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  WHERE HAVE ALL THE SHEPHERDS GONE
  by Keith Malcomson
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the need for genuine shepherds in the
church, highlighting the scarcity of true shepherds who build upon
Christ, preach the message of the cross, and gather the scattered sheep.
It calls for a revival of godly leadership, urging for shepherds who
deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Christ, leading the
flock with humility, truth, and sacrificial love.

Duration: 1:14:09 Topics: "Genuine Leadership", "Sacrificial Love"
Scripture References: Matthew 16:18, Matthew 9:36, Matthew 10:1, Ephesians 4:11, 1 Peter 5:1, Jeremiah 23:1, John 10:11, Acts 20:28, John 21:15, 2 Timothy 4:2

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the need for genuine shepherds in the church,
highlighting the scarcity of true shepherds who build upon Christ,
preach the message of the cross, and gather the scattered sheep. It
calls for a revival of godly leadership, urging for shepherds who deny
themselves, take up their cross, and follow Christ, leading the flock
with humility, truth, and sacrificial love.

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CONTENT
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Please turn with me here this morning to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew
chapter 16 and we're going to continue with our message here this
morning. Please do keep us in prayer.

We'll be in London in just 10 days time and we invite anyone online to
come and join us. It's going to be a very important time. We're going to
have four meetings over that weekend and we do encourage you to be there
but here this morning we're turning back again to our third message.

My first one was called a message for the hour. Our second one last week
was called where have all of the churches gone but here this morning
reading from Matthew 16 I want to give a third message and it dovetails
with last week. Last week we dealt with where have all the churches
gone.

Here this morning I want to deal with where have all the shepherds gone.
The church has gone, the shepherds gone. Reading from Matthew chapter 16
here this morning and in verse 13 it says when Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that
I the son of man am and they said some say that thou art John the
Baptist some Elias others Jeremias are one of the prophets he saith unto
him but whom say ye that I am and Simon Peter answered and said thou art
the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus answered and said unto
him blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood have not revealed
it unto thee but my father which is in heaven and I say unto thee thou
art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it and I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man
that he was Jesus the Christ from that time forth began Jesus to show
unto his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many
things of the elders and cheap priests and scribes and be killed and be
raised again the third day then Peter took him and began to rebuke him
saying be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee and he
turned and said unto Peter get thee behind me Satan thou art an offense
unto me for thou savorest not the things that be of God but those that
be of men then said Jesus unto the disciples if any man will come after
me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whosoever
will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my
sake shall find it for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul will you pray with me here this morning heavenly father we thank
you nor god that these things are not revealed by flesh and blood by
mere teaching or learning or listening or reading nor god these things
are understood by revelation from our heavenly father you say in the
word of God that you have hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and revealed them unto babes and so we come unto you as mere children as
babes and the things of Christ and nor god we ask that you open our eyes
and our ears and our heart don't let us be hard-hearted don't let us be
cold or indifferent nor god don't let us be seduced by this world don't
let us be deceived by the evil one nor god we pray oh god that we might
be built on a true revelation of who the lord Jesus Christ is of his
finished work of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ we know that the
gates of hell wage a warfare against the true message of Christ against
the true message of the cross and so we pray we humble ourselves even in
this meeting and we pray for your grace keep us in this narrow way
preserve us so god and keep us in the truth of god sanctify us that we
might be your church your personal possession the church that you are
building upon the revelation of the lord Jesus Christ we bless you and
worship you this morning in Jesus name my message my third message here
where have all the shepherds gone last week we asked the accompanying
question where have all the churches gone i get emails all the time in
fact year in year out where is there a church near me that preaches the
word of god i want to give you one of the main answers and reasons for
the loss of real churches in every community and i believe it's held
within my question here this morning where have all the shepherds gone i
believe we have a crisis in the church of this generation where are the
real shepherds last week we asked where are the real churches preaching
the word of god this week i want to ask of us where are the real
shepherds we are in a crisis because it's very very hard to find a real
shepherd in the body of Christ for many years we've traveled from
country to country teaching in conventions teaching leaders running
bible schools teaching those that felt the call of god on their lives
i've gone in and out of all manners of churches for decades i have
watched ministry very carefully and i want to tell you here this morning
without any exaggeration it is very rare to find a god-called shepherd
or a god-gifted shepherd in the body of Christ a shepherd is a very rare
thing and a very hard thing to find there are vast multitudes that claim
to be shepherds there are those that claim the anointing the gifting the
call the ability the ministry and yet it is very hard in my estimation
and my only judge is the word of god i'm judging by the word of god and
where we have read this morning in Matthew 16 i believe holds a message
for us concerning this great tragedy in the church of our generation why
can you not find a local church in your community it's all because we
have lost real shepherds if we had real shepherds we'd have a real
church let a real shepherd be in limerick and we're going to have a real
church in any community i don't care how hard it is how difficult how
terrible the situation if you get a real shepherd i'm in a god-called
god-anointed shepherd there's gonna arise a real church sheep are gonna
be gathered out of darkness and began to feed around the lord jesus
christ we have just read here in Matthew 16 18 and i jesus speaking say
unto thee thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my church and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it one of the great things
