CRUEL SHEPHERDS; JESUS -THE CHIEF, CARING SHEPHERD.

     Praise God. Welcome to todays broadcast, Acts of the Spirit. You know, it is wonderful thing to see what our God does, for He is able, He is able, He is able. And God desires that we would look unto Him in every circumstance and every situation. God desires that we would trust Him and know that He is able. God does not want us looking to the world. He does not want us looking to Sodom and Egypt, but He wants us to look to Him.

     We are living in times when God’s people have not been taught to look to God at all but they’ve been taught to look unto the world; they’ve been taught to look unto governments; they’ve been taught to look unto the powers of the heathen; and they’ve been taught to look at carnal men, relying upon the arm of flesh rather than relying upon the power that is found in Almighty God. But God wants us to get ourselves in the position to look to Him continually, knowing that He is able. For when it is God that we are trusting in, we shall find that no matter what befalls us, no matter what besets us, that our God is well able to deliver us, and our God is well able to strengthen us again and again and again.

     We are living in times when there are many false teachers who have come to the scene, who have come to the forefront and have taught God’s people to look to everything other than God. They are lying messengers who teach God’s people to look only to them, only to them, again and again and again. And they teach God’s people to do so, simply to keep them confused, simply to keep them deluded and estranged from God. But God wants us to realize that He desires us in the palm of His hand, that He desires us looking to Him, and that He desires us to know that He is our Sovereign.

     Chapter 34 of Ezekiel is what the Lord has for us to look at this day. It says, “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not stregthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered” (vv. 1-5). Now we see in this fantastic word that God is giving to Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel, in chapter 34, that God is angry with the shepherds who have not fed His flock. He is angry with the shepherds who have only looked out for their own gain, looked out for their own estate, for He says in this indictment against them, “The diseased have ye not stregthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.” So you see that the Lord is very grieved with His own shepherds, because it is God’s intention that His shepherds would be so full of His power and glory, and so full of His love for His people, that they would bring in the diseased that the diseased could be strengthened; that they would speak the healing word and the sick could be healed; that they would bring again those who are broken and bind them up; that they would bring in those who have been driven away; that they would bring in those that have been lost and bring them back into the fold of God. And because God’s shepherds—the ones who profess that they are God’s shepherds—do not do what God desires them to do, we see that the sheep are scattered. Since they are scattered, it’s a fact that there’s no shepherd to rule over them. The sheep become meat to all the beasts of the field when they are scattered. That means that God’s sheep have wandered in desolated places and the beasts of the field have devoured them, they have wounded them, they have maimed them, they have been taken into captivity by cruelty and oppression and there they remain; and it is simply because the shepherds have not done the job in ministering and protecting the sheep of God’s fold.

     Now we know that sometimes the sheep will wander away and the shepherd will look for the sheep, but it says that they didn’t even look for those that were lost to bring them back. And it says in verse six, “My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” You know, this is the way that things are set up in these modern times in all these modern churches. No one knows anything about anyone, and all is well—as long as you show up and pay your tithes; that’s all that matters. There’s no afterthought for the people of God at all. And in some of these “mega churches,” you could be gone from the church for an entire year and no one would even know it except if they kept an account of your tithe money. That’s a tragic state of affairs. Yet because the pastors are so greedy after their own gain, they only look to increase their flock or get bigger and bigger and bigger congregations. They do not care about the condition of God’s people.

     We know that God finds no pleasure in the shepherds that do these things and He is very displeased in them, because He renders an indictment against them in this very chapter in Ezekiel. He says that they are going to pay for what they’ve done against His people.

     The point that we are getting to today is that there are many of you who are in the conditions that have been described in this chapter. There are many of you who are diseased, there are many of you who are sick, there are many of you who are in oppression and depression and there’s been none to care for your condition. But the Lord, because He is so merciful, does care about you, and even this day, He is speaking unto you to cry out to Him. He wants me to remind you that He is the Chief Shepherd that does care for you, that He is the one that desires to strengthen you, and that He is the one that loves you and desires to heal you. He is the one that desires to bring you back unto Himself, the one that desires to see you restored, the one that loves and cherishes your soul, even though you are in desperate straights.

     The Lord is understanding of the fact that there have been calloused and hard men who have borne rule over you and have not cared about you. And because of that, the Lord is speaking to you this day and He is saying that if you will look unto Him, He is your Shepherd.

