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Amen. All right, we're in 1 Peter chapter 5, and I'm going to preach two sermons out of this chapter. I just kind of got to page 7. I was like, yeah, I can't do this to them every week, so I'm going to try to keep it a little shorter. But if I don't, I'm sorry, you know. But anyway, the title of the sermon tonight is The Shepherd's Duties to the Flock of God. The Shepherd's Duties to the Flock of God. I only have three points tonight and a couple of sub-points here and there. So let's look at verse number 1. The Bible says, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this church. Lord, we thank you for the word of God. We pray that you just help me as we study through this chapter tonight. Help me to preach and teach the word of God and truth. And I pray that you fill me with your spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, so, well that word elders there in verse number 1 is talking about, it's basically, it's not just someone that's old, okay? It's talking about someone that's old in the faith. So someone that's an elder is a pastor. So we usually generally in Baptist churches call people pastors or bishops. I don't really hear anybody say bishops. Bishop is just another word for pastor and elder. They're all used interchangeably throughout the Bible. And I'm not going to take the time to belabor that because I've done that before. But that is just a fact. And so the term shepherd is also used as someone that would lead a church or lead a group of believers. And that's also used interchangeably with the bishop and pastor and so on and so forth. But when it's talking about elders, like you ever had a Mormon knock on your door before and they have these little badges that say elder on it? So, and they're like 19 years old, still wet behind the ears. But if they knew, if they had been reading the Bible for 10 years and they were actually saved, and they actually had children and were married, then they could be considered elders. Because, you know, but obviously it takes time to know the Word of God. It takes time to become an elder in the faith. So, but I mean, if you say you got saved at six years old or something and you're reading the Bible every year from the time you're six, you turn 18, you have a couple kids and then, you know, by the time you're 20, you could be on your way to being a pastor. But that's generally not how it works. I didn't become a pastor until I was 42. But a lot of that was my own problem. But I just, you know, I just never really applied myself to do that until later on in life. But I just, I flat out just thought I was kind of too old to, I was like, well, I'm just too old to do this. So, but like 42 isn't really old. You know, it's not really that old. 42 is the new 21 or whatever, I don't know. But when it comes to being a pastor, yeah, I mean, I would like to do this job with the strength that I had when I was 21 as far as physically speaking and things like that. But anyway, so basically a shepherd in this passage, well, first let's talk about elders and it says, the elders which are among you I exhort whom also an elder. So what's Peter saying? He's saying, well, I'm an elder also. Now again, it doesn't mean that you're old, but you're elder in the faith. So Timothy was told, you know, Paul said to Timothy not to let any man despise his youth. So Timothy was a pastor and he was young. The Bible doesn't say exactly how old he was. I'd probably guess he's probably 22 to 24 years old, something like that, maybe a little bit older. But sometimes people look at a younger person and say, well, that guy, you know, he has a baby face. He couldn't possibly, you know, be a, I've been a Christian for 40 years, you know, this guy thinks he knows more than me. Well, you know, how you look doesn't determine how mature you are in the faith. So how old you are, you know, you could be 20 years old and someone could be 50 years old in, you know, real life age, not dog years or anything like that, but just like, you know, 50, literally 50 years old or 20 years old. And then the 20 year old could be more mature in the faith than the person that's 50 because if the person that's 20 has read their Bible 10 times cover to cover, they've studied the Bible and they, you know, they live the Christian life, whereas someone that's 50 that's been saved for like, you know, the same amount of time but has never read their Bible cover to cover, they just are spoon fed everything for, you know, they're still considered a baby, a baby Christian. So, you know, becoming an elder in the faith is different than just growing old naturally because every year you're going to get older. There's nothing you can do about that. But spiritually speaking, you can be, you know, you can stay a baby for a long time. You can stay a baby for your whole Christian life. So this is talking about spiritually speaking. It's not that like you turn a certain age and all of a sudden you're considered an elder of the church. And usually people will apply it that way, but see a lot of people like to apply terms like this and always apply it and think of it in a carnal way. But apply it spiritually. It's talking about someone that's an elder in the faith. Obviously Peter is an apostle and he's also a pastor. And, you know, a lot of people dispute with us because we believe, you know, at our church we believe that someone that is an elder or a pastor or a bishop or a shepherd of a church has to have qualifications that they meet. You have to be married. You have to have children plural and you have to actually not be a novice, not a newly saved person, but someone that's been established in the faith and someone that knows what they're talking about, someone that knows the Bible. It's not just any old person gets up here and preaches or any old person is qualified. So what do we know about Peter? Well, he had a mother-in-law. So what does that tell you about him? That he was married, right? He was married and so he did have children, no doubt, because, you know, there wouldn't be qualifications for someone to be a bishop and then just say, but you don't have to keep him. It doesn't make sense. So Peter had to have children. He was a full-time servant of the Lord. He was an apostle. So he was an apostle. He held two, you know, wore two hats at the same time he was an apostle, but at the same time he was a pastor. So, and it says that he was, you know, but the apostle Paul, take the apostle Paul, the apostle Paul was not married, did not have children, and so what does that tell you about him? That he was not a pastor, but yet he was an apostle and was able to teach and train men and things like that, but he was not a pastor. So you have to meet the qualifications to become a pastor. You have to meet the qualifications to become a deacon and so on and so forth. So Peter's saying what? I'm an elder also and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. So once again, interchangeably used in the Bible are the words elders, bishop, you know, pastor and obviously shepherd, but the term shepherd is used as, you know, like an overseer of a group, right? And a shepherd in general, if you just say, well that person is a shepherd, what would you automatically think? You're going to think that person takes