that have broken my heart terribly and caused me to groan with prayers
unto god in heaven has is to be watching the scattering of genuine sheep
you see in our world there are many sheep but very few real shepherds in
fact the sheep that are scattered across our world are just that they
are scattered and i want to give you the reason again i'm getting so
many emails from genuine bible loving jesus loving christians who love
holiness and righteousness who are seeking for a church and you know
what the problem is there are no shepherds listen carefully for a moment
as i introduce us in one kings chapter 22 verse 17 it says and he said
that is the prophet of god i saw all israel scattered upon the hills as
sheep that have no shepherd again in ezekiel 34 in verse the prophet
says and they that is god's people were scattered because this is the
reason because there is no shepherd then again in jeremiah 23 and verse
1 will be unto the pastors or the shepherds that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my pasture saith the lord here we have three prophets of god in
the old testament and they are actually showing us that when you see
god's people scattered abroad not strong assemblies and gatherings of
god people but they are scattered on the hillsides scattered from one
another it actually gives you the reason why god's people are so
scattered why people have no churches why they can't find a real church
why they're not gathering to pray and evangelize and under the teaching
of god's word why they're not enjoying the blessing of fellowship and of
unity together do you know why because there was no shepherd so we see
the scattering of the sheep is connected to the loss of the shepherd and
that's my message where have all the shepherds gone you may say oh we
know there's lots of shepherds there are vast multitudes of shepherds
i'm sorry but that is not true as i look at the world today as i look at
our nations the sheep are scattered everywhere and this is the reason
there are no shepherds if we had a genuine revival in the church real
shepherds would arise and this and the genuine sheep i mean born again
sheep would gather one more time the value of a shepherd is beyond any
um any amount that i could estimate this morning the value of a shepherd
because when a shepherd is lost the sheep scatter this is taught all
through the bible now when we go to the old testament here elders are
leaders amongst god's people the term elders is mentioned over 200 times
in the entire bible in the old testament elders were placed over
villages over times over entire cities and in fact over entire nations
when we begin to study the bible we see that moses joshua king david
king solomon and ezra the revivalists all upheld this local form of
leadership all these men whether they be patriarchs kings or
restorationists whatever they are whatever era of god's people in the
old testament they always established elders just because you have a
king doesn't mean you do away with eldership this was god's ordained way
to gather his sheep in the old testament prophets like jeremiah ezekiel
and joel directed their messages directly to the elders of israel we
have seen that it takes a prophet to expose this lack of shepherds we
need a prophet in this generation to speak to the church and to cause
repentance to come that we might see shepherds raised up once again god
actually sends prophets to the shepherds to the pastors of the churches
and oh boy do the pastors of this generation ever need a prophet to come
on to them and so we see that jeremiah ezekiel and joel they prophesied
to the elders it wasn't the sheep to blame they got scattered and you
know what while i challenge and encourage every christian get into a
good church if you can you're not the main problem here it is a loss of
real shepherds if shepherds were real shepherds rather than a name only
we wouldn't have this great scattering of genuine christians in this
hour jeremiah chapter 23 and in ezekiel 34 these chapters are filled
with warnings and rebukes to neglectful and deceitful shepherds our
pastors they point the finger and they say you've scattered the sheep
the sheep are wandering on the health sides sheep that are not in the
flock sheep that are not together sheep that are not assembling and
encouraging one another and he points the finger at the elders if an
elder does his job right he's going to create unity he's going to feed
the sheep he's going to encourage them now this term elder is carried
over to the new testament church and it's used 19 times in the new
testament of the leadership of the local church there must be elders in
the local church and these elders are placed there to gather a church
you you will have a scattered church if you do not have elders when you
begin to study eldership in the new testament you see that the apostles
considered it a priority we must raise up elders we must appoint elders
we must place men men of quality men of wisdom men of ability men of
character over the house of god we need shepherds to look after the
flock now when you come to the new testament you find that the leaders
in local churches are called by three different names they're called
elders which is the greek word presbyterus that means it's the word for
elderly older or the one who's senior or it can simply mean maturity
when it's talking about a ministry in the church it's not talking about
age you could be 21 years old and yet mature in the things of god not
foolish you could have someone born again for 50 years and they're
stupid they're foolish they're immature they're like a babe in christ
and so we see that these local elders have to have a maturity about them
they are put in the house of god not just one more than one to guard the
sheep to tend the flock these elders are also called bishops or
overseers this this is the greek word episcopus episcopus and it means a
superintendent someone who oversees things someone who watches the flock
someone who inspects the sheep someone who investigates you say be be
very careful church of god flock of god sheep of god be very careful
that you think that no man has the right to ask you a question to
investigate to inspect your spiritual health do you realize that god
raises up elders bishops overseers to actually take care of the sheep if
i look at your life it's not to criticize you it's not to scrutinize you
to find something wrong it's to help you to encourage you to move you on
in your walk with god now these three terms elders bishops and overseers
i don't i've taught on this before but these three terms are synonymous
they're talking about the one office of leadership in the church and we
must not change that this is the biblical name for leadership bishops
isn't a man with a funny hat neither do we call local leaders reverend
that's the one that gets me most mad to call a pastor or an elder
reverend that's blasphemy only one person is called reverend in the
bible and that's the lord jesus christ when i see a man being called the
right reverend so and so it is an abomination there's something terribly
terribly wrong with that and then there's multitudes of men in the
church call themselves pastor they call themselves pastor but they're in
it for money they're in it for their own ministry they're in it to build
