Beware of the Hireling spirit---Part 2

By Leo Sekoere
When I talk about the hireling, it is easy to think that this denotes a messenger from the devil. One who is in the kingdom of darkness, posing as a shepherd but I want to clearify somethings in this post.

Jesus does not mince His words. In John 10 there are 3 main characters that He talks about. The thief, the hireling and The Good Shepherd.

The Thief
Verse 1 makes a clear distinction. Jesus says "...he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber". This "door" He talks about is Himself. Verse 9 says "I am the door...".

 This character only gets involved in shepherding to "steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10). This is the guy who can never have any good motive. Please note the "Never". He does not belong to the Kingdom of God. He is a lawless rebel with great contempt for God. He is of the devil.

These are the fake pastors and prophets we know about. All they wanna do is pervert the gospel for hell's gain.

The hireling
The hireling actually enters the sheepfold by the door (Jesus). He is allowed into the fold by The Good Shepherd. He is given permission and access to the Sheep. He is given authority over the sheep. Though expected to act in the best interest of the sheep, He does not own the sheep. Normally hirelings are appointed when the shepherd himself is not physically with the sheep but they have clear instructions on what they should do. David appointed a hireling when his father sent him to deliver the ten cheeses and stuff ( 1 Samuel 17:20); in this verse He is called a "sheep keeper".
Hirelings are pastors/church leaders who missed the point. They have Ineffectual shepherding methods.  Lets go back to Ezekiel 34.  The beginning of this chapter gives us the following characteristics of those kind of shepherds

* They do not feed the sheep: because they don't bother spending time in the presence of God, they have no rhema word for the sheep. Therefore the sheep enter the church with questions and confusion and they leave with questions and confusion. This doesn't mean that the pastor didn't preach the word, It simply means that he didn't address the needs of the sheep. Its like being so hungry and finally getting to the restaurant but all you're offered is water.

* They do not carry out the great comission:
Verse 4 tells us that such shepherds don't strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, help the sheep to get restoration nor bring back the prodigals. All they do is exercise harsh law and order (religion), offending the sheep all the way out of the fold. This is how the sheep leave the fold. When church no longer serves the purpose. When church becomes a place of misery, the sheep start to see a misrepresentation of God and they accumulate bitterness towards God. Even though some stay, their spiritual lives are affected for the long run. That's why people are passive in church, they don't worship, pray nor give tithes and offerings.

Yes , hirelings its your fault! All of it is your fault. Lo, deliverance cometh from the The Good Shepherd, He has heard and seen the despair of His sheep. He will bring them back into the fold and give them new shepherds.(Jeremiah 23:3-4)

The Good Shepherd
In Psalm 23 David shares a revelation of The Good Shepherd. Lets have a look: 
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
When a pastor/church leader has been imparted and impacted by The Good Shepherd, He will always sense the needs in the house (Physical, spiritual, emotional..) and  the anointing of God in Him will make sure that those are met.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Church must be a place that assures people that they are safe. Not safe because of the building but safe because God is in them and with them. It should be a place of correction and a place where they receive direction (see "rod" and "staff") and look at the last line "they comfort me". When our shepherds correct and direct us it should come from the heart of God because that's the only way one can get comfort from a rod and a staff.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.
Our Churches should be places where we get annointing, more strength , more assurance of God's love and purpose for our lives and most importantly; places where we enjoy the presence of God. Church must be a place that inspires us to practice His presence.

What then can we say? Give God back His church shepherds. Let Him lead through you. The church is a mess because we have rejected His presence and our hearts are far from Him. That's the spirit of the hireling. The hireling leads the sheep independent of the shepherd but one who operates through the spirit of The Good Shepherd is one with His heart and Mind.

Beware of the hireling spirit.

By Leo Sekoere
“As ungodliness increases, God is raising up a generation that will
stand firm in Christ and dare to be holy. These are the leaders of
thousands who will be greatly used by God to keep the Sheep in the
sheepfold, feeding and taking care of them through divine
enablement.”-#SpiritTalk

One of the outstanding facets of Jesus’ earthly ministry is the motive
behind His miracles. He never sought to glorify Himself and often
spoke of Himself as a son doing the work of His father, even unto
death. Jesus’s love is so deep, there is no other person who could’ve
qualified to take our place at the cross. I love His impassioned
prayer in John 17, it testifies to all of the above.