care of animals. That person takes care of a flock of animals. So generally, you know, the Lord likes to use the example of people watching over sheep. He uses the term sheep in the Bible concerning Christians a lot and so that's kind of what this chapter is basically focusing on is what is the job of someone that's considered a shepherd, someone that is leading a flock of the Lord's sheep. So, and that has been used as a term to, you know, make people, you know, seem simple or stupid if they're a sheep or whatever. And you know, a lot of times, you know, sheep don't really know how to take care of themselves so that's why they need someone to lead them, but you know, it's a derogatory term. You're just a sheep. You're just a sheeple or whatever. Now, if you're not following the right shepherd, I would say that that could be a derogatory term, a false shepherd, someone that's just leading you in a wrong way. But if your shepherd is the great shepherd, if your shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ, then I would say that, you know, you should be thankful that you are a sheep. So it's not a derogatory term. Don't look at being called a sheep by God a derogatory term. He's not meaning it that way. He's just, you know, obviously, you know, the picture also of a shepherd is that he's, you know, a shepherd is usually a man, isn't it? And then the sheep are animals. And so if you think about God as the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep, he's also, Jesus Christ is also a man. But he's also God and he is not the same as humans in the sense that he does have the God-like or the God qualities, not God-like, but he is God. So he's a little bit different than the regular sheep, isn't he? And so just like a human being is different than sheep, so I mean you got that comparison to look at too. So, but, you know, the shepherd of a church is the under-shepherd of God. He's the person that leads while Jesus Christ is not here because Jesus isn't here. He's up in heaven waiting to come back and to receive us unto himself and one day we'll be with him forever, but for now you're just stuck with, you know, 47-year-old Pastor Thompson as the shepherd of this church. But obviously there's many different under-shepherds in many different churches around the world. But again, the shepherd, if you would take a literal definition of what a shepherd is, you know, they have, I mean just think about what the job description of a shepherd is. The duty of a shepherd is to keep the flock intact, to protect it from predators and guide it to, you know, back in the old days market areas in a time for shearing because the sheep sometimes need to be sheared and then they take that and they make clothing out of it and comfortable things. So, and you know, that's also used as a derogatory term. You know, you're fleecing the flock, but like is fleecing sheep really a bad thing? I mean, if you apply it in the way that it should be applied, you know, it's like I talked about John chapter 15, how God purges us so that we can bring forth more fruit. And sometimes, you know, when lambs or sheep get, their hair grows long, they get all fluffy, don't they? And you know, Christians can get puffed up or they can get a lot of things kind of weighing them down. Sometimes they need to get trimmed down. And so, I mean, if you look at that in the way that, you know, the Word of God is supposed to trim us down and to make us better and cut away the things that probably shouldn't be there, then, you know, fleecing the sheep is not really a bad term. But in ancient times, shepherds also commonly milked their sheep. And I'm sure that people still do today. Like, you know, people keep goats. And goats have really good milk and they make cheese and they're pretty good barbecued and stuff like that. So, but, you know, the shepherd's job is also to feed those sheep with good and nutritious food, right? So, you know, you have to be a good shepherd in the way that you're treating the sheep and you're leading them gently and softly because if you've ever noticed that sheep are kind of afraid sometimes. You know, they're definitely afraid when a wolf or something like that comes. And so, what is the shepherd's job to do is to not, you know, to protect them when the wolves come, right? And to do healthcare checks. You know, if you think about just keeping animals like, you know, they can get hoof rot or they can get all kinds of different things wrong with them and you have to upkeep them. So, keeping them healthy and things like that. So, the literal shepherd, you know, translates very nicely to what a pastor or a shepherd is supposed to do in a local church. So, number one tonight, the shepherd feeds the flock with the word of God. So, you know, a shepherd out in the world is going to feed the sheep and take them to green pastures and make sure they have good organic grass or whatever to eat. Well, the shepherd of a church is supposed to feed the flock with what? The word of God. Well, let's look at verse number two. It says, feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof. So, what does that mean? Well, you're supposed to feed the flock and, you know, you feed them the word of God taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind. So, you know, what are you supposed to feed a sheep with? The word of God. Not what Newsmax says, not what, you know, and I don't know, not what Sean Hannity says, not what Fox News teaches, not with man's philosophy and not with your own opinions. So, you know, the Bible is what's supposed to be fed to the sheep. So, my job as the shepherd is to get up here and preach the word of God to you or teach the word of God to you so that you can know what God expects from you, how to live the Christian life, how to get sin out of your life and how to apply those things to be a well-maintained perfect sheep. You know, sheep have, there's competitions for sheep too, you know, and they breed them to, you know, look like a specific way or whatever. It's kind of a big thing in England. Like when we were there we had a lamb shoulder roast and it was fantastic but they don't have a lot of beef there because it's an island, you know, so they probably don't have a lot of room for cattle but sheep is a big deal and they have some good tasty sheep. I'm a member of PETA, people eating tasty animals, so I like sheep. But anyway, that was a bad joke that I like to tell. Anyway, let's turn to John chapter 10 verse 26, John chapter 10 verse 26. So, what's the shepherd supposed to feed the flock with? The word of God, right? Now look at John 10 26, it says, But you believe not, because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. So Jesus, what's he saying? He's comparing, you know, the sheep that are not his and the sheep that are his. The sheep that are his, they're supposed to hear what? His voice. And what is that voice? The word of God. Jesus' words are the word of God, that's what's found in this book right here, is the word of God. And he says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. So what's the job of a shepherd, humanistically speaking, you know, my job is to lead you to the voice of the Savior. And so how do I do that? Well, I take the word of God and I tell you what the shepherd has to say. The great shepherd, the good