JESUS CHRIST IS LORD AND SAVIOUR

The Morning Star P R O P H E T I C B U L L E T I N October 2000 Shepherds Astray by Rick Joyner

My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place (Jeremiah 50:6 KJV). This warning from Jeremiah is just as valid today. One of the ways that God's people are still being led astray is by being led from "mountain to hill," or from one high place to another, but are not being led to their true resting place-union with the Lord Himself. This is not true of all shepherds as we have been blessed with some of the very finest in these times. Even so, to a large degree there have been major drifts from the basic mandate of the church to the point where large sections of the body of Christ are being led astray. It is often easier to mobilize people around projects than it is to serve the Lord in the way that He has prescribed. Modern advertising has conditioned people to respond to hype and self-promotion more than to the Holy Spirit or to the truth. Many ministries have learned to use these techniques to draw people to their projects. They work, and the people come. However, with each such distraction the people are left even emptier than before. One of the basic reasons for the lukewarmness, in which so many Christians are now trapped, is because they are worn out going from one project, or high place, to the next. Modern High Places The "high places" in the Old Testament were the seed bed of apostasy in ancient Israel. However, they were not just places where sacrifices were made to other gods, but also to Jehovah, the God of Israel. In fact, they almost always began as places where the people offered special, personal sacrifices to the Lord. Why was this an offense to the Lord? Because it was a form of worship that He had not prescribed, and one that He knew would lead to the people devising their own religion, which would ultimately lead to them worshiping other gods. This is, of course, what happened. When people start doing their own thing in worship, it will lead to them making their own god. Of course, it will be a god who fits their own desires, and is more convenient to worship. They may start off worshiping the Lord, but soon they will be worshiping a god of their own devising, even though they may still use the Lord's name. Today there is a similar casualness about how we serve the Lord. There is a tendency to think that we can do just about anything that we think is a good idea and He will bless it. Because of this, shepherds are leading people "from mountain to hill," one high place after another, but not to the Lord Himself. In fact, many people have now been conditioned to seek a spiritual "high" in every meeting, and if they do not have such an experience, they quickly become bored and seek a new place to "experience God." At the same time, the church is experiencing a virtual meltdown of morality and integrity, as well as devotion to sound biblical truth. With the rising addiction to convenience, and the casualness of relationships, it is likely that we will soon see churches advertising both "Drive Thru Marriages" and "Drive Thru Divorces." Yet, it is hard to go to a pastor's meeting today without hearing complaints about the lack of long-term commitment from "the people." Therefore, does not a major part of the blame for this rest with the lack of commitment on the part of shepherds? Pastors will quickly and easily leave their flock for a better position at a bigger, or more prestigious church. This can be as devastating to a congregation as having the father of a family come home one day and announce that he's going to leave them to become the father of a bigger, better family. The greatest responsibility on earth is to lead, direct, and care for God's own people. The pastoral ministry is deserving of far more respect, honor, and support, than we could ever give it with just a Pastor Appreciation Month, though this should certainly be done. Being a pastor may be the most difficult, thankless job on earth. Even so, the modern form that this ministry has taken is so flawed that it is not only leading many of the Lord's sheep astray, it is destroying the shepherds as well. However, change is coming. A New Bridge A prophetic friend, Bob Jones, was recently visited by an angel that was one of the largest he had ever seen. This angel said that his name was the "Winds of Change," and that great changes were coming to the church. He said that until now we have known mostly the winds of adversity, but the winds of change that were coming would "fill our sails" as the church is about to move forward again. Bob was also given a vision of a bridge collapsing in North Carolina. A few days later it happened. As people were walking over a bridge to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. it collapsed, injuring over one hundred people. When the Lord reveals something like this prophetically it is because there is a message in it. In dreams and visions cars often represent ministries because they are "vehicles" for carrying people. NASCAR is now called the number one spectator sport in America; but there is one bigger-the church in America where millions go each week to watch a few people "minister." Like a NASCAR race, these ministries are consuming a lot of energy going nowhere fast. They do not really have a destination, but are just going in circles, competing with each other trying to stay in front, banging into each other and running into walls. As the saying goes, "the only way you can win a rat race is to be a rat," and that is what the modern form of ministry