Words of Jesus Podcast - Jesus Our Good Shepherd

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

Mark 4:19“And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”Traditions, protocol and bad theology lulls the modern Christian into a sense of false security. Examine the Words of Jesus and compare His ways to the ways we have sought out for comfort or convenience. This work is difficult. Examine your thoughts. Where did the concern come from? Make changes as you go. Hirelings prevent sheep from getting to the Lord Jesus. Beware of finding or being "Another Christ", the preacher has one job. Bring the sheep to the Shepherd.***61: Jesus Tells The Parable Of The Good ShepherdJohn 10:1-21Jesus continued speaking and said:            “Verily, verily I say unto you, ‘He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.”            The listeners did not understand the meaning of what Jesus said. He continued:            “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘I am the door of the sheep.’ All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”            The words of Jesus again caused a difference of opinion among the people. Many of them said:            “He hath a devil, and is mad. Why hear ye him?”            Others said:            “There are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?”

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello friends and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. Don Harris your host and we're going to be doing some more reading today. You ready? This is the story where Jesus tells the story of the Good Shepherd. Chapter 61 of our little book. Jesus continued speaking and said, Verily I say unto you, he that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold,

but climbeth up some other way, is the same, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth out before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice, and a stranger they will not follow, will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers the listeners did not understand the meaning of what jesus said he continued verily i say unto you i'm the door of the sheep all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But he

that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not not seeth the wolf coming and leave with the sheep and fleeth and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep the hireling fleeth because he is an hireling and careth not for the sheep i am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. And the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,

and they shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. The words of Jesus again caused a difference of opinion among the people. Many of them said, He hath a devil.

He's mad. Why hear ye him? And others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? Here you have Jesus telling a story. Not really a story. It's using a metaphor of a sheep and the shepherd. Without a doubt, Jesus

is our shepherd. I know that a pastor is really a hireling. There's no other way to look at it. I don't know why we decided not to use the term overseer when we were talking about giving titles to men inside the organized church. I don't know why we chose pastor. Actually

even in the famous five-fold ministry of Jesus or of the church, we talk about to some he gave apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And it's usually followed by the addition of certain words. By way of explanation, they say that pastor teacher is the same role and a lot of times a pastor will try

to justify his role as teacher of the congregation by saying that this particular office in the body of Christ is pastor-teacher, and so therefore a pastor should be a teacher. And I guess I can agree with that in a certain sense. However, my reluctance comes from the fact that Jesus says, I am the teacher. Well, as we look into the scriptures, because a lot of times, you know, I talk about these made up offices that we have made up in the church, given men titles. I love Job here where he says, I know not to give men flattering titles, for in doing so I think my master would take me from the earth. Job

was not intrigued with giving titles and I can't believe that he had any, or felt any compulsion to use titles when he's talking to men. If titles are used as a matter of clarification, I don't necessarily have any trouble with it. But I really do despise the idea of a pastor, of anyone really,

that insists on being called that or the title is supposed to bring about some kind of, I don't know, awe or reverence or respect or I don't know what it's supposed to do. But many times it's just a matter of ego on the part of a guy. And it probably ought to be avoided. I remember one time, it was at a wedding, as a matter of fact. And I was being introduced to someone by their wife.

And this guy's wife says, you know, we are pastor and Mrs. So-and-so. And turned to her husband, or I guess that's what he was, turned to him and said, this is Pastor So-and-so. And I said, you know, stuck my paw out and said, hey, Mr. So-and-so, you know, I shook his hand. And he reiterated, pastor. And I said, you know, you want to be referred to as pastor? Well, yes.

