If the Lord brings discipline and judgment within these Kingdom churches, it will be because they preach the letter of the Word and they do not have the spirit of the Word.
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. II Corinthians 3:5–6.
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” John 6:63.
That is a key for us, because every movement does that. They settle to where they can exercise the least amount of faith and still hold onto their doctrines. And if a man comes in who preaches the same Word that they preach, but he brings it with faith, he will be persecuted for it.
When the spirit of the Word is lost, then the letter of it kills, and you have nothing but the ritual of religion. We have to lose the forms, because we are getting into the forms without the presence and the power of God in them (II Timothy 3:5). Now we will get back to the presence of God, and we will have to express it in forms, in scriptural forms. You can talk about feeding on the Lord, but still there is a way that you do it—you eat His flesh and drink His blood in Communion. There is a form for it (I Corinthians 11:20–32). However, Paul was not saying, “Let’s eat crackers.” He was saying, “Let’s eat Christ” (John 6:53–58).
Let’s get back to the reality first; then the form becomes a vehicle for faith to appropriate.
We will go back to having a frequent Communion service and doing carefully the basic things that we have done before—but not carelessly run through them. The biggest handicap I faced through those early years was that I was trying to cover too much. Because we did not have the time to do it thoroughly, we would have Communion, but we would get through it too quickly. Then we would race on to the next church, and in order to save time they would have already had their Communion; and it became an empty form. Finally, few came to the Communion.
At first the Communion was one of the most powerful ministries we had, and we wound up with almost deemphasizing it because it had become such a ritualistic thing. But we are back to the real power of it. That is where we are now.
Can I bring up something we might consider in this? We talked about having the forms with the power, and I think one of the main sources of God’s corrective judgment in the early Church was through the Communion. The Scriptures talk about that (I Corinthians 11:27–32). If we could reach in to restore the Communion on the level it is supposed to be, that may cause the discipline or elimination of the false sheep.
The judgment that will come is not going to hit as an end in itself; it is going to be an expression of Psalm 23: “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5). We could spend a lot of time in the twenty-third Psalm, weaving into it all of the input and Scriptures that have come in the teachings over the last few months. The teaching has been on shepherds and sheep—on feeding the sheep and loving them—but the emphasis is upon the Lord.
You cannot emphasize a shepherd to a sheep; the emphasis must be on the Lord, not on the shepherds. If you do not do this, you will establish the shepherds as a position, and you will be right back in trouble. The word “pastor” actually means “shepherd,” but “pastor” came to mean a position. So we switched words; we began to say “shepherd.” However, we could still end up with a position that we call “shepherd.” The judgment has to come. But the judgment has to come because these sheep must not be terrorized or victimized or have their throats slit anymore; they have to be feeding at the table where they can see what God is doing to the enemy.
And they have to be feeding on green pastures that are the Living Word rather than sawdust. And the shepherds should be directing them into the Living Word.
He leadeth me … Psalm 23:3. Remember the weeks of messages on the twenty-third Psalm? They were fantastic. I would like to get into them again, because now we are emphasizing the channels, the instruments that God uses to lead the sheep beside the still waters and into the green pastures. We are talking about leading the sheep, and about how their enemy has to be broken.
I am beginning to wonder about warfare: should we ask the sheep to fight the enemy instead of the shepherds having the faith to fight the enemy? How much should these flocks be in intercession for judgment? How much more they should be breaking through to stand in the presence of the Lord?
Yes, we have already had that Word. Is there anything new right now in the Kingdom? But there will have to be a more universal application of what we have received from the Lord if we are going to flow in it. We are getting the strategy; we are getting the priorities. When it comes to shepherds and elders, they meet together and go after the wolves, because that is their ministry—to kill the wolves. When it comes to the people—feed them. Even if they just give themselves to worship while the shepherds are off in a corner prophesying judgment, that is good.
