False Shepherds Run: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 Jeremiah is preaching at a time when God is judging and punishing, correcting his people. There are wars. There’s a captivity. There are famines and sicknesses. You know, economic crisis is going on all around Jeremiah. And he brings this message just a few years before the first captivity happened. He’s bringing these messages. And in the middle of these messages of punishment, of correction, of wars, of plagues, Jeremiah is also speaking a tremendous word of hope for those who will listen and hear it. Don’t we need hope in the midst of crisis? Yes. And so we’re going to call this when the Messiah comes, false shepherds run and the sheep run to Jesus.

▶ 1:00 Hallelujah. We need the Messiah rising, Jesus Christ. And Jeremiah 23:1: “Woe to the pastors that destroy.” Number one, these pastors, these shepherds are destroying. Number two, they are scattering. Number three, they’re destroying and scattering God’s sheep. And number four, these sheep are the sheep of his pasture. You see the pasture is the place where they are sheep are fed. And these false pro— these false teachers, he deals with prophets in the same chapter, speaks of them in the same way: adulterous men, teaching their own ideas and their own doctrines instead of God’s.

▶ 1:55 [unclear] chapter 6, it says that we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And in the New Testament, it says we’re destroyed when we don’t believe in Christ. We’re condemned already because we haven’t believed on the only begotten son of God. It is imperative that the people of the world hear that message that without Jesus that rules out Muhammad and every other source. Without Jesus we will be destroyed, and without his word, the knowledge of his word, we will be destroyed. And that’s what these false preachers do they do not feed the people with the knowledge of God’s word, and God’s people end up being destroyed.

▶ 2:47 They don’t lead them to Jesus and bring them to Jesus. They bring them to themselves and they wind up being destroyed. Number two, they scatter the flock. These false preachers scatter the flock, and they’re scattering them from Jesus and his word. See, they don’t want them— they bring them to themselves. And it says over in the book of Acts that there will be grievous wolves coming in among you who will draw disciples after themselves. And this is what false shepherds, false pastors do, false so-called evangelists, or whatever title they got. You can tell who they are because they demand that you follow them.

▶ 3:39 And they teach things that distract you from Jesus Christ. And his word of righteousness. Amen. This is what these guys do. And we need Jesus. We need his word. And so they scatter from Jesus and his word. Third there, the sheep belong to Jesus. John 10, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. My sheep know my voice and I am known of them.” And in Psalms 100, it says, “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.” And number four, the pasture is Jesus. In John 6:48, Jesus is the bread of life. And in verse 63 of John 6, his word is spirit, his word is truth, his word is life.

▶ 4:38 And so Jesus feeds us with his word and with himself. How many enjoy feeling and participating in the presence of God when he comes? And then the word. Don’t you love it when somebody preaches the word and that Holy Spirit just penetrates your heart and makes that word alive and you go home feeling like you’ve been fed a meal. How many enjoy the word like that? Yes. And that’s what we need. And so Jeremiah is calling out these false pastors. And later in the chapter, it’s the false prophets. In John 9:22, it says, “If any man that could confess that Jesus is Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.” See, they don’t want people coming to Christ. They want to bring him to their leader. Maybe Joseph Smith, maybe [unclear], Mary Baker [unclear].

▶ 5:32 You know, we bring people to somebody and to somebody’s doctrine instead of Jesus and his doctrine. Amen. And we don’t need those kind of pastors. And God says he’s going to deal with those kind of pastors. Going on in Jeremiah chapter 23:2. Thus saith the Lord against the pastors. I am speaking against the pastors. These pastors that scatter the flock. I will visit upon them the evil, the harm of their doing. See, they’re hurting God’s people. They’re hurting people that don’t even know God because there’s no salvation in any other than who?

▶ 6:27 Jesus Christ. And the foolishness of preaching is what God has chosen to what? Save those that believe. And so, we got to have the preaching of God’s word. And we got to have Jesus involved. And he says, “I’m against these pastors that hurt and do harm.” Then he goes on to say, “I will gather the remnant of my flock.” He says, “I’m going to gather the remnant of my flock from where I have driven them.” Now, it isn’t the false shepherds that’s scattering them now. It’s Jesus Christ. He has driven them into countries, into areas, and he is going to bring them back out into his fold.

