Characteristics of the Goad and the Sheep, part 2

 

Characteristics of the Goat and the Sheep

Read Matthew 25:31-46

When Jesus comes back he will separate the sheep from the goat, which will you be?

 

Last month I presented the characteristics of goats and what we can learn from these traits.  This month I want to finish up the study by listing characteristics of sheep to help us see what God desires from His people.

 

SHEEP

• Sheep are “follower-types” of animals. (Matthew 4:19 – God wants us to follow him and he will make us fishermen of men)

 

• Sheep are relational and will link with 4 or 5 sheep while grazing. (Acts 2:42 – God wants us to continue in the work of the Lord and to fellowship one with another)

 

• Sheep are passive animals. (Ephesians 5:21 & James 4:7- God wants us to be submissive to each other as well as to him)

 

• Sheep are highly sensitive to smell and sound.  Their senses are very high. (Hebrew 5:14- God wants our spiritual senses to be high so that we can discern what is good and what is evil.)

 

• Sheep seek touch of other sheep. Sheep also have a great demand to have physical contact with their keeper for survival. (John 15:4 – God wants us to abide in him for without him we are lost.)

 

• Shepherds have contact with their sheep because they are aware of predators that will kill the sheep if they were not present. (Psalm 46:1 – God is our present help in times of trouble. He knows what will kill us and he is there to take care of us)

 

• Sheep generally present few behavioral problems. (Leviticus 11:45 – God wants us to be holy because he is holy)

 

• Breeding for sheep is easy and more successful and there are fewer complications with the breeding process mainly because of their social behavior. (Unity – Ephesians 4:13 – God wants us to dwell in unity because when we do that we bring about “birth” into the family with less complications and with more success.)

 

• Sheep are tough animals where sickness is concerned.  However there are things the shepherd looks for to tell if his animal is sick or well.

 

• If a sheep is healthy it will be evident in its habits.  Such as eating. It will eat and the more it eats, the more eager it will become in eating.  It will be eager to consume and the hunger will increase along with the eagerness. (Jeremiah 15:16 – God wants us to eat his word and the more we eat the more we should want to consume and to be eager to eat.  Our desire to consume God’s word should increase.) This is evidence that we are healthy to the shepherd.

 

• Healthy sheep are active. (1 Corinthians 15:58 – God wants us to be always working for Him.  He wants us active in the work of the kingdom)

 

• Healthy sheep love to climb and seek higher grounds. (1 Corinthians 2:10 – God wants us to grow.  He wants us to love to “climb” to higher grounds to deeper understandings in him.)

 

• Healthy sheep are curious. Yet in their curiosity they do not wonder but will explore their living areas thoroughly so that they have little difficulty locating things. (2 Timothy 2:15-God wants us to study so that we have no difficulty in understanding the word of God)

 

• Shepherds also look for these unhealthy signs in their sheep to help keep them from dying: isolating themselves (Hebrews 10:25 -God does not want us to forsake coming together, he knows this will lead to our death), Not interested in eating (Proverbs 19:15-God doesn’t want us forsaking the studying of his word for he knows we will lose our zeal for him), Lagging or depressed (Psalm 55:22 - God wants us to cast our cares on him, because he knows it is only through him that we can be sustained), Excessive time lying down and reluctant to move about (Proverb 19:15 – God doesn’t want us to be slothful because he knows we will become useless),  Anxiety and restlessness (Jeremiah 6:16 – God will give us the rest from our cares because he knows that we will be destroyed if we do not), Depraved appetites(1 Peter 2:11- God wants our desires to be for the things of God for he knows when we fulfill the desires “the appetites” of the flesh we will die and we war against our own souls).

These are signs that the shepherd looks for to help the sheep be as healthy as possible. (God is that shepherd and he gives us a detailed list of what healthy behavior looks like and we only have to follow to be as healthy as we can).

 

As you examine the difference between the goat and the sheep, seek God's help to exhibit the proper characteristics that is pleasing to Him.

