Where Have All The Shepherds Gone — Keith Malcomson

Please turn with me here this morning to Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, and we're going to continue with our message here this morning. Please do keep us in prayer. We'll be in London in just 10 days' time, and we invite anyone online to come and join us.

It's going to be a very important time. We're going to have four meetings over that weekend, and we do encourage you to be there. But here this morning, we're turning back again to our third message. My first one was called A Message for the Hour.

Our second one last week was called Where Have All of the Churches Gone? But here this morning, reading from Matthew 16, I want to give a third message, and it dovetails with last week. Last week, we dealt with where have all the churches gone?

Here this morning, I want to deal with where have all the shepherds gone? The church is gone, the shepherds gone. Reading from Matthew chapter 16 here this morning. And in verse 13, it says, When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee. But my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

Christ’s Revelation and the Cost of Discipleship

From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and cheap priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day.

Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. And he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Then said Jesus unto the disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall loose it, and whosoever will loose his life for my sake shall find it.

For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and loose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Will you pray with me here this morning? Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord God, that these things are not revealed by flesh and blood, by mere teaching or learning or listening or reading.

Lord God, these things are understood by revelation from our heavenly Father. You say in the word of God that you have hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes. And so we come unto you as mere children, as babes in the things of Christ.

And Lord God, we ask that you open our eyes and our ears and our heart. Don't let us be hard-hearted. Don't let us be cold or indifferent. Lord God, don't let us be seduced by this world. Don't let us be deceived by the evil one.

Lord God, we pray, O God, that we might be built on a true revelation of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, of his finished work of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. We know that the gates of hell wage a warfare against the true message of Christ, against the true message of the cross.

And so we pray, we humble ourselves, even in this meeting, and we pray for your grace. Keep us in this narrow way. Preserve us, O God, and keep us in the truth of God. Sanctify us that we might be your church, your personal possession, the church that you are building upon the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We bless you and worship you this morning, in Jesus' name. My message, my third message here, where have all the shepherds gone? Last week, we asked the accompanying question, where have all the churches gone?

The Crisis of Missing Shepherds

I get emails all the time, in fact, year in, year out, where is there a church near me that preaches the word of God? I want to give you one of the main answers and reasons for the loss of real churches in every community.

And I believe it's held within my question here this morning, where have all the shepherds gone? I believe we have a crisis in the church of this generation. Where are the real shepherds? Last week, we asked, where are the real churches preaching the word of God?

This week, I want to ask of us, where are the real shepherds? We are in a crisis because it's very, very hard to find a real shepherd in the body of Christ. For many years, we traveled from country to country, teaching in conventions, teaching leaders, running Bible schools, teaching those that felt the call of God on their lives.

I've gone in and out of all manners of churches for decades. I have watched ministry very carefully. And I want to tell you here this morning, without any exaggeration, it is very rare to find a God-called shepherd or a God-gifted shepherd in the body of Christ.

A shepherd is a very rare thing and a very hard thing to find. There are vast multitudes that claim to be shepherds. There are those that claim the anointing, the gifting, the call, the ability, the ministry, and yet it is very hard in my estimation.

And my only judge is the word of God. I'm judging by the word of God. And where we have read this morning in Matthew 16, I believe holds a message for us concerning this great tragedy in the church of our generation.

Why can you not find a local church in your community? It's all because we have lost real shepherds. If we had real shepherds, we'd have a real church. Let a real shepherd be in Limerick and we're going to have a real church.

In any community, I don't care how hard it is, how difficult, how terrible the situation, if you get a real shepherd, I'm in a God-called, God-anointed shepherd. There's going to arise a real church.

Sheep are going to be gathered out of darkness and began to feed around the Lord Jesus Christ. We have just read here in Matthew 16, 18, and I, Jesus speaking, say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Scattered Sheep and the Loss of Elders

One of the great things that have broken my heart terribly and caused me to groan with prayers unto God in heaven is to be watching the scattering of genuine sheep. You see, in our world, there are many sheep, but very few real shepherds.

