The Shepherd's Fold Apostolic Church

Isaiah 9:2 "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined."     Isaiah was looking ahead to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the Light to the world. The prophets spoke about the Light then they were silent for 400 years. Imagine, after all the prophets and the Word of the Lord to the people, God did not speak for 400 years! It was a very dark time during those centuries. Many held on to the prophecies about a Messiah, a Redeemer, a Light to come.   And then, suddenly-- it happened! The heavenly hosts came upon the scene and lit up the darkness.  Luke- 2:8-20 relates the story of how the angels came to shepherds to announce the good news-- the Savior, Redeemer- the Light-- Jesus Christ-- had finally been born.   Today- many are still in darkness, even though it has been thousands of years since the Light- Jesus Christ came to earth. At this time of year, many reflect on

James 1:22-24  "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."   One of my favorite hobbies is taking pictures. I love to take pictures near bodies of water and get that reflection in the picture. It is not a perfect reflection especially if the water is moving. You get a distorted reflection.   We are to be reflections of Jesus Christ. The problem is with many is that their spirit is not at rest or peace. It is not still, but is in constant motion. Others get a distorted reflection of Jesus Christ through us. There are many reasons for this in the Word. One is found in Proverbs 21:23 "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles."   Many Christians are so busy talking about things and people that their spirits are not

Philippines 4:8 "...whatsoever things are pure..."    Pure means clear, chaste, clean or immaculate. It means there is nothing added. If you look at any product these days such as bottled water, food, health and beauty items- it may say on the label that it is "pure" or "100%" this or that- but when you check the ingredients- there is an entire paragraph listing all of the ingredients. It is no longer pure.   James 3:13-18 tells us about the purity of wisdom from above . "But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in  your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic, for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."   This is a serious message to us today! See the progression of earthly wisdom? It starts out as earthly then goes to sensual and then finally to demonic! This is serious for the Church today. Many are seeking w

Matthew5:14-16: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (NKJV)   The world is in darkness. Just listen to the news or look around you. But even the smallest flicker of a light is so bright in the darkness. We are the only Jesus that this world will see. We are the light of the world. A city set on a hill can't be hidden. How many churches have allowed the "light" to go out. I look for the day when people are drawn into the church because of the light coming from it.   Sin brings darkness. Sinners are drawn to the darkness to hide their sin. They become blind in the darkness. The god of this world has blinded them. The Church needs to clean its globe. It's not going to happen automatically

Sister Lynne Parsons We were blessed and challenged by Sister Lynne's Bible Study recently. Her text was from Daniel 3:8-18 where Daniel and his friends disobeyed the king by not bowing down to the image of gold. When they were threatened to be cast into a fiery oven their response was- "If that is the case, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up" (Verses 17,18).   She went on to explain how these men made a deliberate choice to obey God rather than man. And so should we. We have to make the decision that we are going to do the right thing. We are the only ones who are in control of our lives. We can not blame our lack of faith or power on anyone else. It is up to us! We must make the choice to obey God. No one can take that from us. We must hold o

Deuteronomy 11:13-17: "And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you." (NKJV)   The early rain was rain which came after the seed was planted. It watered the seed so that it would take root and sprout. The latter rain was rain which prepared the mature plant for harvest. The church needs the la

Song Fest     Come join us for an evening of singing & fellowship     All are welcome!       Saturday, October 26, 2013     5:00 pm 

"The church is at a status quo. There is little or no communication between it and God. He is longing to visit with His children. God longs for communion and fellowship with us."     Ephesians 4:30: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."   One definition of the word grieve is to wait for longingly. It is interesting that Paul puts this statement in the middle of the other verses: 25-32. It is right in the middle of the "bad sins" like lying, stealing, anger, etc.  How many times do we as Christians grieve the Holy Spirit? There are many ways-- we don't listen to God; we don't spend time with Him; we are so busy we have no time to spend in prayer or the Word. Since this verse is in the midst of these other sins, Paul (and God) must have thought it was really important.   God longingly waits for us to be with Him. The church is at a status quo. There is little or no communication

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends; and his descendants are blessed."   Psalms 37:23-26     First of all, in this passage we must realize that the words "good man" here refers to a righteous, holy living person who is striving to walk the path with God. Today- a good man could be just anyone. But in God's word- there is none good- only those who have been made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ and are living a consistent life of holiness and godliness. It is these people that satan tries make them feel like failures, like they have fallen and are forsaken. We all make mistakes, make wrong decisions and fail. But God orders the steps of a "righteous" man and w