We have what we have called “the back room.” We will probably find a better name for it, but it has to amount to that. There have to be those who are more responsible for the flock, and through them the judgment should come. You see, the sheep rarely have the prerogative to enter into judgment, as much as a shepherd does who is responsible for those sheep; he has authority to kill the wolf that comes after the sheep. I am thinking that we should have this emphasis and lay this truth out to the people. If you get the little people involved with judgment, they may get hurt. Nevertheless, they are going to have to understand and believe in the judgment; but they are to believe that basically the shepherds are to do it.
This is so much the pattern of the New Testament, because Paul and the brothers who were with him determined certain things that were to be done (I Corinthians 5:1–5; I Timothy 1:18–20). The only contact that they had with the churches about those issues was to say, “Pray for us” (II Thessalonians 3:1–4). Then when there was a specific thing that a church had to do, such as the Corinthians, they said, “All right, you do this” (I Corinthians 5:9–13). But it is the same with us as it was with them. In a service, if we try to lead the people into praying judgment, it creates a tension, and it usually does not work.
The actual authority is resting on the local elders to do this. But look at the way the positions formerly operated: everywhere that a leader had a position, he tended to destroy the eldership. And now everywhere you go, you are working with the eldership, trying to create it again. I think that is because the authority of judgment is more with those shepherds than with any others. I think that even the apostolic company does not have as much authority in some cases as the local shepherds.
The local elders have a certain kind of authority for judgment. Is the authority to judge the wolves resting on the eldership, even more than on the apostolic company? If that is the case, then the elders need to know that.
With the sheep, the thing that is so important is this attitude of being submissive to God and resisting the devil (James 4:7). That much of warfare and intercession everyone has to be in. But when it comes to judgment on the wolves, that is something else. The classic illustration of that is Acts 20:17–31. In Paul’s attitude, there was a scorn of persecution; it did not move him. He had a deep concern for the sheep, and he very carefully lined up the elders and warned them that after his departure wolves would come. Of course, that is exactly what has happened in the walk now. It is as though God has removed me as He did Paul. In fact, I think that God would have taken me out of this life entirely—I would be dead—because it would have served God’s purpose more, except for the fact that I was to be an instrument of God for the destruction of position, including my own. God honored that, and He let me move on and minister to the people and to the elders and the leaders. Of course, the result is that I am leading the shepherds now. I am shepherding the shepherds.
The authority to judge wolves must be largely with the ministries of authority over the flock. Paul did that, didn’t he? He delivered certain ones over for judgment.
Gather some of the brothers together—just a few who have the authority—and start speaking judgment on the wolves. The judgment would work better than it has in the past; it would be far more effective. We have depended upon the little people to create the volume of prayer. Yet it is not the volume that does the job; it is that it comes from the right commissioned source. Get the people back into the ministry to the Lord. Get them back into the flow. Get them into the worship, into the warfare, into submitting to the Lord and resisting the devil. Tell them that they are to loose the Word and open up for God to impart to one another. Lead them into impartation and intercession and following exactly what we are doing. But do not lay the burden of this judgment on them.
The primary focus of the sheep is that they are to minister to the Lord. That is what you have always taught, that when we come together our biggest delight is to minister to the Lord. And that will be the sheep’s protection; they are to minister to Him. In bringing forth the sheep you have brought forth God’s delight. You could not have pleased the Lord more. And now your greatest delight is for them to be a ministry to the Lord Himself.
It really seems kind of ludicrous to imagine a flock of sheep fighting a wolf, because sheep do not fight wolves. They may try to run or something, but the shepherd fights the wolf.
This goes into a deeper revelation of the whole teaching on position and commission. By revelation, God is again showing us about commission. We are still learning to move in commission.
The Lord has already emphasized to us that the little sheep is not to go out and try to win over someone who is bitter. You that are strong, you that are spiritual, you go restore those ones (Galatians 6:1). We cannot let these little people go out to tackle a wolf. And oftentimes, a sheep cannot rescue another sheep; they both may fall into the same ditch. However, they can give birth to other sheep, and mother them.