shepherd. Look at verse 28, it says, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So, you know, here's another reference that could be used, obviously we use this to teach eternal security because the Bible says that it's eternal and that they shall never perish, you know, I don't know how that gets misinterpreted, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You know, I mean, he's talking about sheep, he's talking about his voice, and he's also saying, nobody's going to be able to snatch you away from me because it's eternal life. So, you know, if you think about that, he is the good shepherd, right? He says he's the good shepherd, I am the good shepherd. Turn to John chapter 21 verse 15, John chapter 21 verse 15. Now the Apostle Peter, before Jesus was crucified on the night before he was crucified, he was following Jesus afar off after he got captured. And he was afraid to admit that he knew Jesus, he was afraid to say that he knew him, he denied the Lord three times. And then, you know, when he realized what he had done and that Jesus predicted that he was going to do that, he went out and wept bitterly. And it was a really devastating time where he failed, you know, because man fails. That's what we're good at, we're good at failing. But Christ is always winning, and so because Christ is always winning, if we're on his team, we're always going to win too, right? Look at John chapter 21 verse 15, it says, so when they had dying, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, this is after the resurrection, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou more than these? He saith unto him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. Is he talking about literal lambs, literal sheep, literal grass? No, he's talking about what? He's talking about feeding them the word of God. And what is Peter again? Peter's an elder, Peter's a bishop, Peter's a shepherd, Peter's an apostle. So he asked him that first time, he says, feed my lambs. Verse 16, he saith unto him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. So he asked him the second time, and then he asked him a third time, he said unto him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? He said unto him, Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. So what is the job of a shepherd? What is the job of, you know, when Jesus has someone that's ordained, he ordained the twelve, they were supposed to go out and reach everybody, and then start other churches, get all these people saved, and what was the job? He's saying, feed my sheep. Give them something to eat. Feed them with the things that I want you to feed them with, and that is the word of God, because doesn't it take the word of God to get people saved? I know there's some people that teach the opposite of that, they'll say, oh it doesn't take the, you know, you can just use your own words. Oh really? So I guess you're the word of God then? Because the Bible says that it's the word of God that saves people. Salvation is of the Lord, and you're not going to get saved unless you're hearing the words of the Lord. The Gospel is preached from the Bible. The Gospel is not just you putting your own words out, and then someone getting saved. It's not your testimony that's going to get somebody else saved. You know, maybe someone wants to hear your testimony. Every once in a while it's a fruitful thing to give your testimony, but you know, Jesus didn't say go out and preach your testimony. He said go out and preach the Gospel. And let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 1, we're already here anyway pretty close, so 1 Peter chapter 1, and I already preached this sermon, but I just wanted to remind you of it really quickly. So it says in verse 23, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. What's it talking about? It's talking about the Bible. It's talking about God's word. It's not just like, you know, Jesus. You know, people will say, well, it's just talking about Jesus. Well, Jesus is the word of God. But you don't just walk up to people and go, Jesus, and they get saved. That's stupid. You preach the word of God, and many of you in here are soul winners, and you know the power that God's word has when you walk up to somebody, and they, you know, they're like, you know, it's so weird. I was just praying that somebody would come and explain to me how to be saved. And you're like, well, here I am. Right? I mean, have you had that happen to you? Raise your hand if you've had that happen to you. It happens. And you know what? I believe that God sends you on a divine appointment to that person's door. That's why it's so important to show up for some soul winning times. Because maybe that was the door you were supposed to knock. Maybe that was the door that you were supposed to reach, and you weren't there. And look, I know you can't go to every soul winning time, but you should go to some. You should try to get out there as much as you can, but at least once a week. Right? Get out there and go soul winning because, you know, somebody has, you know, you might be, it might have been the last door, and if you would have showed up, they could have got that last door knocked. That person's praying. You know, I believe God's going to send someone across that person's path. If someone is truly seeking after the Lord and seeking to be saved, God's going to make sure that you meet up with that person. I mean, how many times have you just accidentally, you know, knocked, you know, you knocked a door that you weren't supposed to knock, or you run into somebody on the street that, like, you just happen to intersect them at the same time as you're going soul winning and that person gets saved? Do you think that that's an accident? That's not an accident. That's God's divine providence. That's God setting an appointment for you to talk to that person. So when someone crosses your path when you're out soul winning, talk to that person. Say something to them. But my point was, is that the Word of God is what gets people saved. It's not going to be your opinion. Don't put so much importance on yourself, but don't take away all the importance of yourself, because God doesn't just appear out of the sky and people get saved. Jesus isn't going to leave the throne room to go down to the atheist that said, well, you know, I just, you know, if God appears, then I'll believe. That's rubbish. They're not going to believe that. They wouldn't even believe even if he did do that. But you know what? Is God like some genie in a bottle that has to jump in their test tube so they can scientifically, you know, see whether the God particle or whatever? Shut up. You know what gets people saved? It's the Word of God. It says in verse 25, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Why is it so important? Why did Jesus say for Peter to feed my lambs, feed my sheep? Because you know what? It requires the Word of God for people to have faith. It requires the Word of God for people to grow in their faith and to, you know, be perfected by the preaching of God's Word. You know, let's move on to point number two. Point number two is the sheep, or excuse me, the shepherd is to oversee the sheep. So number one, the shepherd is supposed to feed the sheep. Number two, the shepherd is supposed to oversee the sheep. So