Shepherd the Sheep

June 6, 2020

As a pastor, my job is to care for the flock as a shepherd would care for their sheep. I am to protect, feed, sheer, seek after the lost, help mend and heal wounds, and guard the gate of the sheep pin. The main way I accomplish this is through the Bible. I teach people the Bible, not teach the Bible to people. (Some of you will figure that out shortly.) In the midst of the confusion and chaos of what our nation is going through following the death of George Floyd I find myself torn a bit. I would see one friend post something and then another friend post something opposite. Social media demands I pick a side. I will pick a side, but not the one everyone wants me to.

Sunday, I preached that critical theory was a major danger to the gospel and simply being in a oppressive group did not make someone a racist, rather, it is the actions of people that counted. That didn’t go over well. I posted my #BlackOutTuesday square in recognition that racism and police brutality does occur and I lost friends. A few days later I decided to accidentally on purpose trigger (that means to make someone mad) some more people. I posted a video of a African-American preacher who claimed that everyone has a responsibility in the discussion on racism and I lost more friends. I had discussions with people all throughout the week; family, friends, young and old. Every time I opened my mouth or pressed “post” on social media I lost. Don’t worry about me, I’m not in it to please people.

I have picked a side. It’s not the left or right, white or black, republican or democrat, conservative or liberal. I’ve decided to pick my Savior Jesus and His word which is the only thing I believe can change the hearts of people. I’ve decided to just go back and be a shepherd again.

As a shepherd I will…

Care for the Flock: I’m going to be there for you. I’m not going to leave you in the field and go back to the Father’s house. I will sleep out in the field and pin with you. I will listen to you and hear your concerns hurts and heartaches. You can vent to me anytime you need to.

Protect the Flock: I will warn you when I see dangers coming. Whether these dangers are bad theology or philosophy sneaking up on you or you are so busy grazing in worldly pleasures you don’t see the cliff a few feet away. I will sleep in the doorway of the sheep pin and put your life before mine. I may use my rod to gentle guide you back away from unseen dangers.

Feed the Flock: I will do my best to lead you to the greener pastures so you can graze on the richness and goodness of God’s Word over anything else you might desire to eat. I will give you a complete diet of the whole counsel of Scripture, not just the sweets and carbs that we all easily enjoy. If I see you are malnourished I will place what you need before you.

Sheer the Flock: As you grow as a sheep one of my duties as a shepherd is to sheer you in the right season. This might seem like a selfish task or painful to you but it is necessary for you. I will help you shave off what is burdening and holding you down. I will help remove the outer fleece so that new growth can occur. Your new coat will grow back in time and be much better and not littered with the debris and things you pick up in the world.

Seek after the Lost: I will come looking for you when I can’t find you. No matter if you walked away on your own or you were led astray by something or someone else. If the actions or inaction of Christians around you turns you off from following Christ and causes you to walk away I am not giving up on you. I will pick you up and put you on my shoulder. I know the True Shepherd and how He did not abandon me. I will bring you back to the protection and fellowship of the other sheep and mend any broken bones or hurts the best I can. If you are a sheep that is lost and all alone without a home you can join our flock, it gets noisy, sometimes we don’t smell all that good and it’s kinda like organized chaos but at least you will have what you need.

As unpopular as it is right now, I’m going to stand with the Lord and stay on his side being an equal opportunity offender. Because the gospel is offensive. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, forgive those who have wronged us, be anger but not sin, overcome evil with good, and to love our neighbor as we have loved ourselves. You can expect these and other messages to come from me over the next few weeks and months as I shepherd the sheep.

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Posted by John Weldon

Building a Firm Case for Christianity

October 4, 2011

Once you know what people believe  you will know where to start building a firm case for a Christian worldview.   If you missed the Conversational apologetics post I suggest you read it.  It will help you discover what people believe, or what worldview they have.  As a disciple of Christ we all know that it is our responsibility to share the Gospel of Jesus with those who ask us about our faith.   You may even have the desire to do so, and have been preparing for an opportunity to do so when the chance comes.  Where do you start?  Should you take a straight path to the cross?  Should you share Bible verses with them?  While it is never wrong to share the message of the cross with anyone, there may be a few other helpful points to consider as you began building your case for Christianity.

If you look at the illustration below, it shows you the progression that it takes to hold a Christian worldview.  You cannot hold a Christian worldview until you move from an atheist position.   Similarly, you cannot hold a Christian worldview, until  you know what type of theistic position you hold.  Do you believe in one God (monotheistic), more than one god (polytheistic), God is in everything (pantheistic), etc…  Likewise, you will have difficulty trying to convince someone that the Bible is the inspired word of God, if they don’t believe that a God or gods exist.  The same way someone will have difficulty with the claim that Jesus is God, if they don’t trust the Bible as a reliable source.

As you talk and ask questions to others about what they believe you will discover what they believe and where they are in the progression above.   Then you will know where to start with helping them along the way towards a Biblical worldview.  A friend of mine, Chris Sherrod, who teaches apologetics and has been published in several books uses an illustration of a set of pillars to show how the different evidence builds upon more evidence to provide a solid case for Christianity.