something but they're not there functioning as a real pastor or as a
real shepherd there's three tasks of these elders are leaders in the
local church and listen very carefully you as a church here you've got
to understand what an elder is without an elder in the church the sheep
scatter every man does what he thinks is right there's something about a
real elder in a church that he brings a unity we're all gonna feed in
the same place we're all gonna follow the same example we're all gonna
be warned about the same dangers that is the task of a real elder and
you can tell when there's a god-gifted elder in the midst of the church
now look at the three ministries in the new testament of an elder number
one is to lead to lead some people in the church say i don't need anyone
to lead me then you don't know your bible you're very ignorant if you
say no one is going to lead you you you might say we don't need men in
the church well god has put men in the church and we're going to deal
with some of this this morning this leading means to stand before the
people of god or to preside over or to maintain rule in the midst often
it talks about those who are over you and the lord are those who rule
the church it means to attend to or to lead or to take command so we say
that elders are given by god to keep the flock together there's gotta be
leaders or elders men who are gonna lead and watch over that flock this
is one of the great ministry of a leader is to actually watch the flock
to guide them to steer them in the right direction second of all is to
feed them how does a shepherd feed sheep he preaches he teaches he
exhorts he warns he opens up the written scriptures this is wonderful
sheep food i like to feed the sheep with good food with the best manna i
possibly can i love to search the word of god to find the greatest
scriptures are going to help you as the sheep of god i search out green
fields for you when when it seems to be getting a bit dry a bit hard i
begin to pray oh god lead us in the green pastures help me to lead this
flock into places where they can face also a third thing a elder does is
to warn or to guard or to protect against wills against false prophets
against dangers don't go in that direction don't do that thing it's
against the word of god and so in the new testament we see that these
elders are to rule by persuasion and to persuade you i don't tell you to
blindly accept everything i'm saying i want to reason with you i want to
persuade you but you've got to be willing to be persuaded are you
willing this morning for me to persuade you by the word of god or do you
just think well i'll have my own opinions you see an elder is to rule by
persuasion how do i rule the church by persuasion also by example then
also we're told in 1 timothy and 5 that the elders are to rule well
there's some who rule better than others and then elders are to rule
with diligence all of these are biblical statements and so we say that
an elder is to rule he is the government of the local church if you
don't like uh government you'll have anarchy you will have a scattering
every person think in different things since my whole task is that we
believe what christ says that we have the mind of christ that we feast
on the doctrine of the lord jesus christ this is real eldership in the
local church and you know what my question is where have all the
shepherds gone what i'm telling you is basic and elementary and i want
to tell you shepherding is one of the greatest tasks in the body of
christ it's a wonderful profession it's almost older than any other
profession that you can possibly name to me the first shepherd is
mentioned in genesis chapter 4 and we're told abel was a keeper of sheep
he was a shepherd right back at the very beginning one of the first two
children ever born in mankind chose to be a shepherd he i i believe he
not only chose that there was something within him there was a burden a
calling a desire to shepherd the flock what a remarkable thing and when
you read the old testament abraham was a shepherd isaac was a shepherd
jacob was a shepherd moses was a shepherd david was a shepherd even job
was a shepherd we read that job had 14 000 sheep what a shepherd job was
we sometimes forget that a man like job was a shepherd he had to have
been a gifted shepherd to look after 14 000 sheep and i'm sure he raised
up many other shepherds he trained shepherds he watched over them to
make sure they worked well we also read that solomon he had 120 000
sheep oh what a shepherd that is now when you begin to study sheep you
find out there is more than a thousand different breeds of sheep all
sorts of colors and kinds and preferences but i want to tell you a sheep
is a sheep doesn't matter what country what nationality where they are
what they look like basically a sheep is a sheep doesn't matter that if
it's different in size or in its shape or its color or its geography a
sheep is a sheep just the same and a shepherd knows a sheep when he sees
it as a true shepherd knows how to inspect the sheep and to find out is
it a goat or is it a sheep in the middle east a goat looked like a sheep
sometimes acted like a sheep sometimes hid in the midst of a sheep but a
shepherd's task was to identify a goat he knew a goat and as he held out
his rod he could separate between the goats and the sheep a good
shepherd can do that a good shepherd recognizes there's something wrong
here you may look like a goat but let's just deal with you you know a
goat it has a certain character once you deal with a goat it'll rip the
door off it'll tear the place apart it gets very angry and i assure you
i've met a few goats along the way i thought they were sheep and then
they turned on me and tried to devour me like a ravenous wolf look at
this great ministry of shepherding christ in john chapter 10 and 11 is
called the good shepherd in hebrews chapter 13 verse 20 he's called the
great shepherd in 1 peter chapter 5 and verse 4 he is called the chief
shepherd and when you look at the life and ministry of christ you see
what a true elder is a true bishop a true shepherd one who lays down his
life for the sheep look at christ his sacrificial love his genuine
compassion he laid down his life and as an example to every truly god-
called pastor and shepherd where are all the shepherds in this hour i've
seen some of the most ambitious men i've met in my whole lifetime
haven't been out there in that world they've been men in the pulpits
some of the worst liars that i've had to deal with in my entire life
haven't been drug addicts on the high street they've been pastors in
churches i could tell you stories that would make your hair stand on end
concerning having to do with men that call themselves they take the word
shepherd or pastor they make it a title and it was never meant to be a
title it is a calling it is a sacrificial ministry if you see a shepherd
that is not laying down his life loving the unlovely sacrificing himself
if you see him making a business out of it changing everything you you
know there's something terribly terribly wrong and so we see throughout
scripture an elder whether in old testament israel or the new testament
church a real elder any local leader i don't care what their particular
gifting is if they're in leadership raised up by god in a local church
