Disciples and Sheep: Why is it so complicated to understand something so simple? By Josimar Salum

Disciples and Sheep: Why is it so complicated to understand something so simple? By Josimar Salum

How to follow Jesus and understand the Jesus who freed all men to worship God everywhere, anywhere?

What does it really mean to love? To worship is to serve God as we serve one another and others everywhere.

Worship is no longer going to Jerusalem or anywhere else to worship, because the hour has already come when true worshipers worship the Father in Spirit and Truth.

Worship God who serves, who serves men and sings, raises his hands and dances, never failing to serve one another and men.

Devotion is to pray hand in hand not only as we sing and speak together with God, but in the day to day life as we live.

You would never find Jesus directing a service in the Gospels! You find him initially going as usual to the synagogue of the Jews, but you will soon find that his journeys almost always ended in his expulsion.

You find Him, the God and Creator of the universe, Jesus, just in the courts of the temple.

Jesus could not enter into the holy place much less in the Holy of Holies. He was not a priest of the tribe of Levi. Remember that David, like Jesus, from the tribe of Judah dared to enter the holy place and ate the loaves and then what happened?

Well, it was hundreds of years ago that the Holy of Holies did not even visit that place anymore. The Ark of the covenant had already disappeared from that little place behind the veil hundreds of years ago.

For when Jesus was taken to the temple as a child and when he went to the temple, the Son of God did not set foot in that "most holy place."

Well, the people and the priests did not know God. Jesus the Holy of Hollies, the Ark of the Covenant could now be seen and even touched on the streets of the cities and on the roads of Israel by anyone, seen by Greeks and pagans and even touched by wounded lepers and bleeding women. 

The journeys of Jesus and His disciples to the temple and synagogues always ended in conflict. There was no more place for the Word of Truth in religious structures. Not today. Long ago there were times when the Word manifested itself, but since the age of Samuel it had become scarce.

Where do we find Jesus and His disciples doing what they love to do?

In the houses eating with his guests and friends while Jesus taught His Kingdom.

In the daily meals, eating together, yes, having supper together, for every supper among disciples is holy. This is what the Holy Spirit really means when He says "not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25

How dare religious people think that meeting together is about worship services?

Jesus and His disciples would also be found in the streets and squares of cities proclaiming the Gospel, doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons, freeing the captives, raising the dead, eating and drinking with publicans - public officers, politicians? - and sinners and announcing that every year now is acceptable to the Lord.

Jesus was never a religious leader, a cult leader, a church worker, or a pastor of any flock. Jesus is the Shepherd of one flock. And there are no others. Only one! One Shepherd and one Sheep! That simple!

Jesus never performed any worship in the empty temple of the Jews, nor in a public square, anywhere.

Jesus is a Teacher, He teaches, He makes disciples, He has no organization with members. The Church that Jesus built on Himself has no structures, because it is the Body. The Church is the structure.

The wine-skins of men, houses, temples, seminaries, buildings, and any others are just wine-skins. Maybe Kingdom Wreaths if they are useful for the Kingdom. As God always has new wine, men's wine-skins always break, break, shatter and lose wine, because they can not handle God's new wine. For God, all these structures have nothing to do with the Church. And invariably they become scandals and offenses in the Kingdom. Ultimately they will be uprooted from the Kingdom forever.

The Church is the Bride, the Body and the House of the Lord. And the Kingdom is the Lord! And His children as He, kings and priests, all of them. In the Kingdom all are kings and priests. All!

These wine-skins have never been able to restrain the Church, to mold the Church, to organize the Church, to surround the Church, to subject the Church to leadership as pious as it may be, to "commemorate" and bind disciples in a community in itself under men who while insisting in being the church, fragment, divide, and separate the disciples of Jesus from one another.

Yes, men shepherd the Church of God, the flock of God, not the churches. But they are shepherding like sheep, for they are not essentially shepherds, they are only sheep. Yes, men make disciples, but they are not "discipl-ers", they are essentially disciples. All of us, one by one, each one, are only sheep and disciples of Jesus.

Let us return to Jesus and His disciples who in the cities and fields as laborers worked the harvest to gather the sheep before Jesus and the nations made disciples only for Jesus.

And, "following the truth in love, let us in all things grow up in him who is the head, Christ, of whom the whole body, well adjusted and strengthened by the help of every p art, effects his own increase for the building up of himself in love." Ephesians 4: 15-16

REAL 42 - There will be one Shepherd and One Flock: A long conversation on pastors, churches and flock abuse!

There will be one Shepherd and One Flock: A long conversation on pastors, churches and flock abuse!

MJ =  You are right, there is also a conflict between young leaders and those old Pastors!  Many Pastors when they see a young leader growing they become jealous and they fear that they may replace them. Sometimes they can stop a young leader from going to study theology or leadership in America or Europe thinking that when he comes back he will replace them. And that is a big challenge for the spiritual growth of those young leaders here and you imagine how the church will look like tomorrow.