And I said, well, I'm refrigeration mechanic Don, and I want to be called refrigeration mechanic Don. Would you mind doing that? You know, I don't get that. You know, I probably have more years in refrigeration mechanics than he has in being a pastor. Don't you think I deserve a title like that? You know, this is nothing but ego. And I don't know why men think that they have ego and such control that they can play with things like this, but they do. You know, I would much rather respect you for what you say, how you live, the character that you exude around other people, the advice that you give, the counsel that you have in your head, the years of experience,

anything other than the fact that you have some title. It's like doctors are this way for some reason. They want to be referred to as Dr. and Mrs. Smith. You know, I'm thinking, what's wrong with Mr.? Is there something wrong with Mr.? Is it really that you want everybody in the room to know you're a doctor? What is that? You know, well, that's my name. No, it's not your name. It's your title and given to you by men that I may or

may not respect. Why would I refer to you as a title? Okay, am I beating this thing to death? Look, we all need help being humble. We don't need help being egotistical. I just think that it's, I don't know. I think you're going to pay for it, frankly. As far as I'm concerned, you can earn your title if you want anything from me. That I sincerely believe it's a matter of earning it. It's amazing because the people who necessarily have these respective titles,

respective names of degrees and these kind of things. They will insist on you earning with them whatever respect they give you, but we're supposed to respect them by a title. Sorry, I'm not participating in your silly little game. And, you know, I would be more apt to call a doctor doctor than I would a pastor, pastor. Because, well, frankly, I've known a lot of pastors. And I know where the title comes from.

I know how you get one. And I'm not impressed. The other aspect of this is, you're not impressing god by any means um as a matter of fact i think that it's interesting um it it it's it's misquoted sometimes uh where it says that um uh you know we're not to call someone rabbi. Which, by the way, if you translated that into English, and if you translated it into 17th century English, you might get one thing, but if you translate it into 21st century English, rabbi means reverend.

It means that. That's what it means. But I've often heard it misquoted that they say that we're not to call anyone rabbi do you know it actually does not say that the admonition is to the person who thinks they are a rabbi it says be ye not called rabbis. That's what it says. And I know we don't care what Jesus said. I get that. But he did say that nonetheless. Be ye not called reverend.

Be ye not called reverend. This is an act of will on the part of the one who is being called that. I'm not under any obligation not to call a man rabbi. I am under an obligation not to call them father. He made it very clear. Don't call any man father. Well, that's my commandment. Be ye not called rabbi is their commandment.

That's something on their part. That they have to insist that that not be done. I knew a rabbi one time that had subsequent to their Jewish affiliation, that they had actually received Christ as the Son of God, the Anointed One. And in his reading of the scriptures, read that where it says, don't be called rabbi. And he would insist that people not do it anymore. I admire that. I think that's wonderful. I have been called rabbi, and I have been called teacher, and I've been called pastor. I want you to know

that I'm not just sitting back here in the bushes and just throwing rocks at preachers. I was one of them. I did this. I lived this way. I was Pastor Harris. I mean, I did this. This is not, I'm not necessarily proud of all this. I just didn't know any better. But once I learn better, you make a change. That's what we do. That's how you be Christian. That's the way I've got it figured anyway. You can't get it all at once, so you make changes as you go. But titles are a serious problem in that they give, they try to lend credence to whatever a preacher says. Look, you want to call me preacher, you got no trouble with

me. That's what I am. And it's not a title. It's a descriptive term. That's what I do. So you want to call me preacher? That's fine. But I just don't, I don't think this is helping in the body of Christ at all, this hierarchy that goes on in the church. Jesus says, one is your teacher, one's your rabbi. You have a father in heaven. That's all you get. All of you are brethren. It makes it very clear that we're all equal. We're all part of the flock.

One of the things that pastors love to do is they like to, you ever hear a pastor talking about his church and his people and the sheep over which he is the shepherd? Hey, wait a minute, wait a over which he is the shepherd. Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's one shepherd. Well, yes, but we're all under-shepherds.

Well, you just make up words? Really? That's what you're going to do? You're just going to make this up? I'm an under-shepherd. Oh, that's, I didn't know we could just make up stuff. But we do, and we like to play games with this. You're not an under-shepherd, friend.

