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There is nothing greater that you can do and be but that you please the Father. The ultimate goal is to please the Father, because when you please the Father, God can move heaven and earth to bless you. We run after the physical things. We’ve been blessed with physical things, and if you use it so you’re not bound to earthly things then you’ve been blessed. But if you use it to just keep piling up and gain the whole world you will lose your own soul and what good is it? We all know the joy of the Lord is your strength, but sometimes you don’t have joy. Let’s turn to John 10:7, Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. There is no other way. What is that door to? We know that it’s the sheepfold, but what is it really? It is the door to eternal life; the door between the workings of man and the workings of the eternal Spirit. When Jesus speaks about life in Him, He’s not speaking of life like our lives as human beings, because our lives have a limit of how long we’re going to live. But if we have Jesus in us, we have eternal life. Everything the world sees is temporal. I was talking with someone who was having a hard time accepting that something was wrong with him, and he said, I want to live forever. But according to the life that he lived, he was not going to live forever. If you want eternal life, Jesus said, I am the door to life. I am the door to eternal, everlasting life, and there isn’t anything else. If we can enter into that sheepfold, shouldn’t there be great joy? Even though there are troubles in this world and things happen, the bottom line is we have entered into that place that we will be given eternal everlasting life. That’s something that the world just doesn’t know about. Jesus is the door for the sheep and we are the sheep. Without a shepherd we can’t do anything. Verse 8, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. Because of man’s fallen state, without the love of God in us, we will be partial to ourselves. In some way our motivation to help someone is to help us. We have to examine our motives as to why we are helping someone. Is it to help them without any strings attached? The Lord said, if you help My sheep, or My children, then I will bless you. That way you don’t own the person that you helped but the Lord will increase you because of what you did for His children, for His sheep. Verse 9, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. If you enter in to the will of God you will be saved. But the whole catch is, are you willing to let go? I know for me, God stripped me down to where there was nothing left. No vehicles, no nothing. I was zero zero and I had to start all over at the age of 43. How many would like to start over at the age of 43 and have zero? Before He took everything away I had power on the earth. I had power to accumulate because I had people who would loan me money to get done what I wanted to do. But when all of that was stripped away, I went to the bank that I used to do business with, who used to loan me thousands of dollars with just a signature, and they just laughed at me. You don’t have anything. How can we loan you something if you don’t have anything? So I had to begin to change. I went before the Lord for everything and He would tell me, if you go do this, you’ll get what you need. So I would go do it, and I would get what I needed. It was amazing. But what was happening was, I was beginning to trust in God and not in my ability with the earthly connections. I began to enter the door of eternity. The things that God raised me up into were eternal things and yet I can go in and out of that door to the earthly things. My home is in heavenly things but to live in this world we have to come in and out of that door to live and to do things. The earthly things are not our home. Our home is in Christ. Through that door is where we are to live and we just come out of that place to do things upon the earth. But our activity is very limited in what we can do. Where can you go to get some kind of entertainment? You can’t. It’s all wicked. When you begin to have this vision, your home is in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Christ has given you life, not just life to live longer, but eternal, everlasting, forever life. And in spite of the problems that we have when we come out of that door into the world, David said, I run to the Rock. He goes back into that door and that’s his place of security, not the world. Verse 9, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. We go into the heavenlies to get our spiritual inheritance but we come out to function and have jobs and things that we can live upon the earth and accomplish what needs to be done here. So He blesses us in the heavenlies and He blesses us in the earth. Verse 10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. That’s eternal life. You put your treasures in that bank right there: the abundance of God’s blessings. Verse 11, I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. If you lose vision, the enemy can carry you off and you spend more time outside than you do in the sheepfold, and pretty soon you don’t go in at all, because you’ve been caught up in the world and the world can carry you away. That happens slowly but it does. It’s like gambling. The next time around I’m going to win. Someone does. But it may be fifty million people that have tried and failed and one person gets the jack pot. The reason that Jesus is the good Shepherd is that whatever He does for His sheep is for their good and increase. Everything that Jesus does for you is for you to have the abundant life and be able to walk in that abundance. Jesus came and gave His life to bring me to a new place that I can walk in abundance. We should never forget that our home is in the heavenlies. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have who are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. There is nothing greater that you can do and be but that you please the Father. The ultimate goal is to please the Father, because when you please the Father, God can move heaven and earth to bless you. We run after the physical things. We’ve been blessed with physical things, and if you use it so you’re not bound to earthly things then you’ve been blessed. But if you use it to just keep piling up and gain the whole world you will lose your own soul and what good is it? 2 Timothy 3:1, This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, (telling you they will do something but not carrying through), false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. When you do not go back into the door of the sheepfold and live there, you’re denying the power and you’re using the power of man’s earthly understanding and intellect to try and accomplish what can’t be done, because you’re dealing with the selfishness and all these things of man. Verse 6, For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul is sometimes a little hard on women, but men have lusts too. Do you realize how much lust brings turmoil in your life? Just stop and think about it. Lust is nothing but turmoil. Why is it turmoil? Because it is death. It’s not life. When you get eternal life vision it will last because you have a deposit of eternity. Those who are in the sheepfold feed upon eternity, and in eternity they will have everything they need. If the snowflakes would just realize, if they would get saved and get with the Lord they would have socialism forever in eternity. But socialism with the wickedness and self-centeredness of man is not equal and doesn’t work. The deeper you get into eternity, the more generous you become. Why is that? Because the earthly things don’t have the value that eternity does. If you find yourself continuing to grow in helping God’s children, you know that you’re in the sheepfold and your vision is more eternity forever with the Lord than it is with the death of the world and accumulating earthly things. There is nothing wrong with a level of accumulation. Don’t get me wrong. But if you can’t handle it, it will take you out of the sheepfold. Most people who win the lottery go bankrupt in less than five years. It’s all gone. They have all kinds of issues and troubles, because money can’t satisfy. I see people in this community that keep wanting to get bigger and bigger, and the bigger they are getting the less time they have to do anything and nothing ever satisfies. It’s just like giving someone a gift. It’s wonderful for two weeks and after that it’s gone. But if it is something that’s eternal it will stay with you forever. That’s the place God is bringing us into and that’s the transferring from the six thousand years to the thousand year reign. Verse 7, Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. What Jesus said in the scripture and what Paul is writing here is eternity is what matters, not the physical. Titus 3:3, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of peace, does it? I lived in that world and I hated it, and God brought me out. Verse 4, But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. The love of God our Savior towards man appeared; love and peace and quiet. You can’t have peace and quietness and not have been in the sheepfold. It’s not possible. Verse 5, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; The regeneration is like taking an old car and tearing it down totally and rebuilding everything. Where it was rusted you fix it, and you polish it and paint it, piece by piece, putting it back together so everything is all renewed, but it takes time. The Lord washes us until we are totally made new. Totally made new because now we have the deposit of eternity in us much greater than what Abraham did. Abraham had the promise and he saw it from a distance. We have that promise and we live in it. In the Old Testament they sacrificed animals, but here it says in Hebrews 10:6, In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. God never took pleasure in substituting the death of animals for the death of people because that could not take the price of the sin that was committed. The only person who could do it was one without sin, who was Jesus. If we want to please God we have to live through the door into the heavenlies with Christ and rule and reign with Him and go in and out as long as we are in this fleshly body but not participate in the lusts of the world that cause us torment. Verse 38, Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. If God draws you into a place and you stop and begin to go back you’re not pleasing God. Not at all. His soul shall have no pleasure in you. Verse 39, But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; That is, to draw back from relationship in the heavenlies to the intellect of man trying to carry out and please God through their own understanding. That’s perdition and it doesn’t work. …but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. I believe if I live in through that door and that is my home then my soul will be saved. But if I don’t always return through the door my soul is in great jeopardy because the lusts of the world will draw me and never be satisfied. The danger is in drawing back to the old life. We were regenerated. There may be a time or two that you do something without even thinking about it because you’ve done it all your life and all the sudden you realize what you’ve done. When you go back after you’ve once been in that place and tasted of the joy of knowing eternity is on your side the old is not the same – it’s no fun anymore. If that’s not the case then you’re in trouble because the only way you’re going to prosper in the kingdom of God is to please the leader. It’s the same way with anything else. If you please the leader you’re going to get somewhere. Hebrews 12:9, Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? Even though there are things that you have to go through that are extremely hard or difficult, if your focus is on eternity and living in the heavenlies then none of this is so harsh. The harshness is giving up the lusts of the world. It’s hard. That’s just the way it is. To live means our life