The Character of a Shepherd

A person’s Character is the cumulated traits that form a person’s nature.

A combination of one’s moral and ethical qualities will make up his/her
character.

In this section of the course we are going to look at what are the
cumulated traits that make up the Character of a shepherd in the church
of God.

A. Spirit Controlled (John 3.5-8; 2 Cor 5.17; Eph 4.17-

32, 5.18; Gal. 5.25; Rom. 12.14)
When you were born-again, you were re-created and the old life
passed away, it died, and you were resurrected a new person. The
spirit that is in you was dead and has now been made alive. The
Spirit is now what controls your thinking, feeling, and actions. (Eze
36.25-26)

B. Personal Holiness (Rom. 6.10-14; 12.1-2, Eph. 4.1-2)

Another trait of a true shepherd is his/her personal life. The public
life of a shepherd must be the same and his/her private life as far
as holiness goes. If you ever want to know the truth of the inner
holiness of a shepherd, ask their spouse.

C. Devotional Life (Ps. 42.1-2; 62.1-5; 63.1)

The Devotional life of a shepherd will reveal what is most important
to him/her. The root word for devotional is devotion. In other
words, a Godly devotional life of a shepherd is that God, His Word,
His will, and His church is what the shepherd is devoted to.

D. Prayer Life (Jer. 29.12-13, 33.3; 1 Sam. 12.23; Lk. 11-

5-10)
If there is one thing the enemy of God would love to do to the
Shepherd it would be, to disrupt his communication with God by
affecting his prayer life. Prayer is the life’s blood of a shepherd.
Prayer is what keeps him/her in the will of God to do His work..
E. Family Life ( Eph 5.22-32, 6-4; Col. 3.18-21; 1 Tim.
3.4-5)
Family life for the shepherd is his/her support. The shepherd’s
family life is also his/her example to others. The relationship with
his/her spouse and his/her children must be godly and strong.

F. Spiritual Anointing (Matt. 3.11; Acts 1.8, 4.32; 1 Cor.

12.1-11)
Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit the shepherd cannot do
anything truly righteous. It is the anointing of the Spirit of God
that makes this calling Holy and Sacred. When the High Priest
Aaron was to do the service of God for the people of God he was
anointed by the Spirit of God (Psalms 133.2).

G. The Character of a False Shepherd (Mat 13:38)

The Devil is a liar and a deceiver!! When his lips move it is a lie. He
has a false gospel. His lies are promoted and encouraged by false
pastors and teachers which produce false Christians. There are
good shepherds and there are false ones. Here are some
characteristics of the false shepherds.

 They Are Not What They Seem (Mat 24.24; 2 Pet 2.1-4)
Magicians have the skill to deceive. They can make you see
things that are not real. False shepherds have the skill to
look like something they are not. We must always stay alert.

 Greed Is Their Motivation (Isa 56.11; Eze 34.2-10)

As you may know greed is an unhealthy and perverse desire
for something you do not have. False shepherds have defiled
their minds and darkened their hearts and possess this
unhealthy and perverse desire known as Greed.
 They Lead The People of God Astray (Jer. 50.6)
A false shepherd is anti-God and anti-Christ! These
shepherds desire to deceive others away from all that is
godly. Their only desire is to lead the people of God to
destruction (John 10.10).

 They Believe They Call The Shots (Jer 23.21-22)

These shepherds believe that they are the shot-callers.
Instead of speaking for God these shepherds speak instead of
and contrary to God. These false shepherds do not follow
God’s will but they follow their own.

 They Produce a False Gospel (Gal 1:6-9; 2 Cor 11.12-15)

False teachers and shepherds of God will teach a lot of truth,
however they are good at twisting the truth just enough to
make it a lie.

 They Produce False Brothers (2 Cor 11:26)

False shepherds are experts in multiplying. The spread of
their lies are with ease for it follows the spirit of the world, the
prince of the power of the air (Eph 1.1-3).