The one thing that sheep should be able to do (and this is where impartation comes in) is to know His voice (John 10:3–4). They must have the revelation. Their protection is in their revelation and in knowing His voice (John 10:27–29).
If they hear His voice, then they do not try to come against the false shepherd which God might reveal to them. Instead, they just follow the true Shepherd, and He leads them to the green pastures.
That is the fantastic thing about the commitment that God is requiring now of the sheep: we can show the sheep that He has provided a way, in their submission, where they can be absolutely free from deception. Show them that God has provided a covering, so that there is absolutely no way they can be deceived if they commit themselves to the covering that God has given.
Actually, this too has already been identified in the Living Word. You spoke of how those who were submissive all through the past thirty years, who were submissive as unto the Lord, have come out with good spirits. But the problem with those who are now bitter is that they were never really submitting properly in the first place.
The whole thing is summed up in the message, “The Lord Has Given A Living Word But Who Has Heard It?”*
But that Living Word is the foundation, and the Lord is speaking it to us again today: Everything is based on our dedication to hear what God is saying, even above dealing with the confusion or the lies. The persecution will come, but it should not shake us if we have a true revelation, if we are in the Word and we are hearing what the Lord is speaking.
What is really needed in the churches is this: Let the sheep worship the Lord—and if you want to have groups, then let them get off in a corner and worship and submit to God, resist the devil, intercede, impart to each other, bless each other. But one other thing we ought to do—we should go through our elders and make them by their own mouths say whether they are ready to be shepherds or not. Ask them, “Are you ready to get in and defend this flock? Are you ready to take care of it? Do you want to get in there and help these sheep?” We ought to confront the shepherds, confront the elders.
That really is an emphasis now. If you look at all the different churches, it is the eldership that is on the spot right now to move and to cover those people. We keep looking for ones we can send in to strengthen the churches; but the eldership just needs to shepherd the people.
You could bring in thirty-two members of the apostolic company, all the spiritual clout you would want. But in the final analysis, it is the little shepherd who loves the sheep who stands up there trembling and faces the wolf, and God honors it.
They stand like little David, without any of Saul’s armor. But the key, too, is what Paul said: “I am standing with your spirits in the judgments” (I Corinthians 5:4). So there is an authority that the apostolic ministry lends to the authority of the elders in a situation that makes it effective. They know that someone with authority is behind them.
In this way the shepherds and elders are covered. That gives the elders their boldness.
That is good. We are compiling an elder’s manual; actually, a shepherd and sheep manual. The main thing is that the elders have to provide a cover for the people, and they have to protect them; they have to impart to them, they have to heal them, they have to feed them. The main thing that they do is create ears for those people to hear the voice of the Shepherd. “There is no ministry that can bond people to the Living Word like the elder ministry. The elders are the main basic link of shepherd to sheep. That is why we must work with them to open them up to the love and the addiction to the Living Word, to the apostolic Word. That becomes the key to the whole thing, and that is what we work on.”
I feel that what we are doing today is shifting the burden and responsibility for the sheep back to where God originally led you to put it, where the high level warfare is only done by certain select brothers. And the sheep are involved with things that God is leading them into as He leads them into the truth step by step; they are not just thrown into truths that they cannot handle.
That is true. The problem in the past was that we did not have very many elders or pastors who were really functioning. It was a long time before they were even prepared to understand this higher spiritual plane.
“The Shepard is going to be responsible for not preparing the sheep, so that they will go out and be slaughtered?” For years we have been preparing and covering the sheep, so that in the time of great battle they could stand because they would know how to war.
Again, there is that theme in Galatians: “False brethren crept in to spy out our liberty, to bring us under bondage” (Galatians 2:4). It is so deadly, everything that they try to do. But imagine if we could eliminate these false brethren from the picture.