do you know what they're going to act as a shepherd over the sheep
they're going to care for the flock of god they're going to warn of
wolves if you get a man who doesn't warn doesn't feed you on the word of
god doesn't lead you to follow christ that man is no shepherd at all and
the old prophets would rise up and prophesy against them listen again
ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11 and this is concerning christ who
ascended on high after he ascended he gave five gifted ministries to the
local church all local leaders are called elders but within those elders
you can have five distinct ministries and i can prove to you very
accurately that a man could be a gifted as an apostle but in the local
church he's an elder or he could be gifted as a great bible teacher but
he's still an elder in the church or he could be a prophet and yet in
the local church he is an elder so eldership when we see this in acts
chapter 13 we begin to see five men who raised up over the church at
antioch and they were split between gifted prophets and teachers but all
of them was the eldership they were the elders of that church and they
had to act like shepherds so shepherds is a very broad term this task of
shepherd in the church of god but also i want to point out in ephesians
chapter 4 verse 11 it is also a gifted ministry he gave some apostles
some prophets some evangelists some some pastors and some teachers five
ministries a pastor is different than a teacher a pastor is different
than a prophet a pastor is distinct from an evangelist and this term
pastor is the word for shepherd it is the greek word poyman it's the
greek word poyman and this word is used 18 times in the new testament
poyman and you know 17 of those 18 times it's written in our english
bible as shepherd but here in ephesians 4 verse 11 it's the only time
that it's written as pastor and so we see that a pastor is an actual
shepherd when christ ascended up on high he gifted shepherds this is one
of the five ministries he puts in the church of jesus christ worldwide
and locally it's a shepherd every preacher in a local church isn't
gifted supernaturally with the mighty ministry of a shepherd neither is
every local leader a teacher but we see that certain men excuse me for
my throat this is why you need to pray for me and these days i need to
get my my voice and chest back and be preaching there in the church and
so you see and so you see that this ministry of the shepherd is gifted
into the church if we didn't need shepherds god would not give them now
coming to matthew chapter 16 here we know it's dealing with peter what
we've already dealt with last week and over in one peter chapter five
verse one peter himself says who i'm also an elder in one peter five he
was speaking or writing to the elders of the church listen to what it
says the elders which are among you i exhort on the word elders there is
presbyteros and then he says who i'm also an elder so he's speaking of
the elders in the local church these elders these men who are to
shepherd the flock this office of bishop or overseeing in the church and
peter says i'm also an elder i'm speaking to you but i am also an elder
and a witness of the suffering of christ we know that peter was an
apostle he was certainly an evangelist but here you have him saying in
the local church i'm an elder i am a fellow elder i'm not the best elder
i'm an elder elders are elders in the local church don't just think that
this is a term we're so used calling every preacher a pastor that we
forget that there is a calling of eldership to lead the flock to feed
them like a shepherd feeds them it is a vastly needed ministry so in
speaking to these elders listen to what he says feed the flock which is
among you taking the oversight the bishopric the episcopus taking that
oversight thereof not by force but willingly and so the first thing he
says to elders is feed that flock you see peter could recognize a real
shepherd he could stir up real shepherds in the local body but here let
me take you to matthew 16 and just give you three quick points here in
this message concerning what where are the shepherds where have all the
shepherds gone in this iron generation can we just stop for a second and
like last week i showed you why you can hardly find a local church why
it's so hard whatever country you're in this morning why it is so hard
to find a real local well i want to tell you why it's so hard to find a
real god-gifted shepherd a real shepherd of the soul one who warns who
feeds and who leads and same to god if you're a true sheep you desire to
see that in the church i hate this rebellious attitude that says i don't
need men i don't need anyone to lead me i don't follow any man i just
worship jesus that is so unbiblical it sounds very spiritual but those
individuals are really off mark they don't know what they're talking
about in fact they show that they are a sheep because they're following
their own tale you know sheep are big problems there's a lot of problems
with sheep candace's dad once said whatever you do don't get sheep well
i'm going to try my best but here i am a shepherd a shepherd of human
sheep but you know what there's so many problems with sheep it's a fact
of reality if you're not called to be a shepherd you could never do this
you're either going to abuse the sheep or get very very discouraged but
a god-called shepherd a man who is raised up of god to be an elder in
the church or a gifted pastor he is of a very different kind but i want
to show you why it's so hard to find a real shepherd in this art number
one because the shepherds of this hour build upon men rather than christ
they build upon what is of man than the lord jesus christ we find this
in matthew 16 but verse 18 jesus speaking to peter thou art peter and
upon this rock i will build my church remember what we said last week
jesus speaking and said you're peter you're a rock in my hand you're
peptros you're one stone in the building do you realize why we have so
few shepherds because they think the church is to be built upon them
that a local church relies upon them that without them there would be no
local church they actually try to build everything around themselves and
if you ever get a shepherd or a pastor who's so insecure that he doesn't
allow you to test or question or to ask something there's something
terribly wrong i am not an insecure man but if you ask me a question be
prepared that i asked you questions also don't think it's a one-way
street here you you have no right to scrutinize me if you don't think i
should scrutinize you and if you're not allowed to question me then why
should i question you but we see it that christ is laying out so clearly
peter you're a rock in my hand you're a petros and i will build upon
this petra this rock i will build my church two different things christ
was actually saying peter i'm not going to build upon you you're a god
gifted apostle you're going to be an evangelist i'm going to raise you
up as a shepherd but all you are is a stone in the house of god anyone
with a real shepherd's heart must not think more of themselves than they
ought to a shepherd is a stone in the house of god he is not the
foundation of it he is only a man he is only a shepherd he is only an
