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Summary:
The five fold ministry of Christ was to bring forth the Body of Christ into a maturity, into the fullness of Christ in the earth. These gift ministries are not a position but a commission to servitude to the Body of Christ just as their Lord and Master came to serve the Father’s will in the earth.
Quotes:
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There’s a lot of people out there today that say we don’t need apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. But the problem is we do.
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We need these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, they all serve a purpose.
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The whole point of apostles and prophets is to build up the body. And basically they’re servants.
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…as we go on into this kingdom manifestation within His body, there will be many apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but you won’t even know who they are.
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There will be no identifiable positions in the kingdom .
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The flow of the family, the flow of the body, is going to be for the building up of the body of Christ, not the identifying of certain ministries.
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An apostolic ministry was sent .
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…the ministry of an apostolic ministry is to build up, to minister to, to shepherd the flock.
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A prophet has a shepherd’s heart.
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Evangelist, he works within the body, within the church, as an encouragement.
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The shepherd leads the sheep into the place where they can partake of the best meadow, the best of the food. And they watch over these people, they watch over these sheep, and bring them forth into the fullness .
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All of them were for that purpose, to build up the body of Christ.
References:
And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors an teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
He got up from supper and *laid His outer garments aside; and He took a towel and tied it around Himself.
Takeaway:
Christ gave the five fold ministries to the church. These gift ministries are servants to the Body and bond servants to Christ until we all attain to the knowledge of God, into a mature man, into the fullness of Christ in this earth.
Transcript
Ed:
There's a lot of people out there today that say we don't need apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. But the problem is we do. An apostle is nothing big. Think, oh, this great man of God. No, an apostle is just one that was sent to help people in an area. He's there helping the people.
Prophets, oh man, we're going to be needing prophets even more and more. All of these ministries are here until the perfect comes. And that perfect is Christ. So it's going to be here until Christ reveals Himself here again in His many membered body. We need these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, they all serve a purpose.
But not people that are building their kingdoms out of it . But people who love the Lord so much that they're actually loving the people, and using that ministry to bring people forth in the earth.
Ron:
The whole point of apostles and prophets is to build up the body. And basically they're servants.
They're not a position. It's not a place of glory. To me, if you are a servant, you're not really looking for the limelight, and you're not really in the limelight. In fact, as we go on into this kingdom manifestation within His body, there will be many apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but you won't even know who they are.
They'll just be there. They're one of the, one of the brothers, one of the sisters. More and more, as the Lord's dealing with the human nature and getting rid of the human nature and religious flesh, less and less you're going to hear about the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, because yes, they'll be there - the designations mean nothing. It's just a loving brother that ministers to you and serves you and loves you.
Ken:
There will be no identifiable positions in the kingdom . Because the family or the body of Christ will function with these different ministries, but they will not have captions over their heads saying, this is who I am, or this is who I am.
The flow of the family, the flow of the body, is going to be for the building up of the body of Christ, not the identifying of certain ministries. That day is gone - it's over with. And the day of the body of Christ coming forth in a purity. If it's a purity, then there's no pointing out and saying, this is my apostle or that's my prophet or - it's an automatic function in the family. And who that person will be or who those persons will be is not something that you can point a finger at and say, that's the one who spoke a word and I heard it. It's a multiplicity of the family functioning.
Dale:
What was their, the object of their ministry? And that was to bring us into the fullness of Christ. Anytime that you're turning out a product, that product has to be done in a very orderly manner. That's what's so exciting about a walk with God is He establishes His divine order.
The abuse of what we've seen over several centuries men and women that were given as gifts turned that around and said, now I'm in charge here. How would you say to relate to these ministries? We pray for them. We pray for them to keep their focus on their ministry of bringing us into the fullness of Christ.
And that's been a problem. But because God is one who looks for those who honor His order, we've had real men and women of God walking in this earth. That they were ones who were sent. An apostolic ministry was sent . A prophet was created by virtue of an anointing. And what a prophet really is - he doesn't foretell the future.
A prophet has a shepherd's heart. The Word that he speaks builds up. It doesn't tear down. It creates - it doesn't take and possess somebody. Evangelist, he works within the body, within the church, as an encouragement. Pastors, only mentioned twice in the scriptures, really that pastor is a shepherd. What does a shepherd do?
The shepherd leads the sheep into the place where they can partake of the best meadow, the best of the food. And they watch over these people, they watch over these sheep, and bring them forth into the fullness . You become a productive member of the body of Christ.
Ken:
I love what you're saying, Dale. And when I think of the apostolic ministry, it reminds me of the fact that when Jesus was with the twelve disciples in that upper room, the last thing He did before He closed that meeting was He put on a towel around His waist and filled a basin with water and began to wash their feet. He said to the disciples, what I'm doing right now, but what I'm doing is an illustration of what you are to do.
And the ministry of an apostolic ministry is to build up, to minister to, to shepherd the flock. And that's what He was exposing to the disciples. All of them were for that purpose, to build up the body of Christ.