Transcript
Good morning, brethren. I was just across the hall in the restrooms prior to coming up here and had a brief exchange with one of the brethren who has kept the feast in Nigeria. I heard, I think, a festival greeting came from Mr. Poyi, and to just show the stark difference between what we have, in this blessed Western Israelitish nation versus some of our brethren in other countries, he told me that while he was at services there, that the power simply went out. But Mr. Poyi just pulled out a flashlight at the lectern without missing a beat and begins preaching with a flashlight.
It’s just... it’s extraordinary, some of the circumstances of God’s people, yet we all have the same spirit, we’re all pursuing the same goal, and we’ll all receive, excuse me, the same end result. Just found it inspiring and heard Mr. Poyi name and wanted to share that with you. Well, brethren, we are in what is definitely the most heated election of my lifetime, and I would venture to say almost certainly of anyone’s lifetime in this room. Whether you’re my age or whether you’re going to the seniors’ luncheon this afternoon, I believe it’s this afternoon. Just horrible, horrible division plaguing the country, and we’re, of course, what, three weeks away, a little under three weeks away from election day. May we not get there. But it reminded me of a quote that I once heard, and if I’ve shared this before, forgive me, but it tees the message up and it’s one of my favorites.
It was an Indian guru, one of these men of the East, wise types, who was explaining what democracy was. And he essentially said this in so many words, he said, and I’m going to give you my best Indian accent here, hopefully, hopefully, that’s not exclusively why you’ll laugh if you find it funny, but here it goes. He said, “Democracy basically means,” I’m going to mimic his cadence, too, “Democracy basically means government by the people, of the people, for the people. But the people are stupid, so, democracy is government by the stupid, of the stupid, for the stupid.”
Now that’s a lesser-known characterization of democracy. You’ve probably heard Winston Churchill, who was a democratic leader, one of the greatest democratic leaders in history, put it this way, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others.” You have monarchies where a family, who may abuse power, can get into power and just person after person through succession, they rule a country as essentially absolute dictators. Or you could just have run-of-the-mill dictators, your Hitlers, your Stalins, your Maos. And people suffer tremendously under them.
Some have heard Mr. Pack explain what Mr. Armstrong explained, or maybe you... many of you heard Mr. Armstrong say it yourselves. Mr. Armstrong said, “Government is everything, everything.” It’s at the heart of what we’re rehearsing here at the feast, what we’re looking forward to at the feast. Government is everything. Another way of putting that would be leadership is everything, as we set this message up. Turn if you would to Matthew twenty. Matthew chapter twenty. Occasionally, you have a wonderful democratic leader, as far as the world standards go, or a benevolent dictator, as I’ve heard it put, but by and large, that guru, he summed it up, didn’t he?
Matthew chapter twenty verse twenty. “Then came him, Jesus,” Matthew twenty, twenty. “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said to her, ‘What will you?’ And she said, grant that these two sons, these my two sons, very much a statement about leadership and power and authority here, that these my two sons may sit, one on your right hand, and the other on the left, in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, you know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
They said to him, we are able. And he said to them, you shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I’m baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left,” your position in this coming government that Christ came announcing, he said, “But to sit on my right hand, and on my left, it’s not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.” They thought they were being presumptuous, which looks like they were.
“They were moved with indignation, but Jesus called to them, and said, you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.” That’s the way the leaders of this world, particularly the lords of the Gentiles, as we might call them, function. Exercise dominion is to lord against, that is control or subjugate. Brutal rulers have plagued mankind down through the last 6,000 years. Exercise authority is to have or wield full privilege over.
Christ said, “But it shall not be so among you.” “This isn’t how we’re to rule,” he said. “But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” We’re talking, brethren, as we set this up, about authority. Authority. And how that authority is used by leaders. Not just the style of rulership, but the actual impact it has on the citizenry.
Luke nineteen, the Bible is a book about government, about leadership, about authority, because without the right leaders in place, without you, brethren in place in the near future, the world would continue on this path toward destruction. Luke nineteen verse eighteen. Excuse me, verse twelve. Luke nineteen twelve, “He said, therefore,” Christ, “certain noblemen went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.” Parable here about authority. “And he called his ten servants, and delivered to them ten pounds, and said to them, occupy till I come.
But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, we will not have this man to reign over us,” as good as that reign might have been. “And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.” Very familiar parable here. “Then came the first, saying, Lord, your pound has gained ten pounds. And he said to them, well, you, good servant: because you’ve been faithful in very little, have you authority over ten cities.” Rule over ten cities, govern ten cities, lead ten cities.
