The Shepherd's Flock USA

Let me use the hypothesis that our Christian journey is similar to a
person who is on a river and the current of the river is evil. Our objective is to swim upstream to fight against this evil current which flows to the Lake of Fire. We have to fight against this current to reach a calm peaceful eddy upstream, to be out of the currents pull, and find peace and comfort.

There are three types of Christians on this river.

The “Cold Christians” that are not fighting against the evil current, and
are floating down the river with the evil current. This is like a dead branch or a dead piece of wood just floating down the river. This Group of Christian’s are called the “Floaters”.

The Second Group of Christians are the “Lukewarm Christians”. They are not floating with the current, they are swimming like a dog, and dog paddling upstream. Depending on the strength of the current, they may or may not make progress going upstream. This Group of Christians are “Paddlers.”

The Third Group of Christians are the “On Fire Christians.” They are swimming upstream against the current and are stroking and kicking with much effort to make progress going upstream. This Group of Christians are the “Swimmers.”

As we start into end times, the sin will continue to increase and
therefore the evil current will increase and become stronger and
stronger as it picks up speed and power going down stream to the
Lake of Fire.

This is not a leisurely swim in the river, this is a life or death swim to save
our soul. The born again Christians that are in-Christ and listen and
obey the Holy Spirit, will make it.

We have no problem memorizing the good promises of God, but we ignore His promises that hold us accountable. His promise are not multiple choice. God does not grade on a curve and sin is not acceptable. Jesus said “You must be born again.” He didn’t say you should be, He said you must be.

We know that the Holy Spirit is our Helper, Counselor, Tutor, Comforter, and Guide. We also know that He is a member of the Trinity, which is God as Father, Jesus as Son, and the Holy Spirit. As such, the Holy Spirit is equal to God and Jesus Christ.

It is imperative that we understand the role, purpose, and duties of the Holy Spirit. As shown above, He is our Helper, Counselor, Tutor, Comforter, and Guide, and these things are explained in God’s instruction book, the Bible. We can read about the Upper Room and how the conversation went, with Jesus and His disciples, and about Jesus washing the feet of each one of them. (John 13:2-5). This situation is also referred to as The Last Supper.

The 11 men then followed Jesus to a garden on the Mount of Olives where they often spent time. He moved in by rows of vines, and the disciples gathered around. Jesus reaches for a grape branch, and He begins with His last lesson to them before He was crucified the next day. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. By this, My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.” (John 15:1-2, 5, 8).

Jesus loved to convey the deepest truths with simple, earthly examples. In His last message before His crucifixion, He wanted you and me to comprehend with our whole being, that He has left us on this planet for one compelling reason-and it has everything to do with fruit.

1. Jesus is the vine
2. The Father is the vinedresser.
3. You and I are branches.

The words “fruit” and “good works” in the Scriptures are nearly interchangeable. As just one example: “Let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” (Titus 3:14). Also: “(The righteous man) shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.” (Ps 1:3).

In practical terms, fruit represents good works-a thought, attitude, or even action of ours that God values because it glorifies Him. The fruit from your life is how God receives His due honor on earth. That’s why Jesus declares, “By this, My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.” (John 15:8). The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (John 5:22). You bear inner fruit when you allow God to nurture in you a new Christ-like quality. You bear outward fruit when you allow God to work through you to bring Him glory.

Jesus said: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” (John 15:16). The disciple Paul told Christians they were “create in Christ Jesus for good works.” (Eph 2:10). Jesus said: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” (John 15:2). What each one of us needs to understand, is the phrase “every branch “in” Me.” The New Testament repeatedly describes the believer as “in Christ.” (1Cor 1:30, 2Cor 5:17, Eph 2:10, and Phil 3:9).
I like to draw people’s attention to John Chapters 14: and 15:, and suggest that they highlight or circle the word “in,” and then read these two Chapters again. One person told me that his preacher said that “in Christ” is shown 132 times.

I personally believe that the sap in the vine is the Holy Spirit. Mr. Webster defines sap as 1. the juice that circulates through a plant, bearing water, food, etc. 2. vigor, energy. If there is no sap going through the vine, in and through the branches, the branches will die and therefore will not produce fruit. Spiritually speaking, the sap is the Holy Spirit. (My opinion) Why didn’t Jesus mention this when He taught His disciples in the vineyard? Because the Holy Spirit had not been sent to them until after He arose. So if the juice (sap) is not circulating through a plant or branch, bearing water, food, etc., it will die. And, if the Holy Spirit is not indwelling us, we’re not baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. Makes sense to me.

