In the New Testament we see the incorporation of the apostolic ministry with Christ’s heavenly ministry to take care of God’s flock for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ; we need to shepherd the believers for their growth in life, taking the shepherding way to preach the gospel and revive the church.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Shepherd of our souls in Your heavenly ministry. We open to You. We open to Your shepherding. We want to be one with You today in Your shepherding. May our ministry and work for You today be incorporated with Your heavenly ministry so that we may shepherd the believers according to God. Amen, Lord, we open to Your word today. Infuse us with Your burden for shepherding. May we be the shepherds today who express You and represent You to shepherd others for their growth in life and for the building up of the church! Amen!
The Lord Jesus Christ is in us to be our life and our everything; at the same time, He is overseeing, observing, the condition of our inner being.
He knows what we go through. He sees our inward condition. He oversees the state of our being. He shepherds us.
On the one hand, praise the Lord, Christ is our life and our everything, and we take Him in, we contact Him, we eat Him, and we live because of Him.
On the other hand, He sees the situation we are in, He feels with our weaknesses, He understands us thoroughly, and He shepherds us according to God.
He arranges all things in our environment and around us, and He shepherds us by caring for the welfare of our inner being. He is concerned for us. He exercises His oversight over the condition of our soul, our real person.
We need to enjoy and experience the Lord’s wonderful shepherding today. We need to open to His shepherding and even learn from His shepherding. He shepherds us so that we may also shepherd others.
We should not think that we need to be in a perfect condition before the Lord, having no sin, and being upright and with no spot, so that we may be qualified to shepherd others.
Just look at the apostle Peter: he denied the Lord three times; he even led the brothers to go fishing, yet the Lord came to him, shepherded him, rekindled his love for the Lord, and commissioned him to shepherd His sheep and feed His lambs.
May we open to the Lord’s shepherding today and allow Him to shepherd us, even to infuse us with His heart for shepherding others also.
The Incorporation of the Apostolic Ministry with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry to take care of God’s Flock for the Building up of the Church
In John 21 we see how the Lord Jesus not only came to shepherd Peter but even more, He incorporated the apostolic ministry, the ministry of the apostles, with His heavenly ministry to shepherd the believers.
the ministry of the apostle Paul we see also the incorporation of the apostolic ministry with Christ’s heavenly ministry to take care of God’s flock.
In Acts 20:28 Paul told the elders in Ephesus, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained [or purchased] through His own blood.”
The elders are those who oversee the church of God, having the inner realisation that Christ purchased the church through His own blood, so the church as God’s flock is precious to God.
Paul also said, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (v. 29). He did not care for his own life (v. 24), but he was very concerned for the future of the church, which was a treasure to him and to God.
In Hebrews 12:20 Paul also said, “God…brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of an eternal covenant.”
What is this eternal covenant? It is the eternal covenant of the New Testament to gain a flock, which is the church issuing in the Body and consummating the New Jerusalem; the eternal covenant of God is to consummate the New Jerusalem by the shepherding. Hallelujah!
God raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead to be the great Shepherd to consummate the New Jerusalem according to God’s eternal covenant.
The main purpose of this, the main purpose and goal of the apostolic ministry incorporated with Christ’s heavenly ministry are to build up the Body of Christ (Eph. 3:2, 8-9; 1 Pet. 5:10).
Shepherding is not just to help others to go on with the Lord; it is for the building up of the Body of Christ, which will consummate the New Jerusalem for the accomplishment of the eternal economy of God. Hallelujah!
This matter of shepherding God’s flock for the main purpose and ultimate consummation of God’s eternal economy is even referred to in Song of Songs.
For example, in 1:7a we read, “Tell me, you whom my soul loves, Where do you pasture your flock [for satisfaction]? / Where do you make it lie down at noon [for rest]?”
The answer to this question is in the very next verse 8b, “Go forth on the footsteps of the flock, / And pasture your young goats / By the shepherds’ tents.”
We can go among the shepherds, in the church life, to learn from them; the Lord as the Great Shepherd of the sheep, the Shepherd of our souls, is being duplicated in us, and we can shepherd the saints in the church life, among the local churches.
“My beloved is mine, and I am his; / He pastures his flock among the lilies [the seekers of Christ who live a life of trusting in God with a single heart]” (2:16). “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; / He pastures his flock among the lilies” (6:3).
We love the Lord. We love being with the saints. We love the church life. As we love the Lord, as we live the Christian life in the church life, we are learning to shepherd the saints.
We are engaging in shepherding, for we are the Lord’s; He is ours, we love Him, He shepherds us, and we express Him in shepherding others.
The Lord as the most precious One is pasturing all His seekers as lilies, taking care of them, feeding them, and shepherding them so that they may grow.
We enjoy His shepherding and our ministry is incorporated with His heavenly ministry to shepherd the believers according to God.
Lord Jesus, thank You for placing us in the flock of God, the church of God, which You have purchased through Your own blood. Hallelujah, the Lord is shepherding us in the church, and we are learning to shepherd one another! Praise the Lord for the incorporation of the apostolic ministry with Christ’s heavenly ministry to take care of God’s flock! Amen, Lord, we open to You today. Grant us to have Your heart and care for the church. May we treasure the church even as You do so that we may care not so much for ourselves but for the saints to shepherd them for the building up of the church! Praise the Lord, God raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead to be the great Shepherd of the sheep to consummate the New Jerusalem according to God’s eternal covenant! Praise the Lord, we today are under the Lord’s shepherding in the local churches, and we learn to shepherd the young ones and the new ones one with the Lord! Amen, Lord, You are our Beloved, we are Yours, we love Your shepherding, and we want to be one with You in shepherding the flock of God! Amen!