Authority there is exousia, familiar word. Privilege, capacity, force, competency, freedom, mastery, magistrate, relates to being superhuman, potentate, token of control, but it’s all in how that authority is wielded. If you look up just in the regular dictionary, Oxford here, authority is the power or right to give orders, make decisions, or enforce obedience. Very hard for government. Verse eighteen, “And the second came, saying, Lord, your pound has gained five pounds. And he said to him, be you over five cities.” Different efforts in this life translate into different rewards.
“And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is your pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: for I feared you, because you’re an austere man: you take up that you lay not down, and reap what you didn’t sow. And he said to him, out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down, and reaping what I did not sow: Wherefore then gave you not my money to the bank, that at my coming I might require my own with usury,” interest, “and he said to them that stood by, take from him the pound, and give it to him that has ten pounds.”
Give even more authority to the servant that has demonstrated his trustworthiness to govern. “(And they said to him, Lord, he has ten pounds.) But Christ said, For I say unto you, that unto everyone which has it shall be given; and from him that has not, even that he has shall be taken away from him, if he didn’t develop it. But those my enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me.” Cities, in this parable, will be a vital part of the coming government of God, the coming kingdom of God.
We’re in Destin, which is in Okaloosa County, which is in Florida, which is in the United States, which is a government within the world. The kingdom of God will probably be similar in terms of structure. Things will be organized, of course. These cities will comprise a greater government. Isaiah nine.
God is handpicking rulers for every rung of the ladder of this kingdom, if I could put it that way. Maybe that’s a poor analogy, but I think you understand. Isaiah nine, six, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end.” This government that we’re training to be a part of will never stop increasing.
How we wield authority, therefore, is absolutely critical. How we wield authority in that coming kingdom will be a direct reflection of whether or not we were able to wield correct authority in this life over our affairs. We’re not going to be perfect until we enter the God family, but we’re training to be rulers. God is looking, brethren, for individuals to make Isaiah nine possible, to make that increase of his government and peace possible. And He picked us. He chose us. He selected us, however difficult that might be to understand. If we profess to understand it, probably we need to humble ourselves.
But shocking that God would have handpicked us, who he largely calls the weak of the world, with exceptions, of course, but he handpicked us to do a mighty work, the mightiest work that will ever be done, the most important work that will ever be done. Bringing all humans that would receive it into his family. We’re the pioneers of that, He chose us. He’s made us kings and priests, it says in Revelation five, and we will reign on earth. Very familiar scripture. But I would say, and this is what we’re specifically going to talk about today, that rulers have to take it a step further.
The kinds of rulers God is looking for is revealed in our reward listed in Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two. The definition of rule here in Revelation chapter two will give us great insight into what God expects from us. What He wants from us as part of this coming great government. Revelation chapter two and verse twenty-five, I think this is to Thyatira here, “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come,” Christ said, “And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.” To him will I give rulership, to him will I give authority.
To him will I give the ability to replace these old leaders with new leadership that won’t rule as lords of the Gentiles, but will bring people what they need, what they want, even if they don’t understand what they want right now. “And he shall rule them,” those who overcome, “rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter, shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.” Now this rulership will involve authority to ensure that subjects are protected. A rod, a shepherd carries a staff, a shepherd’s crook, and a rod. The rod was often used to defend against wild animals or to help guide the sheep.
A rod of iron, a rod of absolute authority. God will only give that rod of absolute authority to tested, trained individuals, to people who are learning the kinds of things that we’re learning here at the feast, to us. “And I’ll give them the morning star.” Verse twenty-eight, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” to all the churches. Now rule there is a very simple word, and all it means in the Greek is to shepherd. We will shepherd the nations. That’s the lens through which we’re going to look at leadership today, to look at our part in the kingdom of God as leaders in the kingdom of God, as rulers in the kingdom of God.
To rule simply means there, to shepherd. We’re training to be God. We’re looking forward to being in the God family. But we could put it another way. We’re training to be shepherds under the ultimate shepherd. If you’re like me, if you’ve been enduring a particularly hard trial, my mind will often, in those circumstances, wander to Psalm twenty-three. We think of God as the ultimate shepherd, but He wants us to become shepherds. We’re seeking to mimic him in every regard, but He’s seeking to reproduce us in every regard. Rather than just thinking of the Lord as my shepherd... we’ll turn to Psalm twenty-three.
Rather than just thinking of God as our shepherd, maybe we should look at Psalm twenty-three through the lens of learning how to shepherd, how we might have the ability to help people, how we might have the ability to change lives. Psalm twenty-three and verse one, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” David knew God would provide for his every need, just as we’re training to provide for every human being who’s ever lived. Their every need. “He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me to still waters.” He provides for us, just as we’ll provide for others.