You have taught us that a truth before its time can be like deception. For example, to give the knowledge of the nephilim to a little babe who is not prepared for it could throw him into confusion or deception.
That is why Christ said, “I have many things to tell you, but you cannot hear them now; you cannot bear them.” Christ said it and Paul said that, too.
Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for some one to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For every one who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Hebrews 5:11–14.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able. I Corinthians 3:1–2.
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” John 16:12–13.
This principle of giving people what they are able to bear is a truth; but you must also balance it with the other side of the issue—force-feeding is the law of the hour. Force-feeding is where you give people a truth and you also impart to them, so that the processes of assimilating that truth are not as time-consuming. Actually, you push them. You push them into that revelation.
Do lead sheep fall into the category of the authority? Or are they still in the category of sheep?
If you have a lead sheep, he can lead the other sheep. Generally, the shepherd has to lead. But a lead sheep can be trained to lead other sheep. However, he cannot usually find the pastures; he doesn’t know how to fight the animals, and so forth. But he can follow the shepherd’s instructions and lead the sheep, just the way that sheep dogs can be trained by the shepherd to watch over the sheep and to take signals from the shepherd. The dog will not let them wander the wrong direction. He will bark at them like he is going to hurt them, but he doesn’t. He is just “exhorting” them to move in the pattern or the path that the shepherd wants them to go.
That is the basis of this whole change we are in. You have delegated authority and responsibility, yet you have never stopped being a shepherd. What you have done is to stop shepherding on a certain level: you brought the people up to a certain place and then you said to the brothers, “Now you shepherd them.” Meanwhile, you are going into “the back room” to search out higher pastures, to get into the warfare and establish a new level in the Spirit. Then you come back and you lead the sheep up into that level. But there is never a time when you stop being a shepherd.
The key for us is to keep bringing people up into the same anointing, the same love, the same concern, the same dedication to the Word; and then to get a few shepherds moving and shepherding those people. Just because there is a delegation of responsibility does not mean that we stop shepherding the sheep; we shepherd them all the more. But we see the shepherds who are bogged down with too many responsibilities on one level becoming shepherds on a higher level. You are still a shepherd. Christ is still a shepherd—He is still leading us into the provision.
I think that an “inter-responsible situation” is going to have to be considered. For instance, Paul makes himself very clear—he does not cease to pray for the sheep; he does not cease. On every mention of them he is giving thanks and praising the Lord for them (Ephesians 1:16; I Thessalonians 1:2). He is very positive, and very much given to intercede. He turns a couple of men over to the devil to be destroyed; he has the shepherd’s heart. But he also entreats the people to pray for him. So then, there is an inter-responsibility. The people now have been brought to pray for me as I have been brought to pray for them; and the shepherds pray for each other and they pray for me, and I pray for the shepherds. All the way through there is an inter-responsibility—but that does not mean the same level of function. Sheep function as sheep, and shepherds as sheep with a shepherd’s heart.
I appreciate this message more than any that have come in a long time as far as the practicality of bringing forth the Kingdom. I think this is one of the most practical truths we have hit on.
For years I kept saying that we will have to have different groups in a church with different approaches. We have had three groups in a service, each doing a different function (worship, blessing, and warfare). But it is dangerous for a sheep to say, “I’m going to go out and kill wolves. I am in the warfare group.” We lost sheep that way.
You said that there would be two levels among us; and we kept looking at the Judases who have gone out from us and saying, “Well, we’re going to keep drawing them in, because they are the ‘other level.’ ” But what you are describing today is the two levels within the flock.
A sheep will think, “Well, what am I going to do now? If I can’t participate, am I just going to roll over and eat grass?” But is that what you are saying?
No, we are talking about the sheep interceding, and all the things that we have listed here: they have the covering; they are protected; they have impartation; they are healed; they feed; they create. And then the fulfillment of Psalm 144 comes out of it: “The sheep will bring forth thousands and ten thousands” (Psalm 144:13, KJV). They have to hear His voice. They will know the Word, and they are going to grow.
