Feed My Sheep: Prioritizing Teaching and Shepherding

Hear this church. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. By the way, whose sheep are they? He said, Jesus says, my sheep. Who do they belong to? They don't belong to Peter. You don't belong to me. You belong to Jesus. I'm an under shepherd of the great shepherd. Our elders are under shepherd of the of the great shepherd. This is important because you hear some pastors talk as if they own the church. I don't own the church. Jesus owns the church. He gave his life for the church. [01:18:09] (48 seconds)  #feedMySheep

the church is a flock that always needs nourishment in the truth and nothing else. That's what the church has got to be about. So Jesus is the great shepherd, we are the flock, he's the groom, we are the bride, but the church is a flock that needs nourishment in the truth. One of the things that I've learned in all my decades of studying Psalm chapter 23, the shepherd's psalm, is that sheep don't need constant entertainment. They don't need endless activity. They don't need impressive structures. [01:25:40] (44 seconds)  #nourishByScripture

Where you have strong teaching, you will have a strong church and where the feeding is weak, you will have a weak church. By the way, here's another illustration. Sometimes I get teased because I preach a long time. Sometimes I recognize it as teaching, and then sometimes I recognize it as, no, you don't like that. When it actually says something about you, not about me. What does it say about us that we can't for one hour out of the week sit under faithful proclamation of scripture that we can't handle that. [01:35:34] (42 seconds)  #strongTeachingStrongChurch

You need to hold whatever church you go to to the priority of what Jesus said, and that is the church is to be about teaching the truth and taking care of people, nourishing people, and being about that. The church is not about a platform. The church is not about prominence of the minister. The church is not about performance. That's why, you know, I've joked about it, we're not ever gonna have fog machines and crazy stuff in here. But the church is to be about tender care, nourishment in the truth, feeding people the truth, and shepherding people. [01:23:15] (52 seconds)  #truthOverPerformance

Jesus finds Peter on this day. Peter doesn't find Jesus on this day. Jesus shows up on the shore. They're fishing in the moment, supposed to be waiting. But what makes the difference begin to makes the difference in Peter's life is this, it is the pursuit of Jesus and the restoring work of Jesus. He's got to get Peter ready for what is coming. He can't leave Peter wallowing in the three huge mistakes that he has made. There needs to be a face to face conversation. A reconciliation needs to happen in a repurposing of Peter's life. [01:06:31] (45 seconds)  #pursuitAndRestoration

He wanted to make sure let me say this. This conversation that's about to happen, we're going to examine. He wanted to make sure that Peter would continue. He please hear this. If you have messed up your spiritual life and maybe nobody knows about it and maybe some people know about it, and you're wondering, can I move forward? I want you to hear what Jesus says to Peter and does with Peter. He wants to make sure in this instance that Peter would continue to run the race and fight the good fight. He doesn't wanna leave him, and God does not want to leave us wallowing in the mistakes and the mess that we've made in our lives. He wants a reconciliation, a recommissioning to what's real and to live that way. [01:10:13] (54 seconds)  #reconciliationAndRecommission

Do you know at the end of Jesus' life, everybody had abandoned him? Do you think he's a bad leader? No. So numbers aren't the criteria. If is is a church doing what's right? Do you know what's the criteria? Faithfulness. That's the key. It's faithfulness. I got two more. Members, this is one that is gonna apply to you. Members are sheep under care, not consumers. [01:31:21] (37 seconds)  #faithfulnessNotNumbers

Jesus informs Peter, the life of my people will always depend on being fed and cared for. Never move beyond that, Peter. Make that your priority. So on the shoreline that morning, in the morning light, Jesus defines for Peter what the church is to look like. How we doing this morning? You awake? If you're a student and you're a kid, you need to hear this. This is this is important. Because as you move forward in your life, some of us are gonna be leaving this world in in death, and you're gonna be the leader of the church. [01:22:27] (49 seconds)  #priorityFeedAndCare

``The health of the church rises and falls on the priority of strong gospel proclamation. That's the key. Where you have strong teaching, you will have a strong church and where the feeding is weak, you will have a weak church. By the way, here's another illustration. Sometimes I get teased because I preach a long time. Sometimes I recognize it as teaching, and then sometimes I recognize it as, no, you don't like that. [01:35:17] (41 seconds)  #gospelProclamationMatters

Just before Jesus leaves the earth and he takes his ascension into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the father and he begins his great high priestly ministry of his time of intercession for us, Jesus tells the apostles in Matthew twenty eight twenty, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go to all the nations and I want you to teach them everything that I have taught you. [00:46:14] (27 seconds)  #makeDisciplesTeachAll

Yesterday morning, I sat in the room over here. We had men's breakfast. Ryan taught, and I took out my pen and a piece of paper and I took notes because I am to be before I'm a pastor, I'm to be a learner. I'm to have a heart for whatever is being proclaimed. And all of us have responsibility when the God's word is taught to come ready to receive it and not come with an expectation that is unrealistic. [01:33:38] (36 seconds)  #alwaysBeALearner

Now I wanna stop here just for a moment, and I wanna point out a few things, and we're gonna talk about this conversation that happens because it has everything to do with what we are doing in the room this morning and what we will continue to do and what we must continue to do for the remainder of our lives. Jesus finds Peter on this day. Peter doesn't find Jesus on this day. [01:06:11] (27 seconds)  #JesusFindsPeter

Sometimes we have an expectation of where people are spiritually and and we share something really, really insightful with them. We think this is gonna make all the difference. It's gonna click now. And they just continue to be where they are, not in a bad place, but just not moving along. We need to be patient with people and they will eventually get there and we don't have to kick them in into maturity. [01:13:38] (28 seconds)  #patienceInDiscipleship

By the way, the measurement of success in a church has also gotten all messed up. People would say that if you're gonna be a great leader, you're gonna have all kinds of people flocking to you. Do you know at the end of Jesus' life, everybody had abandoned him? Do you think he's a bad leader? No. So numbers aren't the criteria. [01:31:06] (27 seconds)  #successMeasuredByFaithfulness

Leaders are to be mainly concerned and responsible about souls, not systems. Remember the words Jesus said about the sheep. They are my sheep. The the flock belongs to Christ, never the leader. This means that shepherds are not to build their own platform to promote themselves. Leaders do not own the church or people, but they are to be faithful stewards under the authority of Christ. [01:30:30] (36 seconds)  #soulsNotSystems

The priority of teaching in the church is non negotiable. It's non negotiable. Jesus said, feed them twice. This repetition can't be ignored. It is central to biblical leadership. Therefore, if a church lessons, the teaching and the proclamation of scripture for programming, performance, media, etcetera, it is drifting from what Jesus instructed. [01:29:01] (34 seconds)  #teachRepeatEmphasis

the measurement of success in a church has also gotten all messed up. People would say that if you're gonna be a great leader, you're gonna have all kinds of people flocking to you. Do you know at the end of Jesus' life, everybody had abandoned him? Do you think he's a bad leader? No. So numbers aren't the criteria. If is is a church doing what's right? Do you know what's the criteria? Faithfulness. That's the key. It's faithfulness. I got two more. Members, this is one that is gonna apply to you. Members are sheep under care, not consumers. We'll say it again. You are to be sheep under the care of Jesus, under the care of the leadership of the church, not a consumer. You are to know the true biblical definition of a church that we are establishing in these weeks. So that means this, you have the responsibility to come ready to listen, to engage with the teaching, and to walk in what you are taught. [01:31:07] (86 seconds)