“He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” As the ultimate shepherd, He ensures we’re taking the correct path. Well, that’s very much what we’re going to be doing, brethren. We’ll be guiding people gently. This, in a sense, could be seen as applying to us in the future. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.” Just as God comforts us through his shepherding, so will we comfort others. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”
David’s blessings abounded. We’re going to bless people. We’re going to give them what only God can give, all under God, of course, but as part of that apparatus. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” We could add, as a shepherd under that great shepherd. Brethren let’s drive home this point that God is the ultimate shepherd, that we’re seeking to mimic God as shepherds, that we’re in training to be a shepherd. We’re going to drive that point home, and then we’re going to ask a very central question that should frankly guide our thinking for however little time we have left.
An inspiring question that will guide our thinking in the remaining time we have. Psalm eighty, God is the ultimate shepherd.
He’s given us the example. We often think of God taking care of us, which He does, but part of him taking care of us is to teach us how we’ll take care of other people. It’s rather extraordinary to consider. Psalm eighty and verse one, “Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, you that lead Joseph like a flock; you that dwell between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause your face to shine; and we will be saved.”
The Shepherd of Israel. Isaiah chapter forty. Isaiah forty.
Isaiah forty and verse seven, “The grass withers, the flower fades: because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand forever. O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work shall be before him... and his work before him rather. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.
He’ll gather the lambs with his arm, he’ll care for those who need it and carry them in his bosom.” He’s not too big to stoop down and help any of us, and neither will we be too big to stoop down and help anyone that needs it in this coming kingdom that we’re looking forward to here at the Feast of Tabernacles, and frankly, every day of our lives. “He shall gently lead those that are with young.” Wow. That’s a stark contrast to a lot of the rulership that we see today, where it’s all about me and how I can advance myself and increase my personal wealth at the expense of the citizenry. No, He’ll gently lead those that are with young.
And it doesn’t matter that he’s all-powerful, as we see, He’s willing to do this. Verse twelve, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span?” This titanic being is willing to be gentle, is willing to stoop down and help. So must we. “And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,” like a little measuring cup, everything... all the dust that’s on earth, all the dirt, that’s how tiny it is to him. “And weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.” Like a little kitchen scale, weigh all the mountains of the earth.
Imagine if we could do that. To God, that’s nothing, yet he’s absolutely gentle at the same time. All-powerful but absolutely compassionate and willing to help anyone who’s in need if they’ll rely on him. “Who’s directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, has taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” Nobody. It’s a rhetorical question. “Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.
Behold, he takes up the isles... to take up the isles is a very little thing to him. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; they are counted to him as less than nothing and vanity.” Yet even though they’re nothing by comparison to him, He cares tremendously for each individual in those nations. He wants them to have what He has. He wants them to have what we’re training to receive. And the way He’s going to do that is by giving them shepherds that care.
Ezekiel chapter thirty-four. That rod that we’ll yield, the rod that Christ wields, I’m sure God has a rod also. I know there are some elements that are metaphorical and some that are literal, but that iron rod that God speaks of, He’s going to use it. Ezekiel thirty-four, “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.” Ezekiel thirty-four, one, “Prophesy and say unto them” He’s not happy with the shepherds that are currently in power, with the shepherds that are currently in name only, caring for his people.
And we could add, He’s not happy with any shepherds around the world. “Prophesy, and say unto them, thus says the Lord unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flock?” Should not those who rule care for those under them? “You that eat the flock, and you that clothe with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock. The diseased you have 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.”
Sounds like what God wants from shepherds, those who will care for, gingerly care for those who are in need. “That which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and cruelty have you ruled them.” The kind of rulership Christ warned against. “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 the mountains, and upon every high hill: yes, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.” ‘You that rule incorrectly. You that aren’t like me,’ God might say. “As I live, says 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 my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and not my flock. Therefore, O you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus says the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock.
Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth.” They should have been protecting my flock, but they were eating them. I’ll deliver my flock from their mouth, “that they may not be meat for them. For thus says the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” ‘I will be a shepherd to them,’ God says. “As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.”
And it’s not our purpose here to get into specific timing of different verses. We’re just looking at God as a shepherd. “And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. And I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they 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.” Think of Psalm twenty-three, “Says the Lord God.” I’ll give them rest.