Shepherd the Believers for their Growth in Life: take the Shepherding Way to Preach the Gospel and Revive the Church
According to the divine revelation in God’s word, to shepherd the believers is very crucial for their growth in life. We need to take the shepherding way to preach the gospel and revive the church.
What is the shepherding way? We need to look at the Lord to see how He shepherds us. If we read Luke 15 we see the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God; His heart was tender and soft toward his son.
His heart is loving and forgiving. When we meet wth the saints, as we shepherd the believers, our heart needs to be tender and loving, caring and soft.
We also need to have the shepherding and seeking spirit of our Saviour Christ. We need to seek others, love them, care for them, and shepherd them. The reason for our barrenness is our lack of shepherding.
The reason the young people do not remain in the church life is the lack of shepherding. The reason we don’t see some couples among us in the meetings is that there’s a lack of shepherding.
We all need shepherding. Each one of us faces pressures, sufferings, and trials, and it is only by shepherding the believers that we can minister something of Christ into them, while listening to their situations and problems.
The enemy uses many things to stumble us, frustrate us, and hinder us from going on in the church life.
We, however, need to have the Father’s loving and forgiving heart, the Son’s seeking and shepherding spirit, and the Spirit’s enlightening and supplying to shepherd the believers according to God.
This doesn’t mean that we need to try harder to care for others or to deliberately do this or that to try to shepherd the believers. Rather, we need to realise that shepherding works.
What works is not trying to speak from the pulpit so that others hear your eloquent speaking and be touched. What works is shepherding the believers one by one.
Having large gospel campaigns does not work; many who may be touched during this time may not meet continually with the saints because they are not being shepherded.
Having a famous person to come and give their testimony or a speech does not work; the only way that works is shepherding the believers one with the Lord.
We need to be in small vital groups, being vital together, and we need to care for one another in the group, love one another, and burn for one another and their situation.
We need to be vitalised together and care for one or two more together. We need to take the shepherding way in all things.
The way to save people effectively, so taht they remain, is by small vital groups, and everyone in the vital group needs to be a shepherd.
If we practice this, the church will be revived, for there’s no other more prevailing way than the shepherding way.
May we come to the Lord and tell Him that we want to be revived, that we want to shepherd others, and that we want to flock people together.
In John 10 and 21 the Lord used three words concerning shepherding: feed, shepherd, and flock (10:16; 21:15-16); we can also use the word flock as a verb.
The Lord cares for His flock; we need to be flocked together in the church and shepherd the believers in the church life according to God and one with God.
All the churches have to learn how to flock together so that they can be blended together; the elders and co-workers should take the lead to do this.
We all need to learn to be blended together, be flocked together, and shepherd one another as we come together.
As we come together in the church meetings, the group meetings, and in the vital group gatherings, the Lord has a way to subdue us, convince us, nourish us, and stir us up for His economy.
We will learn to shepherd one another according to God, for the Lord as the Shepherd will be among us, He will shepherd us, and we will correspond to Him.
As we correspond to the Lord’s ministry, His will is fulfilled. For the spread of the gospel and for the building up of the Body of Christ by the growth in life, the Lord must have our cooperation on earth so that, what He does in heaven, we would also do on the earth.
We need to pray that we would be one with Him, that we would live and work in the incorporation of the apostolic ministry with the heavenly ministry of Christ.
May we pray that we would take the shepherding way, and that this would be prevailing in the churches.
May we forget any past offenses, forget all those that we don’t like, and forget about our preferences. May we simply join ourselves to the Shepherd of the sheep and be one with Him in His heavenly ministry.
Lord Jesus, we want to be those on earth who correspond to Your ministry in the heavens. Amen, Lord, we join ourselves to You as the Shepherd of the sheep. Grant us to have the Father’s loving and forgiving heart as we care for others in the church so that we may love them, seek them in love, and forgive them, being soft toward them. May we have Your seeking and shepherding spirit as we shepherd the believers so that we don’t let people go but seek them in love and shepherd them one with the Lord. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to take the shepherding way today. We drop our preferences, we forget our past offenses, and we forget about who we like or not. We simply want to be with You and be flocked together with the saints. Vitalise us with our small vital group. May there be much mutual shepherding among us, and may we have one or two to shepherd one with the Lord and in the Body! Amen, Lord Jesus, may we shepherd the believers for their growth in life! We love You, Lord, and we give ourselves to You today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Winess Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” pp. 448-452, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Great Need for a New Revival (2026 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 5, “The Apostolic Ministry in Cooperation with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry to Shepherd the Church of God as His Flock for the Building Up of the Body of Christ and a New Revival” – day 3.
- Hymns on this topic:
– In tenderness He sought me, / Weary and sick with sin, / And on His shoulders brought me / Into His flock again. / While angels in His presence sang / Until the courts of heaven rang. / Oh, the love that sought me! / Oh, the blood that bought me! / Oh, the grace that brought me to the flock, / Wondrous grace that brought me to the flock! (Hymns #1068 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Dear Shepherd! I hear, and will follow Thy call; / I know the sweet sound of Thy voice; / Restore and defend me, for Thou art my all, / And in Thee I’ll ever rejoice. (Hymns #687 stanza 5)
– We give ourselves to follow the followers, / By this we truly learn; / Never desiring to be the leaders, / But to the Spirit turn. / We give ourselves the flock’s steps to follow / Knowing the Shepherd’s care. / Now in the churches Jesus is leading / And He is speaking there. (Hymns #1246 stanzas 2-3)