In fact, the sheep that are scattered across our world are just that, they are scattered. I want to give you the reason. Again, I'm getting so many emails from genuine Bible-loving, Jesus-loving Christians who love holiness and righteousness, who are seeking for a church.

Do you know what the problem is? There are no shepherds. Listen carefully for a moment as I introduce this. In 1 Kings 22, verse 17, it says,. And he said, that is the prophet of God, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have no shepherd.

Again, in Ezekiel 34, verse 5, the prophet says,. And they, that is God's people, were scattered because, this is the reason, because there is no shepherd. Then again, in Jeremiah 23, verse 1, Woe be unto the pastors, or the shepherds, that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.

Here we have three prophets of God in the Old Testament. And they're actually showing us that when you see God's people scattered abroad, not strong assemblies and gatherings of God's people, but they are scattered on the hillsides, scattered from one another, it actually gives you the reason why God's people are so scattered.

Why people have no churches. Why they can't find a real church. Why they're not gathering to pray and evangelize and under the teaching of God's word. Why they're not enjoying the blessing of fellowship and of unity together.

Do you know why? Because there was no shepherd. So we see the scattering of the sheep is connected to the loss of the shepherd. And that's my message. Where have all the shepherds gone? You may say, oh, we know there's lots of shepherds.

There are vast multitudes of shepherds. I'm sorry, but that is not true. As I look at the world today, as I look at our nations, the sheep are scattered everywhere. And this is the reason there are no shepherds.

If we had a genuine revival in the church, real shepherds would arise. And the genuine sheep, I mean born again sheep, would gather one more time. The value of a shepherd is beyond any amount that I could estimate this morning.

The value of a shepherd. Because when a shepherd is lost, the sheep scatter. This is taught all through the Bible. Now when we go to the Old Testament here, elders are leaders amongst God's people. The term elders is mentioned over 200 times in the entire Bible.

In the Old Testament, elders were placed over villages, over towns, over entire cities, and in fact over entire nations. When we begin to study the Bible, we see that Moses, Joshua, King David, King Solomon, and Ezra, the revivalists, all upheld this local form of leadership.

All these men, whether they be patriarchs, kings, or restorationists, whatever they are, whatever era of God's people in the Old Testament, they always established elders. Just because you have a king doesn't mean you do away with eldership.

This was God's ordained way to gather His sheep in the Old Testament. Prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel directed their messages directly to the elders of Israel. We have seen that it takes a prophet to expose this lack of shepherds.

We need a prophet in this generation to speak to the church and to cause repentance to come, that we might see shepherds raised up once again. God actually sends prophets to the shepherds, to the pastors of the churches, and oh boy, do the pastors of this generation ever need a prophet to come unto them.

And so we see that Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joel, they prophesied to the elders. It wasn't the sheep to blame. They got scattered. And do you know what? While I challenge and encourage every Christian, get into a good church if you can.

You're not the main problem here. It is a loss of real shepherds. If shepherds were real shepherds, rather than a name only, we wouldn't have this great scattering of genuine Christians in this hour. In Jeremiah chapter 23 and in Ezekiel 34, these chapters are filled with warnings and rebukes to neglectful and deceitful shepherds or pastors.

They point the finger and they say, you've scattered the sheep. The sheep are wandering on the hillsides. Sheep that are not in the flock, sheep that are not together, sheep that are not assembling and encouraging one another.

And he points the finger at the elders. If an elder does his job right, he's going to create unity. He's going to feed the sheep. He's going to encourage them. Now this term elder is carried over to the New Testament church and it's used 19 times in the New Testament of the leadership of the local church.

There must be elders in the local church. And these elders are placed there to gather a church. You will have a scattered church if you do not have elders. When you begin to study eldership in the New Testament, you see that the apostles considered it a priority.

We must raise up elders. We must appoint elders. We must place men, men of quality, men of wisdom, men of ability, men of character over the house of God. We need shepherds to look after the flock. Now when you come to the New Testament, you find that the leaders in local churches are called by three different names.

