Sonlight Devotional

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Scripture reading: John 10:7-14

Turn with me to John 10:7, “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.” Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep.” Not just any door, but the door of the sheep. That is, if you are sheep, you must come through that door. When you are talking about sheep, you are talking about the specific nature that God has endowed the brethren with, the nature of the sheep. He said, you MUST come through this door. You cannot go through any other door. Many of us are seeking other doors, but He said, “This is the door! The door of the sheep!”

Verse 8, “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.” You know, we have had many brethren who felt one thing or another about us fellowshipping together, and they have gone, left us, and gone to fellowship with other people. It is sad, but I meet them on the street, and they say, “Well, I am going to such and such a place. I am fellowshipping now at the Baptist Church or so and so.” I say, “Well, praise God. Are you happy there? Are you blessed?” They say, “Yes.” I say, “Well, that’s where you belong.” If someone can leave us and go somewhere else, and find peace and joy and blessing there, that’s where they belong! Encourage them to stay there! Amen! Because there is something about the sheepfold – there is a voice inside of the sheepfold that is not anywhere else, and it sounds peculiar. But you go into the shopping center and you hear someone talking, and the person’s talk blesses you, that’s the sheepfold. That’s the Lord speaking. You will hear the voice of God in some unlikely places! Oh yes! But when you hear the voice, you must know exactly that you hear the voice of God. “That’s the Lord!” Amen.

After Jesus left the brethren, they felt really down and decided to go fishing. When they were there fishing, there was a man sitting down on the seashore, and he was roasting fish. He said to them, “Come and dine,” and they went and ate with Him and He spoke to them. One of the men said to Peter, “It is the Lord” (John 21:5-14). You know what that means? Jesus had changed. He had changed His face. He had changed His look. They were no longer discerning Jesus Christ by their eyes or by their ears! Amen. But the voice of the Master is planted in my heart, and wherever I hear this voice, that’s where I am going to go. Let’s read a little more.

John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 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. 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”

This means that we begin to lose personalities. We don’t say, “Brother So-and-So says this, Sister So-and-So says that.” We begin to say, “The Lord said to me so and so and so and so.” Because when the voice is spoken to you, it is what you hear. If you heard duCille, drop it! Don’t follow it! If you heard God, you are bound. Amen.

So a brother came to me one day and said, “Brother Ces, are you perfect?” I replied, “No, I am not perfect. But if God sent me with a word to you, and I faithfully give the word to you, THAT is perfect!” That is the perfection that we have in the Body of Christ. It is a perfection of a word that comes from the Almighty God to His people. Guess what? It must come at this time or you are a loser! If you do not hear God at this time, you are a loser! Because the time is the last time!

God is coming to the church and the church is NOT READY. Therefore, I asked God one day, “Lord, what are you going to do to bring us from way back here to way up there? What are you going to do?” God said, “Tribulation. Suffering.” The only thing that is going to purify the church is suffering, and we are at the edge of it.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, April 28, 2002)

Thought for today: The voice of the Master is planted in my heart, and wherever I hear this voice, that’s where I am going to go.