as a shepherd, as a pastor, as a bishop, whatever you want to call it, a shepherd is someone that oversees the sheep. Look at verse number two again. It says, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. So we're supposed to feed the flock of God and take the oversight. Well, what does that mean? Well, it means to watch over, to supervise, to manage, to lead. See, someone, God has always used a man to lead people. Moses was the leader of the children of Israel and of course he had people that he divvied out the work to finally because he was trying to do everything himself, but you know, that was going to run him ragged. So, but Moses was the man in charge. Joshua was the man in charge. Gideon was the man in charge. Samuel was the judge of Israel. Saul was the king of Israel. David was the king of Israel. Those people that God puts in place to be leaders of his sheep and it's a great responsibility and part of that responsibility is overseeing the sheep and that's watching over, supervising, managing, leading. But that doesn't mean that I put loudspeakers in your house or ring doorbell cameras and say, hey, I saw the video collection that you have there. What are you doing? You know, uh-uh. Oh, you're going to stay home and watch Netflix instead of coming to church tonight? I don't think so. You know, I'm not that kind of overseer, all right? So, you know, we're supposed to oversee but not, you know, obviously meddle in people's lives to the point where we're just controlling them. I know that there's pastors that do that. I know there's religions that do that. I know there's cults that do that but, you know, despite what people say about us being a cult, I mean, when's the last time I came over and did a check on all the stuff that you have in your house and said, you need to get rid of this, you need to do this, you need to, I'll never do that because it's not my job to do that. My job is to preach the word of God and then you figure out what you need to do with that preaching, okay? Turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. So, you know, obviously we have the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have him as the good shepherd. It says in verse number 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. See, he's the good shepherd. He's the ultimate shepherd. It says, but he that is in hireling and is 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. So, there's people that will take on the job of being a pastor or take on the job of being a bishop or something like that and they really don't care because they're just a hireling. They're just there for the money. They don't really care about the sheep. Now, of course, Jesus cares about all of his sheep. The Bible says I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. God loves all of the people that are saved, obviously, but look at verse 13. It says the hireling fleeth because he is in hireling and careth not for the sheep. So, a hireling is someone who works only for pay and, you know, there are pastors out there that that's what they're all about, all about the money, all about how much they're getting paid. I'm sure you've seen some of these people that are like, charismatic leaders and stuff, like Cleflo Dollar asking for a Lear jet or something like that. He's like, I really need a jet, everybody, and it's like everybody turned on him. It's like, maybe you asked too soon, you know, but he's saying, you know, and I know that like there's other of these preachers that have like their own private jets. They make millions of dollars. Like, if you're a pastor, you shouldn't be making millions of dollars. At that point, you're just in it for the money. Joel Osteen, he's in it for the money. He might have a nice smile, you know, bought and paid for by Ties and Offerings, but, you know, he is not a good person. He's wicked. So, he's a false prophet and he's out there just making millions of dollars and not taking a stand for anything, not really preaching any doctrine. He just, he's a bad guy and there are people out there like that and when the hard times come, they're not going to be there. They're going to run. That's what the hireling does. And Jesus said in verse 14, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. So, you know, the job, you know, Jesus has kind of given us a guideline. If someone in here wants to be a pastor someday, you know, look to Jesus for your examples of how you should do things because what's he saying? He's saying, I'm not going to leave you. You know, when the wolf comes, I'm going to stand up to the wolf and so what should pastors do? They should stand up to the wolves and throw them out and keep them away from the sheep. And it says, know and know my sheep. So, you should know the estates of your flock. You should know what's going on in your church as the pastor because Jesus knows, doesn't he? So, obviously, Jesus is the pattern of how we should be and none of us are ever going to meet up to that fully, but that is what we're supposed to try to do is to be like Christ, right? So, that's what Christian means, Christ-like, right? So, my job as a shepherd is to feed and oversee the flock and show them who Christ is and what he wants from our lives. Not because I'm forced to, not because, you know, it's because I want to. So, it says in verse 2 also, not by constraint but willingly. It's not because I have to, it's because I want to. Isn't willingly something that you want to do? Constraint is like, you know, you think of like being handcuffed or something. Constraint is something that you're forced to do and willing is something that you want to do, right? 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 says, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. There's nothing wrong with desiring the office of a bishop. Isn't desiring something? Being willing, right? So, it's a true saying that if you want that, that's a good work. That's something good to do, but make sure that you're not trying to get into it for the wrong reasons. So, what are the wrong reasons to be able to have a title? You know, some people, I've been in this game a little while and I've seen lots of people that they just want the position of pastor. They just want to be called pastor. They can't wait to get the power so they can do this and that. A lot of guys just think that like, it's just getting up and preaching hard sermons where you're jumping on top of stuff and screaming the whole sermon. That's just not reality, you know, or being famous or whatever it is. There's a lot of people that I've seen come and go that were total washouts because they're self-willed, not willing to serve. So, if you're self-willed, that means that you're willing to serve yourself and you're willing to try to fake it till you make it and then get your position of power, but see, that's never going to work out for you. So, if that's what you're in it for is to have clout or have some kind of good reputation amongst people or you just want, you know, it's like the Pharisees, they want to be in the good seats. They want to be in the streets praying long prayers. They want to wear their long wizard outfits so that people can say, look how holy they are. You know, that ought not to be your motivation for wanting to become a pastor. So, it says