El Pastor: The Shepherd

Jeremiah chapter 3, verse 15. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

! Just one verse. And my title today is El Pastor, the Shepherd.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the word that you've given me. And that you've burdened me with. Lord, I pray you help me do a good job and deliver that word to these people that are here today.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Let it be received in Jesus' name. And you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

I'm always suspicious of any preacher who uses one short scripture for his opening scripture without providing context for that scripture. Sometimes that means it's going to be a long sermon.

But let me give you some context, though. When you read the previous 15 verses, we're picking up in Jeremiah chapter 3, verse 15.

But when you read the previous 14 or 15 verses that lead up to this promise, you will find that it comes after a time of judgment and unfaithfulness.

God's people were going through a period of judgment because of their unfaithfulness. The scriptures before this in Jeremiah chapter 3 described and compared their unfaithfulness to God as spiritual adultery and idolatry.

And so the Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, is speaking. And he speaks of a future time when the Lord himself will bring healing. And he himself will gather his scattered flock.

And he himself would provide true leadership for his people. And he would do this through giving his people pastors that are according to his heart.

And those pastors that the Lord would provide the people, they would feed his people with the knowledge and understanding of God. That was the obvious problem in their situation is their knowledge and understanding of God was absent.

That's why they were in the condition they were in. And out of the process of bringing them back and out of the process of them being repentant and coming back to the Lord, it would take knowledge and understanding of God.

This shouldn't be a shock to anyone, but knowledge and understanding of the things of God is vital in living for God. If you're going to live for God, you need to know, you need to have knowledge and understanding of the things of God.

A lack of knowledge and understanding about the things of God, it's going to be detrimental to living for God because it cuts off the vital, intimate relationship with God that is essential for spiritual life to exist.

The knowledge and understanding of God is the source of spiritual life. And without it, you cannot survive spiritually. The knowledge and understanding of the things of God is vital for your relationship with him because without it, it is impossible to please him because it is impossible to be obedient to his word.

If you don't know what his word says and how to apply it to your life, then it would be impossible for you to be fully obedient to it. And it's going to have an effect on you.

And without being obedient to his word, you will not be protected spiritually and you will not have eternal security. But with the knowledge and understanding of God, you can be obedient to the word and you can find spiritual protection and ultimately eternal life.

Amen. In fact, John 14 and 15 says that Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. How can you do that if you don't know what the commandments are? The commandments that are in the word of God.

How can you keep them if you don't know what they are? And Jesus is saying, if you love me, you're going to keep my commandments. John 14, 21, Jesus says, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.

So it's another way of saying what he just said in another verse. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. In another verse, Jesus said, if man, if a man love me, he will keep my words.

In another verse in John 15 and 10, Jesus says, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. Amen. We like to think that God just loves everybody and we can, we're going to abide in his love forever and everything's going to be hunky dory, hunky dory with Jesus.

Amen. But it says, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. If you don't have an understanding and a knowledge of the word of God, you can't love, really love Jesus and you can't abide in his love either.

You need a pastor after God's own heart that feeds you knowledge and understanding of God's word. It's vital. Amen. Amen. The Bible teaches us that having a lack of knowledge and understanding of the word of God is the same as actively rejecting the word of God.

Think about it. Actively rejecting the word of God. If you lack in the knowledge and understanding of the word of God, it's the same as actively rejecting the word of God. You cannot be an innocent bystander in the spirit.

There's no innocent bystanders in the spiritual realm. There's no nations of Switzerland that are just going to stay neutral and not take a side.

There's no Switzerland, okay? There's no neutrality. You're going to be on one side or the other. There's no innocent bystanders in the spirit. If you, during your life, do not gain knowledge and understanding of God and his word, it is a rejection of God.

It doesn't matter what excuse you can come up with or think of. It doesn't matter if for any reason you live your life without the knowledge and understanding of what's in this book. Then you are actively rejecting God.

There is no harmless ignorance to the word of God. Ignorance to the word of God is always going to be harmful. It's always going to be harmful to not know what's in this book and to be applying it to your life.

And beyond that, no matter the reason for your ignorance to the word of God, your Lord and Savior sees that ignorance as a rejection of him. He sees it as intentionally being negligent towards him.

And your lack of knowledge and understanding will lead to your scattering and to your separation from God. And then once you are separated and scattered from God, you will lose the protection that God provides.

And you will become a captive of sin. And you will find yourself in captivity, controlled by sin. And ultimately, you will be destroyed and lose out on the promise of eternal life and glory.

And it will end that way all because of a lack of knowledge and understanding of God and his word. Hosea chapter 4 and 6 says, My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.

The lack of knowledge and understanding of God and his ways directly leads you to your destruction and rejection from God. He sees your lack of knowledge and understanding as a rejection of him.