Building a Case for Christianity

Over the next weeks and months we will begin to break down the 4 pillars above and examine the evidence that God has given us.
As always, questions, comments, and discussions are welcome.

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Posted by John Weldon

Why I believe

September 28, 2011

Why I BelieveStarting off from the gate I want to summarize why I believe, what I believe about the existence of God and my faith in the Christian God of the Bible, and His incarnate name given in the New Testament, Jesus.  This blog is meant to be a general one and I will spend the next months and years breaking it out piece by piece so that it can be swallowed and enjoyed bit by bit.

After studying many of the worldviews through books, articles, talking with people in person, I have concluded that my Christian world view is the most comprehensive, complete, and logical worldview of all the many different worldviews including atheism.  While it still holds some difficulties and challenges, it stands tall over all the other worldviews.  In no particular order, here is Why I Believe…

1. Faith.  Yes Faith, there is a dual definition of faith floating out in the sea of apologetics, in short a blind faith and a Biblical faith.  I will explain this in greater detail in a soon coming post, but in short I believe Christianity takes and uses both those types of faith. I am convinced that most people do not understand the true definition of Faith.  Hebrews 11:6 says “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

2. Creation.  When I examine the world in which I live, I see evidence for a beginning of the universe, I see intelligence, and a mind behind the matter.  I have not found any answer in the material world that points to other trustworthy conclusions.

3. The Human Mind and Soul.  Why are we conscience? Why are we special?  Why do we have the ability to reason and think?  Why do we have  moral absolutes?  How do we judge what good and evil is?    In a world without God, these things are not possible.   The Bible describes the human condition perfectly.

4. The Bible.  The Bible makes the bold claim to be written  inspired word of God, but should we just except the Bible as God’s Word, because the Bible tells us so?  The Bible is a reliable book that is written in many different styles, by more than 40 authors, on 3 continents, over a period of about 1,500 years.  It is the most unique book ever written and for centuries it has stood the test of time and scrutiny by many.  When you compare the Bible to all other religious books, the Bible stands tall.

5. Historical Jesus.  Jesus was a real person, despite the constant attempts to blur the evidence.  But, Jesus made some bold claims about who He was and what His mission was about.  There are many sources, outside of the Bible that confirm the existence of Jesus and record some of the claims He made that are in the Bible.  Christians can even exclude even the evidence of the Bible and some of the other questionable secular documents and still make a case for Jesus existence, that is solid.

6. The Church. Yes, the church.  I realize that sometimes the church (people) can look pretty bad and can be rather disappointing, but the church (the people) has also made some great strides and impacts in the world in where we live.  Christians have been of the forefront leading the charge in several advancements for good in our world.  Slavery, Women’s rights, and even Science.

7. Religion.  Religion is mans attempt to come to God.  Religion shows how we have a yearning to get to God, just like we have a desire for food or procreation.  God gives us a desire that can be met by Him just like finding food and companionship.  Even though many people have wrongly been lead into believing in something that they haven’t researched, the desire for God is there.    I have always preferred the phrase, relationship over religion.

8.  The Empty Tomb.  Perhaps the greatest evidence for my belief.  The resurrection is key to Christianity.  Without it, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14 , my faith is in dead.  When you examine the evidence for the resurrection you are not left with any other choices that make any sense at all.  Jesus made claims that would rise from the dead, something that  charlatan would not dare to do.

9. Personal Experience.   I realize that my own personal experience is not as strong a proof as some of the other items listed above.  For example, I could say that God answered a prayer request of mine, a Mormon could say the same thing.  Some personal experiences are subjective.  But, this doesn’t mean I should throw out the personal experience all together.

Let me stop you before you start to pick apart these individual items by saying that no single one of these proves anything.  No, I cannot in a denotative way point to God and say “see, there He is” like I might point out Bob who fixed my car or Larry who made me a sandwich.  (I will address why I think that this is perfectly how God designed it to be in a later post.)  Let me point out that each of these individual areas lead or point to a particular conclusion that God does exist, and that Jesus is who He claimed to be.  It is the sum of the conclusions that add up far better than any other worldview.  Biblical Christianity uses all the different methods of science, philosophy, reason, and reality to build a strong case for a Christian worldview.  No other worldview can claim that which Christianity does, they either fail in arguments in one or more areas by contradicting themselves or by not being able to produce the evidence that Christianity does.

If you are searching for answers, and want to start looking at different worldview, that is great, can I offer a suggestion?  Start with Christianity.  There is something about Jesus that most of the other major worldviews want to include him in their teaching.  To Muslims, Jesus was one of 28 prophets, In Hinduism Jesus is a good moral teacher, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons view Him as the Son of God, by which we can earn our salvation.  Jesus is the central feature in Christianity, not only because of his teachings but because of who He is, and claimed to be, God.

As always, questions, comments, and discussions welcome.  I am looking forward to the breakdown of these items that I have listed above.  In my next few posts I will give some basic information about apologetics and lay a foundation and order down for looking at the evidence piece by piece.

4 Comments | atheism, Bible, creation, faith, General Apologetics, good and evil, Jesus, Morals, Religous and Life, resurrection | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by John Weldon