We need to be in Christ and Christ in us, and the Holy Spirit indwelling in us. Dead branches will not produce good fruit and will be removed and thrown on fire. If we are producing good fruit, the vinedresser (God) will prune us so we will produce even more fruit.

We have all heard about a team that forfeited a ball game because they didn’t have the required number of players to field a team. We’ve also heard about a team that won a game but the win was changed to a loss because of using an ineligible player, or players, who participated in the game, so the team lost the game instead.

But, have we heard about forfeiting our soul? Matt 16:26 tells us: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” A forfeit is also a penalty. Mr. Webster has various examples and definitions of the word forfeit and forfeiture. Scriptures tell us that just one soul saved is worth more than all the gold, silver, and riches, on earth.

Therefore, the importance of not losing even one soul, because of forfeit, should be paramount in our thinking, as we understand the value of our soul, according to God. We all do a fine job in feeding our body, which will live for 70 to 75 years, but we starve our soul of Spiritual food, even though our soul will live through eternity. We also know about hunger pains for food for our body if we don’t eat, but where is our hunger for God’s Spiritual food?

If we don’t want to forfeit our soul, we need to follow God’s “rule book”, and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, to properly feed our souls. So, the question is: What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Being more blunt, what will you give in exchange for your soul? God told us the value of our soul. What value do you put on your soul? The battle begins in the mind, and this question is food for thought, for each one of us.

Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He didn’t say your religious leader is, or your choice of a denomination is. In fact, He never ever mentioned a denomination. And no, Peter was not the first Pope, It is Satan who came to divide, conquer and kill, and denominations are a technique used by Satan to divide us.

Are we divided? Definitely! There are so many denominations, that an atheist may ask a professed Christian “Which God do you worship?”. Denominations were all started by man’s interpretation of God’s Word. In truth, Christendom is so far from the teachings of Christ, it’s in chaos. We are so far from God’s truth, that if they did an autopsy on the SOUL of everyone who died, the cause of death would be Spiritual starvation. Do we want to play church, or do we want to know the truth?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ~ John 14:6

Even Jesus Christ said that He didn’t come to bring peace, but to bring division. Read your Bible, that’s what He said. No wonder we’re divided. The world says that we are an 87 percent Christian Nation. That’s a lie from Satan. Our religious leaders infer that we are “good”. That’s also a lie. Most professed Christians don’t even know what the “church” is, per the definition of Jesus Christ. His “church” does not have a street address, town, State, or Zip Code. These are buildings.

God’s “church” is made up of members of the body of Christ and Jesus is the head of this body. Jesus Christ explained that there are three types of Christians. Cold, lukewarm, and hot. He didn’t need to explain about cold Christians. He did explain about lukewarm Christians, by saying that He spews them out of His mouth. The obvious question needs to be; what is a “hot” Christian? The answer is; Someone who is “On fire” for Christ. John the Baptist explained this quite well. No, he was not a Baptist, he baptized people so they called him John the Baptist. He said the One who follows me (Christ), baptizes with the Holy Spirit & Fire. (Not water).

Our religious leaders talk all about them baptizing you with water but few really preach about being baptized by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit and fire, and the results of THIS Baptism. May each one of us understand why HIS baptism is so important. Jesus said “the road to My gate is narrow and few find it.” And He said “The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.” These are the same people and they are “few.”

The Bible is a “smorgasbord” of Spiritual food. But instead of taking in meat from the His Word, we settle for milk, like a baby. We snack on tidbits once a week for half an hour, from our preacher instead of feasting on God’s Word and having the Holy Spirit, who is our Helper, Counselor, Tutor, Guide and Comforter, lead us. Our preacher tells us that He is “the still small voice” talking to us, Really? If we tuned Him in and tuned out the world, we could hear Him. Do we need hearing aids? No! We need a heart transplant.

Having a preacher tell us the way it is and having Jesus telling us the way it needs to be, are two different things. When we listen to the President speak, and than listen to MSM (Main Stream Media) tell us what he said, with their agenda included, is like listening to a preacher, instead of reading what Jesus Christ said for ourselves. Can we not understand what Christ told us in the Scriptures? He was bold and to the point, and didn’t speak with rhetoric, or water down the truth.

I don’t care how many sermons we’ve heard, if our lifestyle didn’t change, we didn’t get it. It is not what we do for Christ, it’s what He does for us. He is the subject, not us.

Sup with Him.