is eternity with Him. Verse 10, For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. The full release of heaven comes from the holiness of your walk on the earth. You can’t get that except by living in the heavenlies away from the harshness of satan’s kingdom. Verse 11, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. If you’re all worked up about something it’s probably something God is exposing in you that needs to come out so you can walk in the peaceable fruit of righteousness. I was extremely thankful when I began to realize that there isn’t any person on this earth that I’m jealous of because of what they have. Not one person. If that’s the case then you are in peace. There is no envy, no striving. It’s quietness before God because I’m content to know that I’m where God wants me to be. It isn’t finished yet but I’m in the process of doing it. Verse 14, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Ouch! Verse 15, Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. The bitterness is in not having the things of the flesh too. I want peace with God but I want to enjoy the pleasures of the world. The two kingdoms cannot come together. But many of the churches believe that the difference between the things of God and the things of man can be reconciled and you can have a little of both, but you can’t do that. James 5:5, Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and you have been weighed on the scale and you are chaff. You have nourished your heart with the pleasure of the earth so until your heart has been changed and purified you can’t even listen to your heart. That’s why the covenant of the heart is there, to change your labor to that of eternity. Until that takes place you have to be careful with what your heart says to you. Verse 6, Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Establish it in the covenant that was given to you of eternity. When Christ comes into our hearts the old has to go and behold all things become new. But the stuff still has to come out one step at a time. It starts by Him covering it so it becomes quiet, but then step by step God will expose it and you kick it out. 1 Timothy 5:6, But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. The fight going on now between the liberals and the conservatives is the liberals want freedom to do whatever they want to do and no one is going to tell them it’s sin or that it’s wrong. They just want to do whatever they want to do. They can, except the conservatives say, you’re in bondage and you will never be wealthy as long as you don’t curb your flesh. In Proverbs it says those who satisfy their flesh will never have anything and we know that to be true. The reason you don’t have anything is because you don’t have control of your flesh. I want this, I need that… The woman has a tendency to live more in the now and the man has a tendency to live in the future which helps the husband and the wife. The wife helps the husband to live somewhat in the present, but the man also must be the one in authority to curb the woman’s now to be also in the future. It’s just the way it is. The woman was made to help the man, and the man has the vision to go to the eternal. When the woman takes over anything they will live in the now. If you look, we are coming into a place that all people, men, women, children, are living in the now because the women are rising up and causing it. That’s why the woman is supposed to submit to the husband, so they have a balance of the now and the future. Philippians 2:13, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. You say, how do I know I’m pleasing God? When you are doing His will. May it be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, I just want to do Your will. If you say it, and don’t seek His will then you’re just speaking words and it doesn’t amount to anything. But those that are pleasing to God are the ones who will prosper in eternity. Verse 14, Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Ever since the fall of man people have been crooked. Jesus even said, all that ever came before Me were thieves and robbers, wanting to have what I have without doing what needs to be done. Isaiah 53:10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It pleased the Lord to show that His Son, His only begotten Son, died for you, to purchase you to bring you back to the way Adam was in the beginning. That’s what He did. That’s why Jesus said, if you don’t love Me more than anyone else you’re not worthy of Me. I died for the whole world. He did something no animal could do, because they don’t have souls. Jesus’ soul was made an offering for sin. When Jesus died on the cross, He died to please the Father. That’s what He said in His prayer. Lord, is there another way? If there isn’t, I will do what You say. His flesh was looking for a way out. But His soul obeyed His Father. Because He obeyed His Father, He showed the whole world the Father was so great that the Son was willing to be bruised by His Father for a season to be increased, and He was greatly increased. Because He was a representation of us, He was the first of many sons, we must also go through a death to the world and go through His door into eternal life. If that doesn’t happen you’ll go back into perdition and religion, which is law and law will not save you. It tells you that you’re sinful but it doesn’t save you. Psalm 147:11, The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. The only way you can make it is to hope in His mercy. There isn’t any other way, because if He doesn’t show mercy but just truth, you’re in trouble. Psalm 149:4, For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. There is a beauty when you serve the Lord that cannot be found in the world. Without hope you have no beauty. Our goal should be to please our heavenly Father and His Son and the Holy Spirit. We come out of the door of the sheepfold to do a work and then go back home again where we live. 
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AuthorLarry Troyer |
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