“I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away. I’ll bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: I will destroy the fat and strong; and feed them with judgment.” And the way He’s going to do that is by appointing shepherds, you and I, brethren. Appointing shepherds who care. Christ was called the Great Shepherd. Excuse me, He was called the Good Shepherd in John ten, “I am the good shepherd,” he said. One of his more famous statements, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. So, we are training to be shepherds under shepherds, brethren.
For the balance of this message, focus on the question that I said we’d get to. As we focus on shepherding, we’ll focus on a specific question. Before we hammer down what is that question, this is simply designed, this message is designed to expand our minds about what God is calling us to. Thus profession of shepherd that He’s calling us to. So, we’ll get to the question in just a second, but first, Psalm one hundred and nineteen. God wants us thinking big, and there’s no better time to do it than at the Feast of Tabernacles.
He wants us focused on our future in the kingdom and what that will mean for every other person who’s ever lived. Psalm one hundred and nineteen, verse thirty-one, “I have stuck to your testimonies.” Psalm one hundred and nineteen, thirty-one. I still hear pages turning, so I’ll wait a second. “I’ve stuck to your testimonies: O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of your commandments, when you shall enlarge,” meaning broaden or open, “my heart.” King David asked God to open his heart. When we look at the scriptures, when we understand what God has planned for us, it can broaden, it can enlarge our hearts.
When we meditate on our awesome potential, our awesome future should expand our thinking. “Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep them unto the end.” So, we’ve already had our minds expanded a bit on our role as coming shepherds. What’s the question? The question I want to ask is very simple. We’re entering the God family. We’re going to be shepherds. Question I have for us, brethren, question I have for you, I ask the same of myself, is who will you shepherd? Because there are a lot of people who need help, increasingly so with each passing day. Who will you shepherd?
Governments have to have land, they have to have rulers, they have to have citizens, and laws. We focused on the rulers at the outset of this message. Now we’ll transition to the citizens. And it’s of course the law, that reliance on God that makes all this possible. But let’s shift our focus to the subjects. The citizens of the kingdom, if you will. The subjects of the kingdom. Mr. Burt, in the announcements, mentioned those in wheelchairs. This message formed in its origin when I saw something terrible several weeks ago.
I was with my wife at this kind of open-air flea market, and there is an indoor portion, and there was a section where they were selling Amish furniture, beautiful, beautiful furniture, and went over there briefly. And I noticed off to the side, there was a boy in a wheelchair, and he had a tube coming out of him, and it was attached to a funnel. And his mom, I guess it was his mom, was holding the funnel up and she was pouring like a Gatorade or a Powerade into the funnel so that he could drink some of this drink that maybe he wanted. And I don’t know if he communicated that want or she was just doing it, but wow. It left an impression.
I thought, “May God’s kingdom come.” That’s really all you can think in a situation like that. God, please, please fix this person. I wished I could do something about it then and there. So did my wife. Many of you have probably... all of you have probably experienced similar things, either in your personal lives or simply witnessed them in public, but I want to shepherd that boy. I want to give him a chance. I want him to be able to eat like normal. I want to help lead him to green pastures and by still waters where he doesn’t have to eat things or drink things through a little tube.
Who will you shepherd? That’s a handicapped person. That’s the first category we’ll look at, the handicapped person. There are some in this room. This is from the World Report on Disability, as summarized, I think, by Wikipedia here, some of the key findings. More than a billion persons in the world have some form of disability. This corresponds to about fifteen percent of the world’s population, fifteen percent of just living people, edging down through history, before you had certain medical advancements. We have brethren in this room who are doing much better this year than they were last, just due to medical advancements.
But medical advancements were few and far between when you go centuries and millennia back. Between a hundred and ten and a hundred and ninety million people have very significant difficulties in functioning. People with disabilities are more likely to be underemployed than non-disabled people. It’s not just that they’re living with this, it’s the resultant effects of living with these things. In Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, the employment rate of people with disabilities, forty-four percent, is slightly over half that for people without disabilities, seventy-five percent.
People with disabilities often do not receive needed health care. Half of disabled people can’t afford health care, compared to a third of non-disabled people. People with disabilities are more than twice as likely to find health care providers’ skills inadequate. Nearly three times more likely to be denied health care. So, you’re in a terrible position, and because you’re in a terrible position, it’s even harder to get help than a normal person. And four times more likely to report being treated badly than non-disabled people.
Children with disabilities are less likely to attend school, education completion gaps are found across all age groups, and it goes on, and your last bullet here, people with disabilities experience increased dependency and restricted participation in their societies. Even in high-income countries, twenty to forty percent of people with disabilities lack the help they require to engage in everyday activities, something a lot of us just take for granted, just everyday activities. In the United States of America, seventy percent of adults with disabilities rely on family members and friends for assistance with daily activities.