does to people. I always thought that it would be exciting to drive a race car but did not see the point in sitting in the hot sun for several hours watching someone else do it. When I went to a NASCAR race, I was surprised by how exciting it was to just watch. I was pumped for several hours after it was over, and I did not even know who won! I am also amazed by how entertaining some ministries are. You can become mesmerized watching them, but what are they really saying? Where are they leading us? What is being accomplished? If we build our churches or ministries on entertainment, it is on the shakiest of foundations. If we build this way, it will only take a few less than "mountain top" meetings and you will not have many people left. The greatest enemy of these churches is not sin, or the devil, but boredom. It has now been proven that boredom is one thing that few people can endure for very long. For many, the ministry has become nothing but a mad attempt to find the next thing that will keep the people hyped and moving. Is this what New Testament church life was intended to be? Absolutely not! The winds of change are coming. If you are a pastor or leader trapped in this mad cycle of ministry that must go ever faster, but all of the time is just going in circles, you are going to need more than a pit stop for more fuel. There is a point when your engine will not take it any more. Insurance companies are even starting to rate pastors as high risk, claiming that a thirty-year old pastor can have a sixty-year old heart. You must get off of this racetrack and get on to the highway (the higher-way). You must stop pursuing ministry and start pursuing the Lord. It may sound too simple, but it is the only way out. As the apostle wrote: For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (II Corinthians 11:2-3). "Crafty" was the first thing that was said about the serpent in the garden, and it is still a profound revelation of the nature of the devil. Craftiness is the attempt to get an edge by bending the rules and getting away with it. A lot of modern ministries have been built more on craftiness than the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Like the curse upon the serpent, it may seem to be successful for a little while, but it ultimately leads to eating dust. It is time to return to the Tree of Life, the Lord Jesus Himself. False Shepherds There are more warnings in Scripture about false shepherds than about false prophets and false teachers combined. I am not bringing this up to attack pastors, but to save them. What has arisen in our time to masquerade as the pastoral ministry is false. The modern model of the pastoral ministry is neither biblical, nor effective. If we try to fit into that mold we too will be made false. Change is not an option. The very structure of this ministry- in its present form is taking many who devote themselves to ministry with pure motives and perverting them. Ezekiel 34 reads as if it were written especially for today. However, just as that chapter also promises, the Lord is raising up shepherds after His own heart, who will like King David, lead the people with courage, wisdom and honor. The reason why the bridge going to the Charlotte Motor Speedway collapsed was because a "stress beam" could not take the pressure of all of the people walking on it. The main reason why ministries are burning out so fast today is the tendency to take the people's yoke instead of the Lord's yoke. We will never be able to measure up to human expectations. We can never carry the burdens or expectations of the people, because we have not been given the grace or authority to do it. That is not our job, and we must stop trying. Our goal is simply to connect the people to the One Who is their Source. Preparing For The Anti-Christ When we lead people from one project to the next instead of leading them to the Lord, we are leading them to that which is a substitute for Him. Are people being "led to Jesus" but somehow all they are ever getting is us? When we try to become the source of meeting the people's needs, we are in a way, actually putting ourselves in the place of the anti-Christ, who does not just come as one who attacks Christ, but one who sets himself up as substitute for Christ. This could also be interpreted as a substitute for the anointing, as Christ means "anointed." It may sound dramatic, but by doing this we are actually preparing people for the anti-Christ. As the apostle John explained, there are many anti-Christs. We are not called to try to be the Holy Spirit to people. We must determine that we are not going to try to be the people's source, or let them put us in that position. Neither can we allow anything else to take the place of Him in church life. When the people came to make Jesus king, He fled to the mountains. If the people had made Jesus king, it would have been the people who ruled. This was a most presumptuous act for the people to think that they could make God king. He was born King! If it is the people who put us in our place, they are going to be the ones in control. We must learn to do the same thing when people try to wrongly exalt us-we must flee! We must flee from anything that does not acknowledge Jesus in the place that He already holds, and bow the knee to Him alone. Organized Crime In The Church One of the primary ways that we start substituting for the anointing is trying to use organization in the place of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is certainly not against organization, but He is when we use it in place of trusting Him, and