We must find a place in God that provides us rest and peace during our storms. Text: Luke 8:22-25    Verse 24 : "And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, 'Master, Master, we are perishing!' Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm."           Our 11 year old Golden Retriever, Ginger, is afraid of storms. She didn't used to be so fearful until a few years ago when a terrific storm came through with 70 mph winds for over 6 hours. Ever since, she increasingly gets afraid, scratches at the carpet, tries to get behind furniture or on your lap- and she is NOT a lap dog! To each person a storm is something different. But one thing is for sure- EVERYONE encounters a storm from time to time. There is no way to get out of it.   In our text, it was just another day. They were just going from one side of the lake to the other. No big deal. But they were caught up in the storm which

Matthew 9:37-39: "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"     God has set individual Christians and churches in specific fields. Harvest will come but we must be obedient to the Lord and allow Him to prepare us for the harvest. We can not wait until harvest time and them make sure everything is good to go. No, we must prepare now for time will be short when it is time to harvest.   We must allow God to do the work in us so that His light will shine out from us. Then others will be attracted to that light. Are there people in your pathway that seem to bother you? They may be a nuisance to you or obnoxious or just difficult to get along with. These very people may be part of that harvest to come and we must show them God's love now. As we do this, we are "cultivating" the field for the harvest. Our neighbors, co-work

Acts 4:8-14 Verse 13 : "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus."     Peter and John had been arrested for preaching and healing in the name of Jesus Christ. They were then presented to the Sanhedrin- the rulers, elders and priests and scribes- who asked them questions. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to them and explained about the resurrection and power of Jesus Christ. The rulers realized that these men, Peter and John had not any formal education yet they spoke with great boldness and they "realized that they had been with Jesus."   The world will not be changed just by the few things that we do or have- our education, going to church, acting religious. It will take anointing of God and this only comes from being in the Presence of Jesus Christ. There is nothing wrong with education but Christians must carry

(Taken from sermon preached by Sister Suzanne Parsons 8/25/2013) Zechariah 14:6-9 Verse 7- "It shall be one day which is known to the Lord- neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light."   Light here means revelation. There must be enlightening of the Word of God in our lives.   Dani12:1-13 Verse 4 -"But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."   The vision that was given to Daniel was sealed for an appointed time. We must seek the Lord for wisdom in these times. We won't just get it if we are not seriously seeking God NOW.   We need spiritual knowledge. The Word of God will be enlightened in the end times but we must read and study the Word now, so that when that appointed time comes we will be ready to be enlightened. Even now as we read and study God enlightens the scripture to us. We must grow in the Word a

Text: Hebrews 12:18-24   Verse 24 : "to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel."    The Old Covenant was severe. It showed the terribleness of God. People were given many rules and regulations, but they were impossible to fulfill and therefore the people could not get to God. The Old Covenant was to show mankind the impossibility of pleasing God without God intervening.   The New Covenant is full of the grace of God, but there are still responsibilities on our part. Many people, when they come to the Lord think they are free to do what they want. The New Covenant sets us at liberty- but still has boundaries.   The New Covenant appeased the anger of God towards sin through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ-- He is the Mediator. The New Covenant holds back God's wrath. He stood before God and mankind's sin. Through Jesus Christ we receive mercy and grace!   In Hebrews

John 1:14-17   "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ' This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' And of His fullness we have all received grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (NKJV)   Recently we spent some time with my wife's family. Her little great niece and nephew love to blow bubbles. We were all out in the yard watching the kids blowing all sizes of bubbles and having so much fun. Of course I had my camera and was taking pictures. I caught a beautiful picture of a bubble and what was so interesting was the fact that the bubble caught the reflection of its surroundings. As the light came through the bubble you could see the outline of the tress just behind us. It was really beautifu

Paul, many times, referred to himself as the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Ephesians 3:1, 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:8; Philemon 1:1 and Philemon 1:9 )  He had become dead to his old life when God saved him. He now saw his life as a prisoner. A prisoner has no control over himself and has to answer to the one over him. Paul never looked at this in a negative light, but always in a positive light. He considered it a privilege and honor to be a prisoner of the Lord, to lay down his life for the One Who gave His life for him.   When God saves us, He gives us a new life. We must serve him the rest of our lives. We are no longer in charge of our own lives. We must seek God for direction for our lives. We must yield our wills over to His. Paul felt compelled to serve Christ.   Paul "died daily" ( 1 Corinthians 15:31 ). To him it was a daily act of submitting his will over to the Lord. It was a daily sacrifice. Many people today want to be a Christian, say they are a Christ