Who will you shepherd? Will you be there to help that little boy? Will you be there to help the people in these statistics? Things are going to change dramatically. Turn to Malachi four. Oh, we long for it, don’t we, brethren? Malachi four. “For, behold, the day comes,” verse one, “that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”
Many verses speak of healing. Christ’s first-century ministry was a study in healing. This is just one verse we could have turned to. People will be healed. Those disabilities will be a thing of the past. Maybe God will have us play a part in those healings. Could you imagine? Maybe you’ve lived with a chronically disabled family member. I’m sure you’d be one who would want to personally intervene in that situation. I can’t speak for God on that, but I can only imagine that would be a desire of our heart in this life. Would we not be used in some capacity to bring that relief?
“The Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall,” healthy, prosperous. Imagine shepherding someone who’s never walked or going for a walk with somebody who’s never walked before. Imagine shepherding someone who’s never seen a sunset? Let our minds roll. Who will you shepherd? Who will you shepherd? Maybe someone who’s never heard music before, or the sound of a human voice, the sound of anything. Who will you shepherd? What about... speaking of general categories here. You can come up with your own categories.
You’ll have some that are very personal to you. I’ve got some that are very personal to me. What about the hungry child? Hungry child. I haven’t been touched by hunger. I grew up in America. But I’ve got an aunt who died in her infancy due to malnutrition. Sometimes my thoughts turn to her when I think about hungry children, children who go to bed hungry, or sometimes don’t wake up because they were too hungry. I want to shepherd those. I know you do too, brethren. I looked this up in relation to my aunt. I think I looked it up before considering my aunt, but I did in fact.
If a child is not getting enough food, this is a Quora question from the question-and-answer site Quora. “If a child is not getting enough food, will they stop growing?” A person asked. Children who don’t consume enough calories can’t gain weight in a healthy way, which can lead to stunted growth and delayed cognitive and emotional development. Children tend to have lower achievement scores. It’s not just that they’re hungry, it ruins their whole life. Even if they begin to recover, even if they get more food down the line, and are more likely to repeat a grade than their peers who get enough calories.
Here in the West, we worry about eating too many calories. When the sad tale is, the bigger problem... I mean, eating too many is a problem, but the bigger problem for great numbers is not having enough calories. Malnutrition can increase the children’s risk for disease due to a weakened immune system. The children are more likely to develop long-term health problems, including osteoporosis later in life and cardiovascular diseases. Weak bones and weak hearts just because they didn’t have someone who could give them enough to eat. I can assure you that when we’re shepherding children like this, they’ll have more than enough to eat.
I read an article early this is October second, from CNN, and it was titled, “Boy Seen Begging for Food Days Before He Starved to Death,” and I thought this is going to be a tale from a third world country, an underdeveloped place where they don’t have enough to eat, where malnutrition is the regular course of things, but it came out of San Antonio, Texas. And it reads as follows, a quote briefly from it. A child was seen begging for food days before he starved to death. The murder trial for such and such, accused of starving his four-year-old son to death in two thousand twenty-one, resumed Monday, with jurors shown new cell phone and home surveillance videos of the little boy begging and crying for food.
Heartbreaking video of four-year-old Benjamin, I won’t say his last name, just days before he died from what was ruled as starvation, was presented in court. The footage, taken from cell phones and surveillance cameras inside the apartment where Benjamin lived with his father, stepmother, and siblings, showed the boy pleading, “Dad, Dad, can I have bread?” Who will you shepherd? Will you be there to give bread to little Benjamin? Imagine him coming up, and that’s the last thing he remembers. That’s the last thing he remembers. Being starved in a room and saying, “Dad, Dad, can I have bread?” And then dying. Who will you shepherd?
Will you be there to create a good life for that little four-year-old boy, for Benjamin? Because we will literally provide food to Benjamin as shepherds. Psalm one hundred and forty-seven. As shepherds training under the ultimate shepherd, no one will go hungry on our watch, unless God is using it as a tool of punishment for his greater purpose, deeper in his plan, but no one will go hungry on our watch. They will have those green pastures. They’ll have that still water. Little Benjamin will get his piece of bread. Psalm one hundred and forty-seven and verse one, “Praise you the Lord: for it’s good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.”
He’s deserving of that. It’s fitting that we praise him. “The Lord does build up Jerusalem: he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken heart and binds up the wounds.” I’d say that little four-year-old who’s typical of so many has a broken heart. The people in this world who were charged with caring for him, who were charged with something as basic as meeting his caloric needs for the day in a Western nation where there’s an abundance, an overabundance of food. They didn’t care about him. He has a broken heart.
