On the year’s first day,
Oh, dear Lord, three things I resolve:
To feed the sheep more sufficiently;
To starve the goats more unbearably; and,
To shoot the wolves more vigilantly.With sheep, I mean the individuals who had truly experience the inward calling of the Holy Spirit, the members of the invisible Church, and those who have been purchased by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28). These are those whom GOD has appointed me to eagerly exercise my oversight to (1 Peter 5:2).
With to feed, I mean lovingly teaching them the precious doctrines of the Gospel, catering them to the excellencies of Christ, leading them towards Christlikeness, and guiding them towards discovering the glorious attributes of the Triune GOD by a cautious, faithful, and humble exposition of the Word.
With more sufficiently, I mean a pastoral ministry with greater sensitivity to the needs of the flock. To intensify the preaching and teaching on the essential doctrines without downplaying on the non-essentials. I also mean to provide strong meat to the mature, soft food for the weak and feeble, and milk to the newborn babes.
With goats, I mean those who profess Jesus as their Lord yet exemplify a life without transformation. These are those whose characters are not different from the world and there are no obvious acts of love and compassion (Matthew 25:31-46). They are unwilling to put to death the earthly pleasures and evil desires within them (Colossians 3:5).
With to starve, I mean creating an environment saturated with heavenly things. It is choking those who are earthly from sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. It is confronting all forms of materialism and greed and self-exaltation. It is taking away from the flesh anything that hints to its desires.
With more unbearably, I mean a fellowship greatly rejoicing on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, on things with excellence, and on things that are worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8) that when someone wants stuffs other than the cross of Christ, he will be forced to leave.
With wolves, I mean those who assume church offices especially teaching positions while propagating doctrines contrary to the gospel of Christ and contrary to the Holy Scriptures (Matthew 7:15). They come from within the church and with great fierce and less shame cause destructions on the flock of GOD (Acts 20:29-30).
With to shoot, I mean to expose their bad fruits (Matthew 7:15-20), to strip them from all their authoritative offices, and to faithfully administer church discipline against them. I will burden myself to warn the sheep to keep a considerable distance or even to run desperately from these false teachers.
With more vigilantly, I mean to utilize all that I have to ensure the safety of the flock under my care. I resolve to use technology, what I believe to be my best tool, to remove these joy-destroying church leaders. I will make sure that voice recorders, pens, and notepads are always close when these wolves are around. I will mention names of those I see to be false teachers to my congregation if needed to ensure they know whom they ought to flee from.
As a young shepherd with the grace of the Master Shepherd, may the Sovereign help me.
It is really nice to know you're back, bro. Keep writing for the glory of our Lord and Savior. God bless!