not of filthy lucre, but of a ready mind also in verse 2. So, it's not just because you want money. So, filthy lucre is what? Money. You know, money that you got through ill gains, but it says be of a ready mind. What does that mean? It means the state of being ready or prepared. So, instead of being, you know, doing it for money, you're doing it because you have a ready mind to do the work. You're prepared for the use of action. So, that's what having a ready mind is. So, the Bible is kind of doing this little comparison here. Not a filthy lucre. It's not about the money. And so, I've always just thought it was really strange when I've seen people that just like go to school specifically just to be a pastor so that that could be their career. It's like that, I mean, that has never entered into my mind. That's not why I did it. That's not why I became a pastor. I became a pastor because there was a need. That's why. So, you know, it never had anything to do with money. As a matter of fact, I realized when I made that decision that I could lose everything I had because the type of sermons and the type of things that get preached from this pulpit are offensive to people. And it's obviously, I told you the story earlier. It's offensive to the point where you could lose everything. So, and I had, you know, a pretty cushy job where it was like 30 years retirement, great benefits, you know, and obviously I wasn't getting rich. I've never cared about being rich. Ever. Never cared about it. That's never been my motivation. You know, when my kids were growing up, I didn't work a lot of overtime because I'd rather spend time with them and, you know, be with them than just work all this overtime because those years you can never get back. I remember I was working and I was offered a supervisor job. And I'm not saying don't become a supervisor, but this particular job was requiring me to be a supervisor on nights. And so, my son was about to start his football, you know, and I was supposed to help coach his football team or whatever. And I know this is stupid, but this is the truth. Like, I was working one day and like I was thinking about, like, I had the decision to make, can I, you know, the job was mine for the taking, but I had to work nights and swing shift or whatever. And that song, Cats in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon came on and I just started thinking, you know, what am I doing? Like, why am I even entertaining this in any way, shape, or form? Because if you know what that song is about, it's about a dad who has a son and he never spends time with them and then he grows up and then the son doesn't want to spend time with him. So, it's a really sad song, actually. And it just, you know, I, you know, I wasn't like listening to it like I pushed the CD player or something. It was like coming out of the speakers or whatever. So, anyway, it's a stupid story, but it made me, you know, it made me think about what I was doing, though. Like, what are you doing? Like, what's important to you? And you should make that decision even if you're not going to be a pastor. Whatever your job is, that your family, those years you can't get back. And so, it's really nice to spend time with family because later on, they're not going to want to spend time with you if you don't spend time with them when they're young. It's just a fact. So, anyway, that's the end of my worldly commercial break there. But it is true. It's a fact. So, money isn't everything. As a matter of fact, you know, the Bible teaches that we shouldn't have too much so that we don't, you know, we shouldn't be too poor. We shouldn't ask to be too rich. We shouldn't ask to be too poor. But somewhere kind of where God's just meeting our needs and we have enough to be provided for, right? That's really what the state of mind should, that you should have. So, to have a ready mind is someone that's ready or prepared for the use of action. And that's what the way a shepherd should be. So, let's look at Matthew chapter 6, verse 31, Matthew chapter 6, verse 31. And if you're going to be a pastor and you're going to preach the whole Bible, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, you better just be prepared. And I talked about this a couple of weeks ago in a sermon I preached called, and, you know, you've got to count the cost. Are you willing to lose everything for what you believe in? And it's not just about being a pastor. It's just any Christian, you know. When you live the Christian life, you should be prepared at all times that you could lose everything. Everything that you have. Because, you know what? Honestly, in the end, we're going to lose it all anyway. So, all we're going to have is the rewards that are waiting for us in heaven. Matthew chapter 6, verse 31 says, Therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. See, God already knows what you need. God already knows. So, and it says the Gentiles seek these things. So, what's he saying? He's saying the unbelievers, the people that aren't really saved, they're not the spiritual Israel or whatever, they worry about all that stuff. They worry about having the best house and the best cars and the best yard and all this other stuff. That's not stuff that we really need to worry about because, you know, it says in verse 33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So, you know, if you seek God first in your life and you put God first in your life, he's going to give you all the things you need anyway. So, why are you so worried about it? You know, you shouldn't be worried about monetary things and all that. I mean, obviously, we need money to survive. We need food to survive. We got to have gas and our tanks to get places. I get that. But, you know, the Bible says if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, that all these things shall be added unto you. You know, God always gives us more than we really need, doesn't he? It's not like he just makes us scrape the barrel every week. But maybe there's times when you do need to scrape the barrel. Maybe there's times when you do need to just realize, hey, I have a lot. And sometimes God has to humble us in areas of finances and things because, you know, we really are rich in this country. We really, we complain about stupid things because if you go to the Philippines for one week, you're going to see what, what, you know, dirth is like when there's little kids walking up begging you for money because their parents are making them do it. When they're eating a bag of rice from a restaurant, the whole family is sitting there, you know, ripping open a bag of rice that got thrown in the garbage can and they're just eating it with their hands. That's being poor. That's having want. So, but anyway, look at verse 34. I'm not trying to depress you tonight. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So, and obviously this sermon is about being a pastor. It's about the things that a pastor is required to do. So if you want to be a pastor, you know, number one, you've got to realize that feeding the sheep is part of your job and the oversight of the sheep and the care for them is part of the job. Look at Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. See, Jesus cared for the sheep. Jesus, you know, he had divine appointments. Like think about Zacchaeus. You know, Zacchaeus is up in a tree because he's so short he can't see over the crowd and he wants to see Jesus. He wants to have an interaction with them, but what's he doing? He climbs a tree so he can see him and then Jesus tells him to come down and he goes to his house and that man gets saved that day. So, you know, our job is to, you know, obviously be the sheep and to have the oversight, but we also, you know, we need to have a plan and if somebody goes astray, we should go after that person. When I find, when I feel like people are like maybe slipping away, you know, as the pastor of the church, I'm going to reach out to that person and, you know, if I reach out to you, I'm not like trying to like be mean or something. I just care, you know. I want you to know that I do care about you and I do think about you and I do know when you're not here. I realize when you're gone and I'm going to follow up with you and just make sure you're doing okay. So that's my job. Isn't that what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 18 verse 12 of what it says? How think ye if a man have an hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and asketh, or excuse me, seeketh that which is gone astray? You know, sometimes Christians go astray. Sometimes they fall away, you know, they start by just missing one service and then they start missing more services and the next thing you know, they're gone for a few weeks. It's just like, what happened to so-and-so? Well, they just kind of fell away. So look at verse 13. If so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. So the job of a shepherd is a very serious job too because it's not just enough to oversee, but you also have to make sure that you're counting and like, you know, we're so-and-so, you know, we're, you know, where are they at? How are they doing? What's their spiritual life like right now? Why are they not, why are they not here much, you know? And as a pastor, those are things that I just, you know, I want to keep in mind. You know, I want to feed the sheep, that's my job, but I also want to watch over the sheep. Look at what it says in verse 14. Even so, excuse me, turn to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. This is kind of like a parallel passage, teaching the same thing, but like you can apply through these two sets of scriptures, you can apply this to salvation or someone, you know, Jesus is seeking for that person because really God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth that should not perish would have everlasting life. So he's looking for everybody to be saved. His will is that all should come to repentance, right? All should be saved. But there's also the aspect of interpretation on these that it's not just talking about someone that's not saved, but it's also talking about someone that's just backslidden and away from God. Like if you think about like the prodigal son, you know, the son leaves, he takes his inheritance and leaves, realizes life would be a lot better if he just went back to his dad, which represents God, he comes back, God receives him, and they throw a big party, right? Well look at Luke 15 one, it says, Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man received his sinners and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he called together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. So I mean if you apply that to the ninety and nine just persons, those are people that are already saved, right? Just persons saved. And then what is, I mean, I believe you can definitely apply this to someone that's not saved. As a matter of fact, the day that I got saved, I remember that the soul winner took me through the Romans road. He showed me all this stuff. And then he asked me to call upon the name of the Lord. I did. Got down on my knees. I called upon the name of the Lord. And then right after I did that, he said, The angels in heaven are rejoicing over one sinner that's repented, and that's you. And so I just like, I just, I'll never forget that. I remember looking up like in the clouds and like looking for the angels, but I couldn't see them. But anyway, I was just like, they weren't there. Yeah, they're in heaven. So like the different heaven. But anyway, I just, I never forgot that. Like that's one thing about like being converted. Like I don't remember every single scripture he turned me to, but I know that was through the Romans road. And I know that, you know, he asked me if I believed in Jesus. I said yes. And then I called upon the name of the Lord. So, but that scripture there is a great scripture, but it also shows the character of Jesus being like a great shepherd. Not only does he care about those sheep that go astray, but he also cares about the lost person that needs to be saved. And so as a pastor, as a shepherd, you know, you also have to care about people that are going astray and you also have to care about the people that aren't saved. And so we're, it's kind of a job of seeking both things. And so number three tonight, a shepherd needs to be a shepherd worthy of being followed, worthy of being followed. Look at verse number three in our text tonight. Verse number three in first Peter chapter five, it says, neither as being Lords over God's heritage, but being in samples through the flock. So we're not supposed to be Lords over God's heritage, but in samples onto the flock. Now, you know, a lot of people take that word in samples and they say, they think, well, that's just an old English word for examples, but it's actually not because the word examples is actually in the King James Bible too. So the word in samples is there for a reason. You know, that's why, you know, throw out your NIV or your RSV or HIV edition or your, you know, whatever stupid Bible version that you have because the King James is right. And it's going to use the right words in the right places. So in samples versus examples. In samples is always man's personal patterns and characteristics and never an object to copy. It's not an inanimate object. So it's a pattern of examples to follow or not follow. And samples are never inanimate objects. So when the Bible talks about in samples, it's talking about a person and their characteristics, how they do things. It's a real person. It's not an object. So examples are also patterns to follow, but you know, or copy or not copy, but are personal and general products and processes. So it can be someone's example, like follow that person's example, but a pattern, it can also be something that you're patterning it after, if that makes sense. So that it can, as an example, it can be like, so you talked about like the patterns that God said, you know, Moses had to have the patterns of the things at the tabernacle. Well, those were actually inanimate objects that he had a pattern in his mind. And those people were given the pattern to make all the things in the tabernacle. But so in other words, Peter's basically saying this, he's saying, you know, don't, you know, be some Lord that people must follow because of their status or position. You know, I'm the pastor of this church, so you better just do what I say. You know, you know, we're supposed to live among the people, not over the people. You know, obviously I'm supposed to oversee the people. And obviously