underservant there is one shepherd over the entire flock and he'll hold
every man accountable we need gifted shepherds again in the church we
need elders in the church again but they're going to understand all i am
is a stone in the house of god the church is not built upon me oh yes
i'm gifted and called of god so that the sheep don't scatter but if they
scattered they'd still follow jesus as a gifted shepherd i am not the
rock i'm not the stone a true shepherd will make sure that christ is the
only rock upon which the church is to be built look at the verse before
this verse 17 and jesus answered and said unto peter blessed art thou
simon barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you but my
father which is in heaven peter had just received the divine revelation
concerning who christ was he was taught this by the father not by man
not by intellect not by bible college and this is what we need this is
why we've got so few real god-gifted shepherds in the church they have
never been taught of the father i've met shepherds in this city of
limerick i met up with one tried to encourage him and said what's your
testimony i was utterly shocked i went this man is not born again he's
never dealt with sin he doesn't know what the new birth is he's never
had a divine revelation and yet he's a pastor in the church a pastor
over sheep no wonder the sheep are confused when the man doesn't even
have the most essential thing right you see men are building upon man
rather than christ it's man's intellect man's opinion man's ideas and
we're wondering why everything is so wrong a real shepherd is someone
who's had a real revelation from the father this is where it all begins
a man who sees real revelation his eyes are open and he sees who christ
is if you see who christ is you're gonna have to preach him you won't be
able to do anything else you will be a shepherd who actually oozes out
christ will want to build the church upon the lord jesus christ you'll
say this revelation changed me and i want the church to be built upon it
not upon me not my ministry not my gifting it's always christ if a man
has any gifting he makes christ the center he makes christ the subject
he makes christ the focus of the prayer meeting the worship the
evangelism the teaching everything we do in the church is centered
around the person of the lord jesus christ but notice here why do we not
have shepherds because the shepherds of our generation have built upon
men rather than christ in fact they've fallen into the same trap peter
did after receiving this revelation he is born again he is called of god
do you know what happens when christ begins to deal with peter and the
disciples and say i'm gonna suffer and i am gonna die do you know what
peter immediately says in verse 23 peter turned onto christ sorry uh let
me say that he turned onto christ and he said not so master then in
verse 23 jesus speaks onto him and says peter get thee behind me satan
do you see what peter was doing here peter is doing in this moment of
time in his younger days in ministry what so many shepherds have done
across the church they have a divine revelation of christ they think
they know everything because they see who christ is and then all of a
sudden they're saying oh no christ you don't need to suffer do you
realize how subtle satan is the gates of hell shall not prevail against
the church built upon the revelation of who jesus christ is but i want
to show you satan desires to come in to take shepherds away from the
message of christ of a message of suffering of the crucifixion and of
the cross of jesus christ in verse 24 and jesus said unto his disciples
if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and
follow me jesus immediately begins to deal with the disciples you see
satan is going to prevail if you begin to exclude certain aspects of the
message you begin to change who christ is you have a revelation and you
begin to change that and the cross has not done its work in your life
there's going to be serious trouble look what began with peter so many
dangerous things remember christ warned him you're going to deny me oh
no master i i'll kill for you i'll die for you i'll suffer for you i i
i'll never deny you and yet jesus prophesied he was going to deny him
before that cock crew saints of god i want to tell you that the very
first thing the reason why we do not have shepherds in this hour is
because the ministry of a shepherd is being built upon what man is man's
intellect christ turns here and he says i'm not going to build the
church upon peter i'm not going to build this church upon this man this
man actually allows the devil to come in and begin saying you don't need
the cross you don't need to go the way of suffering you do not need to
die to self and christ has to correct him and say if you're going to be
my disciple do you know what you will deny yourself so much ministry in
the church today says we want to give you a feel-good aspect we want to
you to have a high self-esteem we want to entertain you we want to train
you like a business course but they're not saying die to self deny
yourself and yet jesus done that with peter if peter's ever going to be
a shepherd in the church he's going to have to deny himself take up your
cross and follow me that was christ message to peter and i believe this
is where most shepherds have failed it's at this place where they step
out into ministry and they want to preach christ and they know who
christ is but they begin to change the message of the lord jesus christ
they're building upon man do you know why peter done this his feelings
his sentiment what he desired his ambitions his vision for the future
you see how all of that impacts if you build the church upon a man or if
a man builds the church on his ministry his thoughts his ideas his
leadings it's disastrous do you know the only cure is for that man to
get to the cross if he doesn't get to the cross he'll never be a real
shepherd i want to assure you and peter had not denied himself taking up
his cross he could never have been a shepherd in the house of god and
neither can any of you maybe god's calling you to the ministry but this
is the thing this is going to decide whether you'll be a false shepherd
or a real shepherd it's going to be this message of the cross deny
yourself oh i've got a calling i can preach i can minister i want to
serve god then the test is you are going to die you'll die to your
ambitions your dreams your visions you're going to come the way of the
cross your name will be blasphemed you you will be ridiculed you're
going to suffer if you're going to follow me you're going to suffer
never think that a shepherd will be used to lead the sheep who hasn't
suffered deeply no no it's all part of it over in john chapter 21 we
read when peter had denied jesus he went back to his nets in fact he
turned to the others and he says i go a fishing and they say unto him we
also go with thee and they all went forth and entered into a ship
immediately and that night they caught nothing of course not you're
you're called to something if a man is called to be a shepherd and yet
he tries to be satisfied in something else he'll end up with nothing in
his net very frustrated do you see the dealings of god with a real
shepherd he'll make everything come down to nothing you know why he