Elders, Bishops, and Overseers

They're called elders, which is the Greek word Presbyterus. That means it's the word for elderly, older, or the one who's senior, or it can simply mean maturity. When it's talking about a ministry in the church, it's not talking about age.

You could be 21 years old and yet mature in the things of God. Not foolish. You could have someone born again for 50 years and they're stupid. They're foolish. They're immature. They're like a babe in Christ.

And so we see that these local elders have to have a maturity about them. They are put in the house of God, not just one, more than one, to guard the sheep, to tend the flock. These elders are also called bishops, or overseers.

This is the Greek word episkopos, and it means a superintendent. Someone who oversees things, someone who watches the flock, someone who inspects the sheep, someone who investigates. You see, be very careful.

Church of God, flock of God, sheep of God. Be very careful that you think that no man has the right to ask you a question, to investigate, to inspect your spiritual health. Do you realize that God raises up elders, bishops, overseers, to actually take care of the sheep?

If I look at your life, it's not to criticize you. It's not to scrutinize you to find something wrong. It's to help you, to encourage you, to move you on in your walk with God. Now, these three terms, elders, bishops, and overseers, I've taught on this before, but these three terms are synonymous.

They're talking about the one office of leadership in the church, and we must not change that. This is the biblical name for leadership. Bishops isn't a man with a funny hat. Neither do we call local leaders reverend.

That's the one that gets me most mad, to call a pastor or an elder reverend. That's blasphemy. Only one person is called reverend in the Bible, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. When I see a man being called the right reverend so-and-so, it is an abomination.

There's something terribly, terribly wrong with that. Then there's multitudes of men in the church call themselves pastor. They call themselves pastor, but they're in it for money. They're in it for their own ministry.

The Three Duties of a Local Elder

They're in it to build something, but they're not there functioning as a real pastor or as a real shepherd. There's three tasks of these elders or leaders in the local church. Listen very carefully. You as a church here, you've got to understand what an elder is.

Without an elder in the church, the sheep scatter. Every man does what he thinks is right. There's something about a real elder in a church that he brings a unity. We're all going to feed in the same place.

We're all going to follow the same example. We're all going to be warned about the same dangers. That is the task of a real elder. You can tell when there's a God-gifted elder in the midst of the church.

Look at the three ministries in the New Testament of an elder. Number one is to lead. Some people in the church say, I don't need anyone to lead me. Then you don't know your Bible. You're very ignorant if you say no one is going to lead you.

You might say, we don't need men in the church. Well, God has put men in the church. We're going to deal with some of this this morning. This leading means to stand before the people of God, or to preside over, or to maintain rule in the midst.

Often it talks about those who are over you in the Lord, or those who rule the church. It means to attend to, or to lead, or to take command. We say that elders are given by God to keep the flock together.

There's got to be leaders, or elders, men who are going to lead and watch over that flock. This is one of the great ministry of a leader, is to actually watch the flock, to guide them, to steer them in the right direction.

Second of all is to feed them. How does a shepherd feed sheep? He preaches, he teaches, he exhorts, he warns, he opens up the written scriptures. This is wonderful sheep food. I like to feed the sheep with good food, with the best manna I possibly can.

I love to search the Word of God, to find the greatest scriptures are going to help you as the sheep of God. I search out green fields for you. When it seems to be getting a bit dry, a bit hard, I begin to pray.

Oh God, lead us in the green pastures. Help me to lead this flock into places where they can feast. Also a third thing an elder does is to warn, or to guard, or to protect against wills, against false prophets, against dangers.

Don't go in that direction. Don't do that thing. It's against the Word of God. And so in the New Testament, we see that these elders are to rule by persuasion and to persuade you. I don't tell you to blindly accept everything.

I'm saying I want to reason with you. I want to persuade you, but you've got to be willing to be persuaded. Are you willing this morning for me to persuade you by the Word of God? Or do you just think, well, I'll have my own opinions.