And he will in turn reject you. Isaiah chapter 5 verse 13 says, Therefore, my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge.

And their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst. The lack of knowledge and understanding of God leads you to captivity and into famine and into thirst.

That's what you'll have. Captivity, famine and thirst if you don't have the knowledge and understanding of his word. And applying it to your life. Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 22 says, For my people is foolish.

They have not known me. They are sottish children. Sottish. S-O-T-T-I-S-H. Sottish. Children. And they have none understanding.

They are wise to do evil. But to do good, they have no knowledge. I'm going to read that again. For my people is foolish. They have not known me. They are sottish children.

Sottish children means stupid. It means dumb. It means ignorant. It means stupid. That's the biblical definition of sottish. They are sottish children. And they have none understanding.

They are wise to do evil. Wise to do evil. But to do good, they have no knowledge. Without knowing God and his word, people become spiritually dull.

They are spiritually dull. And their only skill becomes being a sinner. They become wise and sinning, but they're dumb spiritually.

All from a lack of knowledge and understanding of God. And so then one of the greatest promises we have in the word of God then is, I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Amen. That's one of the greatest promises we have. That we will get pastors from the Lord that are after his heart. That will feed us this word of God. That's going to give us knowledge and understanding that will prevent us from all those pitfalls.

Thank God for pastors who are after God's own heart. Thank God for pastors that preach and teach the word of God. Thank God for pastors that gives us knowledge and understanding of his word.

Amen. Amen. I'm preaching El Pastor, the shepherd. That's my message. El Pastor, the shepherd. When God says pastors, it means shepherds.

El Pastor, what does it mean in Spanish? We got a couple. Jose, what does it mean? El Pastor. The shepherd, right? Mario, do you agree? Carlos, do you speak Spanish?

Do you agree? I got at least three witnesses in here that speak Spanish. El Pastor. Pastor means shepherd. When God says pastors, he means shepherd. Spiritual leaders.

Spiritual guides. Serving God's people. The pastor is to be after God's own heart. And to have a role of protective, nourishing leadership under God.

God said, according to my heart. He's going to give us pastors according to my heart. Pastors are not self-appointed or chosen by men. They are raised up by God.

And they are to be aligned with God's heart. Pastors are to reflect God's character. Pastors are to reflect God's will. And they are to reflect God's priorities. And the kind of pastor that God intends for his people is a pastor after his own heart, which shall feed his people knowledge and understanding.

The primary responsibility for the pastor is to feed and nourish God's people with God's word. Not with entertainment. As a pastor, I'm not here to entertain you.

And I shouldn't have to be your cheerleader every Sunday. You should have a relationship with your God that is beyond me. That where I don't have to get up here and nobody has to get up here and try to encourage you to worship and praise the creator.

Amen. Your savior. The one that died for you. Nobody should be up here having to entertain you or to be a cheerleader to get you to praise and worship your creator. Amen.

The pastor is not here to be an entertainer. Amen. The primary responsibility of a pastor is to feed you.

Feed you the word of God. Not to feed you worldly wisdom. It is not the pastor's job to do anything but to feed you with divine wisdom. Divine knowledge and divine understanding from this book right here.

The knowledge and understanding is food for the spirit. It is the nourishment to the people of God. My job as pastor is to feed you what saith the Lord from this book right here.

If I don't feed you what the Bible says, then you will suffer from spiritual starvation. If you're not interested in or if you do not accept the food that I'm serving from this Bible, you will suffer from spiritual starvation.

Ephesians 4 and 11 through 13 says, And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.

Why? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. When? For how long? Till we all come in the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.

Unto a perfect man. Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Raise your hand if you're a perfect man in the measure and the stature and the fullness of Christ.

Let it be known there are no hands raised. Amen. Thank you for your honesty. That means we need to be fed this word of God.

The pastor has a role because we have not obtained perfection yet. God intends that you have a pastor feeding you spiritual food and that you consume that food and that you grow until he returns for his church.

It is for your perfecting. You are to be in a process of being perfected through the pastor feeding you the word of God.

Amen. We all need a pastor after God's own heart. A pastor after God's own heart will know God intimately. A pastor after God's own heart will feed the flock biblical truth.

And not be afraid of being direct about what's inside the word of God. Amen. A pastor after God's own heart leads you to one God. One faith.

One baptism. Amen. That one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ. A pastor after God's own heart will do their best to protect you from going the wrong way. They will try to protect you from false doctrines and false teachings.

And they will protect you from spiritual starvation. Amen. I thank God for my pastor. Here are the apostle Peter writing to other leaders in the word of the Lord.

In 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 1 through 4 it says, Verse 2.

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.

