Weekly Pursuit – Week 4 of March
Verses:
1 Pet. 5:2 “Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but dwillingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly.”
Excerpts:
Among the four kinds of gifted persons, the ministry of the first three, that is, of the apostles, prophets, and evangelists, depends upon shepherding. Without shepherding, the apostles, prophets, and evangelists cannot function. The preaching of the gospel is the top shepherding of sinners. The first gospel preacher, Christ, carried out His ministry by shepherding. He went to Jericho just to visit one person, a chief tax collector (Luke 19:1-10). He did not go there to hold a big gospel campaign with thousands of people. His desire was to preach the gospel to gain one person, and His preaching was a shepherding.
John 4 says that while the Lord was on His way to Galilee, “He had to pass through Samaria” (v. 4). He detoured from the main way to Sychar, near Jacob’s well, in order to contact a sinful Samaritan woman. We have to learn of the Lord’s pattern. If you spend three years to visit one person continually, you will gain him. After twelve years you will have four new ones following you to the church meetings. If one hundred saints in a local church practice this, their number can be increased to five hundred after twelve years. The proper increase is due to the gospel shepherding, and shepherding means that we have to go and visit people. Christ visited the sinners by coming down from heaven to earth to find the lost sheep, one by one. We have to learn of Him. (The Vital Groups, Msg. 1)
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