I am the Lord of the church, basically, as far as like, you know, what I say, go, I'm the boss when I'm here at this church, over the things of the Lord here. I'm not the Lord of the, the Lord of the church is the good shepherd, right? But I'm just saying that like, there has to be a boss here at the church house, the place of, and someone that's leading and making decisions, saying no, saying yes, you know, and those, those things aren't always popular, but somebody has to be in charge. But what is Peter talking about when you're to being in sample? Well, to live among them, let them see your personal characteristics and your personal habits and so forth. So being in samples is a charge to their person. So when it says being samples as a shepherd, you know, it's, it's something that people can see in your life as, as you know, they're a pattern that someone can emulate, basically, spiritually. So you don't want to emulate inanimate objects, or you don't emulate inanimate objects. You're not like, I'm a teapot, you know, you're, you don't copy, you know, inanimate objects. So hopefully that gets to the point, you know, if anybody, if any men in here sing, I'm a little teapot, we're gonna have a problem. But I might just shoot you. No, I'm just kidding. I had a friend that got shot by his dad with a BB gun because he came home singing that song. So that's why I said, I was just joking. It's like, he never did it again. So anyway, it was funny, though. He's like, I'm a little teapot. He's like, no, you're not. Took him a long time, a lot of counseling to get over that one. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, so yeah, you don't emulate, so don't emulate the man himself, but the samples of the good behavior and the faith that that person has. Does that make sense? So, and samples is a different word than examples. So we'll just take some scripture and we'll look at it real quickly. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. What do I mean by this? Well, what does the Bible mean by this, actually? Well, Paul kind of helps us understand it a little bit better. 1 Corinthians 11 one says, be followers of me, even as, so in like manner, I also am of Christ. So Paul is saying, hey, follow me like I'm following Christ. So he's not saying necessarily, you know, grow your mustache like him, grow your beard like him, get your hair cut like him or things like that. But like, be a follower of me like, like, like I am of Christ. So as, as we're supposed to follow Christ, if I'm following Christ, you should follow me as the pastor of the church. If I'm following, anything I'm following Christ in, you should be able to follow me in and I should be an example to you as something that you can emulate, obviously not in a weird way, but emulate the patterns, the good behavior, the faith, and so on and so forth. That's what Paul's asking, right? He's not saying, worship me like you worship Christ. He's saying, follow me like you follow Christ, as you would follow Christ, because he's following Christ. So look at 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10. Hopefully I'm explaining that right. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10. This is the last scripture I'll have you turn to and we'll finish up here. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10 says, But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. He's saying, hey Timothy, you've seen, you have fully known my doctrine, the things that I teach, the manner of life that I live before you, my purpose, my faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. So he's basically, he's showing a list of things that Timothy can emulate or follow in his life. This is an ensemble. So this is a perfect example of an ensemble. Anyway, look at verse 11. Persecutions, afflictions, which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Why? Because you're emulating what Jesus is doing. So Jesus lived, you know, he lived a godly life, didn't he? He lived a perfect life. And so if we follow the men that follow Jesus, if you follow Jesus, and if you live godly in Christ Jesus, you're going to suffer the same things that he did because, you know, the servant is not above his Lord. And so if they hated him, they're going to hate us. So don't be surprised when people hate you. It's like people just like get mystified. I just don't understand why they hate me so much. They don't. They hate Jesus. And you remind them, like when you're doing something godly, it reminds them of Jesus. It's a picture of Jesus. You're emulating Jesus. They were called Christians first in Antioch. Why? Because they were like, they were like little Christ, basically. And so they were living godly in Christ Jesus, and so great things were happening in that church in Antioch because of that. It says in verse 13, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So here's the other part of the emulation, or excuse me, the sample, which is, you know, the thing that you should be emulating is that, you know, you should continue in the things that you've learned. What are the things that they learned? The doctrine, the manner of life, the purpose, the faith, the long suffering, the charity, the patience, the persecutions, the afflictions, and how Paul handled the persecutions that he went through. Because that's what he mentions, too, that he endured those things. So what's he teaching us to, you know, when he says, be followers of me, even as I am of Christ, he's saying the things that you see me do, those things you do. Because didn't Christ do the same things? Didn't Christ preach the same message? Didn't Christ, you know, he went through and showed people his faith and his long suffering, his charity, that means love and patience and manner of life and his doctrine. He was constantly teaching doctrine, wasn't he? And people were astonished at his doctrine. People were amazed by his doctrine. The common people heard him gladly. And so if we're to be, as a shepherd, a shepherd is supposed to be an example to the flock, but the flock, you know, you're not off the hook for acting the same way because other people see you and, you know, don't you want people to follow you for the good things that you do instead of following you for the bad things you do? Following you for how the the wrong things you're doing in your life? You know, sometimes people in church, they'll hook up with like the least spiritual person and, you know, what's going to happen when you hang out with the least spiritual person in church? Then you're going to be less spiritual. So, and I'm not saying that to bash anybody, but, you know, I'm sure there is someone in this church that's the least spiritual in the church. There's someone that's the most spiritual and it might not even be me. You know, just because I'm the pastor of the church doesn't mean I'm the best Christian here. So, you know, should I be an example though that you can follow? That's what the Bible says. So that's what I'm going to aim to be. But you also are not off the hook in this way because you're supposed to behave yourself in a godly way too. See, people are going to follow your example. That's why Paul, you know, Paul wasn't Christ. He was a follower of Christ and he says, hey, I'm going to follow Christ. You know, hey, follow me and I'll