"Follow me"

This letter is to Christian leaders, to godly men and women who today can begin a change.I cannot be eloquent in my words, but will strive to be sincere in my convictions. I am not a prophet or a preacher, just a man who loves Jesus Christ.

Every day I wonder if there is more I can do to help someone overcome a life of addiction. I spend time with God, asking for guidance and wisdom. I know God knows my heart, he is aware of my desires, yet for many years now I have felt that this battle will continue until His kingdom comes. I spent hours trying to remember the times I knew God had intervened, hoping again for His help. Page after page of scripture has been read and re-read searching for those words of comfort and hope, comfort and hope that can only come from faith that God is in control. Today God gently reminded me of His words that came early on in my search; “This is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another.” [1Jo 3:11]
I began to realize that what I perceive as “my world” is just a microcosm of what our nation is facing today. Without doubt, those that do not know God because of an addiction to drugs or alcohol or abhorrent behavior are numerous... no, more than numerous, there are millions, but there are ten-fold that do not know God because of circumstance.
Today we must begin to change those circumstances.
Today we must remember the message we heard from the beginning.

Christ told fishermen, “Come, follow me…”
Christ told a tax collector, “Follow me.”
Without pomp and circumstance, without hesitation, with only obedience…they followed.
You are a leader, Christ said to you, “Follow me.”
Today when Christ commands, “Follow me.”, our leaders must shout, “I am.”

I am not speaking of our political leaders, not our president or our governors, not our mayors our councilmen. I am speaking of our spiritual leaders, our pastors, our church leadership, our deacons and ministers, our priests and our rabbis. Leaders with a heart and a mind like that of of Spurgeon and Luther, Calvin and Graham, must rise up and LEAD!

Today our nation and our leaders are like Peter, denying Christ when we need Him the most.

Today a nation that was built out of the very desire to have the right to worship God is lead by those who deny His existence, all in an effort to be “fair”.
God’s not fair, God is just!
A nation, whose founding fathers, godly men, saw a future that promised freedom because of God, not from God.
Today we are a nation that denies God. We deny Him access into our schools. We deny Him access into our holidays, our days of celebration. Prayers are limited to a moment gathered around a flag pole. There was a time when we praised Him for a flag raised over a nation, a nation of people united by a fear of God.

An opportunity for reprieve came to the fisherman that denied Christ:
“…Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these...”Feed my lambs.”
An opportunity for reprieve has come to our nation. It is time as a nation to “Feed his lambs.”

Today we are a family that denies God. We have so distorted the very definition of family that it can hardly be recognized. We have become so afraid of hurting someone’s feeling or of not including them as part of the family unit, that now we can no longer see God’s design in the family. God’s design of a man and a woman, a husband and wife, a father and mother. A family held together by love, love for one another, and love for God; love for God that was expressed in prayer, prayer once spoken around a dinner table. Now we hope we can get through the fast food restaurant before prime time.
“…Simon, son of John, do you truly love me…take care of my sheep.”
It is time as leaders of our families to “take care of his sheep.”

Three times Peter denied Christ.

Sadly our third denial of Christ is in our churches.
Today there are churches that depict God as the generous CEO of a successful corporation. Preachers tell of a God that can be super-sized or downsized, depending on the needs of the followers. Churches where the bible is never seen, instead jumbo-tron televisions broadcast the preacher’s face in giant size images.
Three times Christ asked “Do you love me?”
Then feed my sheep.

It is time to change. It is time to feed His sheep.
There will always be sermons about Job and Abraham, sermons about forgiveness and sin. Now is the time to feed His sheep.
Now is the time to fill the churches with those that don’t come every Sunday. Open your doors and let the rejoicing sounds overflow into the neighborhood. Now is the time to fill the streets with those that have no place to worship. Now is the time to feed His sheep. There will be those that listen but do not hear,those that scoff and laugh at your words, but should you be the one that determines who hears? Feed them all with the Word of God, preach His promises, and tell everyone who He is.That may mean leaving the comfort of the church building and going into the streets to gather His sheep.That may mean telling the homeless, the addicts,and the lost the story of Jesus, and then when they ask you about a place to rest their head you invite them in, opening the church building as a place of refuge. When they ask you about food for their belly it means opening the coffers... to feed His sheep. Remember what Christ did with just two fish and five loaves of bread.
“Do you love me? Then feed my sheep.”
You are God’s chosen leaders. He said “Follow me.”
Shout “I am!”
Shout “I am!”
Shout “I am!”
If you are already feeding His sheep, then do more.
If you are already shouting His word, then shout louder.
Look around, our nation is falling, our God is being forgotten.
Sunday, November 1, 2009 marks the beginning of a season of Thanksgiving. Would it not be majestic if on this morning church bells rang across the land, church doors stood open, inviting all in to follow Him, united in one thought, "Feed my sheep". Then what if every day for seven days those same bells ring, inviting all to hear the gospel preached each night. Church buildings opened providing shelter, providing food,providing revival to a nation starved. What if?
You are the leaders.
Lead.
You must make the change.
Feed His sheep.