12/16/2023 0 Comments The shepherd magazineThey were directed to the leaders and to the pastors, as well as to the people. His words were not addressed to the people alone. With weeping and groanings he went about among the churches and called for a reformation. It was the task of Jeremiah to call attention to the condition of the church in his day. We fa-e the danger of "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." While it is true that this danger may come from the carelessness of the people themselves, yet I wonder if the ministers of the Lord, the pastors of the sheep, may not also be responsible for some of the worldliness and lukewarmness which exist among us as a people. Please ensure that your words are respectful, courteous, and relevant.Just as God gave Adam charge over the earth, to keep the garden and to dress it, to multiply and fill the earth with fruit, so He has given His pastors charge over His flock, to keep it always, to love it, to protect it, to build it up so that the world may be filled with precious fruit when the husbandman shall come for the harvest. ![]() Ministry reserves the right to approve, disapprove, and delete comments at our discretion and will not be able to respond to inquiries about these comments. White, Gospel Workers (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub. One soul won to Christ, will be instrumental in winning others, and there will be an ever-increasing result of blessing and salvation. One soul is of infinite value Calvary speaks its worth. It is for the want of this that souls are perishing. In our work, individual effort will accomplish much more than can be estimated. In this work the minister is attended by heavenly angels. By the preaching of the word and by personal ministry in the homes of the people, he learns their needs, their sorrows, their trials and, co-operating with the great Burden-bearer, he shares their afflictions, comforts their distresses, relieves their soul-hunger, and wins their hearts to God. He loses sight of self in order that he may work the works of God. The spirit of the true shepherd is one of self-forgetfulness. It means an ear that can listen with sympathy to heart-breaking recitals of wrong, of degradation, of despair and misery. ![]() It means a tender solicitude for the erring, a divine compassion and forbearance. This means the bearing of physical discomfort and the sacrifice of ease. There is need of shepherds who, under the direction of the Chief Shepherd, will seek for the lost and straying. Then with what compassion, what sorrow, what persistence, should the under-shepherd seek for lost souls! How willingly should he endure self-denial, hardship, privation! He is as helpless as the lost sheep and unless divine love comes to his rescue, he can never find his way to God. So with the soul that has wandered away from God It must be sought for for it cannot find its way back. The sheep that has strayed from the fold is the most helpless of all creatures. The lesson which Christ taught him by the Sea of Galilee, Peter carried with him throughout his life. Knowledge, benevolence, eloquence, gratitude, and zeal are all aids in the good work but without the love of Jesus in the heart, the work of the Christian minister will prove a failure. Though Peter might possess every other, with out the love of Christ he could not be a faithful shepherd over the Lord’s flock. He mentioned only one condition of discipleship and service. The question that Christ put to Peter was significant. The first work that Christ entrusted to Peter, on restoring him to the ministry, was to feed the lambs. The great Shepherd has under-shepherds, to whom He delegates the care of His sheep and lambs. However dark and tempestuous the night, however perilous and uncertain the way, however long and tedious the search, he does not falter until the lost is found. Leaving the ninety and nine in the fold, he goes in search of the straying one. No no sooner does the sheep go astray than the shepherd is filled with grief and anxiety. ![]() Let him come back, and I will open the door of the sheepfold and let him in. Discovering that one of his sheep is missing, he does not look carelessly upon the flock that is safely housed, and say, I have ninety and nine, and it will cost me too much trouble to go in search of the straying one. In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd goes out to search for one sheep,-the very least that can be numbered. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14, 15). “I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. ![]() Christ, the great example for all ministers, likens Himself to a shepherd.
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