Verse 3. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

I'm talking about El Pastor, the shepherd. Okay? Pastors are to feed the flock and have oversight, not by force, not with greed in their hearts, but by being examples to the flock.

If you want to know how to dress, you should be able to look at your pastor and your pastor's wife. If you want to know how to live in the kingdom of God, you should be able to look at your pastor and your pastor's wife.

If you want to know how to worship and praise God and church services, you should look at your pastor and your pastor's wife. Amen. Pastors are to be examples to you.

If you want to know how to have a relationship with God, then you should be able to look at your pastor and your pastor's wife. Pastors are to be examples. Amen. If I do that as the Bible says, when the chief shepherd shall appear, then I shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

And I intend on having that crown of glory. Amen. When Jesus, the chief shepherd, shall appear. Amen. Amen. Jesus is the chief shepherd.

One thing you have to know about human pastors is they are human. But there is a chief pastor, a chief shepherd. Look to your pastor as an example, but always remember he's human.

Don't judge God by the pastor's actions. A lot of people I know over the years of living for God have walked away from God and truth because of the pastors that they've had in their lives or people they've seen in leadership or other people in the church.

They get their eyes too focused on the pastor or somebody else. And I'm telling you, humans are going to fail you because humans are not perfect. No pastor's going to be perfect.

Don't judge God by your pastor's actions, but judge your pastor by the word of God. Amen. The problem with churches today is they make the pastor the king.

They make the pastor king of everything. Amen. They make the pastor the problem with churches today is that they put the pastor on a pedestal somewhere.

And they make the pastor the ultimate authority. The pastor rules over the people of God. The pastor becomes the focus of the church. The pastor gets all the credit and all the blame when things go wrong because the pastor puts himself in the place of God by trying to be lords over God's people.

Amen. We read the scripture earlier. It says, neither being lords over God's heritage. Amen. But being examples to the flock. Pastors get all the credit and all the blame.

It's because they become the center of everything. And that's not where they belong. I hope that's not me because there are many like that out there.

And many of the flock make their pastor the Lord. They fear the pastor more than God. God can see everything. God can see everything you do.

God knows the condition of your heart. He knows your hidden sins. God sees it. You're not hiding anything from God. You are completely exposed to God. But people don't fear God.

So they only try to hide things from the pastor. I've seen this over the years too. They're worried about the pastor saying something to them.

Or they're worried about what the pastor would think. Or they get more concerned about that than what even God would think of them. That is spiritually foolish.

To not fear the Lord knowing that what you're doing. And instead to fear the pastor finding out about it. You can fool the people around you. And the pastor too.

But you're not fooling God. Amen. Even back then people feared men more than God. A lot of the people believed Jesus. Even people in leadership of the country at the time.

The nation. But they wouldn't follow Jesus because of the issues it would cause with other people in their lives. In John chapter 12 verse 42 it says, Nevertheless among the chief rulers, the chief rulers, also many believed on him.

But because of the Pharisees they did not confess him. Thus they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Amen.

I want the praise of God. Not the praise of men. That's the worst way of thinking.

To try to impress and earn the praise of other people rather than God. But if you will try to impress and get the praise of God. And the way you live your life.

And the way you applied this word. Then automatically you'll get the praise and the respect of the people around you as well. Amen. Amen. I think we ought to be less concerned about making me think you're a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I'm a whole lot more concerned about making sure you prove that you're a disciple of Jesus Christ to God. At the end of the day, if you just fear the pastor. Or some other person finding out you're not as faithful as you pretend to be.

You're just fooling yourself because the pastor is not God. But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the knowledge and understanding that you need. And what I'm talking about today. Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 11.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But he that is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth.

And the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and careth not for the sheep. Amen.

I was talking about El Pastor, the shepherd. Now I'm talking about El Wano Pastor, the good shepherd. Ultimate dependence must be on Jesus Christ alone.

Okay. Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus is the one who gave us his life. Amen. He gave his life for his sheep. I doubt your pastor will do that. I know him actually pretty well.

I couldn't die for your sins because I'm a human. I'm not without sin. Jesus died for our sins because he could die for the sins of the whole world because he was God and he's without sin.

Amen. Jesus without sin and he willingly died for your sins. Jesus cares deeply for you. You are the flock of God. Amen. All pastors need to understand the flock belongs to God.

Acts chapter 20 verse 28 says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over that which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

My job as pastor is the same as any other pastor, and that is to feed the flock. The flock of DOJC does not belong to me. I am here raised up by God to feed his sheep.

Amen. That's what I'm here to do. John chapter 21 verse 15 says, So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. Verse 16, He saith unto him again the second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?

He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Again, he saith unto him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?

It says, Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.

And Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Three times, I think the repetition by Jesus is saying something. And repeatedly asking Peter if he loves him.

And telling him, Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep. I think the repeating emphasizes the importance. To every pastor, if you love God, feed his sheep.

They are his sheep. Amen. The sheep have responsibility as well. John 10 and 27 says, My sheep hear my voice.

And I know them. And they follow me. Jesus says, If you are in his flock, you're going to know his voice. And you're going to follow him.

You have to know the voice of the chief shepherd. The good shepherd. You have to be at church when it's feeding time. You have to consume this word. Gain that knowledge and understanding.

Grow into perfection in him. And be able to recognize his voice and his word. And follow him. Amen. Sheep. I don't know how you feel about being called sheep.

Just because I'm a pastor of some sheep don't mean I'm not a sheep too. We're all sheep. I have a pastor too. I don't know how you feel about being called sheep. But sheep are followers really.

It's God's will that you have a pastor after his own heart feeding you and guiding you spiritually. Because sheep are followers. Hebrews 13 and 17 says, Obey them that have the rule over you.

And submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls. As they must give account. That they may do it with joy.

And not with grief. For that is unprofitable for you. I hope you got that. That's. If we all got. If we all get that scripture in us. Then we'll all be good.

It says, Obey them that have rule over you. And submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls. Your pastor watches for your souls. And says, as they must give account.

Your pastor is going to have to give an account for you. That means I'm going to have to answer some questions. God's going to pose to me about you. That they may do it with joy.

And not with grief. For that is unprofitable. It's going to be unprofitable for you. If I have to answer on your behalf to God. When I'm called to do so.

When I have to answer to God about those. That he gave me to feed. You're going to want me to give a report to him about you. That's a good report. Amen. Not a report about how much trouble you were.

Bunch of crazy sheep running around everywhere. It's like herding cats. I thought I was herding sheep. 1 Thessalonians 5 and 12.

It says, And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you. And are over you in the Lord. And admonish you. And to esteem them very highly.

And love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. So this is a shameless plug for your pastor. It says that you should know who labors among you.

And that admonish you. And you should esteem them very highly. And love for their work's sake. And then it also adds, And be at peace among yourselves.

So love your pastor. Esteem your pastor. Your responsibility as the flock is to know who those God has placed in your life to feed you. And to esteem them.

And to respect them and appreciate them. If you don't respect me, you're not going to respect what I have to say. And if you don't appreciate me, you're not going to appreciate what I have to say. And you should only respect me and appreciate me because of what I have to say.

And it should be from this word of God. As soon as it's not, then you have, don't respect me and don't appreciate me. I'd be very unappreciative of a pastor that doesn't preach from this book.

Amen. And also to know and to learn the voice of God through the feeding of the word. Know his voice and to follow him. Those are our responsibilities as sheep.

Do not be sheep that goes wandering away. Amen. Stay with the pastor, the shepherd. Stay with the flock. Do not be scattered. But remain in the flock of God and trust him.

Amen. Amen. Let's all stand. No pastor, however good, is the good shepherd himself. We cannot place full ultimate dependence on any human, including pastors that are after God's own heart.

Even great pastors are only here to feed the flock of God. I mean, God is the good shepherd. When I was reading those things that a pastor after God's own heart is, I saw at least one of you, not going to say who, thinking very hard about, if I add up to those things, maybe a few of you, actually, looking at my wife now.

And that's true. Amen. But like I said, don't judge God by the pastor, but judge the pastor by God's word. Lord, you should hold me accountable just as much as I would hold you accountable.

We need each other in this. But even great pastors are only here to feed the flock of God. Amen. God is the good shepherd. We have to put our trust in him and be faithful to him, be of his flock, and let him be your good shepherd.

Amen. And I want us to end with this, and I'm going to put on a song and invite you to pray. If you have your Bible, let's turn to Psalm 23.

Psalm 23. God is so good. I'm so thankful for his word. I'm so thankful for who he is. This is, most people probably know this by heart, because it's one of the most, probably the most known and quoted verses in all of the Bible.

Psalms 23 and 1 says, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. What a beautiful set of scriptures.

I mean, I know we know these scriptures, but I wonder if we can really get a grip of these scriptures today and pray these scriptures today before we leave. I'm going to put on a song, and I'm going to invite you guys to come and find a place to pray and really contemplate.

What kind of sheep am I? Am I hungry for the right things? Am I making sure that I'm being filled with knowledge and understanding of his word?

Am I being fed spiritually? What am I doing with that food that's being provided to me? Amen. And we really need to check ourselves before we leave here today. Make sure that we are in the flock of God.

Make sure that you are a sheep in the flock of God before you leave here today. Amen. Let's find a place and pray today. The Lord is my shepherd.