Feed My Sheep 1974

That the believers, as we read about in the New Testament, they knew temptation, persecution, rejection by their families. They knew what it was to suffer physically because of their obedience to Jesus. But nowhere do we find anything in the New Testament that would give us reason to believe that these people considered it normal to be bummed out one week in three.

How are you doing, Peter? Pray for me, Father. I'm going through a hard time. I'm thinking about taking a couple of months to go to the antioch to see if I can get my head straightened out.

Praise the Lord, Paul. How are you doing? Man, that last missionary journey was a bummer. I'm thinking of turning over my apostleship to Silas for a while.

Taking one of those Christian cruises to St. Louis. Well, Mary Magdalene, I haven't seen you for a long time. It's wonderful to see you today.

How are you doing? Wow. Man, it's like I don't know what's happening. I've been getting these future prophecies about Herod and Caesar and the end of the world.

But nobody takes them seriously. I'm thinking about sitting by myself here while I'm reading the Bible. It's ridiculous to think of these people having identity crises, depression, months on end of spiritual dryness.

Yet we seem to think that that's perfectly all right for us. You know, we work on the basis that at least one-third of the fellowship is to be bummed out, spiritually convalescing, at any given time. Now the reason for most of this moodiness and these mental hassles that we go through is because we allow ourselves to get distracted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Somewhere Oswald Chambers says, Don't ever think that life in this world is simple. It is not. But there is one thing which is simple and is to be kept simple, and this is your relationship with Jesus.

Our relationship with Jesus. Life is complex. You know, and the things that are going on around us and even in our own hearts are beyond our comprehension.

But our relationship with our Lord is to be like His relationship with His Father. And we see that His relationship with His Father had just two moving parts. On the one hand, He was continuously going to the Father for life.

And on the other, He was taking that life and giving it to the world all the time. That's all He did. This was the rhythm of His walk with His Father.

Drinking in the Spirit, pouring out the Spirit. Defending Himself, coming back and getting replenished. And because His life was this simple, His relationship with His Father was kept this way, there was no room in His mind for questions like, Why don't people appreciate me? I wonder if I'm going to have a cloud for my sermon on the mount.

What if I have a headache tomorrow? Hear me, I just don't seem to be getting anywhere. Jesus calls us to a relationship with Himself that is to be like the simple rhythm that we find in His relationship with the Father. And we see this as, we look at this passage I'd like to read from John 21, starting at 12.

Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast, come and dine, said King James. Now none of the disciples dared ask Him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so were the fish.

This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of God, Do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs.

A second time He said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Hang my feet. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, Do you love me? And He said to him, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. Now we see two things here, just two.

First we see Jesus feeding the disciples, giving them breakfast. And then we hear Jesus saying, Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep. And our relationship with our Lord is to be that simple.

We are to come to Him continuously and be fed. And then we are to go and feed others in His name. Those two things.

First, and that always comes first, He says, come and dine. You know, come and let me satisfy your heart. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger.

He who believes in me shall never thirst. And it doesn't matter how long we've been following Jesus or how many heavy responsibilities He may put on us. Our satisfaction is never to be anything but Jesus.

Just Jesus. See, and we forget this. And this is where we start going off the track.

Now it's beautiful, spiritual books may be very helpful to us. And it's wonderful to be able to find new insights in Scripture and share them with each other. This will stimulate.

And it's encouraging to see healings taking place. And it's necessary for us to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit operative in the body. But when our hearts start going out after those things and getting their satisfaction from them instead of from Jesus, then we're heading for trouble.

Jesus alone in Himself is our satisfaction. Just to know Him, to discern His presence, and to be able to distinguish His voice above that bin of all the voices that keep pounding on our minds day and night. Many, many times we have to learn to just turn away from everything to Jesus.

And feed, drink Him in. And there's no such thing as turning to Jesus to be fed and going away empty. This is impossible.

He who comes to me shall not hunger. And he who believes in me shall never thirst. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.

Who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. Our Lord Himself lived that way. He fed all the time on every word that proceeded from the mouth of His Father.

From the time He was a small boy, He was steeping Himself in the Scriptures, feeding on them. And we see Him again and again going off by Himself during His ministry. Not to suck His thumb and feel bad because nobody appreciates Him, but to feed on God.

First, we go to Him and get fed. And then turn around and start feeding others in His name. When they had finished breakfast and after they had something to eat, Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Lord, you know that I love you.

Feed my lambs. Again and then the third time, do you love me? Feed my sheep. The proof that we love Jesus Christ is not how often we say we do, or how beautifully we sing it, or how we get entranced and carried away.

The proof that we love Jesus Christ is that we care enough about Him to feed His sheep. You know, and these believers that are forever running to prayer meetings, getting fed, fed so that they just bloated right out, and they never go out of their way to feed a soul. Oh, you know, and to care about Jesus enough that we go out of our way for these sheep that He loves and not just quote the Bible to them.

