No More Sheep Holding Pens - 3 Years and Out!Within three years, Jesus' talmidim were ready to follow him out into the world. Why do we keep our people in for decades?Every day in the USA, 16 churches close their doors for the last time. So many of our churches have become safe, comfortable places where people are fed, sheltered and secure, but rarely becoming more and more like Jesus. Without ever meaning to, we have built the sheep pens God warned about through the prophet Ezekiel.
No More Sheep Holding Pens calls church leaders, and the sheep who feel stuck, back to The Way Jesus lived. All the major religions of the world agree that living The Way Jesus described makes life better, for us and for everyone around us. But only one person ever said, "I only say and do what the Father gives me to say and do." This book is about learning to live like that: led by God moment by moment, and following the Good Shepherd out through the open gate, into all the world.
Inside, you will discover: - No More Sheep Holding Pens: Ezekiel 34:1-16, the shepherds who feed themselves, and the Good Shepherd who seeks his sheep and leads them out
- 3 Years and Out: why Jesus called his talmidim to be with him, and how they were ready to be useful to God so quickly
- The Way all agree upon, and the one thing only Jesus ever said
- The four prayers Jesus told us to pray, and why it is the Lord of the harvest, not the church, who sends out the laborers
- Order my steps, O God: learning to ask, "Is this mine to do?"
- BE my thoughts, my needs, my words and my deeds: asking God to be present in us, not just to give us things
- O Lord, that I be like that horse under you! Led without bit or bridle, one with the Father, him in us and us in him
- Orchestrate, integrate, unite your people, O God: joined and held together by every supporting ligament, to more productive service
- Building upon a sure foundation: as quickly as each person is able, not on a calendar
- For the sheep who feel stuck: you do not need anyone's permission to become a talmid
Built to be read together. Each chapter closes with a prayer and Questions for Your Twelve, so a leadership team or small group can work through the book side by side. The appendices include the four posters, a talmid's morning prayer and the six steps of the One Kingdom Worldwide books. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.
No more sheep holding pens. Three years and out. Go!
About the AuthorRicky Kroeger has spent more than 40 years consulting with organizations in 20 countries across five continents. He has served as a pastor, executive pastor and elder, and taken part in two church plants. He is the founder of One Kingdom Worldwide and the author of
The Once and Future Church,
Gravitas,
Life,
Love,
Leading,
Be a Part of the Solution,
No More Sheep Holding Pens and
Satan Away.
