WHAT IS A GREEN TREE SHEPHERD?

Romans 5:1&2 succinctly explains the whole purpose and life changing dynamics of God's Grace. The Grace that is made available because of the redemptive acts of Christ.  It reads:
          Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with
          God through our Lord Jesus Christ;      
          Through him we have obtained by faith access to this grace
          in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the
          glory of God.
We know from scripture that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Equally important, we have received the mandate from scripture that in order to be men and women of faith, we must believe that God exists and that he is rewards those who diligently seek him.  Having this truth in mind, it is no great mystery that the most precious gift offered by God to humanity can only be obtained, appropriated and experienced by faith.  Without question, for the man or woman of faith, it never becomes a matter of debate, doubt or speculation that "The Righteous One was sent to justify many".  Happily, the believing man or woman of faith, boldly announces, solemnly declares, and happily proclaims in a spirit of joyous spiritual revolution, "we are (now) justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ," and because of his obedience to the Father, we have a new standing with God.  And what is our new standing?  We have peace with God!
     What then was our old standing with God?  We were by nature Children of wrath like the rest of mankind!  For "All have sinned and resultantly fallen short of the Glory of God." But God in his great Love wherein he Loved us while we were children of wrath and disobedient, sent his Son, his only begotten, The Righteous One of Isaiah 53:11 to justify us by his grace as a gift .  How did he justify us?  Through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus!  For we were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the incorruptible blood of Christ/the Messiah, the sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish (IstPeter1:18,20).  How Great, how Wonderful, how Glorious, that it was God personally present in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to peace and favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against mankind their trespasses but canceling them.  As it is written:
          Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
          whose sin is covered.
          Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity....(Psalm 32:1,2).
     Now every believer that has received this new standing with God for the duration of their life on earth are enlisted as Ambassadors of Christ and given the commission to go out into all of the world declaring God's gift of Grace to the rest of mankind.  And what is this gift of grace?  God who was in Christ reconciled the world to Himself!  Therefore our ministry and message to the world is Be ye reconciled to God, receive his divine favor!  It is the mission and purpose of Green Tree to prayerfully and studiously equip every believer with spiritual food that will transform them into mature Ambassadors of Christ, fit to do the Master's work. Let us help you represent Christ in the world.  Become a Green Tree Ambassador today! 
     Oh but there is more!  Now that we know what are standing is with God and how we access that standing, and what glorious work established that standing for us, it is incumbent upon us that we put on the Glory of God!  Return with me to Romans 5:1&2.  It reads:
     Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus      Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we            rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
Now some of you may think that our rejoicing during this life is evoked by our hope that at the Lord's second coming we will share in the glory of God.  Needless to say, our salvation will be complete in its entirety at that time for we groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies.  I certainly do not want to diminish the glorified experience that we will ultimately receive at the second coming of Christ.  However, through the Lord Jesus Christ we have not obtained access to God's grace to stand forensically in a state of peace with God without also going on to share in the glory of God.  This is the subject of Paul's address in Romans chapter six  and in Ephesians 4:1-32. 
     After we receive God's gift of grace, What then is our calling?   It is indeed, "Christ in you the hope of Glory"!  This is not an event of hope deferred until the second coming of Christ.  It is a hope that is better understood as confident expectation.  The confident expectation in the here and the now is that the treasure of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ radiantly lives and abides in us (in our earthen vessels).  This is achieved with Christ in you!  Need I remind you that if "any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, your bodies are dead because of sin and your spirit is alive because of righteousness."  Is not the Spirit of Christ the garment of God's glory?  Need I also remind you that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation.  We are indeed children of a different light, a people for God's possession who are called to declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light?  Is it not putting on the glory of God to be conformed to the image of His Son?  In fact after Christ finished his great work of redemption, he sat down at the right hand of the Father and serves as an intercessor and advocate for the believers that he may bring many sons to glory.   Does Christ expect to receive at his second coming a body of believers who are without spot or blemish without the putting on and sharing in the glory of God?  It is a hard thing for Christian scholars, teachers, preachers, and some lay believers to accept the fact that the Righteous One of Isaiah 53:11 came to make many righteous? How is one made righteous?  By putting on the glory of God that Paul spoke of in Romans 5:2.  
     What has Christ done to help his body share in the glory of God today, here and now?  He gave gifts to men!  And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers, FOR THE EQUIPMENT OF THE SAINTS, FOR THE THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR BUILDING UP THE BODY OF CHRIST...?  Is "the stature of the fullness of Christ" something that falls short of the glory of God or is it the dynamic that occurs when we put on - share in the glory of God?  When we grow up in every way in Christ is this not the process of putting on God's glory?   When we put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness are we not sharing in the glory of God that keeps us, sustains us, sanctifies us, matures us, forms and shapes us into a body without spot or blemish?   
     We at Green Tree know and recognized that those who have been given the gift of spiritual leadership by our Lord need to be well trained in the things of God.  We recognized that a tremendous responsibility is upon all those called and gifted of God to lead, nurture and build up the his body..This is why we acknowledge those called of God and given the gift of leadership as Green Tree Shepherds, for such leaders are given the responsibility of caring for the body of Christ.  Join with us!  Let us help you develop your gift and calling to bring the body of Christ to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!