     The Lord desires to heal those of you who are in sickness, those of you who are diseased, those of you who have turned aside, and He desires that you would be restored. Because He is the tenderhearted God, the God of mercy, the God who cares for those who are weak and enfeebled. He cares for those who have not been cared for. He cares for them because He is the Shepherd over His sheep. And the Lord is saying unto you this day, that if you will but look to Him, that He will be able to meet you where you are—that He will be able to meet you in your diseased and sick state, that He will be able to meet you in your state of oppression and vexation—and He will be able to free you from everything that the enemies have put against you. Because the Living God does love and care for His people, and even though the shepherds are under the indictment from God for their cruelty, for their oppression, for their neglect of His sheep, He wants His people to know, even this day, that He is not the same as those careless shepherds. For the Lord is merciful, He is full of lovingkindness, He is full of tenderheartedness towards His own people. And if you will but look to the Lord, even this day, the Lord will minister healing unto thee and raise thee up. For the Lord desires a people that will look unto Him and look unto Him only; a people who will know that He is able. If you will but believe in the Lord this day, you can be healed, you can be brought forth, you can be strengthened, and you can be restored.

~PRAYER~

Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus, knowing that it is you who is the Chief Shepherd, the loving Father, the one who does care for the flock of God. And we know that because you have a care for those who are in these conditions as named in this chapter, who have been under the oppression of cruel and non-caring shepherds, that you are the one who will restore your people. And we know, Father, that you are the one who does hear the cries, who does hear the pleas of those who are in need, desperate need of your help. And because you are so loving, because you are so kind, because you are so merciful, you reach down in the tender goodness of who you are.

So even this day, we look unto you, dear God, because you are the one who desires to bring us again unto thy bosom. You are the one who desires that we would be fed with the very bread of Heaven, with the very food that you have that would give us your strength, and so we rely upon you, even this day, and we come against all the powers of darkness, all the powers of cruel and oppressive shepherds, all the powers that would cause us to be wandered off of the way of God. We command those powers to be smitten in the name of Jesus, and we release the healing virtue of God in our lives. And Father, we just thank you that you are the one who does give forth that healing power and that it is through Jesus Christ, your Son, that that was manifest unto the sons of men. We know that you are the one who desires that we would be healed, every one of us, clean and clear of all the diseases that have sought to plague us. And we just command the diseases that have beset God’s people this day, to be smitten in the name of Jesus, to release your hold, you foul spirits of infirmity! We just thank you, dear God, that it is you who is able to restore; that it is you who is able to strengthen.

We come against all the spirits of heart problems in the name of Jesus, and we command those spirits to be bound and cast off of the people of God, and to be troubling them no more. We command all the spirits of cancer of all forms to come out of the bodies of the sheep that have not been taken care of, that have not been healed, that have not been delivered and brought forth. We command all those spirits of afflicting cancers to be bound up and cast into the pit. Likewise, in the name of Jesus, we command all the spirits that affect the blood to be drawn out of the blood of God’s believing ones this day, even now. All spirits that are affecting the blood, that are diseasing the blood, that are causing high blood pressure, that are causing low blood pressure, that are causing diseases in the blood—we command every one of you spirits to be bound, to come out of God’s people even now. And we just thank you, dear God, that you are the one who is able, that you are the one who does heal, and that you are the one who does care for your people.

We command all crippling spirits to come out of the flock of God. All of those spirits that make the sheep to grow lame, that make the sheep to grow enfeebled and tottering, that make the sheep to fall over, that make the sheep just simply to be paralyzed and not able to function—we command every one of those crippling devils to come out of the people of God, in Jesus’ name. And Father, we just thank you that you are the one who does care, who does reach down in your mercy, who does see that the shepherds have not cared for your people, have not cared for your sheep, have not cared for your flock; but even so, that you reach out in mercy.

Father, we pray likewise and we break the curse that these shepherds have put upon your flock by teaching them false doctrine, by teaching them to rely upon the arm of flesh, by teaching them to believe in fantasies and fairytales and not believe in you. And we command every lying devil, every false doctrine devil, every soothsaying devil, every hypocritical devil, that is encamped against these sheep—we command their powers to be broken and we speak healing and deliverance unto your people. Because Father, we know that you are able and we believe you and we trust you and we know that by the mighty name of Jesus, that we are strenghtened, that we are healed, that we are delivered, that we are restored. And we thank you, dear God, that your indictment is against those shepherds who practice neglect, and that your mercy is toward us this day as we have cried out to you. We thank you and praise you, thank you and praise you, that you are the Shepherd who does care for us—the sheep of your pasture.

HAVE YOU BEEN SAVED? JESUS IS REAL!! PRAY LIKE THIS.

Dear Jesus, I come to you with all the sins I've committed and I beg you to forgive me. Rescue me from eternal damnation in Hellfire. I confess that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. Don't let me die in my sins. Please cleanse my body, soul and spirit with your precious blood. I need your help and I ask you to come and live in my heart. I want to serve you, obey your commands and do what is right. I want to live for you everyday and receive everlasting life. Please lead and guide me by your Spirit into righteousness. Help me live a clean and holy life that is pleasing unto God. Thank you Jesus for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen! Read the BIBLE!