wants a real shepherd in the house of god he failed his master he denied
him he's disappointed in himself he doesn't feel the anointing anymore
but christ isn't finished with him christ is going to make something out
of this man and by the time he does he's going to be a man dead to self
dead to his own ambitions he's going to be a true shepherd raised up in
john chapter 21 jesus comes and says peter do you love me out of the
blue he comes to him do you love me peter turns and says lord thou
knowest thou lovest i love thee three times jesus asked him do you love
me and the third time peter gets very angry with jesus and this is the
reason you you can't tell us unless you look at the greek here the the
first two times jesus says do you agape me in the greek do you agape me
do you love me with the love of god with all of your strength peter each
time says i fill you you jesus said do you agape me he responds i fill
you you he couldn't even say i love you with all my heart then the third
time jesus said he drops it down and says peter do you filio me peter
must have dropped his head and said master you know i fill you you you
know but also something else happens here you see jesus is dealing with
this man i'm tired of shepherds in the church who have never been dealt
with with christ and they go on teaching their errors and their
attitudes their pride their arrogance their boasting their self-
centeredness their changing of the gospel it has scattered the flock
they abuse the flock they tell lies they'll take money they manipulate
they don't care about the sheep what a tragedy look at jesus dealing
with this man he's gonna have a shepherd on the day of pentecost he
really is but notice when he says do you love me that he also says feed
my lambs if you love me feed my lambs and then twice he says feed my
sheep look at peter the shepherd in preparation you see we've got to get
this attitude to christ sorted out we've got to get your relationship as
a shepherd there's too many babies in the pulpit there's too many game
players in the pulpit there's too many um wearing nappies in the pulpit
i really mean it it's terrible no growth no maturity don't you know the
bible says to be a qualified elder in the church there's at least 22
qualifications the bible teaches us and i've said it many times the paul
teaching timothy and titus he says an elder for a man to be an elder in
the church he's got to be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant
sober of good behavior given the hospitality apt to teach not given the
wine no striker uh not greedy a filthy looker but patient not a brawler
not covetous one that ruleth well his own house not a novice not a young
believer he must have a good report of them that are without not self-
willed not soon angry a lover of good men just holy temperate and we're
only beginning 22 qualifications i named to you only one of them is the
ability to teach the ability to feed the flock all of the rest are to do
with character nature who you are this is the first great reason why you
cannot find shepherds in this earth and why the sheep are scattered i
point the finger at the shepherds the men in the pulpit the men who
claim titles and ministry it's you that are responsible that sheep are
scattered everywhere i know it's hard i know ministry means death to
self i understand that but we've got to get back to reality if we don't
have this work of the cross in a shepherd's heart then the church is
going to be filled with pride arrogance selfishness bitterness
unforgiveness and anger it's going to be the product of that shepherd
and the sheep will scatter secondly the second reason why you cannot
find real shepherds in this hour is because they change the message from
the cross to contemporary trends candice and i went for a holiday once
and uh we it was a spanish-speaking island we went to and we got there
and as we always do we look for a local church we managed to find one
and we eventually found it with some difficulty we walked into the
meeting and and a whole group of people gathered there we sat down and
that pastor of that church stood up and started telling us a story about
his pet cat i just knew he wasn't going to spend all that time in that
cat i just knew soon he's bound to open up this bible i just knew he's
gonna talk about the lord jesus christ i could have been a sinner
walking into that church i could have been someone on my way to hell he
didn't know me from adam but all he could do i can't remember one other
thing he said he never mentioned a scripture and in fact he told us that
last night was his date night with his wife he's a mature older man and
he said i don't let anything get in my way of my date night with my wife
well i knew that by his message he had absolutely nothing i've never
heard anything worse than that man more empty i can assure you i'm not
going to that church ever again you see they change the message from the
cross to contemporary trends when you find a man who thinks he has the
right to change the message lighten it leave something out improve upon
it add to it you know that you're dealing with a man who's a false
shepherd he is not a real shepherd look again in verse 23 here it says
then jesus turned and said unto peter get thee behind me seeking thou
art an offense unto me for thou savorest the things that be not of god
but those that be of men what is the true message of the church if
you're going to be a disciple if you're going to follow christ you're
going to have to deny yourself a shepherd who does not preach this has
his basic food for the sheep is not a real shepherd a real shepherd
who's been dealt with with christ when it comes to his message is going
to preach the cross you see the cross is central to the ministry of a
shepherd you cannot be an elder in a church when this hasn't marked your
personal life and you've died and you've come under the power of it you
see that's why they don't preach this anymore because they've never had
it in their own life if a man whatever a man has in his life he wants to
preach that and communicate that to the sheep a man who always talks
about grace and lessens holiness i can assure you where that man is
there's no doubt about where that man is peter is being prepared as a
shepherd and if he is not clear that the message is christ and him
crucified he is going to damage the purse sheep he'll mislead them peter
has to be a disciple in order to make disciples he's got to deny himself
in order to preach to the sheep to deny themselves he's going to take up
his cross and to follow christ even unto death if those sheep are also
going to follow the example of that man of god and so a local shepherd
must embody this principle of the message of jesus christ you see we are
to preach the word of god we're to preach the person of christ and we're
to preach the lord jesus christ and him crucified to be an elder you
have to have the ability to teach that's the basic opening up of
scripture the ability you don't need to be greatly gifted you don't need
to be able to expound it profoundly but you've got to be accurate you've
got to be clear you've got to make christ central there's never an
excuse you say i won't judge you for lack of gifting never judged a man
on the basis of gifting whether he's loud whether he's quiet whether
