…and the Lord spoke to him and said, verse 37 of the ninth chapter [of John], “You have both seen him, and it is he that talks with you.” “And he said, Lord, I believe.” I mean, after all he had just experienced the Light of the World, hadn’t he? We read in the ninth chapter that He is the light of the world. Jesus came and gave illumination to this man of His position as the Son of God, Messiah. And to understand Chapter 10 you have to understand what the Lord is coming out of, the conflict with traditional religion. The fact that this religion had kept people bound and blind because they really didn’t have a relationship with God. They knew scriptures. They knew Bible principles. They had all of the Old Covenant laws that they were working off of, but they hadn’t seen the light at this particular time. They had not been illuminated in their spirit to where they had a working relationship with Jesus. They were depending upon men. They were depending upon a priesthood to find out who God was. They were depending upon the words of men to bring truth to them, and they didn’t have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. They didn’t know real truth, because real truth is not something that’s intellectually received, it’s something that is spiritually discerned, isn’t it? It’s that ginosko, that knowledge, that working relationship with Him. And very frankly, too many Christians today have that same relationship with the Lord. They know only what people tell them. They know only what they heard on a teaching tape. You know, we’ve come out of a decade, now, of people parroting what other teachers have said on teaching tapes. Our tapes have gone all over this country and all over the world. We get responses from nations that I have no idea where these people are getting these tapes and how they are getting circulated throughout the world the way they are, but they’re hearing the teaching and the Word of God, so we’re one of them that are pumping tapes out there. I have no idea how many hundreds of thousands that are out there floating around somewhere. People are listening to this voice and hearing a teaching, and whether it be someone that’s of a well-known position like a Brother Hagin or a Brother Copeland, or James Robison or one of these men. Whether it be someone that grabs ahold of one of our tapes—it doesn’t make any difference. You can’t have a relationship with Jesus through somebody else. You have to know Him yourself. You have got to be able to discern the Word of the Lord and understand if that is letter or Spirit that’s coming into your life. If that is Spirit, if you’re hearing the Word of the Lord and not the words of a man, what you hear will change your life and you’ll do what you heard. If it’s the Word of the Lord that you heard. If it’s the word of a man, if you’re hearing me speak to you tonight, then you’ll decide whether you want too or not. But if it is God speaking to you, then you’re obligated to keep His commandments. If you have a relationship with the Lord and know His Word, if you love me, He said, you will do something, what is it? You will keep my commandments, and My commandments will not be grievous unto you...
Knowing the Chief Shepherd's Voice, Part 2
April 24, 1988 • Pastor Star R. Scott
I’m so glad that I belong to a church that has a Pastor that loves us, that teaches the uncompromised Word, praise God. A Man of integrity. Aren’t you glad that you belong to a church like that? How many of you are glad you belong to a church like that? Amen. It’s called the Church of Jesus Christ. There are a lot of different denominations around and local fellowships like ours, but there’s only one church, only one Pastor, and His sheep know His voice, praise God.
The problem that we have today is that people are following other men’s voices and not the voice of the Good Shepherd. Any voice that stands to speak, like I’m speaking to you today—any voice that stands to speak and if it’s any other voice and you’re a true sheep, you ought to be able to tell the difference. People are going to follow the voices of their shepherds. People are going to hear the voice of their god, and we need to begin to be very careful. You remember a number of weeks ago we did a study on taking heed what you hear. Let him that has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. We realize there are a lot of doctrines, a lot of teachings that are going around. The Scripture says in the last days men shall heap up to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And, you know, this is amazing that today more than ever we’re seeing ministries that are being raised up—and being raised up by men, being raised up by popular demand—and people are content with what they’re hearing. Lives are not changing but glad to hear the things that are being heard, and, beloved, we’re living in the days, I believe, of the return of the Lord...
Knowing the Chief Shepherd's Voice, Part 3
April 24, 1988 • Pastor Star R. Scott
As we look at the ministry of the Good Shepherd, His ministry to us, aren’t you glad we can commit our souls to the Lord Jesus who loved us? The Scripture says that He is the Bishop and the Shepherd of our souls (1 Peter 2:25); amen? How many of you are glad that He is tending your mind tonight? You know, if He weren’t the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls, our little soulish being would wander off somewhere, wouldn’t it? It needs to be shepherded, praise God.
We are to bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ, and the Scripture says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). What was that mind, what is it Paul is talking about there? He is talking about Jesus humbling Himself, and he is also talking about what happens after we have humbled ourselves: what is the consequence of true biblical humility; what happens when a man humbles himself before God? God raises him up; amen? And what happens when someone exalts himself before God? So we realize, then, that this mind of Christ was the humility of taking on flesh, being willing to lay His life down and die, becoming obedient unto death, and, in that of course, there was the exaltation. We are to have that same mind of humility. What does the Scripture tell us will happen if we are willing to humble ourselves and lose our lives? Yes, we are going to receive our lives back again, aren’t we? So, we are receiving that mind of Christ because it’s so totally different from what the natural man wants to do. We always want to fight for our rights; we always want to defend ourselves; we always want to make sure we get our cut; we want to protect ourselves at all times. That’s the natural way: none of us is any different; every one of us in here is like that; we go about it in different ways, but every natural man, every depraved sinful nature, behaves that way. Some of us do it through little sweet techniques, sneaking up on folks; others are bolder, using frontal attacks; but we are all, in the natural, in it for ourselves...