Paul Taylor = Amen!  Let me say this. We have the same problems in the US. When I was a young man my Pastor tried everything to discourage me from going into the ministry. When God began to bless me he became jealous. 

Pastors say they want unity, but they refuse to unite because of fear of losing their sheep.  The problem is two fold. One they do not believe in the Kingdom of God. Two they are afraid of losing their income and have become hirelings. 

It is very sad, but I have been there. Only revelation will set them free from fear of being replaced.

J Salum = There are no senior pastors in the NT not even many churches in a city much less denominations! To be a pastor "a solely" monarch of a "church" is a sin! The existing situation is not so simple! The church systems of today promote this kind of reality!

Paul Taylor = It is a system that is broken. I have no issue with someone being paid to Pastor or preach. That is not the issue. The apostle Paul taught that a man is worthy of his hire. It is when they control people in fear of losing their income that causes the problem.  If a pastor knows that God is his provider and he works to build the kingdom of God, discipling the people to use their gifts, I have no problem with what he is doing. Where you worship is not important!  May God raise up men and women who are true pastors and care for people.

JSalum = Yes but if a pastor is hired he is a professional of the faith! If you preach the Gospel you can live by the Gospel! Yes, you may have a salary, but in the NT there were not employees of the Church! But the system has individual pastors pastoring specifics churches who are not the CHURCH OF GOD in a city Because there is only one Flock and one SHEPHERD! 

Individual pastors. Who are they today? Pastor Joe is a pastor of the Church  of God! Pastor Brain is a pastor of Fire of God Church and pastor Moses is the pastor of Church of Saint John! These are all sin! And they hate each other and fight each other! 

Let us read some Scriptures:

 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— TO ALL IN ROME  who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 1:1, 7 NIV

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, TO THE CHURCH of God IN CORINTH , to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:”

1 Corinthians 1:1-2 NIV

“Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers and sisters with me, TO THE CHURCHES  in Galatia:”

Galatians 1:1-2 NIV

GALATIA was a region with many cities!

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, TO THE SAINTS which are IN EPHESUS, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:”

Ephesians 1:1 KJV

“Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto THE CHURCH of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 1:1 KJV

“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;”

Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18 KJV

The word Church is Singular, in Ephesus!

“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders (presbyters, the pastor)  of the church.” Not of the churches of Ephesus

Acts 20:17 KJV

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”

Acts 20:28 NIV

There is just a flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. (With S plural) BE SHEPHERDS  (plural) in one city, together, one Presbytery ONLY ONE of the CHURCH of GOD not churches 

The churches are not part the Body of Christ! The Church is the Body of Christ! 

Mathematically is like this: Ephesus  = 1 = Church = Rome = 1 = Church = 3 gathered in the farm around Rome = 1 = Church = The Church! 

And we went far away from THE CHURCH to become what Christians are today! Fragmented! And if they are not ONE they are not the Church!

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Ephesians 4:2-6 NIV

There are many men of God pastoring the flock of God but a large number of them are wolves.

“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.”

Acts 20:29-30 NIV

“In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

2 Peter 2:3 NIV

There is a version that says "these will make merchandise of you!"

“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

1 Peter 5:1-4 KJV

The flock of God! Pastors have no sheep! We have no disciples! JESUS SAID: FEED MY SHEEP! 

We make disciples for JESUS! 

“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

John 21:15-17 KJV

Feed MY sheep! Jesus said three times! FEED THE FLOCK OF GOD!

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Let me challenge you all to look at John 10! And you will see how John 10 is related to what we are talking here!

We have learnt that the devil came to kill, steal and destroy! 

But did you notice that in John chapter 10 Jesus does not mention the devil even once? 

Did you notice that according to Jesus who came to kill, to steal and to destroy are the mercenaries that came before HIM? 

““Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 

But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 

Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. (JESUS was talking to the Pharisees indeed!!!)

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 

All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. (THOSE PHARISEES WERE BEING CALLED BY JESUS AS THIEVES AND ROBBERS AND THE SHEEP DID NOT LISTEN TO THEM)  

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “

(The thief - who is the thief? The thief! So obvious the answer!!!)

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. 

(THE HIRED HAND IS NOT THE SHEPHERD) 

So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 

The man (not the devil) runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. 

They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. THERE SHALL BE ONE FLOCK AND ONE SHEPHERD!

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””

John 10:1-18, 25, 27-30 NIV

I can go on, I humble myself before the Lord, I will tell you that you will not find anyone on the NY That is named a Pastor! You find apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers but not one pastor! 

And you shall know Jesus (THE TRUTH) and THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE! 

PS: When in the NT the words church, pastors, overseers, bishops, presbyters, elders and others related words were used what the people who received the letters from Paul, John, Peter and others did understand? Not what Calvin, Luther, Strong, Pope Francis and others understood! Here is the key for extending the conversation!

Do you really want to change?