he's profound whether he preaches long or preaches very short i never
judge a man on those things but i do judge him is he faithful to the
word of god is he faithful to christ is he faithful and preaching the
cross we read also in timothy about elders who labor in the word and
doctrine the word labor there means to an extended day of hard labor and
hard work that you labor until the point that you're exhausted you're
you're very tired you're laboring to teach you're laboring to preach you
want to preach christ and him crucified you see the true cross when it
is preached will produce a real church and the true church will proclaim
the real cross and a true vision of the church with christ alone as its
foundation will always bring about a great conflict with satan now look
at this a church that understands the message of denying self and going
the way of the cross that is the foundation that christ builds his
church upon if i find a church that preaches the cross that lives the
cross who has elders who embody the cross then i know i'm looking at a
church built on the revelation of who christ is it's a true revelation
and the true message you see where you get truth preached i find a real
church i walk into church how do you know that church is built on christ
how do you know it's built on a revelation of christ by their message by
their lifestyle and i show you a church that is built upon christ is
going to be assaulted by satan it's going to be the target of satan look
at peter here he had a revelation of who christ is so the gates of hell
attempt to prevail against the church what does it look like when the
gates of hell try to prevail against the church well look at this
onslaught against peter you had the devil coming in on peter saying he
doesn't need to go the way of the cross you don't need to preach the way
of the cross you don't need to suffer or lose out on your friendship
with christ you will not be separated by death to self all of this was
satan's strategy now what does it mean here when jesus says i will build
my church upon this rock revelation of who i am a divine revelation of
the father i'm going to build my entire church on this and you know what
that revelation is also going to include the cross and death to self and
being crucified with christ what does it look like when the gates of
hell attempt to prevail against the church they are against this message
do you see here in matthew 16 first time we read about the church first
time we read about the cross and now we're seeing what the onslaught
looks like against the church how satan you know we think of the gates
of hell it's an unreal thing but when you see satan coming to peter and
working on his flesh and his thoughts and his emotions and saying you
don't need to worry about that how many people have we met they they go
out and get drunk and take drugs and sleep around to say i know once
they've always said i know i'm okay i know i'm a christian they don't
realize that the gates of hell have prevailed against them they're
utterly defeated they're defeated by the gates of hell but what does the
gates of hell mean you see it's the gates of ancient cities in the
middle east the gates were first of all a place of strategy a place of
strategy it says in the bible that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil that's the word strategy or methodoia it's the word
for method satan has methods which he comes against the church with
strategies secret schemes specially planned devices arguments tricks
traps that's what the devil does when the gates of hell try to prevail
you know what they try to undermine lifestyle in the church it doesn't
matter what your kids are like it doesn't matter how you treat your wife
it doesn't matter about how you live out holiness it doesn't matter if
you never read your bible you can go preach to others what a tragedy
that is the gates of hell we need our eyes open this morning to identify
and recognize how the devil wants to prevail against the church but a
church built on the revelation of christ christ and him crucified the
way of the cross a church built on this message is going to nullify the
strategies of hell because hell will always lie against this you don't
need to go that way what did peter do peter changed his message peter
actually began to say lord you don't need to do that jesus turn says get
thee behind me satan it's about time we start doing that with some
pastors and i'm not telling you sheep to do that we need prophets again
we need prophets in the church who will expose the false message of
these pastors who've changed the message paul rebuked peter when he
changed the message we ought to stand those in ministry if you're young
in ministry a young preacher don't you be scared to contend for the
faith it's a strategy of hell to change the message of the church that's
why you can't find a real pastor in this hour a real preacher in this
hour a real shepherd of souls you know why he's listened to the strategy
of the gates of hell those gates of hell are not only a place of
strategy but a place of war from those gates of hell of planning they
wage war against real shepherds i don't believe one shepherd goes into
the pulpit without hell waging a war you can compromise don't mention
that you don't need to deal with sin you can be lazy lie about the home
you don't need a study just pick up something to share with the folk you
don't need a word from the lord you know for weeks i've wrestled over
these messages for london i was going in a different direction but
praying wrestling searching longing saying oh god give me a word for
that people who are going to be in london in two weeks time says we are
not ignorant of the devices of satan i know what the devil's voice
sounds like and i know the gates of hell want to prevail we are in a
fierce battle every shepherd every church is in a fierce battle and it's
only the cross undoes the work of satan when we go the way of the cross
we bring to naught the devices of satan and of hell there's only one way
to get to the book of acts and that's the way of the cross that's how
peter got there christ dealt with peter peter your life has to be the
cross your message has to be the cross jesus rebuked peter and says get
thee behind me satan he actually let him know your message has become a
message affected by the gates of hell and by satan himself what a tragic
thing and if the devil can do that with an apostle he can do it with
anyone in our day and generation a third and last reason here why it is
so hard to find a real god-gifted shepherd because the men who call
themselves shepherds are scattering the flock the very men who are meant
to be gifted and called to gather the flock around the lord jesus christ
are doing things that scatter the flock notice in verse 18 jesus said i
will build my church this is his church he didn't delegate that to any
man any woman any ministry any apostle it is his church he'll never be
keith malcolmson's church this is not my church i only ever call this my
church whenever i'm saying i'm a part of it i belong to it i've never
once said this is my church as a personal possession never would never
could because that's never true god could bury me tomorrow and raise up
another shepherd that's what god does again we see the same thing when