letting Him do the work. When we immediately respond to a call from God to do something by putting together plans and committees, we are often departing from the course. King Saul was anointed by God. His downfall was that he tended to act rashly under the pressure of circumstances. On the other hand, one of the most frequent statements made about King David in Scripture is "he inquired of the Lord." As Proverbs 16:18 declares , "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling." What could be more arrogant than assuming that we have God's opinion on everything? What could be more presumptuous than making decisions that affect the Lord's own children without even inquiring of Him about it? Studies have shown that the average pastor in America prays less than five minutes a day! I have been repeatedly told by the Lord that I will not be able to stay on course if I do not spend at least two hours a day in prayer. I am repeatedly told this because I repeatedly drift from it. It is difficult, but one of the reasons that we are beset with so many pressures and emergencies is because we have not been doing this. Those two hours a day, or whatever He calls us to pray, will always be the most productive part of our day. He promises that if we seek Him we will find Him. If we find Him, we will become yoked with Him. When we are yoked with Him, the work becomes easy, and we accomplish far more with far less effort. The Lord makes an offer to us that is greater than all of the treasure on earth: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls. 'For My yoke is easy. and My load is light (Matthew 11:28-30). One word of wisdom or knowledge from Him can accomplish much more than many days of hard labor on our part. Only the Lord can build His house. He will let us work with Him, but when we try to do it alone, or through our human organizations, He calls it “organized crime." Making The Right Turn If You are caught in the mad cycle of ministry where the only way that you can stay in the race is to keep making left turns, you are going to have to learn to turn the opposite direction from which everyone else is going Our repentance must be total if we are to return to the Lord. However, at the speed most ministries are moving to turn drastically will cause a spin out or crash. Repenting from using the wrong method of ministry is not the same as repenting from a moral sin. For the sake of the people that we are leading, it is seldom the answer to just make another radical turn in the opposite direction. First slow your vehicle, or ministry down. Then wait for the proper exit that the Lord will provide. Just seeing what is wrong with our ministry is not enough. We need to have a clear vision of where we need to go. The Lord never changes our direction by just telling us that we're wrong, but He also makes it clear what the right path is. We must return to our first love. Only when we have truly done this will we be able to lead the people back to their first love. If we would spend more time ministering to the Lord than we do to people, our ministry to the people would be multiplied in its effectiveness. If we determined that we are much more concerned about having the Lord's presence in our meetings than we are in getting people to come, we will probably lose some at first, and maybe even many, but that is not as tragic as losing the Lord's presence. If we will return to our first love, ultimately we will have more people than we know what to do with. If we will determine to seek God's approval more than man's, our drudgery in ministry will quickly return to being the joy of our life again. The Way Of Grace There are also some practical, but profound, changes that need to be made in the very form of modern ministry. The pastoral ministry was never intended to be the dominant ministry that it has become. This ministry is only mentioned one time in the entire New Testament, and even then there is no definition given to it, but it is listed as one member of a team of ministries. New Testament ministry is called to be a team ministry, and no New Testament ministry can function properly without being properly related to the rest of the team. When any of them try to stand alone they will depart from their proper orbit quickly, and become perverted in their application. The nature and purpose of New Testament ministry is clearly laid out in Ephesians 4:11-16: And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. This is the most succinct text in the New Testament on practical ministry. There are twelve factors that it establishes, and we should look for them in every application of true ministry. They are: 1. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given to the church to equip the people to do the work of the ministry, not just to do it themselves. 2. These are all given for the building up of the body of Christ, not just gathering people. Are the "living stones" that the Lord has entrusted to our care being joined together into a holy temple for Him, or are they just a pile of stones? 3. This building must continue until "we all attain." not some. We are called to attain: 1) The unity of the faith, 2) The knowledge of the Son of God, 3) Maturity, and 4) The measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ. Do you know of a church anywhere in the world that has attained to even one of these things? Then obviously this team is currently not present, nor doing its job. 4. The church is not to remain as children that are tossed around by waves. These "waves" can be waves of the Holy Spirit, but not every church or believer is supposed to catch every wave. If we try to do this we will constantly be running to and fro accomplishing nothing of substance. Maturity recognizes the moves of the Holy Spirit, but also knows not to try to catch every one of them. 5. The church that has been properly built will not be carried about by every new wind of doctrine, or the trickery and craftiness of men who are constantly preying upon the church to further their own agendas. 