In this message I will again be talking about one of the Ephesians 4 gifts given by God for the up building of His body that we call church. I want to stress the point that church is actually people not a building. With this in mind I want to talk about the gift of the teacher. It appears on the surface that this gift is alive and functioning well in our American churches. Even though we call everyone of leadership in the church pastor what we see in operation is actually the teacher. Remember a pastor stays with the sheep and feeds the sheep. This is not the ministry of the pulpit. The pulpit is a place of information not a feeding troth. We are people full of biblical knowledge and information. Bible and book stores are overfull of the latest teaching by someone looking to make money from knowledge providing knowledge. Turn on the television and you will quickly see some so called Christian trying hard to sell you some knowledge. Teaching is actually preaching but has nothing to do with pastoring. No wonder we are struggling today. We call teachers pastors and were not even sure what a pastor does. Teaching is one of the most warned about gifts in the entire bible. If teaching is used wrong it can be very dangerous to a vast number of people.
I will easily agree that we are a very informed people today but what we lack is biblical truth. It is amazing that with all of the teaching positions today that so many people are still so immature in Christ. We have Christian with a surplus of information but they are starving for relevant truth.
This is a follow up to my recent message “Understanding the Apostle.” The reason I have chosen to write about the gift of Pastor next is not by accident. In our modern church this is the most recognized gift but it purpose has been totally missed and improperly used. What the majority of people consider to be a pastor in not biblically aligned. In John Chapter 10 Jesus used an illustration that the crowd totally did not understand. My prayer is that we want remain like the crowd of people in the illustration. We live in a culture today that is in love with its religious traditions and rituals. When Jesus walked the earth over two thousand years ago, it is clearly documented that His ministry was cutting edge and flowed against the current of most religious leaders. How do we know this? Because it was religious leaders that called for His death. They attacked Him because He did not line up with their traditions and rituals. Jesus would hang out with the non religious folks. It’s funny we never really see them attack Him. Jesus would always be in the mist of people with needs. Jesus would be teaching in church one day and walking with sinners the next.
Can you imagine what the ministry of Jesus would be like today? Most church leaders and denominations would have serious issues with His ministry. Jesus would have a cutting edge ministry that most defiantly went against our traditions and man made order for His Fathers house. So why is the ministry demonstrated by Jesus not religion? Because Jesus moved things forward in a relevant cutting edge manner that went against man’s traditions. If you are honest you have all been part of a church that seemed like it was moving just to go back to the old ways, the old hymns, the same old deacons, the same old nothing. Religion always goes back to the comfort of its traditions. Why does this happen? Because it is much easier to live in the comfort of acceptable traditions than to lay down your life for biblical truth and direction of the Holy Spirit. Does this mean that when we are led by the Holy Spirit that we want have laws? No. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to be in disobedience with God. But listen, the Holy Spirit will led you to relevant ministry not follow you in your man made traditions. The Holy Spirit will lead you to move forward with Jesus instead of remaining bound by man. [View Full Message]
Today there is much ongoing talk about 5 fold ministry gifts. Many people are beginning to receive knowledge and understanding. Unfortunately many others are choosing to be disobedient and even argumentative with the word of God. If you disagree with Ephesians 4:11 your argument in vain with me I’m not the author or the one who penned the words. I like many people struggled to receive revelation of apostolic government and kingdom understanding. If you are struggling to accept the very word of God maybe you are just as I was. My problem was this: I was trying to decrease God to a place where he had to fit what my tiny mind thought that He should be. I found out that it was very dangerous to see God as small as my mind. Don’t make God as small as your mental capacity. Even the greatest of minds is far too small to comprehend the greatness of God.