christ came pardon me when we see christ in his earlier ministry pardon
me i've got my drinks and my sweets if mary could should be giving me a
sweet this morning we see jesus in his earlier ministry in matthew
chapter 9 listen very carefully before we close but when christ saw the
multitude he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
they were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd do you see this
is a real shepherd jesus is the great shepherd and when he sees the
scattered sheep fainting scattered everywhere having no one to feed them
or to guide them you know it says over in mark 16 that he began to teach
them many things a shepherd will begin to teach when he sees this when
he sees them fainting and scattered he begins to teach that's why i'm
teaching the word of god because i see this across our world in this
hour i want to get messages out that are going to teach the sheep
because they're scattered and they're fainting and no man cares about
them and there's no shepherd to preach them and encourage them and pray
for them and so i begin to teach it moves me to teach then just after
this in matthew 9 says as a result of seeing this terrible thing jesus
said unto his disciples the harvest is truly plenteous but the labors
are few pray ye therefore the lord the harvest that he will send forth
labors into his harvest and then straight after this in the next chapter
matthew 10 jesus goes off for an entire night of prayer and he's praying
and straight after he chooses the 12 apostles to go out and preach the
word of god he comes down from that night of prayer remember what's just
happened he has seen the scattered sheep he then begins to teach them he
then goes to prayer he then chooses 12 men and he sends them out to
preach and to gather the sheep together this is what a true shepherd
this is how he works let's begin to teach let's begin to pray let's
begin to prepare other shepherds and i'm praying that through all the
messages we do somewhere in australia or america or south africa or new
zealand or some other country in holland or elsewhere that shepherds are
going to be birthed i believe that a supernatural work is about to
happen where god is going to raise up shepherds beyond number you see
i've got many promises in this bible and i can preach many things here
i've got much more but for the sake of my throat i'm closing and i can
give you many promises i will multiply shepherds on the hillside i will
give you shepherds after my own heart saints of god in order for the
gates of hell not to prevail to scatter the sheep we need another
genuine revival where god is going to raise up many shepherds there's so
many neglectful shepherds who will not do the right thing but we need
true shepherds look at the vast multitudes on the hillside scattered
there's no churches i'm getting emails constantly there's no church no
prayer meeting no preaching no evangelism no place to gather that is
safe we're tired of the rubbish we're tired of all the gimmicks of
decades give us a real pastor a real shepherd of the souls you know what
we need to be praying for this in this hour that god would suddenly
raise up across the nations a vast army of shepherds again either
shepherds as elders local leaderships or those that are gifted
supernaturally with the ministry of a pastor or a shepherd we need it
again and i'm praying i am praying for this because the gates of hell
want to prevail they've nullified the shepherds they have changed the
message in the pulpits and they have scattered the sheep and after
decades of what men have said were true revivals decades of universal
preaching and ministries look at the condition all i see is sheep
scattered everywhere we need a real genuine work of god today the last
day of this month i know people are talking about halloween but in
germany and i love this they call this day reformation day where they
look back to luther and all the great reformers who god raised up to
change an entire continent and the world what a remarkable thing and
just after the beginning of that john knox who was training to be a
catholic priest he was a rough and hard man but he began to see the
truth of the gospel and god began to deal with them and john knox was
raised up of god as a great reformer and preacher for scotland the
history books say the reformation took place in a greater degree in
scotland than any other country in the entire world whether germany
france or anywhere else scotland was changed politically socially
educationally economically through 40 days of preaching by just 40 days
and the entire nation changed and the history book john knox is an
eyewitness in his history of the scottish reformation he said in every
village and community of scotland overnight shepherds were raised up
through the preaching of the word of god god had been preparing these
vessels but they were hidden they were young they were uneducated they
didn't have much money but all of a sudden shepherds filled the entire
nation and scotland became a reformed nation and returned to preaching
the gospel and the genuine heaven-sent revival saints of god i believe
it is time again oh god do it again in our hour send us a mighty army of
pastors shepherds springing up in homes the most unlikely oh it may be
small new churches but oh god raise up shepherds again to feed the flock
to lead the flock to guard the flock we've been tired of the mega church
give us real pastors in the church again and if you're called of god to
be a pastor i pray you won't be able to sleep at night i pray that
you're going to wake up dreaming of the sheep scattered on the
mountainside that you're going to pray night and day that you're going
to fast that your heart's going to break over this that you're going to
have such a call that you'll get no rest until you begin feeding the
sheep but saints of god we need qualified shepherds in the church again
we need shepherds appointed put in place who it is obvious they're
called of god will you pray with me father we pray for all of our
friends that are scattered in many nations across this world we pray for
ireland we pray for limerick my god the sheep have been scattered after
decades of false gospels of compromised messages of false pastors of
shepherds who jeremiah and ezekiel would have risen up and rebuked we
are tired of it and we see a church scattered across the world but oh
god we believe like in john knox's day one more time one last time will
you not revive us will you not pour out your spirit even upon the older
men the presbyteros will you revive and pour out yes on the young but
also on those young preachers will you raise up right across this world
father i pray that even through this message you're going to raise up
new churches you're going to raise up shepherds you're going to raise up
preachers you're going to raise up men and women who are going to stand
and seek after you once again father i pray for all of our friends that
you'll begin to gather them under the ministry of genuine god-sent
leadership in jesus name amen god bless you

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/gdJTIk6_OeU.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/where-have-all-the-shepherds-gone/
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