6. We will speak the truth in love. Before the end comes, Christians are actually going to be known by their love. 7. We will grow up in "all aspects" into Christ. This means that every ministry that He did when He walked the earth, He will be able to continue through us. 8. The whole body will be fitted together. Everyone in the body will know their place in the body, and everyone will be functioning in it. 9. The body will be fitted and held together by the strength of the "joints" in the body. A joint is not a part, but it is where two parts come together. 10. These joints must be fitted together and strong enough to hold the body together. Also, there is no joint in the body that is connected to every other joint, which is the position many pastors try to attain. We must encourage the joining of the people to one another, not just to the church. If the people are not growing in their relationship to each other, then our church is weak. 11. These joints are formed by "the proper working of each individual part." No one wants to be joined to a member that is atrophied, or paralyzed. If we are truly one of the equipping ministries given to the church, we will know how to equip all of the people to do their jobs. 12. The body builds up itself in love. This is our first and highest calling. All that we do is for nothing if we do not love God above all things, and love His people. Love is the cement that will hold the entire temple together, and without it every church will ultimately collapse. A Testimony and Warning Our church body in Charlotte has been emphasizing the above text in Ephesians for six years now. We have hundreds who are serving in evangelistic teams, healing teams, prophetic ministry teams, as home group leaders, intercessory ministries, pastors, teachers, watchmen, overseers, etc. I am thankful for this, but it still only represents a small portion of the entire church. After more than five years of almost continuous emphasis, I think that we have only accomplished about 15-20 percent of the job. Why? This is no quick fix situation. It took the Lord over three years of continuous day-by-day training to equip His disciples. Who are we to think that we can do it faster? Some do come more prepared, and can move into their calling faster because of the work that has already been done. But to comply with the mandate of Ephesians Four will take a veritable revolution in the church. I think that it has taken the majority of our leadership team more than five years to really start equipping others, even though we have had it as a doctrinal emphasis for so long. I think that less than 5 percent of the ministries that I know even think about equipping others as a part of their job. Their mentality of ministry is to go and do it and have every one else watch. Fulfilling the Ephesians Four mandate will require one of the greatest paradigm shifts in the history of the church. It will be a reformation that is much more profound than what is now called "the Reformation." However it is clear that it must and will be done. The body of Christ cannot accomplish its mandate until it is. I am saying this to emphasize that this will require a long-term commitment and strategy. It is much more than a new method; it will require radical change in the mentality of the ministry of the pastor. We can say from Ephesians Four that if a pastor is not equipping and releasing other pastors to do what he or she does they are not a true New Testament pastor. If an evangelist, or prophet, or teacher, is not equipping and releasing others to do what they are doing, then they are not a true New Testament ministry. If we are not doing this, then we are not the true New Testament ministry that is spoken of in this chapter. True Greatness Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s, was a winning coach. He built one great team that won an unprecedented three straight championships. However, none of his assistants went on to be successful head coaches in the league. On the other hand, Bill Walsh of the San Francisco Forty-Niners not only produced championship teams himself, but his assistants went on to even greater successes, with eight of them being head coaches in the NFL at the same time. They produced more championship teams over the last decade than all of the other coaches combined. True greatness is not just being successful ourselves, but producing others who are also successful. Is that not what the Lord Jesus spent His life on earth doing? If we are going to be like Him we must do the same. Not being devoted to equipping others is a main reason why so many churches and ministries fall from grace, or fail to remain spiritually relevant after the passing of their founders. By this it is easy to tell those who are truly producing fruit that remains. The Lord promised that those who believed in Him would do the works that He did, and even greater works, because He had gone to the Father. If we are truly like Him in ministry, and if we are abiding in Him, those who we raise up will not only do what we have done, but greater works. This is the mark of true greatness.