“He binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. The Lord lifts up the meek: and casts down the wicked to the ground.” The meek, there, is the depressed in mind, circumstances; or the needy. Too many people find themselves in that frame of mind or in those physical circumstances. Who will you shepherd? Who are you looking forward to shepherding? Verse seven, “Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains.
He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” He gives food to the birds as a shepherd. How much more will he give food to those made in his image as the shepherd of Israel, as the shepherd over all shepherds, which include us? “He delights not in the strength of the horse: he takes not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” In those that are willing to listen to him now, in those that are willing to come to a feast designed to learn that fear of the Lord, so that we can export his way to others.
So that we can change lives just as our lives have been changed. And frankly, change lives in even greater and even more dramatic need of change than our own. “The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him, and those that hope in his mercy. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest of wheat.” Little Benjamin isn’t just going to get a slice of Wonder Bread or whatever was occasionally tossed into his room.
Little Benjamin is going to be filled with the finest of wheat. He’s going to ask you or I for bread, and he’s going to get sustenance. He’s going to get someone who cares about him. I couldn’t fathom to see him go hungry, let alone go hungry to the point where he starves to death locked in a room in Texas. Who will you shepherd? Related to this, broken families. Next category we’ll look at, broken families. This comes from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. And it simply speaks of children who experience divorce in the home. Pretty run-of-the-mill now. I mean, I come from a divorced household. My wife does.
Many of you have probably been divorced or come from a divorced household. This side of the kingdom, sometimes there’s abuse or circumstances that make it necessary, but children suffer as a result. One out of every two marriages today ends in divorce. This came from 2017, and many divorcing families include children. Parents who are getting a divorce are frequently worried about the effect the divorce will have on their children. During this difficult period, parents may be preoccupied with their own problems but continue to be the most important people in their children’s lives.
While parents may be devastated or relieved by the divorce, children are invariably frightened and confused by the threat to their security. Some parents feel so hurt or overwhelmed by the divorce that they may turn to the child for comfort or direction. This can add to the pressure and stress a child is experiencing. Divorce can be misinterpreted by children unless parents tell them what is happening, how they’re involved and not involved, and what will happen to them. Children often believe they have caused conflict between their parents.
Many children assume the responsibility for bringing their parents back together, causing them additional stress. Vulnerability to both physical and mental illnesses can originate in the traumatic loss of one or both parents through divorce. With care and attention, however, and then this goes through some advice, some good, some bad, on how to handle a situation like that. But God never intended families to sever, Matthew nineteen. He never intended it be the case, and with shepherds in place, with shepherds teaching people the right dynamics within marriages, with shepherds ensuring couples can work through their problems. It won’t be so in the kingdom.
Matthew nineteen and verse four, Christ answered them, “Have you not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?” Something as fundamental as that is no longer understood in this upside-down world. They can’t discern even this basic distinction between male and female. How are they going to solve something more complex like the relationships between those two sexes? They can’t even distinguish the shepherds of Israel today; the shepherds of this world can’t even distinguish between the sexes. How can they be expected to heal rifts in families? How can they be expected to set couples off on a right foundation? Impossible.
“And he said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” They said to him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? He said unto them, “Moses because of the hardness of your heart suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”
I could add, in the kingdom it will not be so. There will not be broken families in the kingdom of God. It won’t even be permitted, because, coming back to our central thread, you and I will be shepherding those families. You and I will be caring for those families. Who will you shepherd? Children will no longer be subjected to these kinds of feelings. They’ll be given safe space.
We often hear that “safe places” term or whatever it is, some nonsense. Zechariah eight speaks of true safe places. Zechariah eight, this is how children should grow up. This is how children will grow up under the shepherds, the rulers. Remember, “To him that overcomes will I give the ability to shepherd the nations.” This is how children will function under you and I, brethren.
Zechariah eight, one of my favorite passages, Zechariah eight, verse one, “Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus says the Lord; I’m returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the Holy Mountain.
Thus says the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city,” maybe those are couples who are still human beings in the future, but this is what I wanted to focus on, “and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.”
They’ll have guarantors about who won’t permit anything to befall them, even inside their own homes, who won’t permit them to be subject to fractured families. What about war-torn people? War-torn people. We’ll ask the question; will you help shepherd them? Who will you shepherd? War-torn people. I’ve got a lot of family in Lebanon right now, a war-torn country. The Israelis are living in a war-torn country.