Anybody can quote the Bible. The devil can quote the Bible to them. And not just pour out our religious opinion, the latest thing we read this week in some wonderful book.

See, but to give them living bread. Now, sometimes it seems to come, and sometimes it doesn't seem to come. How many times these people come to us hungry for God, and we got nothing.

You know, don't get all upset by that. That's the way it goes. So you have nothing to give them.

Lord, what am I going to tell this man? I have nothing to tell him. I got nothing to give him. So what do we do? We go right back to where we came from, and we say, Lord, give me some more bread.

This time, not for me, but for this brother, for this sister, that I may have something to set before him. And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say, friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within, do not bother me.

The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, his persistence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, no longer give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? And see, when people come to us hungry for God, so often we seem to think we have to pray for power, power so I can perform a sign, or wisdom that I might have just the right answer.

But what we really need to pray for is God himself, just God. Not the power of God, not the wisdom of God, not this little aspect of God or that aspect of God, but God himself. And this is exactly what our Lord is telling us here.

You come and you ask, and the Father gives you not a little piece of himself, not his power or his wisdom, but his Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, dwells in you. See, and when God's Spirit dwells in you, then you have Jesus in you.

And the Spirit of God in you permits you to come forth with bread, shows you even how to break it. You don't worry anymore about your inadequacy or all your lacks. You know you have inadequacies and many lacks.

But if the Spirit of God has come into you fresh because you asked, you're going to have the bread. The issue is not, will we have bread to give these hungry people? We'll have the bread. God will speak to that.

The issue is, do you care enough about those hungry sheep to give up the luxury of being bummed out one day in three? Do you care enough about those hungry sheep to give up this habit of all the time being wrapped up in your own ambitions or your own depression or your own hang-up or whatever this may be, your desolation, your favorite mood, in order to go there and storm heaven's gates? There's a letter on the table at home that you have to answer. See, and you can finally say, well, I got to get that letter answered. You sit down and you jot off a bunch of cheap words or you can go to heaven and storm heaven's gates and say, Lord, give me the bread to put on that page.

There's a lady down the street that just pesters the life out of you, always dreaming up some new excuse to come and talk to you. You can tolerate her or you can evade her or you can ask the Lord to give you bread to feed her. What you have to give depends on whether or not you are filled with God.

See, and we all get filled the same way. We all go to the same place. All of us have to go to our friend, our father, and ask over and over again.

Don't get the idea that there are certain people who are just lucky. They just have the right word every time they seem to have the right word and when they witness, you can just feel the presence of God. When you are watching ministries like that that are authentic and not staged but real, you are simply watching the ministry of a man or a woman who has recently been to the Father for more bread.

So the question before every believer in this gathering right now is, are you feeding the sheep or are you spending your time walking around wrapped up in yourself? How many of us are saying, but Lord, I have nothing to give. I don't know where to start. And so we say, that's all right.

Come and dine. Come to me right now and I'm going to fill you. I'm going to satisfy your heart.

There's absolutely no reason why one soul should go out of this place today empty. Ask and you shall receive. Open your heart.

I'm going to fill it with my Spirit, says the Father. Jesus is going to breathe on you and you're going to know his peace. And if there's somebody here today who is just plagued with guilt, just come to the cross of your Lord right now.

You wash that guilt away. That's the first thing. Come and dine.

Come and receive. Come with the empty heart. Come with the empty mind.

Come with whatever it is that bothers you right now. I'll fill you. It's a promise.

Then he says, now, let me ask you a question. Do you love me? Lord, you know we love you. All right, then go out and feed my sheep.

Go out and give those people today and this week some living food. And if our hearts are set to obey him, that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to go out and we're going to feed.

We're going to minister Christ to people with an effectiveness we've never had. And he's going to give us the power to do this. And we're going to see family souls coming to life.

May God grant us that we start getting our lives and our relationship with our Lord simple. So simple that feeding on Jesus and then turning around and feeding others with his bread, his very life, satisfies our lives and fills our days with all we need. Let's just wait upon God and pray.

Lord God, you know the way each of us here in this place has spent the last week. You know the things we've left undone. And how we've rattled on for hours on end with talk that wasn't worth a hill of beans.

You know how quick we are to come up with Bible quotes and with our own ideas. And you know how flat and dead so much is that we have given out. Lord Jesus, we have heard your call to minister life to people.

And we know it's not our volume or our vocabulary or the expression of our eyes or our mouths, but your spirit. Lord, we want to be able to go out and feed those hungry souls that are on all sides of us now with living bread. Lord Jesus, whatever it is that we need to enable us to do this, will come to us before we leave this place.

And that you will deal with the pride in our own hearts that blocks the flow of your spirit into us. We ask it for your mercy's sake. Amen.