The Good Shepherd

I am the good SHEPHERD: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).   “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and ONE of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of THAT SHEEP, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:11-14).  What an encouraging truth!  Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  All Believers are the sheep of His fold.  Jesus is called the  “Good Shepherd” because He will not allow even ONE of His sheep to be lost.  The individuality of each person is respected with God.  You don’t hear much of this these days.  We often hear broad terms such as “mankind” and “humanity” used in religious teaching, resulting in a loss of feeling special as an individual to God.  Let me tell you, if you were the only person to have lived—Jesus would have died on the cross for you.  You are very special to God no matter who you are or what you may have done in your past.   “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the SHEPHERD and Bishop of your souls” (1st Peter 2:25).  The grace of God is all about forgiveness and moving forward for God.  Others may not forgive you but God always will because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses away all of your sins.  Jesus doesn’t say, “well, I made it with ninety-nine of My sheep, we won’t miss that one.”  No, no, no, ten thousand times no!  Jesus said He will NOT leave a single sheep behind, no not ONE.  As a matter of fact, Jesus said He would go back and search for the lost sheep until He finds it.  This is a wonderful truth teaching the eternal security of the Believer in Christ.  We are safe in the hands of Jesus!  
We read in Isaiah 53:6 that people are like sheep, “All we LIKE SHEEP have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”   People are like sheep!  Sheep are not known to be smart or cunning animals when it comes to safety; rather, they are susceptible and tend to wander away from the protection of the shepherd.  People tend to wander away from God, from everything that is right and holy.  People are easily swayed by the news media and by the politicians of our day.  It appears that many people tend to believe everything they hear over the TV set.  Quite a few folks have become lazy and have allowed a generation of rebels to tell them what to believe instead of making their own intelligent decisions.  Most of the silly polls which the media conducts end up somewhere near fifty percent.  Our nation is divided on nearly everything.  No wonder God likens humanity to sheep.  We are as puppets, so predictably unpredictable!  Society has reached the point of insanity.  Young people start smoking for any one of various goofy reasons and then spend a lifetime either destroying their health or trying to quit the addictive bad habit they foolishly started.  People filling their bodies with steroids and all kinds of body altering drugs to enhance their muscle size—all to impress others.  Look at all the artificial garbage in our foods.  Millions of children are deliberately and legally murdered through abortion, yet a woman goes to prison because she took drugs while pregnant and the baby died.  A grade school child is arrested for saying “I’ll kill you” to a classmate but the cartoons he see on TV are filled with such statements.   Our nation has become homophobic, uncertain anymore who’s queer and who’s normal.  Perverts and the hideous sins they commit are exalted on the hellivision by the greedy and ungodly broadcasting networks.  Illegal drugs are glorified by the performers in the music and movies which our young people emulate.  No wonder God calls us sheep, we’re destroying our own children in this nation.  Young people are literally the targets for every creep, pervert and greedy villain in society.  “...He was led AS A SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER; and like a lamb DUMB before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth” (Acts 8:32).   This Scripture speaks of Christ Who deliberately allowed Himself to be crucified.  However, the context is also clear that sheep are dumb!  So are ALL people apart from the salvation and knowledge of God.  We are idiots without God!  This nation is headed for the slaughter house.  So many of the achievements and accomplishments which mankind glorifies in is utter foolishness.  One guy won a contest and was put in the Guinness Book of Records for holding up a weight with his arm for five hours.  The flesh was tearing off his hand with blood dripping.  This is the insanity which Satan puts into the hearts of men.   Billions of dollars are spent on space exploration while millions of people are dying from starvation.  Legalized alcohol is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people each year and costs taxpayers billions in damages.  Where are our brains in this country?   Why is alcohol legal?  Because of the greed of evil men.  If you’ve never lost a loved one to alcohol, be quiet!  Ask the mother who just lost her son to beer what she thinks about alcohol?  I stood over the graves of a mother and her unborn son, killed by a drunk driver.  I saw the father’s tears and the children’s dismay that mommy was gone.  Don’t tell me about rights!  You can be arrested for possessing illegal fireworks, but not beer.  We outlaw fireworks!  We outlaw marijuana!  We outlaw pit bull dogs!  Why not alcohol?  Which kills more?  These evil beer companies tell people “don’t drink and drive.”  Question: If your intoxicated (out of your right mind), how do you prevent yourself from driving?  That’s a lie of the devil.  I’m so sick of hearing these hypocrites teach, “say no to drugs!”  But you can go get plastered on Jack Daniels or Old Style and that’s ok.  No sir, it’s not!  I say, “say no to beer too!”  It’s about time we started teaching this to our children.  While were at it, how about “saying NO to Madonna”, “say NO to Jerry Springer”, “say NO to Dennis Rodman” , “say NO to gambling casinos”, “say NO to Brittany Spears and other hussies”, “say NO to abortion”, “say NO to the queers”, “say NO to R-rated TV”, “say NO to pornography”, “say NO to Oprah Winfrey”, “say NO to cigarettes”, “say NO to the HIV bible and all these other imposter bibles”, “say NO to false religion”, “say NO to the soap operas, etc.”   I am not condoning being hateful in anyway.   I do NOT believe in being mean to ANYBODY.  This is what the enemies of God like to accuse God’s Children of.  There is NO hate in standing against the deeds and philosophies of the wicked.   This is the right thing to do.  Are you on God’s side or not?   We are to shine as lights in this old sin-cursed world, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of A CROOKED AND PERVERSE NATION, among whom ye shine as LIGHTS in the world” (Philippians 2:15).  Christians are to be harmless and to live decent, upright lives.  We are to stand up for what is right but NOT to hurt or deliberately be unkind to people.  By the way, Let’s say YES to Jesus!  It’s not enough just to teach kids to say “NO” to what’s wrong, we must teach them to say “YES” to what’s right.  Just as Jesus is the shepherd of every Believer; Likewise,  every parent is the shepherd of their own children.   Teach them in the Lord.