Even the Palestinians who don’t want a part of Hamas are living in a war-torn country. The Ukrainians are living in a war-torn country. The Russians are living in a war-torn country. The list could go on and on and on, regardless of who the aggressor is, people suffer. I took my wife to meet a man who was my supervisor at a grocery store I worked at early in life. I took her there relatively recently, within the last year, and I wanted to see if he still worked there, and he did.
I won’t give you his name, but he fought during the Bosnian War. He was, I believe, a Bosnian himself. Bitter hatred between the three sects involved there in the early ‘90s, mid-’90s. And I was asking him one day about what it was like to be in this war. There were people from different factions in the conflict working in that very store, and you could tell there was still some lingering tension. This would have been in the mid-2000s, I believe.
And I asked him what was it like? And he said, “Well, I’m editorializing this, but I didn’t want to fight. But the military came to my door one day, and they let me know I could either, join the army, or they’d kill my entire family right now.” So, he said, “So, I decided to enlist.” And he told me about some of the experiences he had. And he said that there were times during the war when we would receive a ration about the size of a tuna fish can each day.
This was a man, he’s probably six-seven, very tall man. And he received a tuna fish can worth of food each day for his service, and he said that there was water that was about five miles away we’d walk to get our water, where we were stationed. And I asked him about the combat he experienced, and he explained that, at a point, the killing was so... Became so mundane, we were unloading a cart, and he said, “Eventually, killing a person became as easy as unloading the truck here.” Just did what he had to do to survive.
God never designed human minds to reach those kinds of depths. I want to shepherd that man. I want to help him. I want to show him there’s a better way, where his rulers, his shepherds, wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. I’m sure names come to mind for you, people, specific people you want to shepherd. War will only get worse. I could read some statistics here, but they, basically, are summed up in the fact that, weapons will get more and more sophisticated, humans will become better and better at using them, but because they’ll be so sophisticated, it will be harder and harder to discern an actual victory in any given conflict due to the amount of carnage that’s wrought.
So, just the world is basically going to become a more dangerous place, is the military outlook. Look at the advancements in weaponry just from these recent conflicts. Who will you shepherd? Maybe citizens who were subject to some of these weapons, or soldiers who were forced to fight for their country, or soldiers who were forced to fight, and deeply regret their decision, and have just absolutely broken minds, because they weren’t designed to kill other people.
Remember, it’s not just the increase of government that’s going to be administered on this earth, it’s also the increase of peace. Now, we’ve focused a lot on children, so here’s another one. They’re the most vulnerable. Orphans, what about orphans? This comes from the Christian Alliance for Orphans. Every child deserves the nurture and protection of a stable family, but millions of children worldwide have lost one or both parents.
Millions more have been separated from prenatal care for reasons other than parental death. Children who lack consistent parental care are among the most vulnerable populations around the world. In some places, strong extended family networks can readily absorb orphaned children. In others, that historic safety net has been shredded. A host of other factors, from the strength of the local economy, to the prevalence of child exploitation, to the quality of public life, or public and private social surfaces, each can dramatically increase, or mitigate the vulnerability of children.
UNICEF estimates that there are one hundred and fifty million orphaned children worldwide and seventeen point six million double orphans, meaning they have no parents. But global orphan data inherently has limitations. Most global data estimates do not include the millions of children living in institutions, and on the streets. Victims of exploitation and trafficking are also underreported or not reported at all.
And they say that’s why we take great caution in how we present global statistics. Sweeping statistics reveal nothing about the distinct needs of individual children. Losing one or both parents increases a child’s statistical vulnerability greatly. But to seek the best outcome for each child, requires knowing much more than the orphan status alone. It requires someone who cares. It requires a shepherd who cares.
Who will you shepherd? We’re going to repair and unite families. Turn back to Malachi four. We read the beginning earlier; we’ll read the end now. Things are going to dramatically change for the better under our rulership. Verse four, we’ll teach this law, remember you the law of Moses, Malachi four, four, “My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming great and dreadful day of the Lord: And He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse,” there will no longer be orphans on our watch.
And even if down through time people do lose parents, well, God has made provisions for that also that we understand. We’ve all probably lost a parent, or grandparent if we’re old enough. One of my favorite scriptures that brings me comfort is Matthew chapter eight. It’s in Matthew chapter eight. Matthew eight verse five. Who do you want to reunite? What families do you want to see back together?
What children do you want to see reunited with their parents, or even grandchildren with grandparents? The very stuff of life, if I can put it that way. Who are you looking forward to helping? Who are you looking forward to shepherding? It’s a personal question for each of us. Matthew eight, five, “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, ‘Lord my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented,’” and Jesus said unto him, “I will come and heal him.”
