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Tuesday, January
22, 2008
Still
In Play
Ephesians 4:11-15 And he gave
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers;(12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (3) Till we all come
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (14)
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (15) But speaking the truth in love,
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (KJV)
There are some today that
claim there are no more apostles and prophets, and no more miracles because
they ceased after the disciples and the work they accomplished. But if you
look at the above verses we see they are given and called by God for the
work of the ministry to help build up the body of Christ and teach them how
to grow and mature in Him. So simply put, as long as there is a body of
believers in Christ and as long as there is a ministry work being done, then
nothing could be further from the truth than to think that there are no
more apostles and prophets out there still answering the call. The reason
people preach this nonsense is because they haven’t answered their own call
to the ministry work and have limited God by what others tell them and not
what the spirit of God would be speaking. Many think of a prophet as one
that just speaks of future events or someone the Lord has worked a miracle
through; and because they don’t see it for themselves then they think it
doesn’t work for others.
Matthew 16:1-4 The Pharisees also
with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a
sign from heaven. (2) He answered and said unto them, When it is evening,
ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. (3) And in the
morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O
ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern
the signs of the times? (4) A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the
prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed. (KJV)
The Lord Himself was
confronted with those that limited the things of God by the outward not
realizing the plan of salvation that would be manifested to the believers
by an inward change. Many today are looking for some outward sign and
miracle, and fall short of their calling because they miss the greatest
miracle of all which is salvation and being able to be born again into the
realm of the Spirit. Things that were previously hidden and unable to be
understood by man are now being unveiled and revealed to them through the Spirit
and the miracle of this new life and beginning. The Old Testament prophets
could only speak as the Holy Spirit came upon them and delivered the
message of a messiah that God would send for the salvation of the world.
The New Testament prophets are the ones that should be teaching the Church
the mystery of the gospel and enlightening them to the Messiah that has
come; pointing them in the direction of the spiritual realm and to quit
looking for an outward manifestation or sign. God is still more than
capable of miracles; which to us they are awe inspiring but to Him it’s
just business as usual. The question is ‘where are you looking for the
answer to the mystery of the gospel; will you keep looking for an outward
sign or will you seek the inward confirmation that will build a firm
foundation for you to stand on’?
Luke 17:20-21 And when he was
demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered
them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: (21) Neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is
within you. (KJV)
People today still look at
Jesus the man and the demonstration of the power of God he allowed to work
through him which was only done by the spirit of Christ within Him. Today
many still teach and preach the blessings of God and relate it only to the
outward manifestations they can see, totally ignoring all the spiritual
blessings we have been blessed with which are in the heavenly places and
can only be found by those that are able to operate within the realm of the
Spirit.
Matthew 10:7-8 And as ye go,
preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (8) Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have
received, freely give. (KJV)
Before our conversion we were
all spiritually sick. Spiritually we were like the lepers; which when they
contracted the disease, had to be separated from others so as not to spread
this deadly disease. We have all been raised from the dead spiritually and
are able to walk in a newness of life leaving the old ways and the old man
behind us. I am able to cast down every negative imagination of the devil
which he would try to mislead me with by the renewing of my mind; so that I
can operate with the mind of Christ. With all that is available in the
spiritual realm, why are so many still looking for an outward sign in a realm
where the Lord said He wouldn’t be found? Freely we have received this gift
of Christ and freely we should be distributing it; which is why I don’t
understand why so many have put a price tag on the word of God. If one is
truly called of God and preaching His word then they will be distributing
it freely without fleecing the flock and making merchandise of them.
Ephesians 3:3-5 How that by
revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few
words, (4) Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ) (5) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit; (KJV)
Obviously this mystery that
Paul wrote about, ministering to the Church his personal knowledge of
Christ, is still a mystery to many which claim there are no more prophets
today. As long as there is the Church, the body of believers still left
here, there will be those that are still called to this position; the
question is, will they answer the call in the Spirit or will they miss out
because they seek the answer in the flesh. Paul found his answer in the
realm of the Spirit and wrote to the Church that is in Christ, the Son of
God, that this mystery is only revealed through a personal knowledge in Christ.
Ephesians 3:6-10 That the
Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his
promise in Christ by the gospel: (7) Whereof I was made a minister,
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual
working of his power. (8) Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ; (9) And to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (10) To the intent that
now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by
the church the manifold wisdom of God, (KJV)
The answer is in Christ. Those
that have been called to His ministry will not limit their calling to what
man tries to dictate; rather they will come to a personal knowledge of the
mystery of the gospel so that they not only can see for themselves the
unsearchable riches in Christ, but continue to teach others and allow the
truth in Him to still be in play. The manifold wisdom of God is still
available to all that would seek a relationship with the Father; but it
only can be accomplished by those that seek to worship Him in Spirit and in
truth. Don’t limit God and don’t be taken in by these false doctrines of
man that have chosen to limit Him and their own calling, but rather walk by
faith and let Him reveal Himself to you. God bless and keep the faith.
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