STOP TRYING TO FIND ONE LOST SHEEP.....BE THE ONE LOST SHEEP!

In Luke 15, Jesus said that when a shepherd has lost one sheep,
he will leave all the others to find that one and bring it home.
We tend to interpret this to mean that we need to be the shepherd and
bring back the lost sheep–the dismayed former church member.
Actually, we have expended a lot of energy and effort trying to do this.
However, is our understanding of this parable correct?

In the book "Fresh Eyes to read the Bible I" Pastor Chung DuckYoung
points out that if we interpret this fundamental parable in this way,
then we misunderstand Jesus' message.

Firstly, when the shepherd(Jesus) found the one lost sheep,
he brought it to his home and did not return it to the wilderness where
the sheep had been; where the other 99 sheep were.

Secondly, the shepherd shows great joy over the one lost sheep that was found,
not over the remaining 99 sheep.

Thirdly, the shepherd is the friend of the one lost sheep, not the 99 sheep,
because he brought it to his home where his friends were.

The one lost sheep, when found by the shepherd, represents the repentant sinner who
is in the kingdom of God and the 99 remaining sheep represent the self-righteous and
non-repentant sinners, who are in the wilderness.
Through this book, you may be shocked to realize that what you understand of the Bible
is quite different to the real meaning of the Scripture.
You now need a fresh perspective!

FRESH EYES TO READ THE BIBLE - BOOK 1

You Shall Not Commit Adultery!

A husband and wife can have a newborn baby through the seed
of the husband passing to his wife. 
One method of adultery is the wife taking the seed of another man. 
We should not do this. 

Jesus says that you need to be born again to enter the kingdom of God
(Jn 3:3).  Being born again means that you need to have a newborn baby
within you by receiving the seed of God.  Jesus is the man who gives the
seed/word of God, and you are the woman who takes the seed from
Him to give birth to a newborn baby. 
This is you as a born-again person, with the life of Jesus.
   
In this sense, God/Jesus is your husband, the seed giver.

[Isa 54:5] For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty
is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called
the God of all the earth.

Now what if someone is taking a seed other than God’s? 
Then he is committing adultery.  The Pharisees and scribes were chaste
as they were diligently studying the word of God, the Scriptures. 
Jesus, however, said to them:
 
[Mk 7:7-8] “‘They worship me in vain; their teachings are
but rules taught by men.’  You have let go of the commands
of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
 
They studied the Scriptures and believed that God’s
word should be applied to human society.  For instance, they
construed ‘adultery’ as the act of sexual intercourse in the natural
world, and in no way related to spiritual ‘adultery’ which refers to taking
man’s doctrine during the process of being born again by God's word. 
In fact, such interpretation itself already converted the word of God
in their minds to a human doctrine.
In this way, they were receiving man’s seed rather than God’s,
their husband.  This is the adultery.

As a result, they gave birth to men-taught adulterous newborn babies. 
Thus, Jesus called them an adulterous generation (Mt 16:4).

If you commit physical adultery, you may be in trouble with society.
If you commit spiritual adultery, you may be cast out of the everlasting
kingdom of God.
What kind of seed are you receiving from the Scriptures? 
You need fresh eyes to read the Bible.


FRESH EYES TO READ THE BIBLE - BOOK 2