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Posted: 06/05/2008 at 8:44pm
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MORE RELATING TO THE TWENTY FOLD MINISTRY
I get the feeling sometimes that people don’t get to actually read the Bible very much and that their understanding of “religious” matters largely results from what they hear from preachers, whether in church or TV or wherever.
Re the “twenty fold ministry” - I am going to say again with more detail what the Bible actually says about the ministry team that is listed by name in the New Testament, and that God has placed in every local church, the interaction of which is intended to produce men and women who have matured into being of the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ – duplicates of Jesus.
In the article “The Twenty Fold Ministry and It’s Calling” I run through the lists of the ministries as found in Romans 12, 1st Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and 1st Timothy and Titus. It seems some folk missed the point. So now I am going to identify each one separately – and as you read it, I want you to recognise that God intends this ENTIRE team to be in operation in your church – which ideally is the church I talk about in the “Church in your street” article.
Elders, Bishops, Overseers, Presbyters – different words for the same job – and these are the leaders in every church. The qualifications for these men are given by Paul in 1st Timothy and Titus. It is not an “office”. KJ says “office” but it is simply “a noble task”. When Paul established churches on his “First Missionary Journey” he left the new converts in the hands of Holy Spirit with no religious resources whatever. A year of so later, he made his second journey and men who had matured during that year and who stood out as leaders, Paul set apart as overseers.
The word “elder” cannot be converted into “pastor” or anything else.
These men are the glue that holds an assembly together. They keep a lid on things, encourage developing ministries, can smell a phoney a block away. They have teaching ability. The are the supervisors. They are NOT pastors. And there is a team of them. And if somehow fellows are added to that team who are not actually put there by God – all hell can break loose in that church.
Looking at the ministries in the NT as we come to them – first in Romans, Paul tells the folk there that just as the body has many different parts each having different functions “so we – numerous as we are, and individually we are parts one of another. Having gifts, faculties, talents, qualities, that differ according to the grace given us – let us use them …"
Then he lists the ministry giftings there .
Prophets. Speak what God is saying at that time to a nation or a city or a church – and occasionally to an individual. Having the “gift of prophecy” does not make a person a prophet.
Practical Service. He/she gives themselves to serving others.
Teachers. Teach that thing God has imparted at that time for that occasion.
Exhorter. More off the cuff than structured teaching. It is a ministry of encouragement.
Contributor. A giver. With simplicity and liberality.
Aid Workers. With zeal and singleness of mind.
Mercy Missioners. With genuine cheerfulness and joyful eagerness.
This is the list he mentioned as being in the Rome church, but most likely there were others there he did not add. At that point, Paul had never been to Rome. When he did finally get there it was to get his head chopped off.
Paul had “planted” the church at Corinth. They were a raunchy lot, but they moved in a level of Holy Spirit anointing you know nothing about. In his first letter he reminds them that “there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments, gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians … and there are distinctive varieties of service and administration. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit for good and for profit”.
So in chapter 12, he adds to the list he gave the folk at Rome –
Holy Spirit power to speak a Word of Wisdom. This is a “knowing how” that has no connection with natural intelligence.
Holy Spirit power to express a Word of Knowledge and understanding. This also has no connection with any information you may already have of a situation. These two ministries frequently work together.
Holy Spirit given wonder working faith.
Holy Spirit given extraordinary powers of healing.
Working of Miracles
Prophetic insight – the gift of interpreting the Divine will and purpose.
The ability to distinguish between true and false spirits.
The gift of Tongues
The ability to interpret such tongues.
Paul goes on to say – All these gifts, achievements and abilities are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same Holy Spirit who apportions to each person individually and exactly as he chooses…..you collectively are Christ’s body and individually you are members of it, each part severally and distinct, each with his own place and function.
Then he summarises what he has just said and adds some more.
So God has appointed some in the church – first
Apostles (Greek) - in Latin the same word is missionary. They are “special messengers” – and in the NT sense they are church statesmen. I will not comment on the new crop of “apostles”.
Then he again lists prophets, teachers, wonder workers, ability to heal the sick, helpers, administrators, speakers in tongues. To emphasise the individual variety of ministry giftings, he then asks – “are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all have the power to perform miracles, do all possess extraordinary powers of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret”.
The answer is obviously “no” – but the questions tell us all these ministries were being exercised by various individuals in that raunchy, carnal church at Corinth.
That extremely obscure passage in Ephesians contains the names of two ministries we have not come across before –
Evangelist – with which we are familiar. And
Pastor. Apart from that one word in that rather strange passage in Ephesians 4 – the word is not found at any other place in the Bible – and for which Strongs is unable to give a meaningful explanation – but which has virtually destroyed the Body of Christ for probably 1700 years. You know what pastors are in our church setting, so I don’t need to elaborate. Not at any time nor at any place will you find a pastor – as we know pastors – in any place in the New Testament – except for Diotrephes in 3rd John – who would not allow John to visit HIS church.
Read my reply to DD at the end of the original “Twenty Fold Ministry” article for more about the work of a pastor.
I could wax warmly about the flow-on effect of the church being decimated, centimated, kilomated, millomated by the pastor industry – resulting in the church that is supposed to be the representation of God Almighty in a city or nation – but it isn’t – so we have the situation in our cities and nation you see on the TV news every night. It’s serious, folk.
Then right at the end we have the
Deacons – the men in the background making the thing work. No church would survive without them. They are not another substitute name for pastors or anything else. They are the practical people in the background of every genuine local church.
That’s the church team folk. The whole twenty of them. And no, they are not folded up like Japanese origami. That really was a weird label to attach to that group in Ephesians 4, just to try to justify some of the authority and control being exerted over the Body of Christ by some of these fellows.
For a refresher of what the Body of Christ exists to be, go back to my article “The Twenty Fold Ministry and It’s Calling”.
It will be a healthy exercise for you to check out what the New Testament says about church ministry against what is going on where you “go to church”. We just plain cannot keep carrying on with this religious insanity which is – at the end of the day – destroying our nations – and ultimately - us.
It will be profitable for you to read my Betelgeuse article again. We are not here to play these crazy games. It is an eternally serious business we are involved in.
Please - I am not writing these things just to see my name in print. I am watching your nation tear itself apart, and all I see coming from the church is pretty little homilies telling you how to have a better life. It is pretty obvious that US church folk have no idea what is going on – it’s not in the back rooms any more – but right out in the open. To hell with protest rallies and letters to your representative. You have the authority to stop this whole thing cold – but you don’t even know what the thing is that must be stopped or it’s going to destroy you. No – I am not paranoid – I have been watching this wicked thing grow for more than twenty years – and during those same years I have watched the Western church become about the most irrelevant operation on the face of the planet.
I am writing these articles in an attempt to get somebody mad enough to start jumping up and down and start exercising some of the authority you Christ-ones have been given. That’s what I’m on about.
I am so tired of Christian religious pusillanimity. You look it up.
Laurence
www.godhasadream.com.au
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Topic: MORE RELATING TO THE TWENTY FOLD MINISTRY
Pusillanimity: COWARDLINESS 
