or midlife to deliver Him. 

The real Commander in Chief of the Universe, the Lord of Hosts and Heaven’s Armies which cannot be defeated was not born into a religious family; a wealthy family or a famous family. The King of Heaven was not even revealed to the religious leaders of Jerusalem but rejects and outcasts whom those self-righteous priests did not even allow to come into the House of the Lord (the Temple). 

Jesus Christ, the Owner of All those Titles and He Who will overrule and judge kings, presidents, chief justices and all mankind with an iron rod, revealed Himself to create a new paradigm! This paradigm involved outcasts, the Shepherds of Bethlehem becoming under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd!

(CLICK HERE TO READ THE REVELATION OF THE SHEPHERDS OF BETHLEHEM AS THE FIRST PASTORS).

This could only make sense in the Awesome Mind of God! Why the Shepherds and not the Religious Temple trained Priest? Well, go back to Isaiah 53:  …”All we like sheep have gone astray”.  As smart as we think we are, we are dumb, single minded (with our heads down, instead of looking up) sheep in need of a shepherd. As we see from my previous post on the Shepherds of Bethlehem, these men were a different breed. 

The characteristics of a Judean shepherd were not very flattering.  The corrupt priests in the Temple in Jerusalem actually considered these shepherds dishonest; untrustworthy; unclean and just plain disgusting (and a lot, not all, were not nice people). They had to be kept out of the city, even though they provided all the lambs for the Temple Sacrifice, because of uncleanliness, under the Law of Moses. 

The Lord looked at these shepherds from the Gospels and saw people like you and I – unclean (yes) but with potential. These hardworking shepherds had to be on point 24/7/365. 

Sheep did not take Sunday morning off for coffee and donuts before singing three and out hymns, with an okay sermon and two pastoral prayers. Sheep were constantly getting stuck in the brush; falling down into creeks; getting attacked by wolves; or even stolen from their herds by renegades or robbers. If you look at the description of what these hard-working men had to do, you can almost say things are not much different in the church today!

These were  and are the qualities Jesus, One Third of the Triune God, looks at when choosing an under-shepherd to represent Him - The Chief Shepherd. These are the qualities of a man (and pastors are supposed to be men, in order to obey the Scriptures) who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and get in the trenches to help rescue the flock. In a sense these are the qualities of a man who is supposed to look like the King of All Eternity Who lowered Himself to be born in a dirty cold cave over 2000 years ago.

So what happened....at least in the West, where the Gospel was sent out to first, via Paul, Peter and John? How did the still in force concept of the "Poimenes" of Bethlehem (Shepherd-Pastor) become more celebrity... more CEO of a church... more manager of an uninspiring Sunday morning service which is meeting almost no one's Spiritual needs....more of an insulated form of royalty, not much different from those same priests which the Lord wanted nothing to do with on that cold Shepherd's field.

What happened to cause Chief Shepherd Jesus Christ's own under-shepherds to be viewed in a favorable light by less and less people each year?

NEXT: WHY ONLY 47% OF AMERICANS TRUST THE CLERGY/PASTORATE

THIRTY DAY PRAYER CHALLENGE - DAY 28

PRAY THE NAMES OF GOD

DAY 28
GOD IS THE HEAD


The head of anything moved the entire rest of the body...whether it is a physical body; an organization or a family. The tail can't wag the dog. The feet can't say to the hands "I don't need you".


Yet, many in the church act like they don't need the real Head of the Church - Jesus Christ!  American culture has made celebrities out of pastors and worship leaders. We have thousands, even tens of thousands following this TV preacher, buying his books/dvds or cds. Supporters of a well known multi-campus church preacher in the south got really mean with me, years ago, because I questioned something his pastor said in a video right here in this blogsite!


I was the Southern Baptist Convention in North Carolina in 2006 and saw another multi-campus Texas preacher with a least three bodyguards, signing books just like any other secular rock star author...and on and on. Some of the worship leaders and christian artists are no different than their secular music counterparts.

Being involved in organizing Christian concerts for many years, I refuse to be involved in anything which brings any more big name artists to our city. I would rather give a boost to local church musicians than the better known names...which I will not name.

What all these people have in common if they forgot one thing - Who the Head of the Church is! It is not Pastor Joe or John or Mike....or worship band leader Mark, or Sean or Jaimie. It is JESUS - the Christ. 


This is what the Word of God says about that: "And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all".(Ephesians 1:22-23 ESV)


The church is His. Father God set it up for His Son. He, as the Head, is the Good Shepherd. Any pastor of any church is an UNDER-shepherd and WILL be held accountable to God for every person who EVER sat in his church! He will be held accountable for all who were lost, while we were playing church.


But the Good news is that Jesus is our Mediator....meaning that He has paid the price for the church, at the Cross. 1 Timothy 2:5 says "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time".


As the Head Shepherd or Pastor, Jesus is the High Priest of Heaven! Hebrews 2:17 says "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people".


Colossians 1:18 also proves it "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent".


Therefore, Father, I thank You in the Name of Jesus that You ordained Christ as the High Priest of Heaven Who lives and ministers for the saint, forever before Your Throne!


I thank You that Jesus is our Advocate Who will stand for us before You on Judgment Day.

I thank You that Jesus is our Prayer Warrior, Who constantly prays for us before the Throne of God.


I thank You that Jesus is the Good Shepherd Who has leads us in worship, even when His under-shepherds - or our pastors - fall short. He does this through Holy Spirit Who directs us in the way we should.

I thank You that Jesus is still using many officers - prophets, evangelists and the sent-ones, to reach the lost around the World, so that He can return as He promised.

Father I pray for the church to fulfill the mission given it by Christ.


I pray for all pastors and leaders worldwide, who were called by you, or even if they are self-appointed, I pray they seek Your Face and blessing on their congregations and families always.


I pray for those who minister in hard to reach places. I pray for those who are persecuted in China, Africa and all moslem countries. I pray for those who minister in the inner cities of the western world and in increasingly restricted conditions here in the US and Canada.


Bless the Church oh Lord. I pray for us all who preach and teach the Gospel that it will reach hearts, minds and souls for Christ from here to the ends of the Earth...until He comes, in Jesus' Name, Amen!

TOMORROW: GOD IS INTERCESSOR

(image by google images)