TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES FOUR
SHEPHERDING PEOPLE ACCORDING TO GOD
TO BRING IN A NEW REVIVAL

Message Ten
Shepherding People according to God
to Bring in a New Revival

Scripture Reading:

1 Pet. 5:2-3    Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly; Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.

SHEPHERDING PEOPLE ACCORDING TO GOD

To Shepherd according to God Being to Shepherd
according to What God Is in His Attributes

In Peter’s first Epistle…in 5:1-2 he told the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. According to God is at least according to these four attributes of God. We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes. Then we will be good shepherds.

Without shepherding, there is no way for us to minister life to others. John is the Gospel of life. If we want to enjoy life and minister life to others, we must shepherd them. The real ministering of life is shepherding by visiting and contacting people.

The Pattern of the Apostle Paul in Shepherding

We need to contact and take care of others, sinners and believers, as the apostle Paul, the top apostle, did in contacting people and taking care of people’s need (2 Cor. 1:23-2:14). In 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 Paul said, “Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?” This unveils the care of a proper shepherd.

Our attitude may be that everyone is weak but we are not weak. We may have the feeling that we are strong ones. In 1 Corinthians 9:22 Paul said, “To the weak I became weak that I might gain the weak.” This means that we should come down to the weak one’s level. To a sick person we come down to the level of a sick person. This is the way to shepherd people by visiting them. Paul also said, “Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?” This is to burn in sorrow and indignation over the cause of the stumbling of all the fallen ones. This shows the pattern of Paul as a good shepherd, taking care of God’s flock.

Acts 20 says that while Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he sent word to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. He told them that they should shepherd God’s flock, which God purchased with His own blood (v. 28). The shepherding of God’s flock was on Paul’s heart. Many think that Paul was a great apostle doing a great work as a great career. But Paul considered what he did as shepherding the flock of God. We have to be revolutionized in our logic and consideration. We should not think that we are going to do a great work for Christ like certain spiritual giants. These so-called giants actually did not accomplish much for God’s interest. Instead, they only made a name for themselves with little result for the building up of the Body of Christ. (The Vital Groups, msg. 7)

FOLLOWING THE STEPS OF THE PROCESSED TRIUNE GOD
IN SEEKING AND GAINING THE FALLEN PEOPLE

Having the Loving and Forgiving Heart of Our Father God
and the Shepherding and Seeking Spirit of Our Savior Christ

In Luke 15…the Lord spoke three parables. The first is concerning a shepherd seeking the one, unique, lost sheep. Of one hundred, this one was a lost one, so the shepherd came purposely for him.…The second parable is concerning a woman who lit a lamp and swept the house to seek her lost coin. The third parable is about the prodigal son. The shepherd is the Son, the woman is the Spirit, and in the parable of the prodigal son there is the Father.…In the whole Bible we can see God run only one time, in Luke 15, where the father sees the returning prodigal son. He ran; he could not wait. This is the Father’s heart.

We do not have such a loving spirit that loves the world, the worst people. We classify people, choosing who are the good ones.…If it were according to our concept, where would God’s choosing be? …The Bible says that God hated Esau and loved Jacob. If we were there, none of us would have selected Jacob. This man was too bad.…None of us would have chosen Jacob. It is not up to our choosing, our selection. It is based upon God’s eternal selection.

If we lose this spirit…we are finished.…A brother went to care for a couple, but he did not have this spirit. He visited them no more than ten times and became disappointed. Since the couple had no heart for this brother, he reported that it was useless to visit them further. When Pastor Yu visited me, I did not care for him, but he continued to come for three or four months, week after week. We need to have this spirit. We all have to change our concept. Therefore, we need discipling. We have too much of the natural thought. We need to be discipled to have the divine concept, the concept of the Father’s heart and the heart of the Lord Jesus, who came to save sinners.

Once we condemn anyone, we lose the position to take care of that one. Condemnation does not stir up our care for others. Who among the human race is lovable? In the eyes of God, everyone is not lovable in themselves, yet God still loves them; that is, He loves the world. I do not prefer to have this kind of fellowship with you, but I must speak in this way for your sake in order to shepherd you. (A Word of Love to the Co-Workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, ch. 2)

I believe that not having the Father’s loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior’s shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness. (A Word of Love to the Co-Workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, ch. 3)

According to God’s Love

Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race. The fallen human race is joined with Satan to be his world in his system, but God has a heart of love toward these people. (The Vital Groups, msg. 4)

BRINGING IN THE GENUINE REVIVAL

I hope that we would pray, “Lord, I want to be revived. From today I want to be a shepherd. I want to go to feed people, to shepherd people, and to flock people together.” (Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John, msg. 13)

We must be shepherds with the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God in His divinity and the shepherding and finding spirit of our Savior Christ in His humanity. We also must have the heavenly vision of all the divine and mystical teachings of Christ. Shepherding…is the basic way ordained by God to build up the Body of Christ consummating the New Jerusalem. (The Vital Groups, msg. 6)

I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving this burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery. (The Vital Groups, msg. 4)