And they are priests. These are the priests to God! (Revelation 1:5–6.) God finally gets His people (Exodus 19:5–6). That is the main thing, that God gets the worship He has always wanted (John 4:23).
The sheep ask what they are to do—they are going to worship; they are going to glorify God; they are going to be fruitful; they are going to hear His Word; they are going to intercede.
It will not be intercession that will create the judgment, but it will be the worship that will do it. And you used the example of the Holy of Holies; you said that our worship was going to be like that incense that went up to God and loosed the judgment (Hebrews 9:3–5; Revelation 8:1–5).
Who was it who went before Jehoshaphat and his hosts in the warfare? It was those who sang before the Lord. They just worshiped; and as a result, the enemy was totally destroyed (II Chronicles 20:20–25).
How did Jericho see judgment? They worshiped.
Well, those who were with Gideon had to be worshipers, too. Who else would fight a multitude like the sands of the sea with only three hundred men armed with horns and lanterns? That certainly is not the most heavy-duty artillery! (Judges 7:12, 16–22.)
What we must see is that the judgment ministries are really set to loose the other ministries to function with less assault. The truth of the matter is that we should be able to go through the Living Word Building and get them to worshiping the Lord predominantly, and then working; and their warfare should be on a different plane totally. They can be interceding for the ministries over them, for the shepherds who protect them and help them. But there is another aspect to this. We have the worship, we have the warfare, and we have the Word. We have always said that that is all you minister; those things are what you do. The shepherds are in the worship, the shepherds are in the warfare and in the work, but it is a different function than what the sheep do. The shepherds take the authority to destroy the wolves that are destroying the sheep. The sheep become the productive element: bearing the fruit, being the fruit, coming forth and growing, blessing and ministering to others. And you realize that a lot of the sheep are stopped because there are not shepherds to protect them. They are overwhelmed by warfare, or at the very least, they are rendered ineffective by it. To lay too heavy a burden of judgment-ministry upon the sheep is going to throw them into the wrong warfare. But if the shepherds do not get in there and protect the flock, then we will find something abortive and ineffective in the sheep, because they will be overwhelmed by the wolves and by the battle and the demonic assault that the shepherds should have protected them from.
In God’s eyes, what you bring forth with the gospel is actually your stewardship to present to God; you are absolutely responsible for it. And God says, “Let no man steal your crown” (Revelation 3:11). Paul called the people his joy and his crown; and he said, “I am presenting you to Christ” (Philippians 4:1; II Corinthians 11:2; Colossians 1:28). But that is a responsibility of a shepherd; or I should say, a “shepherd-teacher.” His responsibility is to insure that the people receive a pure Word from God, that they do not have to eat hash; and he is to protect them from false teaching and a false spirit. And he should treat them as if they were his own stewardship, in the sense that they are the fruit that he has brought forth in God to present to Christ, and not back off from that objective.
God has entrusted His sheep to shepherds to lead them into His perfect provision for them. It is a stewardship that you have, and you cannot relinquish that stewardship.
That is it. It is not a possession; it is a stewardship. When you really think about it, if they were yours, you would not move with as pure of a motive. But if you know that they are the Lord’s and that you are responsible as a steward who will give an account for every one of them, then you are taking care of them with a pure motivation from the Lord.
There has to be something in your heart, in that you know, “I am taking care of these people, and they are not going anywhere else; but after ‘escrow’ closes, they belong totally to the Lord.” Essentially, what we are saying is that until God receives those sheep, He holds you responsible for them.
There is a good passage in Hebrews about this. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. (You see the flowing back and forth, the inter-responsibility.)
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. But I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation. Hebrews 13:15–22a, NASB. It goes right back to shepherds and sheep, doesn’t it? Submitting.
