Shepherding Souls by Gary E Stevenson
What a great topic today. I am super excited to jump in and talk about Shepherding Souls. I also pray that the spirit can be here in abundance, and that we can all be taught, even divinely.
“In a recent discussion, President Henry B. Eyring commended the Saints in adjusting to these notable changes but also expressed his sincere hope that members recognize that ministering is more than “just being nice.” That is not to say that being nice is inconsequential, but those who understand the true spirit of ministering realize that it goes far beyond merely being nice. Done in the Lord’s way, ministering can have a far-reaching influence for good that ripples throughout all eternity…”
What is “the true spirit of ministering”, and what is the “Lord’s way?” This is what I wanted to get to the bottom of and discover for myself.
As I was studying and pondering this talk, the question came to my mind, but why Shepherding souls, what is the end result to Shepherding souls?
Then what was impressed upon my mind was super exciting. Let’s read a few scriptures about Zion.
It starts with Enoch and his people.
Moses 7:68-69
68 And all the days of Zion, in the days of Enoch, were three hundred and sixty-five years.
69 And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, Zion is Fled.
I love thinking about Enoch and how he must have Shepherded souls even as Christ would have, and they received a great blessing and were all translated. I can’t wait to get their records and understand the great work of salvation they wrought throughout the history of the world, it will be so glorious. Now let’s turn to Melchizedek and his people.
JST, Genesis 14:32-34
32 And men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated and taken up into heaven.
33 And now, Melchizedek was a priest of this order; therefore he obtained peace in Salem, and was called the Prince of peace.
34 And his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch which God had before taken, separating it from the earth, having reserved it unto the latter days, or the end of the world;
Wow, Melchizedek and his whole city were translated and joined the great City of Enoch, even Zion.
Why do I share these scriptures with you? Well, because we are in a similar position in relation to Zion. That’s right, Zion, the New Jerusalem, is about to be built up, and the Lord needs a righteous people, even a people that holds and magnifies their priesthood and who can do all things in the name and power of Christ, even the great blessing of translation, if it be the will of the Father.
“The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory. “ Joseph Smith
With this backdrop of Zion and building up Zion in these last days, let’s return to Shepherding souls and tie this all in.
Go with me to John 10:2-10
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Porter is defined as: a person employed to carry luggage and other loads, especially in a railroad station, airport, or hotel.
I find it interesting that the hired hand or appointed angel, will only open up to the Shepherd of the sheep.
Footnote for voice takes us to: Doctrine and Covenants 35:21
For they will hear my voice, and shall see me, and shall not be asleep, and shall abide the day of my coming; for they shall be purified, even as I am pure.
Seriously, we can have an entire lesson on just this verse. His sheep are spiritual giants. What that means is that if we ourselves are not at that level that we can hear Him, see Him, not be asleep (spiritually), abide His second coming and be purified, then we need to get to work. 😀 Also, in terms of Shepherding, we now have the standard to help Shepherd our flock to become such spiritual giants. We can’t be satisfied with lay membership in the church. One important note is that from my studies on sheep and shepherds, there are varied degrees of obedience with sheep, most notably, there are leaders and followers within the flock. The Shepherd works with and develops the sheep to all be leaders but it is a process. But, let us not be slothful in our preparations with our flock. We need to nurture them along quickly, because these are the last days and we must hasten our efforts to be prepared for His return, so ourselves and our flock can be qualified to be His sheep at that glorious day.
Interestingly, those who hear His voice are those who are prepared to abide the day of His second coming, which means that they would have built up Zion in preparation for His return.
Joseph Smith said, “for every saint has an equal interest in building up of the Zion of our God; for it is after the Lord has built up Zion, that he will appear in his Glory— Psalms— 102:16. We all look for the appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ but we shall look in vain, until Zion is built; for Zion is to be the dwelling place of our God when he comes Joel 3:21. Any one who will read this Chapter with attention will see that it treats of the last days, and of the Zion of the last days. How then is the Lord to dwell in Zion, if Zion is not built up & this question we leave the Saints to answer.”
Pretty powerful. Well, let’s now look at how will they abide the day?
Doctrine and Covenants 45:55-57
55 And Satan shall be bound, that he shall have no place in the hearts of the children of men.
56 And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.
57 For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.
Let me just say, that the single most important thing for you and me to do, is to learn to take the Holy Spirit as our guide. The beautiful thing is that when we learn to hear Christ speaking to us through our conscience, we also learn to hear the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost mostly uses the Light of Christ to impress upon us.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Footnotes:
Know- Spiritual discernment
Voice- Revelation
They have learned to tune their ears to hear revelation which is the voice of Christ or Light of Christ which is within them. If they can hear it, it is implied that they have obeyed and heeded what they heard and tested the revelation and knew it was of God and then they repeated that method over and over again until they grew into the principle of revelation and can say that they KNOW His voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
If we have tuned ourselves and know the voice of revelation, we will discern the strangers voice whether it is the voice of Satan or any of his servants seen or unseen and they heed them not. Literally, Satan will be bound for them for they only hear and heed the Masters voice.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
The Savior wasn’t talking about sheep at all, He was talking about souls, and they understood it not or at least not the magnitude of his words. Let us learn from their mistakes, and pray for greater understanding.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
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.