If you are anything at all, you are a hireling. And we all know what happens to hirelings when the wolf breaks through and gets into the sheep coat. We know what you will do. According to my Lord, you're going to run. And the reason you're going to run is whose own the sheep are not. These are not your sheep. And I know you like to believe they are as long as there's no wolf out there.

But truth is, if that sheep, if every sheep in that whole fold gets eaten by that wolf, you are out nothing. Perhaps a job. But you've not lost anything. The shepherd has lost it all. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. There is one shepherd. If you look in the Old Testament,

you will find the lord speaking about his flock he's very jealous of his flock and he has a huge complaint very very vociferous very judgmental he has man he just uh he just kind of lays it out there i know who you shepherds are i know that you kill the best of these of of my flock and you eat them i know that that's what you're doing i want you to know that here's my intention no No more hirelings. No more people taking care of my sheep. Here's my purpose and my plan. I'm going to send to the earth one shepherd. How many shepherds is that?

How much sense do you have to understand? How much sense do you need to understand? One shepherd. One. one not two not two million one shepherd i'm going to put one shepherd over them even my servant david this is so clearly a prophecy of jesus christ being of the house of david being the shepherd of the flock this is so clear you'd have to be moronish not to understand that jesus christ is here to be our shepherd our one shepherd now what's the problem sheep can't get to him why can't they get to him? Because the hirelings aren't doing their job. That's why. Because that's okay. We don't need to take them to the shepherd. I can feed them.

We don't need to take them to the shepherd. I can teach them. You see, I'm a pastor teacher. Yeah? Are you really? Okay. So you're going to teach them. What about when he says one is your teacher? Well, if you want to take it to the extreme, yeah, let's take it to the extreme, shall we? Truth is, one shepherd. And there's a reason why he says I want one shepherd. I want a man I can trust.

And I can't trust you. You know what my sheep have to deal with? You walking through their water and stirring up the mud. You go out there, you get as much as you want to drink, but you fouled the water with your feet. You realize these are prophecies in the Old Testament. The book that your pastor may have told It doesn't apply to you anymore. Maybe I'm finding out why.

But the prophecies were that these pastors, I know who they are. I know what they're doing. They eat of the best. They drink the clearest water. They get whatever they want. And they walk through it and they muddy the waters. And my sheep have nothing to drink my sheep have nothing to eat because you've fouled everything with your feet now friend

am i just am i just picking on the shepherds or am i telling you what perhaps might be your problem you need to realize that the that the that the uh you know when you get up when i'm when i'm here preaching to you and i'm trying to tell you what the word of god uh has has taught me and i'm telling you what the scriptures have and i've read in the scriptures when when i'm doing this and you get all bristly and you you can feel the hair come up on the back of your neck and you want to defend your doctrine think about it a moment where'd you get the doctrine where did it come from was it a hireling that taught you this was it a another teacher that taught you this? You know, many preachers spend a lot of time over their pulpit talking about

the dangers of another Christ, another gospel. And all the time they are another teacher. They're another rabbi. They're another shepherd. What in the world is the difference here? There is no difference. It's just a matter of words. That's all. You have one shepherd. Do you know who he is? Have you ever spoken to him? Have you ever received of him? You might think that you've received of him when you hear the voice of whoever it is you call your shepherd you might hear you might think that you're receiving of him when you learn from some teacher

but friend you need to be sure of this why because those are thieves they're robbers they do not have your best interest at heart let me tell you what they don't do. They don't come through the door. You ever notice that I come through the door every morning when I come here to take care of my sheep? You know why I use the door of the sheep coat? Because I own it. This is mine. If they come in here, they're climbing up some other way. They're not coming through the door. The reason they're not coming through the door is because they're dishonest. The reason they're not coming through the door, as the shepherd, they know they're not.