The Word varies for each group: babes, children, young men. But it is the same Word. The Word is a sharp, two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). The sharp, two-edged sword is for the warrior in warfare, battling principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12, KJV). The babes desire the unadulterated milk of the Word that they can grow thereby—those who were born by that incorruptible seed, the Living Word (I Peter 2:2; 1:23). We were begotten by what James calls the Word of truth (James 1:18). It is the seed of the Word, but it becomes bread, it becomes meat; or it can be a weapon. But you have to apply it to each group according to what they need. If it is a building tool, it is also feeding. If it is a sword, it is feeding. But it can be bread, it can be meat, it can be milk; and that is just feeding, not a weapon. Some of our people do not need to get into warfare so much as they need to feed on the Word. It has a different application to different groups. I have nothing greater that feeds me more than to move as a shepherd to protect the sheep. My meat is to do the will of God (John 4:34, KJV). So when I really strike a blow for the sheep, I feed on that.
The book of First John speaks about the fathers, the young men, and the little children; and the young men have grown strong and overcome the evil one because they have kept the Word (I John 2:12–14).
Earlier in this dialogue we started talking about the responsibility identified to the elder, or the shepherd. For the first time, we have the purpose of a functioning elder. He is not functioning as an elder just because he prophesies from the platform, he takes up the offering, he oversees and takes care of the administration of the church, or he functions right behind the pastor. But is he a true shepherd? For the first time in the Spirit you have simply identified, “What is an elder?” That is why it is so important to go back and review the whole eldership, to sit them down and say, “I want you to know who is going to function in this and who isn’t.”
Some may not be ready for this. A church may find its eldership being shaken up because some of them may need to go back to a time of worship, that time to simply be a sheep, to be fed, and to beget sheep. They may have a different function in the Body than what you are defining for elders. And some may be lead sheep more than they are elders. Maybe they are not ready for judgment; maybe they are not strong enough yet.
What you have actually done is to make divine order very clear, and you have clearly identified the different categories in which people function in ministry. You have drawn lines where the sheep no longer have to fight. And if someone is really struggling—even in his own circumstances and his own battle—it should be his privilege now to throw his battle on a designated, already approved shepherd; and then that sheep is freed to become a worshiper. The flock should understand that they can do this. A sheep’s battle should be the responsibility of his shepherd until that sheep is brought up into maturity and matures into whatever God has for him.
This should identify and open the door for the local sheep to become worshipers, because they do not have to live something that they are not supposed to be doing. This Word takes what was a vague picture and sharpens it in focus so that every person is absolutely identified in his own mind and in everyone else’s mind as to how he is to function. I have never heard a more clear-cut step in the Kingdom restoration of how we are to function. We are moving toward removing completely the deceptive infiltration which made it so that we could not find what was right and what was wrong, what made things work and what stopped them from working, and what hindered our breaking through to the Lord.
Now we have gotten right down to the revelation of a truth that is certainly no new truth, for we have heard it all along; but this is the time for it to become a revelation to each one of us so that we can all carefully walk in it.
We have the spiritual principle for this in the Scriptures, with Saul and Samuel (I Samuel 13:5–14). In this case, Saul went outside of his designated authority, or his realm of commission. Samuel rebuked him for usurping authority he did not have.
This is a key for marriages, too, because the husband should carry the battle. Even if he does not have the perception to see the battle, he still has a commission to cover the family.
I have said before that the woman may have more revelation and discernment than the man, but he still is the one who must be the head and the covering. He may not know much about what is going on in the spirit realm, but he can still lay his hands on the family and bless them and loose them.
We have been believing for the whole breakthrough for the women; but the men are ordained to carry the commission of authority in the family.
The head of every woman is the man; the head of every man is Christ; and the head of Christ is God (I Corinthians 11:3).
On the matter of possession, shepherds are the low ones on the totem pole: the sheep possess shepherds. But the responsibility works the other way: the authority and the responsibility for the sheep rests on the shepherds. But the shepherds belong to the sheep.