Psalm 9:9,10 : "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. A refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You."   So much is happening in the world today. But we still need to seek Him daily. Sometimes it's hard to trust the Lord when everything around us seems to be spinning out of control. But it is the very time to trust Him. God is the same as He has always been- we CAN trust Him.   We need to remember how God brought us through our last storm. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves just how faithful God has been in the past.   Ezekiel 33: 13 -- those who "trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die."   When we begin to trust in our own righteousness, in our own works, our own selves- we begin to die spiritually. What are you tru

Mark 16:15-18 "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt then; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.'" (NKJV)   If we are truly believers, then we should be about our Father's business and these signs should accompany our testimony.   Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."   2 Corinthians 5:17 : "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."   When we become Chri

2 Corinthians 2:11 : "lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devises."   The children of Israel were defeated many times because of sin. But we have the Holy Spirit to be victorious. The only way we are conquered is because we want to be! We are the one who gives up. We don't want to fight anymore. We don't want to listen to God. We become weary in the battle. But we are not ignorant of his (Satan's) devices.   We need to remind Satan and ourselves that certain things are under grace. Satan pulls out all the things we have done wrong and takes advantage of us. We need to be smart about it. He tries to get us off track even if it just a little. Just enough to through us off balance.   1 Corinthians 14:38: "But if anyone is ignorant, let  him be ignorant."   If we won't pay attention to Satan's devises we will be overcome- conquered. As long as we think we are okay, just did our duty- go to church then leav

Acts 1:7-11 "And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'" ( NKJV)   Jesus had been with the disciples for three years. He had taught them all that He could at that time. Many things were a mystery to them for they did not have the ability to understand it all then. But, Jesus had now ascended back to the Father

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Genesis 15 -  This text describes the covenant that God made with Abram later named Abraham. God told him that He was his shield and reward and promised him an heir and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. When Abram believed God's word- it was credited to him as righteousness. In verse 9 - God tells Abram what to do in order to bring about the blood-sacrifice covenant. After Abram placed the animal sacrifices as commanded by God- verse 11 -- "And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away."  The fowls of the air came and tried to steal what God had promised to Abram. Hagar was not a part of God's plan. The heir was to come through his wife Sarai- even though at this point they were unable to have any children. But God had promised.   How many times does God promise us something and almost immediately the "fowls of the air" begin to circle around and come in to steal away the promise. Abram stayed w

Last time we looked at prayer as part of our strategy to defeat the enemy. It is crucial to our victory to pray and seek the Lord on the decisions that we make. During this time of seeking God and asking Him for direction- we must make sure that we take the time to LISTEN to what He actually has to say about it! If He instructs and teaches us and we don't listen and obey- it won't do us any good. 2. LISTEN and OBEY  In 2 Samuel 5:19-25 - David had just been anointed as King over Israel. The Philistines- the enemy- went after him. David heard about this and "inquired of the Lord" asking whether he should go after them- if the Lord would deliver them into his hand. The Lord responded: "Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand." God gave David a strategy in verses 23 & 24 and verse 25 states: "And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer." David not onl

In Part 1 I spoke on the very fact that Satan is waging war on the Church and that Christians must be engaged in the battle. We can not be passive and simply hope for the best. We must prepare and we must fight the good fight of faith with the spiritual weapons that Christ has given us through the Holy Spirit.   Today I want to talk about what it takes to win these battles. We must have a "strategy". The business world will tell you that to be successful you must have a plan of action- a strategy. Even some churches make up strategy plans. And in our own individual lives- we must have a strategy to win over the enemy. But in that plan, in that strategy-- we must allow room for God to move. We can't put a box around the things we want to see happen and not allow God to move.     1. PRAYER First, part of our strategy has to include prayer. We can't live a day without it and we cannot be victorious in our fight against Satan without it. We must remember that

Satan is waging an all out war against the church. He always has been, but this war has greatly intensified over the last decade or so. We are living in the "end times" and Satan doesn't want anyone to have the victory in Jesus Christ. The sooner we accept the fact that we are in a battle, the better off we will be. It is a time to FIGHT like never before- and I mean in the Spirit. It is a spiritual battle and we can only be victorious with our spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God" . In order for us to not have a stronghold for the enemy to take hold of in our lives we must strive to live a pure life, being obedient to the Word of God.   The children of Israel were commanded by God to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. He would make them victorious if they were obedient to him. But throughout Israel's history we see where they did not do what they were told. They