 

Prayer: Lord help us to be like the sheep that seek the hand of the shepherd so that we can exhibit godly behavior.  Help us to be like the Lamb that gave Himself for our sins.  Help us to be like Christ. Amen.

 

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The Goat Mentality

The Goat Mentality

 

 

 

Read Matthew 25:31-46

I wrote this some time ago, but recently thought about it. I wanted to share it with you. Jesus in scripture talks about separating the sheep from the goats. When Jesus used examples, He used what people were familiar with. What characteristics of a goat show us the things God wants to change? Let's take a look at some of them:

GOATS

• Highly intelligent (1 Corinthians 3:19 – God does not wants us depending on our own understanding for it is foolishness)

• Independent (Proverb 16:18 –God does not want us to be prideful in our own ability because it only leads to our destruction)

• When they are first born they begin to fight with their siblings for their mothers milk (Isaiah 56:11- God does not want us to be greedy, only concerned with filling ourselves)

• The strong survive, if they are weak they are left behind or die (only concerned with self- Hebrew 13:1 - God wants us to think more of others than ourselves)

• Intensely curious and will investigate any thing that piques their interest. Because they are so interested, they are hard to keep confined to their areas. They will jump over fences for example. (Ephesians 4:14- God does not want us chasing after every thing that catches our fancy. He does not want us tossed to and fro.)

• They are aggressive in their behavior (Psalm 37:11 – God wants us to be meek for the meek shall inherit the God)

• They are more adapted to hot weather and not cold. They have to be taken indoors at night times. The are not as adapted to cold weather because of their size weight ability to conserve water limited fat & nature of their coats (They are “fair weather” survivors. They cannot withstand the storms. God wants us to be able to withstand the storms of life. We are able to do this because of our “make up”. He adapts or clothes us to be able to withstand the “cold”.)

• Breeding of goats can be difficult because of the aggressive behavior and confrontational behavior. For example if a male goat and female goat are aggressive towards each other, the male will not mate with her and will keep others from mating with her as well. (Psalm 133:1 – God wants us to dwell together in unity: husbands, wives, children etc.)

Prayer: Lord we ask that you give us the strength to put to death any goat-like characteristics that are in us. Help us to be moldable and usable for your glory. Amen.

Unopened Gifts

 

Matthew 7:10-12 (NIV)

¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

 

I recently heard someone talk about “unopened gifts”.  Both individuals talked about what if there was a room in heaven filled with unopened gifts.  What are these unopened gifts?  In my visual I could see a room larger than several warehouses filled from floor to ceiling with lovely wrapped gifts.

Some of these gifts were large and some where small.  When I drew closer to the gifts on the shelves I saw names on the boxes.  I saw Ashley Smith, Michael Brown, Robert Thompson, Barbara Jones and so many more names.  I saw what was in the gift boxes written next to each of the names.

Some of the gifts were healing, forgiveness, hope, restoration of marriage, restored relationship with children or families.  I saw gifts of preaching, worldwide ministries, pastors, church planters and more.

I wondered why there were so many unopened gifts.  I began to think about what these individuals stated.  What came to mind was what was summed up in Matthew 7:10-12.  God the Father has set aside good gifts for each of His children.  He knows everything you and I need and He has set them aside for us.  The key is in the latter part of verse 11.  It states, “…to those who ask him!” 

The problem is many of us try to handle things on our own and we never go to God and ask Him for what we need, so our gifts go unclaimed.  When we forget to ask, we miss opening God’s perfect gift for those situations and circumstances in our lives.  Either we do not ask Him or we ask amiss, again leaving the gifts opened.  So what happens to those gifts?

I believe those are the unopened gifts waiting on heavenly shelves.  I am reminded of that in scripture where it states, “…for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Roman 11:29).  God has set aside some gifts and blessing with our names on them.  If we do not go and ask Him for them, they sit in this room of unopened gifts.

