Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 4:
11 And he has appointed some with grace to be apostles, and some with grace to be prophets, and some with grace to be evangelists, and some with grace to be pastors, and some with grace to be teachers. 12 And their calling is to nurture and prepare all the Holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the Body of Christ.
The five-fold ministry should be about “giving”, not taking. Each calling has been given a ministry to nurture and prepare Holy believers to do mature works of the ministry, not simply to sit in a pew each Sunday and be fed a little milk.
What is the goal? It is to enlarge and build up the Body of Christ. What a simple mandate yet men have been led by their minds rather than The Holy Spirit and have built their own “kingdoms” of followers.
True ministry originates with Jesus Christ and His directives which include the active participation of The Holy Spirit. In many cases, The Holy Spirit has been relegated to the “back room” or ushered completely out of the building. How sad!
13 These grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness in the faith, until we all experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God, and finally we become one perfect man with the full dimensions of Spiritual maturity and fully developed in the abundance of Christ.
Paul shares the end-game in the above passage. The five-fold ministry is temporary in nature and should not be perpetuated beyond its mission.
14 And then our immaturity will end! And we will not be easily shaken by trouble, nor led astray by novel teachings or by the false doctrines of deceivers who teach clever lies. 15 But instead we will remain strong and always sincere in our Love as we express the Truth. All our direction and ministries will flow from Christ and lead us deeper into Him, the anointed Head of his body, the church.
We must be watchful of the false doctrines and clever lies. The Holy Spirit AND The Word will protect us from those wolves. We need both in order to see through their cleverness! I have been duped more than once because I disregarded that “still small voice”. As for me, I prefer less of those learning experiences.
16 For His “body” has been formed in His image and is closely joined together and constantly connected as ONE. And every member has been given Divine gifts to contribute to the growth of all; and as these gifts operate effectively throughout the whole body, we are built up and made perfect in Love.
Agape Love perfects and each of us has a part to move to that perfection of the body. Your vision and provision originates in Heaven, not on the earth. Each of us must pull down these resources from Heaven and manifest them on earth. The angels are given missions to accomplish this. The Holy Spirit will lead and guide us into our vision and provision as we are disciplined and obedient to walk in Agape Love.
Shouldn’t we be focusing on the endgame rather than sitting in the basement with rations? Is any virus greater than FATHER’S ability and willingness to heal? If we are going to separate ourselves from the world, let’s do it in the Secret Place (Psalm 91) and then get our marching orders for the day. This is what overcomers are directed to do.
You and I are HIS Sons and Daughters forever. We are HIS creation so let us walk in that understanding and no longer allow the adversary any part of our daily lives.
As Colossians chapter 1 given to us by The Holy Spirit instructs us:
Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to HIS glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 HE has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of HIS Love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Amen!