You think, Don, if I listened to you, I would think that all of Christianity is just as cynical and just as sinister as it can be. Friend, I think you'd be closer to right if you believe that. This is a very dangerous thing. Do you really think that the devil himself is just sitting by and he's just crying in his hands, oh my goodness, all these people are getting saved. Oh, there's millions of people getting saved. One day there's going to be a rapture and millions and millions of people are getting saved oh there's millions of people getting saved one day there's going to be a rapture and millions and millions of people are going to be sucked off the earth by the giant electrolux in the sky i've lost i've given up i have to quit jesus wins the battle do you really think that that's the thing do you really think that that's the thing? Do you really think that he's real concerned? He's not real concerned at all.

Because truth is, he's winning. Why? Because he's got all of us working for him. That's exactly why. And if we were all working for Christ, he'd be winning. I get so irritated, because sometimes you know,

yeah, okay, some people think I'm a negative and cynical. And I have some, you know, back-slapping, you know, cap-toothed, grinning guy come up to me and say, you just got to remember, brother, you know, read the back of the book, wee-wee-in. Well, that's a cute saying, buddy, but I have read the back of the book, wee wee in. Well, that's a cute saying, buddy. But I have read the back of the book. And you know what I found out? My Lord Jesus wins. Not me.

He wins. And it's as close as I am to him is going to determine whether or not I come through this thing unscathed. This is not just a happy-go-lucky merry-go-round ride that as soon as the music stops, we all get off of our horses and go to the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is a difficult thing.

Your soul is being bargained for every day. It's being bartered. It's being exchanged. It's being played with. Your mind is being bartered. It's being exchanged. It's being played with. Your mind is being played with. There are things that occur to you, and before the day is out, they're forgotten. Where did they go?

Who took these things out of your mind? Well, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things. Just like Jesus was telling us before, it's hard for a rich man to enter the lust of other things. Just like Jesus was telling us before, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He's got all kinds of stuff going on here on the earth. So how much effort are you to Satan to try to steal from you what the Lord is trying to give you? It's hardly even, he's not even breaking a sweat. He's just sitting around smoking cigars,

waiting for the end because he's winning. He is absolutely winning this game. Don't go off and accuse me of calling this a game. You know exactly what I'm saying. This is a real problem. It's ebbing away every day. And the church is not helping. They're not helping at all.

They won't even do things the way our Lord Jesus Christ told us to do them. Because it goes against whatever it is that they've always done. And it's just time to do something else. Jesus is our good shepherd. We know his voice. He knows us. We don't follow strangers. We're looking for somebody who can come through that gate and teach us.

The one that comes in the door, that's the shepherd. All the other ones that sneak up some other way, the Baptists have a little a little step stool leaning up against the sheep coat and the little presbyterians have their little step stool or piles of rocks or piles of bricks and this group over here they've built a little bridge over the over the sheep coat all these people have all these ways into our life and they come in and they teach us and this kind of why are they doing that why are they doing that they're making a living at it that's what jesus said

why does it why why would they flee the sheep jesus says because they're a hireling there's no money in this for them somebody steals the sheep there's no money in this he's not gonna go out and give his life for the sheep there's no money in it this is a real problem and it just continues you know you find a problem with bad doctrine and bad theology and ineffective Christianity I'll show you a preacher somewhere that caused that I won't point at the Lord Jesus and say He caused it. I'm not going to point at this Holy Spirit and say He's misled us. What, so where are we going to put the finger? And are we going to put a finger?

Are we going to say this is a problem? Are we even going to search for the problem? Well, there'll be a day when you wish you did. You stand before the Lord and your kids aren't there. It'll be important to you then. You stand before the Lord and your parents aren't there. Your best friends aren't there. And you're on your way to destruction. It'll be important to you then.

Friend, these kind of things are extremely extremely important we need to pay attention to the good shepherd the good shepherd none other than Jesus Christ himself

time for me to go write to me will ya don at thinkredink.com love to hear your questions or your comments you can write to the ministry thinkredink ministries P.com. Love to hear your questions or your comments. You can write to the ministry. Think Red Inc. Ministries, P.O. Box 718,

Pytown, New Mexico, 87827. All right, until I see you again, Think Red Inc., my friend. Bye-bye. you've been listening to don c harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you