Text: John 12:22-26 Verse 23 - "But Jesus answered them saying, 'The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."   The world is waiting for Christ to be glorified in the Church. It is time now. In order for this to happen- for new life to happen-- there must be death. When a grain of wheat dies in the ground, it will rise to new life in its season. It will produce much grain. (V. 24)   We, as Christians, must be willing to die to the things of the world. We must give up our ideas and our stubborn ways, and allow God to bring forth the things that He wants us to produce. Just like that grain of wheat- we must die to ourselves. The whole concept of Christianity is one of death- dying to self- our own plans and self-preservation. We must allow Christ to have His way in our lives.   But- we don't want to die. We don't want to give up those things that we think we must have. It brings pain. Sometimes we like to see just how much we can get aw

My wife and I enjoy taking walks through the Metro and State Parks. I love photography and have all kinds of cameras and lenses and really enjoy photographing wildlife and nature. Recently while we were on one of these walks we met a man who gave us some very good tips on how to get some great photographs of wildlife. He said the key was that you really had to know what you were looking for and focus on that. If you're looking for deer, know when they are out. If you're interested in photographing woodpeckers or other birds, you have to look for their signs and you have to focus on that particular bird. He said that most people just go trudging down the trails, never looking for anything in particular and that is just what they find- nothing. They walk right past a raccoon up in the tree because they never look up. They walk right past a doe giving birth in the field because they never look down. They are only focused on themselves and not on what is happening around them. But

1 Samuel 15:13-16 In this text Saul is confronted by the prophet Samuel because Saul didn't obey the command to totally destroy the Amalekites. The  spoil was considered a sacrifice to God. But Saul didn't do that. Instead he spared King Agag, the best of the sheep, oxen, lambs and all that was good. ( Verse9 ). When Samuel confronted him on his disobedience (even while the sheep were bleating and the oxen were lowing)-- Saul denies that he has done anything wrong. What have I done wrong? Instead in verse 13 he makes a statement --"I have performed the commandment of the Lord". It is as if he is saying- Look at me--- I've done a good job! I did what the Lord asked me to do! Aren't I great! Later, Saul gives various excuses as to why he did what he did (or better said- didn't do what he should have done).   Samuel looks at him and says "Be quiet!". When God confronts us on issues that are not pleasing to Him, I can imagine Him looking at

Acts 2:23-24; 32 - "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know-Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death. " This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."   The death of Jesus Christ was planned by God. It wasn't a mistake or something that just happened. It was "by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God". Christ had to die in order to be resurrected. Likewise, we must die in our will before we will experience that same resurrection power. Christ lives in us! Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ,; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."   To be a

Recently several from the church volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House making cookies for the families there. Here are a few quotes from those who attended:   "We had such an inspiring day making cookies at Ronald McDonald House. So many people give their time helping there. The facilities are beautiful and help so many families. Any one can go in fix a meal(for 60 people), clean, donate books,etc. I can't think of all the things that can be done. It really touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes (some of the stories we were told). Thank you LORD for letting me a part. Have a Blessed Easter. love ya" (S. Parsons)   "Went to Ronald McDonald house today to bake cookies. I would strongly advise everyone who can to go. Take a tour. See what it is all about. If you don't come away changed, you really need prayer. They can use anything and everything. Donate time or household items or food. They appreciate it so! We will be going

What an awesome privilege it is to be able to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Many Christians in other countries do not have the freedom to publicly worship and celebrate Christ as they desire. If they do, they are subject to anything from verbal harassment to actual physical harm, imprisonment and possibly death. In spite of this, many Christians this Sunday in restricted nations will come out in public and worship the One Who died for them. They have already made up their minds that their life is not their own and that they will worship and celebrate Jesus Christ in the face of persecution or even death.   How many "Christians" will take advantage of the freedom that we have in our country and go to Church this Sunday? There is no fear of harm or imprisonment and yet many will take the day and do other things rather than spend some time worshipping and celebrating the One Who gives us Life! We have an amazing freedom here in this count

Exodus 19:10-13 "Then the Lord said to Moses,' Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.'"   Sanctify mean to consecrate, to separate. We are to separate ourselves unto God- totally. Not just one part of our lives- but our entire beings. Some Christians are like Jekyll and Hyde- they are one thing in church, but when they leave church- they become something else. They have a split personality. They are