▶ 7:18 It says there. And so Jesus is going to come and he is going to drive these people that really want him away from these false shepherds, away from these false pastors, these false teachers, and he’s going to bring them where? Into his fold. Hallelujah. And so in the midst of this big mess that Jeremiah is preaching in, there is a tremendous message of hope. And he says this remnant will be fruitful and increase. You see, when we get into God’s pasture where he feeds us with Jesus, the living bread, and his word, the living bread, that word of life, we become fruitful.

▶ 8:13 That’s where we get the power to be fruitful, to do what’s right, and we will increase. We will get enlarged. And this is the proof of the remnant. Okay? In Romans 9:27, a remnant shall be saved in the New Testament. So the remnant are people that are saved. They’re delivered. They’re set free from sin. They’re they’re saved from eternal damnation in the lake of fire. They’re saved from the kingdom of darkness and the power of Satan in the kingdom of darkness. They’re delivered. They’re set free from them. A remnant shall be what? Saved. You see, the real followers of Christ are delivered. We’re not just forgiven.

▶ 9:05 We are what? Delivered. Set free. The kingdom of darkness has no power over us. Sin has no power over us. Romans 6 says— Romans 11:5: “At this present time there is a remnant. You see there is people when that book was written that were delivered they were saved by the power of Jesus and the power of his word. And Jeremiah preached this hundreds of years before it happened in the New Testament. Revelation 12:17 plainly tells us who’s the remnant is. It describes the remnant in clear detail. Satan makes war with the remnant of her seed. The remnant which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

▶ 10:03 You see these people that put their trust in Jesus and they follow Jesus and they keep the commandments of God. They keep the apostles doctrine as it says in that they continued in the apostles doctrine. Not Joel Osteen’s doctrine, not Martin Luther’s doctrine, not Calvin’s doctrine, not St. Augustine’s doctrine. They continued in the apostles doctrine. These are the remnant. Hallelujah. These are the people that are saved. These are the people that Jeremiah said God is going to gather. See, he’s getting them away from false prophets. The false prophets are dragging them from him, but he’s going to come and drag them from the false prophets unto himself, and they’re going to be fruitful, and they’re going to be increased.

▶ 10:56 Hallelujah. We got a message, church. We have a message in the midst of the darkness that’s in the earth. In the midst of the conflicts that are in the earth, in the midst of the mess that’s in America, we have a message of hope for all Americans. See, he’s still Lord in the midst of the judgments, in the midst of the crisis. He’s still Jesus, the King, the Lord. Then he says, “I will set up shepherds which shall feed them, and they shall no more fear nor be dismayed or be discouraged.” I trust this morning you’re not discouraged because of the message of Christ, the message of how powerful Jesus is keeps you courageous in the midst of very difficult times which we are in in America.

▶ 11:54 Hallelujah. And if you are discouraged this morning, throw it away. Get rid of that discouragement. If you’re fearful, throw it away. Get rid of your fear. Jesus, in the midst of this mess, is still in control. He still has a plan, and nothing can stop him from fulfilling it. “The days come.” Jeremiah [unclear] 23:5. The days come. Jeremiah says there’s something going to happen in the middle of this mess. There’s some days that are coming that’s going to be tremendous that number one, I will raise up unto David. Okay, King David. So, this guy that’s going to be raised up has to be a descendant of King David.

▶ 12:54 I will raise up a righteous branch. You see, this person, this individual that God is going to raise up has to be righteous. Number three, I will raise up a king which shall reign and prosper. This guy is going to be successful and he will execute judgment and justice in the earth. And so this individual that God is going to raise up not only has to be of the seed of David and righteous, but he’s got to be a king. He’s got to be the one in charge of the government and the justice and the judgment of the land of the kingdom. John 18:36: Jesus answered. He’s in Pilate—

▶ 13:51 Pilate’s talking to him. Jesus is arrested. They want to kill him. He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight so that I would not be delivered to the Jews.” And Pilate said, “Are you a king?” Then Jesus answered and said, “You say rightly, I am a king. For this cause was I born.” You see, Oprah Winfrey is wrong. She said, “Jesus did not come to die.” Yes, he did come to die. He come to give his life for you and I, that we might be forgiven, that we might be set free, that we might be delivered. See, I was born into this world to be a king.

