Since I’ve been born again, I’ve never wanted for anything.  Praise God!  Everything I’ve ever needed, God’s provided.  A lot of stuff I thought I needed; He saw fit I didn’t get because it would have killed me.  Hallelujah for a loving heavenly Father; amen?  The indwelling Spirit that leads us into all truth.  We see that in the twenty-third Psalm, the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays his life down for the flock (John 10:11).  We’re looking at that responsibility.  When things get tough, the hireling just jumps ship and takes off, but the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.  We’re coming into that hour, and we’ve talked about the attack on the church today.  People talk about the attack, all this political stuff that’s going on, and talk about the attack on the nuclear family.  It’s not “nuclear family.”  It’s “biblical families”; amen, against the Bible standard.

Divine order, God’s way, there’s an order.  He had an order when He created male and female, amen?  That was an order that was established.  Man, in his arrogance, in his pride, in his independence, has brought about all this foolishness that people are talking about today.  Considering themselves wise, they’re fools.  They’re laughable in their ignorance.  Let me share with you the real source behind this.  The real source is not even their own physical lust.  It’s a hatred for Jesus Christ.  It’s a defiance of the Word of God.  It is the secret power of lawlessness allowed to reign.  The only restraining power is the church.  We’re the only thing that’s holding back.  If you think it’s bad now, what’s going to happen when we leave?  This power of lawlessness, is going to bring in every wind of doctrine that leads people astray and begins to bring confusion.  What is the church going to do when these pressures— right now we’re at a place, it’s such a fever pitch, and in some of these denominations, let a pastor just misspeak on one thing or even not misspeak, just faithfully represent the Word of God, and these people are going to start losing their jobs, these pastors.  If they don’t buy into this political correctness of this hour, they’re going to have people across the street picketing. 

What are we doing to fortify ourselves, and how do we respond to these pressures?  The day’s coming, very soon, when you’re not going to get credit for your giving.  Do you know what that’s going to do to a lot of churches?  What’s going to happen when you start streaming, and these people keep staying home, and that relationship’s broken?  What are you going to do when persecution starts coming?  What’s going to happen when the people can no longer get credit for giving?  There’s going to be a lot of turmoil.  There’s going to be a lot of compromise for these guys to stay afloat.  We’re not immune.  We need to be sensitive and hear what the Spirit’s saying to the church in this hour.  There needs to be a course that’s set that’s scriptural; amen?  So, in the midst of all of this, we realize that this ministry of the shepherd—we were talking about the diminishing of the authority of the church.  Try to find a church today.  You see, so many of us, we are so weird to the world.  Our difference in the secular realm is not anywhere near the difference we have with the professed church in the spiritual realm.