The Good Shepherd - Remix

Cancer sucks

I have had an Aunt and Grandfather that died of cancer and watch my mother battle cancer and is currently cancer free.

We have folks in this Church fight cancer and the motorcycle community.

Every family I know has been touched by cancer, weather it be them, their parents, children, husband, wife. Every one.

What is Cancer?

Evil, Satan, we call cancer IT as if it is some alien thing that has invested our body.

Cancer is us....It is our own cells that deviate from their intended purpose. These wayward cells then multiply and spread to other areas of the body. Cancer kills you because it interferes with the functions of the body necessary for life.

What do we do when we learn cancer has formed?

We start studying the cause, the treatment and the cure. What kind of cancer is it? What are the treatment options? What are all the particulars about the cures?

Some people join support groups, go to meetings with their doctors, see specialists. Read read and read some more.

But until you allow the chemotherapy to be put into your body, healing does not occur.

Meetings with doctors, becoming more informed, support groups do nothing, if you are not applying the cure.

Sin is Cancer

Sin, left unchecked in one area of your life, with infect every area of your life and will eventually lead to eternal death.

Galatians 6:8 NASB95

8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Ga

Romans 6:23 NASB95

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God has a plan do deal with the sin in your life. His plan is Christ Jesus. But like chemotherapy, it is simple to accept the cure, but anyone that has had rounds of chemo, it’s not easy.

People that have had chemo have told me that it would be easier to let the cancer just do its thing and die then to go through chemo.

And if you have accepted Christ there are time when you know it would feel better not to follow Christ’s example and to allow your flesh to just run amuck.

But like cancer it ends the same way.

Romans 6:23 NASB95

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You have to take all the chemo.

It’s never a one and done thing is it?

Neither is accepting Christ.

Acts 20:27 NASB95

27 “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

Repent

In Jesus spoke his first words to John (the baptist), then to satan, then to the people.

His very first words to the people are found in

Matthew 4:17 NASB95

17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

repent - turning away. Changing direction.

To repent you turn from the world to Christ.

1 John 2:15 NASB95

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

World- lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes and boastful pride of life.

Follow

Matthew 16:24 NASB95

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

John 10:27–28 NASB95

27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Forgive

Seek forgiveness

Matthew 5:23–24 NASB95

23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Matthew

Forgive others

Matthew 6:14–15 NASB95

14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

How Many times?

1 John 1:9 NASB95

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Become Humble

Colossians 3:12 NASB95

12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

Ephesians 4:2 NASB95

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

Ephesians

Ephesians 4:1–2 NASB95

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

1 Peter 5:5 NASB95

5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Luke 14:11 NASB95

11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Love

Mark 12:30–31 NASB95

30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:3

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 NASB95

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:

Matthew 5:33–38 NASB95

33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil. 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’

Matthew 5:43–48 NASB95

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

But how can anyone live that way?

With the Holy Spirit of God living in you, it is difficult.

Without God its impossible.

With the Holy Spirit

But I went forward and professed Christ and got baptized, and I tithe, and I come to Church. Isn’t that enough?

Matthew 7:22 NASB95

22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’

We are sheep

Sheep are mentioned more than 500 times in the bible.

When we take our eyes off of Jesus and start trying to make our own way, we wonder to the flesh.

Broke leg sheep

I’m going to share with you a complete myth that has biblical truths.

Sheep are heard animals. They stay together and follow each other. The problem is if you have a sheep that wonders, first, that sheep is at risk of falling prey to predators and second, can lead other sheep astray with him.

The myth goes like this: A shepherd in that time would take the wondering sheep and break its leg so that it could stand, but not walk. The shepherd would carry the sheep around his neck and set it down by food and water. He wold also sleep with it at night by his side to protect it. The sheep would learn the shepherds voice, and his look and smell intimately. It would also learn to be completely dependent on the shepherd so by the time the leg healed, the sheep would never wonder again.

There is no evidence that this ever happened. It is a myth traced back to some Christian writing in 1955

The spiritual application is this.

God will not let you continue to sin if you are truly His Sheep.

He will allow you circumstances be such that you will become completely dependent on Him.

A.W. Tozer said this: “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.”

Hebrews 12:4–6 NASB95

4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

Hebrews 12:6 NASB95

6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

Proverbs 3:2 NASB95

2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you.

Proverbs 3:12 NASB95

12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

We are to correct one another.

2 Timothy 4:1–2 NASB95

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

2 Timothy 4:1-

We are cowards when it comes to correcting one another.

I’m a coward when it comes to correcting others. I’m afraid that all you have to do is look down at the pile of logs at my feet and say, who are you to judge me?

I don’t want to

But here’s the deal. I need you to get the specks out of my eyes too. I want to see revival, not just in this Church body, but the biker community as a whole. I want to see lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In order for that to happen, we need to see the refiners fire in the pages of the Bible. We need to be refined. Allow to truth of Jesus Christ burn away all the impurities of our lives so that what is left is pure, strong, and precious.

I can tell you this. It is better to be one of His sheep with a broken leg, than happily walking our own way with the wolf breathing down our necks.

Repentant

Follower of Jesus

Forgiving

Humble

Loving

If those words don’t describe you, you should question your own salvation. At what cost are you willing pay to follow Him?

“I do more than most” will get you the finest seat in hell.

Mark 8:36 NASB95

36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

Is God correcting you? If you are His, then you will experience God’s correction?

Are the circumstances of your life evidence of God’s correction? You relationships, your restlessness?

Don’t ask me, Ask Him.