This has got to be for me one of the most interesting verses. So much symbolism.
He is the door, and we must enter in, interesting wording. And what is meant by they shall “go in and out?” And what is the pasture?
The next verse gives some powerful insights.
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.
Footnote for life:
Doctrine and Covenants 66:2
Verily I say unto you, blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel, sent forth unto the children of men, that they might have life and be made partakers of the glories which are to be revealed in the last days, as it was written by the prophets and apostles in days of old.
Footnote for abundantly- one is happiness.
Any ideas? I believe it could imply Zion and then the millennium. Is that not what all the Apostles and prophets have written and testified of? But, I also feel that it is more than just that, I believe there is also a change wrought upon us and we become one with him and receive even more of His glory. It’s exciting to think about what this could be and consist of, but mostly, it makes me want to put in the work and effort to qualify myself for this great day. It is my belief, that we will need this change to gather scattered Israel, build Zion, and to prepare the Earth for His second coming.
Now with this great understanding as to the purpose of Shepherding souls, let’s jump into the talk by Elder Gary E. Stevenson.
President Nelson also explained: “A hallmark of the Lord’s true and living Church will always be an organized, directed effort to minister to individual children of God and their families. Because it is His Church, we as His servants will minister to the one, just as He did. We will minister in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving-kindness.”
Thanks to my preparations for this lesson, I now have a heightened awareness of what impact my ministering and shepherding efforts can really have on each soul. I now visulize the Savior (door through which we all must go into to have Eternal life), calling out to who I am Ministering to, and that person’s head come up in recognition of His voice, and then go running to Him. The embrace that takes place is breath taking, and to think that I had some small role to play in that blessed reunion, brings tears to my eyes. I will never just casually ask, what would the Savior do? I will see this vision and it will stir within me a greater desire to minister with power and great love.
We understand that a true shepherd loves his sheep, knows each one by name, and “has personal interest in” them.
The prophet Nephi likewise taught that Jesus “shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.” I find abiding peace in knowing that “the Lord is my shepherd” and that each of us is known by Him and under His care. When we confront life’s wind and rainstorms, sickness, injuries, and drought, the Lord—our Shepherd—will minister to us. He will restore our souls.
Regardless of what trials or difficulties that we are faced with, we can put our trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he will be there to shepherd us.
In the same way that my friend tended his sheep with the assistance of young and old ranch hands, horses, and sheepdogs, the Lord also requires assistance in the challenging labor of caring for the sheep in His flock.
This is where we come in. What a great privilege and responsibility we have to assist in this great work.
Who is a shepherd? Every man, woman, and child in the kingdom of God is a shepherd. No calling is required. From the moment we emerge from the waters of baptism, we are commissioned to this work. We reach out in love to others because it is what our Savior commanded us to do. Alma emphasized: “For what shepherd … having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? … Doth he not drive him out?” Whenever our neighbors are in distress temporally or spiritually, we run to their aid. We bear one another’s burdens that they may be light. We mourn with those who mourn. We comfort those who stand in need of comfort. The Lord lovingly expects this of us. And the day will come when we will be held accountable for the care we take in ministering to His flock.
My shepherd friend shared another important element in the watchcare of sheep on the range. He described that lost sheep were particularly vulnerable to the dangers of predators. In fact, up to 15 percent of his and his team’s total time was devoted to finding lost sheep. The sooner they found lost sheep, before the sheep drifted too far from the flock, the less likely the sheep were to be harmed. Recovering lost sheep required much patience and discipline.
The front-page headline read, “Determined Dog Won’t Abandon Lost Sheep.”
——
“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
“And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
“And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
As we summarize the lesson taught in the parable, we find this valuable counsel:
We are to identify the lost sheep.
We search after them until they are found.
When they are found, we may have to lay them on our shoulders to bring them home.
We surround them with friends upon their return.
—-
Brothers and sisters, our greatest challenges and our greatest rewards may come as we minister to lost sheep.
Every soul is precious to our Heavenly Father. His personal invitation to minister is of greatest value and importance to Him, for it is His work and glory. It is quite literally the work of eternity. Each one of His children has immeasurable potential in His sight. He loves you with a love you cannot even begin to comprehend. Like the devoted sheepdog, the Lord will stay on the mountain to protect you through the wind, rainstorms, snow, and more.
President Russell M. Nelson taught us last conference: “Our message to the world [and, may I add, “to our ministering flock”] is simple and sincere: we invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life.”
May we raise our sights to this prophetic vision so we can shepherd souls to the temple and ultimately to our Savior, Jesus Christ. He does not expect us to perform miracles. He asks only that we bring our brothers and sisters unto Him, for He has the power to redeem souls. As we do so, we can and will secure this promise: “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
Craig
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