▶ 14:45 And I was born to bear witness of the truth. Not people’s opinions, not psychology, but the truth. And what sets us free? People’s opinions or the truth? The truth sets you free. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Now, that just sums it up. They don’t hear Muhammad’s voice. They don’t hear Joseph Smith’s voice. They don’t hear Martin Luther’s voice or Calvin’s voice or St. Augustine’s voice or the Pope’s voice. They hear who? The voice of the king. And who’s the king? Jesus Christ. And his kingdom is not of this world. The Bible says the kingdom of God is within you. He wants to rule and reign in your life and be Lord over your life. Luke 17:21.

▶ 15:41 “In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.” Okay?

▶ 15:50 Now, we’ve taught you this before. Judah, Romans 2:28, a Jew, a person from Judah is not one outwardly, nor circumcision outward in the flesh. See, the Bible says a Jew isn’t the bloodline. And it has nothing to do with circumcision of the flesh. Never did have. It was only shadow laws pointing to the real thing God was going to do. Do you understand, church? And here the scriptures is telling us plainly that a Jew isn’t one outwardly or the bloodline. And circumcision isn’t really circumcision of the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one what? Inwardly. And circumcision is of the heart, the mind, the emotions, the will.

▶ 16:45 In the what? Spirit. See, we’re born of the spirit. We’re born of the word. This is why born again believers say you got to be born again. The spirit’s got to be involved and change you from a fleshly creature to a new spiritual creature. And God backs up his word and he comes and I don’t care what denomination you’re in. Denominations throw them out. He comes to individuals who seek him. They find him and they obtain what Christ has ordained be in the prophets of old that he would give unto his people. It’s not in the letter. It’s not in book learning. How many of you met people just got a lot of book learning and no substance of the spirit? Yeah.

▶ 17:36 See, it’s not in book learning, not in intellect. And the intellect is involved. Don’t get me wrong. We’re not dumbbells, you know. Whose praise is not of men, but of God. Galatians 6:15. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be unto them mercy, and upon the Israel of God. See, Judah shall be saved and Israel. And so the church is the followers of Christ are the real Jew and the real people of Israel. Understand? And Israel and Judah were only a shadow of the real thing to come, the church that Jesus was going to birth by the power of his presence, the power of his name, and the power of his word.

▶ 18:40 Hallelujah. Number five, this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. In the New Testament, he is the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has given him a scepter of righteousness. To the Son, he says, “Your throne, oh God, is forever and ever.” A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. And that’s what God wants to instill in us. He wants us to take on the divine nature where we love righteousness and we look down on lawlessness. I will raise them to David. Luke 3:23.

▶ 19:38 We said that Jesus, the one that Jeremiah is talking about to be the descendant of David. But I submit to you this question. How can he be a descendant of David? Joseph in the genealogy in Matthew was a descendant of David. But you can’t go by that genealogy because Joseph had nothing to do with the bloodline of Jesus Christ. God impregnated Mary, not Joseph. So how can he be Oh, the seed of David.

▶ 20:29 You ever ask yourself that question? See, I’m I was born asking questions. Luke 3:23, Jesus began to be about 30 years of age, being as was supposed. Oh, as was supposed the son of Joseph. You see, the people then didn’t believe in the virgin birth. When the story went out about, you know, the angel coming down and the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary and all that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Joseph is Mary’s husband. Scientifically, that just can’t be done. So, Joseph somewhere he snuck in there and they had sex before marriage or, you know, are you there? You see, people then question the virgin birth.

▶ 21:24 Do they question it today? Absolutely. And so the Bible even tells us that people suppose he was the son of Joseph, but we know he what? Wasn’t the son of Joseph? Matthew 22:42, Jesus plainly asked the people, “Who son is the Christ? Now, the people knew the scriptures. They’ve been to the synagogue. They’ve been to the temple. And they heard the teachings of Jeremiah and Zechariah and them. And they said to Jesus that Christ is the son of David. Now Jesus understanding this whole thing responds back with this verse out of the Old Testament. He said, “How does David in the spirit call him Lord, saying to the Lord, “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” If David called him Lord, how is he David’s son?

▶ 22:34 And the crowd just went, “Duh.” And they didn’t say anything after that. And that’s what will happen when you get to know the word and God gives you in the midst of a multitude scriptural answers. That’s basically it. They don’t know what to say. They never even thought of these things. Are you out there? Luke 1:31. We’re going to find out two ways that Jesus can be of the seed of David and fulfill this scripture. Speaking to Mary, the angel said, “You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and this son shall be named Jesus.” Jehovah saves.