Now I am not trying to prove biblically a room filled with unopened gifts, I am only asking you to imagine for a moment with me.  What if God has some unopened gifts for you?  What if they are sitting in this room waiting for you to call and ask for them?  If you don’t call they will continue to sit on the shelves.

Today, I am asking God first to forgive me for not coming to Him and asking for all the good gifts He has for me, gifts to help me be a better mother, wife, preacher, and child of God.  Now I am doing as the scripture encourages, I am going to God and asking, “Lord please give to me all the good gifts you have for me.”

I want to end on this note.  I remember several years ago when I was going through something and I asked God for help.  As I was driving in to my parking pad I heard God speak to my spirit.  He said, “I enjoy giving my children good gifts”.  I began to weep as I thought about the fact that God finds pleasure in providing gifts to me.

So today, I want to encourage each of us that God has all the gifts we need.  Let us not allow them to be classified as “unopened gifts.”  Ask God for yours today and watch the windows of heaven open up for you and pour out blessings greater than you or I can even handle.

God's Reality About Our Hearts

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV)

 

I was praying about what to write for this month’s message.  As I was preparing to write I was reminded of several situations that have happened in the last few weeks.  I have had several situations were individuals have been disrespectful, yet I had to choose not to respond emotionally.  I was the one in authority so I could have easily snapped at these individuals, but I chose not to do that.

In years past, it was difficult for me to let go of things done or said to me.  I would forgive, but I was not going to set myself up for that person to attack me again.  Hurt me and that was the end for you and me.  God has placed me in some areas that are stretching me in this area, because I know He wants me to grow where heart matters are concerned.

Just yesterday I had someone disrespect me and my alter ego “Denise” was ready to tell this person off.  Yet, instead I found myself praying for this person that God would change them and help them to truly see who they are and not who they think.

So when I went searching for a scripture to use, this one simply jumped out at me.  I especially like the part where it states this about love, “it does not dishonor others.”  I was thankful to read this because I had the opportunity to snap back at a person that snapped at me in public, except I refused to dishonor or disrespect them, so I talked to this person offline out of the eye shot of others.  If we want to understand God’s reality about our hearts we must understand that God wants us to take great care not to disrespect each other.  It doesn’t matter our roles or positions.  We are all called to respect one another.  This is true even when the other person did not follow this mandate.  The call to respect others is not based on what they do, but what I chose to do.

The second part of this scripture that resonates with me about love is, “it keeps no record of wrongs.” This can be difficult to accomplish even on our best days.  I will be honest, what happened on yesterday still is bothering me, but I am confidence that I will overcome this wrong.  I will let go of the disrespect and be able to simply be myself.  This is the key, when we hold on to the wrong done us; it really has a hold on us.  If we keep re-thinking on the things done against us we will find ourselves troubled in our minds and uncomfortable in our relations.  Therefore it is imperative for us to let go of the wrong.  We can ask God to help us and in time we will see ourselves free from those wrongs.

Another key point about love is “it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.”  When we chose to love, we must turn our focus off ourselves.  Using the example of the person that disrespected me, I could easily get caught up in what was done and allow the anger to grow.  If I am not careful I would begin to seek my own restitution in this situation.  I could use my authority and power to make this person pay.  This is not love.  God’s reality for my situation is to love this person enough to see their need for God to humble their heart even if they don’t see their need.  God’s love dictates to me that I must seek what is best for this person.  The first thing is not to allow myself to become angered at the things this person does.  I have to be what the scripture starts out stating about love, “Love is patient, love is kind.”

God’s reality about my heart is He requires me to love in all situations and in all conditions.  He requires me to be kind to those that do not deserve my kindness.  Why? The truth is God’s love is shown to me and I do not deserve it.  I was not loveable yet God chose to love me.  I was not kind but kindness was freely given to me.

So today I want to encourage each of us no matter what our situations are to choose to love.  God’s reality about our hearts is He desires to use us in the difficult situations we find ourselves in.  Has someone hurt you so bad that you can’t even bare it?  It is probably even more difficult when those hurting you are your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Are you struggling to get over the hurt?  Have you pulled yourself away because you are determined this individual (or individuals) is not going to hurt you anymore?  Has the anger lingered so long that you find yourself wishing bad things would happen to this person?  Or have you sought your own ways to hurt them?