So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. I Corinthians 3:21–23.
If anyone is the greatest, he is the servant of all (Mark 10:43–44).
But I Corinthians 11:3 approaches it from the other angle: Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of every woman, and God is the head of Christ. The headship and authority comes down one way, but possession works in the opposite direction: from the lower realms up. The shepherd belongs to the sheep, but the shepherd is the head of the sheep. The shepherd is not the owner; he is the steward, and he is responsible.
Therefore, I am strongest in my judgment of the wolf when I am aware that Christ is my head, but I belong to the sheep. I am a head over the sheep, but I belong to them. I realize that I am owned by the sheep, and I am responsible for the sheep, but under Christ I have authority over the sheep.
If I would try to please man, I would not be pleasing the Lord (Galatians 1:10). So you see, I belong to Christ. The people belong to Christ. I belong to the people. I belong to Christ and I am commissioned by Him; therefore, I have authority over the people and over what would come against them. In the line of authority the difference is by virtue of commission. If it were by position, we would own the people. But because it is a commission, we are sent to serve them. In that sense they possess us.
If you are going to be the greatest in authority you must be the servant of all.
If we make a demand on you that is spiritual, you cannot resist that. In other words, it all works in the spirit realm; it does not work on a human level. You are totally responsible for us, and at the same time we own you. In the spirit realm, if we make a spiritual demand of you, you can no more resist that than anything, because that is your commission. If we make a demand on your commission, you are totally responsible to give us yourself in that relationship. You described that yourself. You spoke of how the people had come to you and made demands of you, and you said, “I cannot take this lightly, because I must shepherd the Word that I have given to you. I have to give myself, not just a Word.”
Yes. You see, if a woman begets a child, that child owns her breasts from that time on, until the time comes to wean it. In one sense, the mother possesses the child; but any mother knows that her child has possessed her a lot more than she has possessed him. For that child is incapable of understanding how to give itself to a mother; he can only make demands. Therefore, the mother has to meet the demands that are made.
We are speaking of possessing a person in this sense: we are the Lord’s bond servants. As such, through commission, people possess us for a certain function.
Yet you have said that in the Kingdom, possessiveness is a form of insanity. Therefore, words such as “possession” and “owning,” are meaningless in a spiritual context. They are pointless; they do not exist. Possession does not exist in the Spirit because we are one. You do not have to strive to possess something that you are one with.
In the Kingdom you neither possess a position nor another person (Kingdom Proverb). So we have to define what we mean by possession.
The shepherd gives himself to his sheep because of his revelation. He has a revelation that he loves those people, so he gives himself to those sheep. Therefore, he cannot withdraw from the demands that the sheep make on him, because he has given himself to them willingly.
Because he loves the Lord, he gives himself to the sheep. He gives himself to the Lord, and the Lord says, “Do you love Me? Then feed My sheep” (John 21:15–17).
You give yourself in a commission; you give yourself. That means that you cannot ever leave a commission, because you have given yourself in that commission. The Scriptures open up for us on a new level with this truth. In the tenth chapter of II Corinthians, what Paul is actually referring to is being a shepherd. He said, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. Verse 3. He spoke about all the spiritual warfare that he was in: destroying speculations, bringing people’s very thoughts captive to Christ. And then in verse 6 he said, And we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. I have been aware of that. It is not something that we talk about very much, but you can throw a sheep into punishment if it is necessary for him. You can break his legs (Psalm 51:8). You do not set about to beat a sheep, but a sheep must not allow rebellion in his heart; he must stay in the oneness of the flock. So Paul was ready to punish any disobedience among any of them, whenever their obedience was complete. It does not say that this just applies in the local body; it does not say that it is only directed against devil power. But so much is mentioned in the preceding verses. He talked about a warfare, … divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. Verses 4–6. Paul had the complete attitude of a shepherd there. Will we ever see a better picture of a shepherd?