You see, an elder is to rule by persuasion. How do I rule the church? By persuasion. Also, by example. Then also, we are told in 1 Timothy 5 that the elders are to rule well. There's some who rule better than others.

And then elders are to rule with diligence. All of these are biblical statements. And so we see that an elder is to rule. He is the government of the local church. If you don't like government, you'll have anarchy.

You will have a scattering. Every person thinking different things. My whole task is that we believe what Christ says. That we have the mind of Christ. That we feast on the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is real eldership in the local church. And do you know what my question is? Where have all the shepherds gone? What I'm telling you is basic and elementary. And I want to tell you, shepherding is one of the greatest tasks in the body of Christ.

It's a wonderful profession. It's almost older than any other profession that you can possibly name to me. The first shepherd is mentioned in Genesis chapter 4. And we're told Abel was a keeper of sheep.

Shepherding Throughout the Bible

He was a shepherd right back at the very beginning. One of the first two children ever born in mankind chose to be a shepherd. I believe he not only chose that, there was something within him. There was a burden, a calling, a desire to shepherd the flock.

What a remarkable thing. And when you read the Old Testament, Abraham was a shepherd. Isaac was a shepherd. Jacob was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd. Even Job was a shepherd. We read that Job had 14 ,000 sheep.

What a shepherd Job was. We sometimes forget that a man like Job was a shepherd. He had to have been a gifted shepherd to look after 14 ,000 sheep. And I'm sure he raised up many other shepherds. He trained shepherds.

He watched over them to make sure they worked well. We also read that Solomon, he had 120 ,000 sheep. Oh, what a shepherd that is. Now, when you begin to study sheep, you find out there is more than 1 ,000 different breeds of sheep.

All sorts of colors and kinds and preferences. But I want to tell you, a sheep is a sheep. Doesn't matter what country, what nationality, where they are, what they look like. Basically, a sheep is a sheep.

Doesn't matter if it's different in size or in its shape or its color or its geography. A sheep is a sheep just the same. And a shepherd knows a sheep when he sees it. A true shepherd knows how to inspect a sheep and to find out is it a goat or is it a sheep.

In the Middle East, a goat looked like a sheep, sometimes acted like a sheep, sometimes hid in the midst of a sheep. But a shepherd's task was to identify a goat. He knew a goat. And as he held out his rod, he could separate between the goats and the sheep.

A good shepherd can do that. A good shepherd recognizes there's something wrong here. You may look like a goat, but let's just deal with you. You know, a goat, it has a certain character. Once you deal with a goat, it'll rip the door off.

It'll tear the place apart. It gets very angry. And I assure you, I've met a few goats along the way. I thought they were sheep, and then they turned on me and tried to devour me like a ravenous wolf.

Christ as the Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd

Look at this great ministry of shepherding. Christ, in John chapter 10 and 11, is called the good shepherd. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20, he's called the great shepherd. In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 4, he is called the chief shepherd.

And when you look at the life and ministry of Christ, you see what a true elder is, a true bishop, a true shepherd. One who lays down his life for the sheep. Look at Christ, his sacrificial love, his genuine compassion.

He laid down his life as an example to every truly God-called pastor and shepherd. Where are all the shepherds in this hour? I've seen some of the most ambitious men I've met in my whole lifetime. Haven't been out there in that world.

They've been men in the pulpits. Some of the worst liars that I've had to deal with in my entire life haven't been drug addicts on the high street. They've been pastors in churches. I could tell you stories that would make your hair stand on end.

Concerning having to do with men that call themselves, they take the word shepherd or pastor, they make it a title. And it was never meant to be a title. It is a calling. It is a sacrificial ministry.

If you see a shepherd that is not laying down his life, loving the unlovely, sacrificing himself. If you see him making a business out of it, changing everything, you know there's something terribly, terribly wrong.

And so we see throughout scripture an elder, whether in Old Testament Israel or the New Testament church, a real elder. Any local leader. I don't care what their particular gifting is. If they're in leadership raised up by God in a local church, do you know what?