I want to encourage you to follow God’s plan for your heart.  Ask Him to help you until you sense the release of the hurt from your heart.  Seek what is best for the person by asking God to work on their hearts as well.  And as you seek God for help in this matter, remember this about love “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”  When we see God show up in our situations and make a change, we do not have to be envious of how God will work in the lives of those that hurt us and we will refrain from boosting that God did it because of us.

This is God’s reality for our hearts…

 

Written by: Rev. Jewel D. Williams

God's Reality about our Situations

 

Numbers 11:23 (NIV) ~ The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.

Today, I was discouraged.  I was discouraged at the complaining and fault finding of God’s people.  I sometimes see God’s people wasting too much time on things that really do not have anything to do with kingdom work; it’s all vanity.  We sometimes put too much time and effort into trying to maintain our “coop existence” instead of seeking God for His directions.   As I was sitting and asking God what He wanted from me, this is the scripture He led me to.

My heart was like Moses when he spoke to God and asked, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? ¹² Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? ¹³ Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.” (Numbers 11:11-15)

Moses was fed up with the complaining and ungratefulness of the people.  If you read the entire chapter it starts with the people complaining and God sending fire to consume them.  That was not enough, it moves on to them complaining about the food they received from God, they wanted something else. The Israelites were known complainers. 

As I began to look more at this scripture I was struck by something else.  Do I at times become a complainer?  Do I look at my own situations and begin to be ungrateful because things are not the way I want them to be?  Do I look at my lack of money or lack of time and begin to complain about the “manna” God is sending my way? Do I spend too much time on things that really have nothing to do with kingdom building?  Am I sometimes like the Israelites, a known complainer?

I was discouraged today, but God showed me something important about myself.  He reminded me through the Israelites that I was complaining and wasting too much time on things that really didn’t matter; my complaints were just the same.  While I might not have been complaining about meat, I was not showing forth a grateful heart for what I had been given. Don’t we do that sometimes?  We stop and look at our situations and only see what we “don’t have” and we begin to complain.  We say things like if I didn’t have to give my tithes I would have some money (going back to Egypt thinking).  Or we complain to God as if He has done something wrong to us because our circumstances are not working out.  “God I’m your child, why are you letting my wife/husband act so bad, why won’t you fix it?”  We begin to blame God as the Israelites did when things are not going the way they want.

Yet God wants us to see His reality regarding our situations.  God’s response to the things that were on my heart today about my own situation was the same one He gave to Moses.  “Is the Lord’s arm too short?”  God’s response to my situation was, do not have an Israelite attitude.  Do not look “back” and desire what was back in the time of bondage, instead look forward to me and what I am doing.  Do not complain because things are not coming when you think they should, instead trust me and know that my arms are not too short to take care of your needs.  God’s reality regarding our situations is He will never leave us nor will He forsake us.  He is faithful to the faithful.  The God we serve promises to be with us in our wilderness experiences as well as our times of plenty.  He promises to be a faithful God to us as we learn to show ourselves faithful to Him.

God in the verse above was helping Moses by giving him what he needed.  God had Moses pick some men and He anointed them with power to serve with Moses.  God's arms were not too short to fix Moses situation, just as His arms are not too short to fix ours.

I was discouraged today, yet God reminded me that if I draw close to His presence He will fill me with His power and equip me to handle whatever He deems worthy.  I allowed God to speak to me today through the discouragement I felt to show me how He could better use me.  I was reminded that God is worthy of praise at all times; both the good and the bad time.  He is worthy of praise when my situations are what I want them to be or when I find myself in a place of lack.

I was discouraged today, now my heart rejoices as I praise my God for He is worthy of all praise.  I am reminded His arms are not too short to handle everything that comes my way, therefore no more complaining about my situation when in fact God has it all under control.

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