We are breaking through in the little group here, and we are reaching the shepherds in all the groups, reaching down to the sheep, and properly conveying forth the spirit of this to everyone. We have already hit on the principle of not throwing the heavy warfare and judgment prayers onto the sheep.
The Great Shepherd gives His life for the sheep; how can we, His shepherds, do less?
In the Kingdom, His authority is the muscles of the Body. Elders, use that muscle on the wolves.
If we are responsible for the flock, then we have authority to judge the wolves. Responsibility is never separated from authority. His commission involves authority and responsibility.
The Great Shepherd says, “Love Me, love My sheep.”
PROPHECY
Behold, how the spirit of confusion has invaded the house of the Lord. How men’s hearts have been confused and have wondered the way to walk in. The Lord saith unto thee, “Surely I shall separate between the shepherds and the hirelings. I shall bring great persecution upon the land; and he that is a hireling shall flee, for his love is not for the flock. But the true shepherds of the Lord, whose hearts I turn toward My people in compassion and in love, will minister the Word that I shall put in their mouths; and they shall be true shepherds. They shall feed the people of the Lord.
“Behold, great iniquities are in the land. My people have lusted after great buildings, and also after great programs; and they have desired to build a tower of Babel that their names should not be blotted out of the land, but should be remembered and preserved” (Genesis 11:4).
Turn now unto the Lord. Seek His face, for the Lord does make thee as a people that shall be able to meet in the homes, and to meet in the secret places in the hour of persecution that ariseth. Behold, even now are not the rumblings of the storm heard in thine ears? Does not the Lord prepare thee for the day of trouble that cometh over all the land?
Behold how the evil one shall rise up and persecute him who has the Word of the Lord within his mouth. Yea, cease not to prophesy, and shun not the reproach that shall come unto thee; for these are the days of thy victory, O Zion. Thy God shall establish thee in righteousness, and the glory of the Lord shall rest upon thee. The anointing of the Lord shall be seen upon thy families, and the fire of the Lord shall burn in the midst of thee. No unclean thing shall pass into thee, for thou shalt be purified and made white by the righteousness of thy God (Daniel 12:10). Believe the Word of the Lord, and walk thou in the things that thy God shall set before thee.
Mind not the shakings that come unto thee, yea, even unto the whole earth. For the Lord does shake all things, and He shall receive a Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:26–28). Look unto the Lord that thy family and thy life shall be built upon a rock. Evil days shall come upon the earth, but behold the Lord does make ready a people that shall walk before Him and do exploits (Daniel 11:32).
PROPHECY
The Lord saith, “Ought the lambs of the flock be on the outskirts of the flock where the wolves can come and devour? Ought not the lambs of the flock be in the very center where the glory of the Lord doth dwell? Yea, they are feeble; they are young. They know not the ways of the Lord. Ought they not be in the center where the glory of the Lord is seen, where God’s blessing may rest upon them?”
Behold the Lord saith, “Do not thy young people and thy children walk afar off? Do they not go on the outskirts of the flock?”
Yea, the Lord saith unto thee, “Ye that are fathers and mothers, wilt thou not be the ones that shall urge thy little ones to draw near and be in the center of all thy God’s dealings? There perchance the glory of the Lord shall light upon them, and the Lord shall put upon them His sign and His seal (Revelation 7:2–3). He shall anoint them and give them a Word that shall save them from the evil day.”
Yea, the Lord saith, “Let the mothers and fathers of Israel surround the little ones and the young ones, and let the little ones be drawn to the center; for behold, there the Lord shall meet them.”
“In the outskirts of the camp,” saith the Lord, “is where the murmurers are; and the fire of the Lord doth fall to consume the murmuring and rebellious heart (Numbers 11:1). But it they shall draw near unto the Lord, the Lord shall draw near unto them (James 4:8). Yea, let the young heed, and let the old gain wisdom, that they may arise and do the will of the Lord together.”