19<\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/span>But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself<\/i>.\u201d (Ezekiel 3:18-19<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Paul is telling the church leaders that He has not hesitated to preach the full Gospel to them and in that, he has been a faithful deliverer to do what he has been \u201csent\u201d to do.\u00a0\u00a0So the responsibility of their souls is upon them.\u00a0\u00a0He was leaving and had done all he could for them.\u00a0\u00a0They must hold to the faith and if they do not, it is no longer his responsibility but their own.\u00a0\u00a0It is the same for us.\u00a0\u00a0Everyone must, of their own free will, decide if they will humble themselves and serve Jesus or if they will not.\u00a0\u00a0The responsibility of all Christians is to tell the Gospel, after that, it is the responsibility of everyone to believe and follow or not to.\u00a0\u00a0Oh that all would believe and follow, but my heart is pierced that most will not and shall forever suffer for rejecting Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Oh, oh, oh, how I hurt to know that!<\/p>\n\u201cKeep watch over yourselves and all the flock\u00a0of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.\u00a0Be shepherds of the church of God,\u00a0which he bought\u00a0with his own blood.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Not only do these church leaders have responsibility for their own eternity, but the responsibility that the Apostle Paul had borne for them, and for all the brothers and sisters with them, was now passed to each of them.\u00a0\u00a0Paul is reminding them that God the Holy Spirit has anointed them with a calling to care for God\u2019s flock just as Peter was told to care for the flock of the Lord (John 21:15-21<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0These shepherds of the flock that Paul was speaking to also had the same responsibility that Ezekiel and Paul had borne.\u00a0\u00a0Now they must be faithful shepherds and they were reminded that Jesus does the saving (by His blood) and it is their responsibility to tell and to love.\u00a0\u00a0The same responsibility is, in varying assignments, for all of us also.<\/p>\n
The original word that is here translated as \u201cshepherds\u201d also could be translated as superintendent, elder, overseer, or guardian.\u00a0\u00a0Guardian, as does shepherd, stands out.\u00a0\u00a0We are to watch out for each other.\u00a0\u00a0We are called to love and care for each other and to nurture those who belong to Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0The guardians that Paul was speaking to must carefully attend to their own faith so that they could lovingly and tenderly care for the flock.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/b>I know that after I leave, savage wolves\u00a0will come in among you and will not spare the flock.\u00a030\u00a0Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples\u00a0after them.\u00a031\u00a0So be on your guard! Remember that for three years\u00a0I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Why was Paul telling them to guard their faith and to be guardians of the flock?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0It was because there would be savage wolves who would come to them to try to deceive the young and weak to kill the faith that is in them.\u00a0\u00a0Wolves, all predators, eye a flock to look for the easiest prey to kill.\u00a0\u00a0So also do false leaders.\u00a0\u00a0Often they come bragging about their own greatness, even their greatness of humility.\u00a0\u00a0But they are, as described in\u00a0Jude 1:12-13\u00a0<\/b>as \u201cclouds without rain<\/i>\u201d, promising much but since they are empty, they cannot bring what they promise.\u00a0\u00a0Let us not follow those who are merely charismatic with some form of knowledge, but let us follow those who walk closely in love with God and with His Word, remembering that the chief requirement is love.\u00a0\u00a0If one comes with seeming supernatural power, or has great education, or utters great mysteries, and does great acts of kindness, yet does not love the flock more than self, he is a false preacher.\u00a0\u00a0Even if the preacher is a great scholar, but love is not the hallmark of their ministry, their ministry is askew, false. (1 Corinthians 13<\/b>)<\/p>\n
Evil men do not only infiltrate the body from without, but they are also among us.\u00a0\u00a0Those who would usurp power, being greedy for it, are \u201cclouds with rain<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Be careful of gossipers, those who spread rumor, and those who sneer and think they \u201ccan do it better.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Remember that it is God we believe in and we know that He is able to remove whom He wants removed and to bring in whom He wants brought in.\u00a0\u00a0Beware those who divide.\u00a0\u00a0If cleansing or change must come let God Himself bring it by His Holy Spirit and His Word.<\/p>\n
Paul, in his ministry to the brothers and sisters has resisted infiltration of lies, of legalists, of the proud usurpers, of those who would pervert the Word, of those from without or within, and Paul has done so \u201cwith tears.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Family and Friends, those who push for positions that God has not given them, or who push out whom God has not moved, are a constant danger to the faith of the individual and the flock.\u00a0\u00a0Paul had fought the good fight, had brought the whole counsel of God, and had done so with the love of the Father burning within.\u00a0\u00a0He, like Jesus Savior and Lord, put others before self.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God for His great love and faithfulness and for sending to us today great leaders like Paul.\u00a0\u00a0He still brings to us men who love Him and His Word and who also love us.\u00a0\u00a0Great men of God, even today, abound.\u00a0\u00a0You will know them by their love and humility and not necessarily by their mega churches.\u00a0\u00a0Quantity does not mean quality, yet quantity may be a blessing brought by God.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who still watches over us all!\u00a0\u00a0He does so by His Spirit and His Word.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God for who He is!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 20:25-31\u00a0–\u00a0\u201cNow I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom\u00a0will ever see me again.\u00a026\u00a0Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.\u00a027\u00a0For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.\u00a028\u00a0Keep watch over yourselves and all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,705,100,2188,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-ezekiel","tag-john","tag-jude","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1990,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/1990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}