▶ 23:36 He will be great and will be called the son of the highest, the son of God. Not the son of Joseph, the son of God. You understand? He’s the son of God, not the son of Joseph. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Isn’t that what Jeremiah said? Yeah. The Lord God will give it to him and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. So he’s not a natural guy that’s going to come and reign for a lifetime. This guy is coming to reign forever. An eternal kingdom with an eternal king. Are you there?

▶ 24:30 Now how can he be of the seed of David then? Well, Mary obviously was of the seed of David. In Luke, you have a totally different chronological order. Doesn’t even— I mean the third guy back, Joseph’s father had a different name. And you know, the Holy Ghost isn’t mixed up. So, he’s given us the lineage of Mary. And it’s traced all the way back to a different son of David, Nathaniel. Hallelujah. Are you there? Are you getting this? Number two. Number two, why he can be called the seed of God is because God said, “I give him the throne of his father, David.” So who’s Jesus’s father?

▶ 25:32 The seed of King David given by what? God himself. And when God impregnated Mary and God is the one that created David, then he is the seed of David. Now Jesus is going to be a righteous branch. Okay, we read that he’s going to be called his name is the branch. Is going to be called the branch. Now, how can that be when we know that we are the branches? How can Jesus be the branch and we’re the branch? Revelation 22:16: “I, Jesus—“ Jesus in Revelation, Jesus himself is talking, “I, Jesus, am the root.”

▶ 26:24 I am the origin. See, the root is the source of the rest of the plant. Any plant, the root is the source of that plant from beginning till end. Amen. And Jesus says, I’m the root. I’m the source. I’m the origin of David. And I am not only the root and the source. I’m the offspring of David. I’m the descendant of David. I gave life to David and I am David’s descendant. John 15:5, we all know this scripture heard around the world. Jesus said, “I am the vine.” Okay? He’s the root and he’s the vine. He’s the source of himself.

▶ 27:20 Jesus is his own source and he is the vine and he is good. Hallelujah. Thank God he’s his own source, his own origin, his own offspring. Same verse says you are the branches. So who are the branches? Who are the branches? You are. But you better be connected to the vine, not to some false prophet, not to some church group, per se. Now, we need church groups, don’t get me wrong, but our connection must be with Jesus Christ. He’s the root of our life. He’s the vine that brings that life from the root to us branches.

▶ 28:11 And without him, folks, we’re not going to live, let alone do nothing. Jesus said, “Without me, you’ll do nothing.” You won’t even live. That’s why you won’t do nothing. You’re not even alive. Amen. You can’t get rid of this man, Jesus. He is the message and his word. Now, if the church is the branch, how can Jesus be the branch? And we just showed you that the church is the branch. So, how can Jesus be the branch? Is that a good question? Yeah. Let’s try and answer it. I hope I don’t confuse you this time. Zechariah 6:12, the man whose name is the branch, he shall grow up out of his place. He shall build the what? Temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, the honor, and he shall sit and rule upon his throne.

▶ 29:09 There’s that word again, his throne. See, talking about the same person Jeremiah was talking about, and he’s going to be called, his name is the branch. Zechariah 3:8, I will bring forth my servant the branch. Psalms 127:1, unless the Lord builds the house, the temple, we labor in vain to build it. So, this individual that’s coming is the Christ, the king, the righteous branch, the seed of David, and he’s going to build the house, the temple of God. Do we have that part? Okay, now let’s go and see what the Bible says about Jesus here and the branch. Are you ready? Ephesians 1:22, God has put all things under Jesus’s feet.

▶ 30:02 All right. And gave him to be head over all things to the what? Church, which is his what? Body, the fullness of him. So who is the fullness of Jesus? You are. So who is Jesus’s body? You are. You got that in your cranial calculator? 1 Corinthians 3:16. You are the temple of God. Duh. The spirit of God lives where? In you. See, Jesus said, “My kingdom is within you.” The king is within you. His kingdom is within you. And you’re his domain.

▶ 30:54 You’re his kingdom. Hebrews 3:6, Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are who? We. We are his house. We are his temple. We are his body. 1 Corinthians 10:16. The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Now, who’s the body? We are the church. Communion, fellowship. For we being many are one bread and one body. He emphasizes it. We are a many membered body of Christ who make up the body and that body has the fullness of Christ in it. That’s why he says, “Do all prophesy? Do all speak in tongues?