They're going to act as a shepherd over the sheep. They're going to care for the flock of God. They're going to warn of wolves. If you get a man who doesn't warn, doesn't feed you on the word of God, doesn't lead you to follow Christ, that man is no shepherd at all.

And the old prophets would rise up and prophesy against them. Listen again. Ephesians chapter four and verse 11. And this is concerning Christ who ascended on high. After he ascended, he gave five gifted ministries to the local church.

All local leaders are called elders. But within those elders, you can have five distinct ministries. And I can prove to you very accurately that a man could be gifted as an apostle, but in the local church he's an elder.

Or he could be gifted as a great Bible teacher, but he's still an elder in the church. Or he could be a prophet. And yet in the local church, he is an elder. So eldership, when we see this in Acts chapter 13, we begin to see five men who are raised up over the church at Antioch.

And they were split between gifted prophets and teachers. But all of them was the eldership. They were the elders of that church. And they had to act like shepherds. So shepherds is a very broad term.

This task of shepherding the church of God. But also, I want to point out in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11, it is also a gifted ministry. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers.

Five ministries. A pastor is different than a teacher. A pastor is different than a prophet. A pastor is distinct from an evangelist. And this term pastor is the word for shepherd. It is the Greek word poimen.

It's the Greek word poimen. And this word is used 18 times in the New Testament. Poimen. And you know, 17 of those 18 times, it's written in our English Bible as shepherd. But here in Ephesians 4 verse 11, it's the only time that it's written as pastor.

And so we see that a pastor is an actual shepherd. When Christ descended up on high, he gifted shepherds. This is one of the five ministries he puts in the church of Jesus Christ worldwide and locally.

It's a shepherd. Every preacher in a local church isn't gifted supernaturally with the mighty ministry of a shepherd. Neither is every local leader a teacher. But we see that certain men, excuse me, for my throat, this is why you need to pray for me in these days.

I need to get my voice and my chest back and be preaching there in the church. And so you see, and so you see that this ministry of the shepherd is gifted into the church. If we didn't need shepherds, God would not give them.

Peter’s Charge to the Elders

Now coming to Matthew chapter 16 here, we know it's dealing with Peter, what we've already dealt with last week. And over in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 1, Peter himself says, who I'm also an elder. In 1 Peter 5, he was speaking or writing to the elders of the church.

Listen to what it says. The elders, which are among you, I exhort. And the word elders there is presbyteros. And then he says, who I'm also an elder. So he's speaking to the elders in the local church.

These elders, these men who are to shepherd the flock, this office of bishop or overseeing in the church. And Peter says, I'm also an elder. I'm speaking to you elders, but I am also an elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ.

We know that Peter was an apostle. He was certainly an evangelist. But here you have him saying in the local church, I'm an elder. I am a fellow elder. I'm not the best elder. I'm an elder. Elders are elders in the local church.

Don't just think that this is a term. We're so used calling every preacher a pastor that we forget that there is a calling of eldership to lead the flock, to feed them like a shepherd feeds them. It is a vastly needed ministry.

So in speaking to these elders, listen to what he says. Feed the flock, which is among you, taking the oversight, the bishopric, the episcopus, taking that oversight thereof, not by force, but willingly.

Three Reasons Shepherds Are Rare

And so the first thing he says to elders is feed that flock. You see, Peter could recognize a real shepherd. He could stir up real shepherds in the local body. But here, let me take you to Matthew 16 and just give you three quick points here in this message.

Concerning where are the shepherds? Where have all the shepherds gone in this Aaron generation? Can we just stop for a second? And like last week, I showed you why you can hardly find a local church. Why it's so hard, whatever country you're in this morning, why it is so hard to find a real local church.

Well, I want to tell you why it's so hard to find a real God gifted shepherd, a real shepherd of the soul. One who warns, who feeds and who leads. And saints of God, if you're a true sheep, you desire to see that in the church.

I hate this rebellious attitude that says, I don't need men. I don't need anyone to lead me. I don't follow any man. I just worship Jesus. That is so unbiblical. It sounds very spiritual. But those individuals are really off mark.

