The most basic way to distinguish the church that God is building from what He is not is to know Christ. He is our Shepherd. He has never abdicated that position. He is our Teacher, and He has never abdicated that position. Do not follow anyone who claims to have taken the place of Christ in anything.
Yet, the Lord does much of His leading and teaching through His ministries in this time. So, how do we follow Him? We don’t seek to hear the words of the Lord, but we seek to hear the Word Himself. We must hear His voice when He speaks through His people. We must have the resolve of the Shulamite maiden as she prayed to the Lord in the Song of Solomon 1:7: "Tell me, O You whom my soul loves, where do You pasture Your flock, where do You make it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of Your companions?"
The Bride will not be content to hear the messages or teachings of her Beloved just through others; she demands to have a relationship with Him directly. That is the right that He gave to His followers when He rent the veil of the temple at His crucifixion. The Lord does manifest Himself through the ministries He has given to the church, but the way we recognize a true shepherd He has sent is when we hear our Shepherd speaking through them. The way we recognize a teacher He has sent is we hear our Teacher speaking through them.
In His teaching about the Good Shepherd in John 10, the Lord said that His sheep know His voice, and they follow Him because they know His voice. So, when we listen to a teacher or read the works of an author, we must seek to hear more than the words of the Lord; we must hear the Word Himself. The way we know a true teacher sent by God is not just by their knowledge and wisdom, or the degrees they have, but whether we hear our Lord through them. This is true with all ministry.
As stated often, the Lord will bless anything He can as much as He can, but He will not inhabit everything. We must start seeing beyond just what He’s blessing, or those He is blessing, and seek His presence in those He is inhabiting.
It is because we seek to follow Christ that we should beware of those who are seeking to leave their legacy in this world. I have been privileged to know many of the greatest men and women of our time, and I have spent most of my life, which has now spanned over three quarters of a century, studying the great voices in church history. Tragically, too many of these went off track near the ends of their lives. They seemed to all stumble over the same stumbling block. What is that? How can we avoid it?
This departure from the Way seemed to always come when they started thinking about their legacy, being concerned about how they would be remembered in the world, in place of Christ’s legacy. Something is seriously awry when we become so devoted to that which is temporary rather than to the eternal and the Eternal One. If we have known and followed the Lord, and beheld His glory, how could we even think about our own legacy instead of His?
There will be glory and honor on the Judgment Day for His servants who have served Him well, but we will also learn how much it cost us to give attention or effort to any honor for ourselves. True honor is earned by not seeking our own interests and being wholly devoted to His. Even so, all honor and glory will so pale beside His that we will be profoundly embarrassed by any attention we have wasted seeking our own. It is a trap to seek our own legacy in this present world, but we will have a greater one for eternity if we live and finish this life seeking His.
One thing we will learn on His Judgment Day is how many of the good works of men were from the good side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, rather than from the Tree of Life, Jesus. Never, ever, compromise your devotion to Him as the ONLY Head of the church—our Shepherd, our Teacher, our Prophet, our Evangelist, and the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (see Hebrews 3:1). Because we honor Him, it is right to honor the messengers He sends, but we must never let any man or angel eclipse our devotion to Him.
People who give their ultimate devotion to mankind will take the mark of the beast, 666, a number which represents mankind. The mark is not the sin, but it is evidence that man is what we have been worshipping. Those who keep their ultimate devotion to God will be in no danger of such deception. Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (see Matthew 22:37-38). Those who do not keep the first commandment will be in danger.
© 2026 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