This emerging generation of leaders must function in the same school
of thought and humility as Jesus, otherwise they will become like
hirelings.

The hireling
I’ve had the awesome privilege of being part of the family business
for over 5 years and I’ve noticed one thing through the years; No
matter how many meetings we have with the staff, no matter how much we
emphasise the mission and vision of our organization and motivate them
to see things as we do, we always have people who join us with
excitement only to destroy us. When the pressure increases, these are
the people who would betray us without even thinking. Why? Because
they don’t care about our business, they just came to earn money. They
are hirelings. That’s the mind-set of a hireling in a nut shell.

Jesus puts it this way: “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd,
one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the
sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The
hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the
sheep.” (John 10:12-13-NKJV)

Then Jesus puts it on the record that unlike the hireling, He is The
Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd
In John 10:11 (NKJV) Jesus says “I am the good shepherd: The Good
Shepherd gives his life for the sheep”. What a contrast! The Good
Shepherd places the life of the sheep in the highest order of
importance, even above His own life. He even says in verse 18 that no
one takes His life from Him but He, out of free will and obedience to
The Father, lays it down.

The heart of God concerning humanity flowed into the heart of The Good
Shepherd, so much so that we ( the sheep) gained significance in His eyes. Jesus
loved The Father and because we were important to The Father, we
became important to Jesus. He was able to personify God’s love for
humanity on earth because of His relation to the father. He is able to
be a Good Shepherd because of His relation to the father.

The choice is yours
I don’t know if you see this, but the hireling is a selfish coward. He
only gets involved in shepherding out of selfish ambition and doesn’t
care who He hurts. At the end of the day such a man cannot please God.

The Good Shepherd is one who pleases God (John 10:17). His heart is to
only honour God. God lifts Him up and glorifies Him too.
King Solomon made his choice in 1 Kings 3:8-9. He understood that if
he operated as a hireling, he would fail at leading God’s people. He
asked for God’s own mind: His wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
Verse 10 tells us that it pleased God to hear Solomon asking such a
thing.

Would you rather be a hireling or a Good Shepherd?

It is all centred on the Godhead. One cannot lead God’s sheep without
having an impartation from the spirit of The Good Shepherd. We can
only personify God’s love for the people we lead, through our relation
to The Good Shepherd. People who have not had a divine revelation of Jesus cannot shepherd His flock. This divine revelation fosters a solid relationship with His divinity. This is why the disciples had to have individual tailor made encounters with the resurrected Jesus before they became apostles (see Luke 24)

God loves His sheep and Judgement is coming to all shepherds who do not
take care of His sheep.

Warning
Every time God wants to move mightily upon His church, the devil
strikes the shepherds and uses them to beguile the sheep to anger God.
1 Chronicles 1 tells us that Satan stood up against Israel, and moved
David (who was a shepherd to Israel) to disobey the commands of God.
God however is bringing a strong judgement upon the shepherds.

Ezekiel 34
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8  As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a
prey, and my flock became food for every beast of the field, because
there was no shepherd, nor did my shepherds search for my flock, but
the shepherds fed themselves, and did not feed not my flock;
9  therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10  Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I
will require my flock at their hand, I will cause them to cease from
feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves no
more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may no
longer be food for them.

 

Jeremiah 23
1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
says the Lord.
2Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who
feed my people; You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and
not attended them: behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your
doings, says the Lord.

3But I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries
where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds;
and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them: and they shall
fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, says the
Lord.

This “emerging generation” I tell you about is a fulfilment of God’s
promise. They are being called out to lead God’s people because their
shepherds gave in to the hireling spirit. Jesus The Good Shepherd will
be operating through them, to lead God’s people in love and truth.
Like Jesus they be endowed with willingness to lay down their lives
for the sake of the sheep. Are you ready to be a Good Shepherd?