And the centurion answered, he said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and another, come, and he comes; and to my servant, do this,’ and he does it.
When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said unto him that, “Under them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And this is the part that I cling to. I miss my grandfather. I miss my grandparents, and I know you do too. “And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with,” is Abraham sitting at one side of the globe and Isaac at another? No.
“And sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” You’ve got a father, a grandfather, and a grandson or a grandfather, a son, and a grandson, however you want to characterize it, sitting there together in the kingdom. That’s what we have to look forward to in our own lives, but also in those that we will be helping. But the mentally ill, you look out in the world, and virtually everyone has one of these problems, or is touched by one or multiple of these problems.
The mentally ill. We could talk about suicide victims who, “victim” might be the wrong term, but those who die by suicide, who just reach a point, yes, they shouldn’t do it, but they reach a point where they’re so desperate in life due to circumstances, maybe it’s financial, maybe it’s a relationship that ended, maybe it’s just general hopelessness, where they’re willing to take their own life, and in doing so, pull a hand grenade in the midst of the people who surround them. The aftermath.
They reach a point where they feel so dark that they’re willing to do that. Will we be there to shepherd them, to give them an abundant life? It’s one example of mental illness. I have a brother who’s so far gone that all he does is rocks, basically, all he does is rocks in a rocking chair. Not in front of the television, just rocks inside of a rocking chair for hours on end each day.
Whatever is going on in his mind that allows him that sort of detachment from reality, I don’t want to know. But it’s so bad that he literally rocks the shoes off of the rockers, they’ll disintegrate under him. My dad finally actually had at a welding shop, fabricated metal shoes that he can bolt on to a particular model of rocking chair that he regularly buys, so that the friction between the shoes of the chair, and the floor don’t just destroy these chairs every couple of months.
I mean, believe me, I’m looking forward to shepherding my brother. That’s an extreme example, but I ask, who will you shepherd? Unclean spirits will pass out of the land. Satan will ultimately be bound. The mental illness that comes from vexation, or possession, or from chemical imbalances from the trash food that children are given, or that we’re subjected to in this country.
I was talking to some brethren from Britain yesterday, and we were lamenting how in America, basically, the regulations are such that we’re not protected from things we don’t even know are going into our own body, whereas they have the sense overseas, their shepherds, if I could put it this way, at least, have the sense not to let known poisons into the mainstream diet. I cannot wait until mental illness is a thing of the past.
Isaiah sixty-five, as we begin to come to a close here, Isaiah sixty-five. More than one in five adults in the US have a mental illness, twenty percent, one out of every five people you encounter. One in twenty have serious mental illnesses, and it just keeps getting worse. Imagine if we did have more time, brethren. Oh, we’d literally be walking around in a society full of crazy people.
Isaiah sixty-five, verse seventeen, God says, “Behold, I create new heavens and new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for behold, I create Jerusalem are rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and my people, and in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.”
All these problems will go away ultimately. “There shall no more thence be an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they’ll plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the works of their hands.”
And the reason people will enjoy this kind of prosperity, the reason people will have this kind of chance, fair chance at a good life, fair chance at what we ultimately will receive, the reason they’ll have that opportunity is because shepherds, rulers, good shepherds, under the ultimate shepherds will be there to guide them every step of the way. “They won’t labor in vain, nor bring forth trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and the dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy and all my Holy Mountain, says the Lord.”
Why? Because we’ll help wipe away their tears. We’ll protect them. We’ll guide them. We’ll give them what they don’t even know they need. Speaking broadly of people, and any given rung of the salvation process. Romans eight. Romans eight and verse fourteen, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” It’s us now. The fact that we’re here keeping God’s Feast is a testament to our being led by him. We’re keeping his commanded assembly, learning about his way of life, so that we can bring it to others.
“For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, than heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
It’s hard to watch what’s going on, but we’re going to fix it under God. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope.” God let things get to where they are so that people would long for change, so that people would long for the change that He will bring through us, “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God,” or we could say, into the glorious liberty of the shepherds of God, “for we know that the whole creation groans and travails and pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit.”
Even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption, the sonship to, with the redemption of our bodies, because we want to be different, but we also want it to be different for everyone else. Final scripture here, First Peter five. Just one verse. Peter said, “When the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away.” So, we’ll end with the same question that we’ve been asking. When you receive a crown from the chief shepherd, when you receive authority as a shepherd yourself, with the ability to fix it all, to fix everything our eyes can see. Who will you shepherd?
Top