▶ 31:45 Do all do miracles?” No. Every joint does their part and we express the fullness of God. In this second one, Jesus is going to confirm that the church is him. Did you hear that statement? Jesus is going to prove to us that the church on earth is his body, is his person is him. You say, “Man, you have mixed up today.” Watch this. Paul who is Saul now is persecuting Christians. He killed Stephen, had him killed. He’s arresting people, taking them out of their homes, dragging out of their homes, having them beaten, putting in prison.

▶ 32:36 This is what Saul is doing. And he’s going down to Damascus on one of his terror raids. And on the road to Damascus, Jesus comes along in a bright shining light and a voice speaking to him and says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Saul is smitten with blindness, falls down on his knees, not backwards, and says, “Who are you, Lord?” He calls him Lord. And then the Lord answered back, “I am Jesus, [unclear] whom you are persecuting.”

▶ 33:33 Now I submit to you, who was Paul really persecuting? Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of the father. He’s already ascended. Who is Saul persecuting? The church, the followers of Christ, the body of Christ, the branch, the what? Branch. I am the vine and you are the branches. He’s persecuting the branches who is the body of Christ, the fullness of Christ on earth. Ah, that’s how he can be called the branch. And when we utilize and recognize our part, no matter how insignificant people think it is, we on the earth when we let the spirit flow and the word work in us, we become the full expression of God in the earth.

▶ 34:34 And when anybody touches his church, they are touching who? Jesus Christ himself. Now, that ought to make you feel pretty good, man. The king is in me. I’m not just a child of the king. The king is in me. I’m a branch and he’s the branch in me. Now, we go back. I Jesus am the root, the origin, the offspring, descendant of David. I am the vine. You are the branches. And you are the body and the temple of Jesus Christ. And that makes him what? The branch.

▶ 35:28 Hallelujah. And our fruit should imitate the fruit of the one that is our example. He’s right there with us. The church in America seems declining and it seems like the enemies are winning this battle over Jesus and Bible morality. Just like in the days of Jeremiah, we have a drought in the mid states of America. Been that going on for several years. We have an economic decline that we’re in. We have plagues in America, Alzheimer’s, Lyme disease, AIDS, SARS, all these other viruses including the black plague which is rising again in the earth.

▶ 36:34 See, there are plagues going on, killing thousands of people. Are you out there? We have wars. There’s over 40 wars going on right now at this present time throughout the earth. And we are involved in several of them, indirectly or directly. You see, in the midst of this mess, we’re in an economic difficult time in America. The family unit is broken down. 30% of Americans don’t even bother marrying. Over 40% of children are born to single parent families. The family unit is broken down. The finances is broken down. And we know through history that two main sources of a nation falling is they didn’t handle their money right and they didn’t keep the family strong.

▶ 37:34 We know that and we’re in the midst of that in America. The number one preventable disease in America, preventable death I should say in America is tobacco. If you don’t smoke, you won’t die early. But we continue to die. You see, the number two is alcohol and drugs. The number three is suicide. Americans are killing themselves. Are you there? And the number four is sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, that’s killing over 30,000 people in America, in the North America every year.

▶ 38:29 And we get all riled up about a gun shooting some kids in a school. We get all riled up the people not having seat belts. And we make everybody wear a seat belts. But we don’t get riled up about these preventable things. We don’t approach them in America and we don’t hold anybody accountable. Breakdown of the family in the world. The number one preventable death cause of death is tobacco in the nations of the world. The number two, you’re not going to believe this, is nourishment. Lack of nourishment. Most of the world don’t have the proper food to eat and they die. The number two death throughout the world is the lack of nourishment, the lack of proper food, and then alcohol, drugs, AIDS.

▶ 39:35 So, we’re in this kind of situation that Jeremiah came with this gospel of hope. And church, I submit to you, we have the message of hope for the world that’s in this kind of situation. In the midst of this, yes, it is God corrects, God punishes, but in the midst of it, he is out to deliver and set people free and bring them out of those those captivities and unto himself and make them fruitful and increase. Amen. That’s the message. So, we can’t get all overloaded on the negative message, the message of correction and judgment. We got to balance it with this message of hope. Could that be true? Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Did you catch that, church?

▶ 40:28 The gates of hell will never be victorious over the church, the branch, the remnant. They’ll never be victorious. Oh, we may look downtrodden. We may be in a weak season. We may be messing up. But remember Jeremiah said God is still married to us. Even in our messing up, God says, “You’re my bride.