show you how Christ is. Right? So, you know, if you're going to emulate emulate the good examples of your shepherd, emulate the good examples of Christ, all the examples of Christ are good, but I mean, if it's your shepherd, just realize, remember that you're, you know, men are not to be lifted up on a pedestal. You know, pastors sometimes get almost borderline worshiped in some circles. You know, people do it in our group too. But, you know, that, you know, and then when the person, the pastor, you know, doesn't do something exactly the way they want or they don't, you know, maybe they change their mind on some kind of doctrine that they learn more about or whatever it is, you know, then people just lose their minds. It's like they, they want to be a cult and so when it turns out to not be a cult then they're mad that it's not cult-like like they wanted it to be. And then they flip out and they turn into losers that just stalk your every step and, you know, send you text messages all the time about weird stuff. But that's just another, another thing altogether. But, I mean, it's just, it's just part of the, it's part of the deal. So, but don't lift up a man on a pedestal because men are just men. You know, we're sinful. So put, you know, if you want to lift somebody up on a pedestal, lift up Jesus Christ on the pedestal. That's somebody that you can always count on who's never going to fail you, who's always going to do the right thing, he's always going to make the decision that, he actually might not always make the decision that you like. But you can always respect his decision because you know it's perfect and he's perfect so he's never going to make a wrong decision. But follow where you can follow and where someone's worthy to follow and don't emulate where they're weak. So I'm sure there's some, you know, you ever play that game rock, paper, scissors? It's called Rochambeau or whatever, I don't know. But, you know, basically it's a way of making things fair. Like maybe you say rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to go first on something or something stupid like that, right? So it's a fair way to play who gets to be first sometimes, right? I mean is there another reason why you would do it? Just to like whoever goes first or whoever's right about something, I don't know. But anyway rock, paper, scissors. So rock, paper, scissors. And so you like basically, you know, count to three or whatever and there's many variations of the, who's, you guys know what I'm talking about, right? Okay, geez. So but here's the thing, one is weak to the other thing, right? So scissors can cut paper but rock beats the scissors, right? And, you know, so each one can beat the other one. So paper covers the rock so the paper, I don't know how that works, but if you land on the paper eventually you're gonna get wet and then you're gonna break or whatever. But anyway that's just how the game works. But the reason why I'm bringing this up is because nobody is completely perfect in all areas. You can strive all you want to be the most perfect person you can but you're always going to have a weakness. It's just, I mean, you just see it in all manner of areas of life but I like to, you know, I know sports so, you know, in MMA I'll just use MMA as an example. Some people like they wrestle from the time they're a little child to the time they get older and when they get into MMA they're great at wrestling but they can't throw a punch or a kick and so they have to work on that part of their game to be a more well-rounded fighter because if you get into a match and then you're trying to take somebody down and you can't take them down then you have to fight standing up and if you don't know how to throw a punch or a kick you're going to get pulverized. So the point I'm trying to make is that we all have blind spots, we all have spots where we're not as great as we are at other areas. So, but I would also say this that if you're weak in something try to get better at that area. Try to get better at the, say, and just applying it in a spiritual way. Maybe your bible reading is just really good, you're reading steadily, you know, a half hour, an hour a day or something and that's a lot, okay? Not everybody has a lot of time to do that but say you just, you know, you're consistently reading the bible all the time, you're doing a great job but your prayer life is in shambles, you know, work on that part that's lacking. Keep up with the bible reading but then work on the part that you're lacking in. You know, maybe you're lacking in your soul-winning, your bible reading's great, you're the best prayer warrior in the church, you know, you're moving mountains with your prayers, you know, nations are being destroyed by your prayers, no I'm just kidding, but you're good at those two things but your soul-winning needs work. Well, work on your soul-winning but don't let the other things decrease, you know, maybe a little bit so you can get better at that thing but then, you know, you want to just keep a balance and try to be good at everything in the Christian life and then you'll have less, you'll have more things for other people to emulate and see in you and they, you know, if they say well I want to follow, you know, I want to follow Christ but that person's following Christ, I want to follow that person because they're showing me what it's like to actually follow Christ. Does that make sense? Hopefully it makes sense. So number one, you know, as shepherds we're supposed to feed the sheep, we're supposed to preach the Word of God to people and as a shepherd we're supposed to oversee the sheep and make sure that they're protected, they're watched over, you know, when they go astray you try to help them come back or you're outreaching new sheep to try to bring them into the fold because that's ultimately what God wants us to do. He came to seek and save that which was lost. So that's the verse right before, you know, or that's a verse in Luke chapter 15 says he came to seek and save that which was lost. So, you know, he wants us to seek new people and then as a shepherd we're also supposed to be a shepherd worth following. So my job as a shepherd is to feed the sheep, oversee the sheep and, you know, be a shepherd worth following. But, you know, the example or the thing to apply to yourself is, you know, how followable are you? Are you someone that someone else wants to follow? If someone looked at you your life and how you are as a Christian would they say, well I want to follow that person as they follow Christ. So those are the things that we can apply to ourselves. Anyway, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord so much for this great chapter in the Bible. Lord, I pray that you would just help me to be a better pastor, help me to be someone, a pastor worth emulating. Lord, I pray that you just help me in all manners of my life or I could be an example to the believers. Lord, I pray that you'd help our church to be more spiritual. And Lord, there's many spiritual people here but I pray that Lord we'd get more spiritual, Lord, and that we would bring more people, more sheep into the fold and Lord that we would be good and obedient sheep for you. I pray that you just bless everybody as they go home tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.