They don't know what they're talking about. In fact, they show that they are a sheep because they're following their own tail. You know, sheep are big problems. There's a lot of problems with sheep. Candace's dad once said, whatever you do, don't get sheep.

Well, I'm going to try my best, but here I am a shepherd, a shepherd of human sheep. But you know what? There's so many problems with sheep. It's a fact of reality. If you're not called to be a shepherd, you could never do this.

You're either going to abuse the sheep or get very, very discouraged. But a God called shepherd, a man who is raised up of God to be an elder in the church or a gifted pastor. He is of a very different kind.

Shepherds Must Build on Christ, Not on Men

But I want to show you why it's so hard to find a real shepherd in this hour. Number one, because the shepherds of this hour build upon men rather than Christ. They build upon what is of man than the Lord Jesus Christ.

We find this in Matthew 16, verse 18. Jesus speaking to Peter, thou art Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my church. Remember what we said last week, Jesus speaking and said, you're Peter, you're a rock in my hand.

You're Petros, you're one stone in the building. Do you realize why we have so few shepherds? Because they think the church is to be built upon them. That a local church relies upon them, that without them, there would be no local church.

They actually try to build everything around themselves. And if you ever get a shepherd or a pastor who's so insecure that he doesn't allow you to test or question or to ask something, there's something terribly wrong.

I am not an insecure man. But if you ask me a question, be prepared that I asked you questions also. Don't think it's a one way street here. You have no right to scrutinize me if you don't think I should scrutinize you.

And if you're not allowed to question me, then why should I question you? But we see it here that Christ is laying out so clearly, Peter, you're a rock in my hand. You're Petros and I will build upon this Petra, this rock.

I will build my church two different things. Christ was actually saying, Peter, I'm not going to build upon you. You're a God gifted apostle. You're going to be an evangelist. I'm going to raise you up as a shepherd.

But all you are is a stone in the house of God. Anyone with a real shepherd's heart must not think more of themselves than they ought to. A shepherd is a stone in the house of God. He is not the foundation of it.

He is only a man. He is only a shepherd. He is only an underservant. There is one shepherd over the entire flock and he'll hold every man accountable. We need gifted shepherds again in the church. We need elders in the church again.

But they're going to understand all I am is a stone in the house of God. The church is not built upon me. Oh, yes, I'm gifted and called of God so that the sheep don't scatter. But if they scattered, they'd still follow Jesus as a gifted shepherd.

I am not the rock. I'm not the stone. A true shepherd will make sure that Christ is the only rock upon which the church is to be built. Look at the verse before this, verse 17. And Jesus answered and said unto Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.

Peter had just received a divine revelation concerning who Christ was. He was taught this by the Father, not by man, not by intellect, not by Bible college. And this is what we need. This is why we've got so few real God gifted shepherds in the church.

They have never been taught of the Father. I've met shepherds in the city of Limerick. I met up with one, tried to encourage him and said, what's your testimony? I was utterly shocked. I went, this man is not born again.

He's never dealt with sin. He doesn't know what the new birth is. He's never had a divine revelation. And yet he's a pastor in the church, a pastor over sheep. No wonder the sheep are confused when the man doesn't even have the most essential thing right.

You see, men are building upon man rather than Christ. It's man's intellect, man's opinion, man's ideas. And we're wondering why everything is so wrong. A real shepherd is someone who's had a real revelation from the Father.

This is where it all begins. A man who sees real revelation. His eyes are open and he sees who Christ is. If you see who Christ is, you're going to have to preach him. You won't be able to do anything else.

You will be a shepherd who actually oozes out Christ, will want to build the church upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll say this revelation changed me and I want the church to be built upon it. Not upon me, not my ministry, not my gifting.

It's always Christ. If a man has any gifting, he makes Christ the center. He makes Christ the subject. He makes Christ the focus of the prayer meeting, the worship, the evangelism, the teaching. Everything we do in the church is centered around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.