Please remember that it was God who gave some to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastors and Teachers. Why would God give something that He had no intention of His people using? If you are all ready struggling in this message please click on our coup d’ etat button of our website. Today many leaders are really struggling with accepting Ephesians 4 ministry. Why is this so? The leaders are not really struggling with whether this is actually the word of God or not. If so you already need a new leader. No one needs a leader that challenges the very word of God. Today leaders are disguising their real reluctance to transition so that the truth isn’t really revealed. The truth is our man made leaders are questioning this: Will they still be the leader if it’s done God’s way. This very struggle sadly shows us where the hearts of our leaders are today. Their heart is more concerned about the position of authority over others than they are about their proper alignment with God. Regardless of their position God is still moving forward and this forward movement is what I’m actually writing about in this message. So let me start building your understanding and level of knowledge as to Ephesians 4 ministry gifts.
In this article we are going to start off by talking about Nicodemus. This is a very interesting set of scriptures.
John 3:1 - There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews
John 3:2 - The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
John 3:3 - Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:4 - Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
In John 3:2 we find the scripture to say that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. Why by night? Nicodemus was using the covering of the darkness to prevent others from seeing him. Today we would call this giving into peer pressure or being worried about what others would think. It looks like peer pressure was also alive and well even then. Many people today are just like Nicodemus, they are simply too afraid of what other people might think to openly approach Jesus or should I say the Kingdom of God. We are so afraid that we might offend a person that we risk offending the creator.
Faith is what unlocks every promise of God, and it is what brings us blessings. I do not mean a dead faith, but a living faith. There is a great difference between the two. Someone can tell me that they deposited one million bucks into a bank account for me. I can say that I believe they did, but until I act on what they told me and go get the money, my faith is dead and not alive. When you don’t believe, it locks the door and keeps you from getting blessed. It does not matter how much you know either! You can have all the knowledge in the world and a PHD on every wall in your house, but that does not save you or unlock one blessing. Knowledge is great, but what is required is that you not only have the knowledge, but that you act upon what you know and put it into action. It is like saying, “I know I believe God blesses those who give their money into the kingdom,” but you don’t do it. Can you really expect to be blessed anyway? It is like saying that you know you are to love your neighbor as yourself, but you don’t do it, can you expect to be blessed? It is like saying you know Jesus said to forgive or you won’t be forgiven, and you still do not forgive those who wrong you, can you really expect forgiveness from God?It takes FAITH to believe God at His word and act, because if you really believe God then you put it into action! If you don't you won't. Plain and simple, no more complicated than that.
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the TRADITIONS OF MEN,
after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ" (Col 2:8)
We are reminded in more than one place in God's word, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Deut. 12:32). What ever God does is perfect! In God's eyes, to add to His perfection, or to subtract from it, is looked upon as creating our own "tradition." The word "tradition," or "paradosis," is actually Latin in origin and comes from the root word, "paradidomi," which can mean "betray, deliver up, give over to, or yield up." We get our modern word "traitor" from this same word and interestingly enough, it's numerical value adds up to "666!”
We are surrounded in this world by religious spirits that practice deception through their "traditional" laws. We can see an example of that when looking at the largest member church in the world. When the reformer Martin Luther began challenging the Catholic church about their spiritual authority for it's many of its practices, a council was convened by the church in 1546. In that meeting it was declared that tradition should be regarded as divine authority and on equal basis with the scriptures. Many modern day Christian follow this same principal in church when they say “well this is the way we have always done it.” We know God has something greater for us but we can’t let go of our traditions to move forward. Sadly we have become more comfortable in following our traditions than we have the word of God. “If we stop singing out of the old red back hymnals, I’m leaving the church.” Why? “Because this is what we have always used to sing from.” I have actually heard this from a so called church leader. Many of these traditions which were introduced by the practicing of religion are still believed and practiced by our so called reformed ChristianChurches today.
Do any of these below describe your church or a church that you have attended? The current trend of most churches is very sad today. We most defiantly don’t have a lack of church buildings or programs. It’s very evident that we are lacking the sustenance of obedience and faith inside the church today.My intent in writing this is not to further berate the church but rather to sound the alarm to wake up. For too long we have been doing church in a manner designed to just suit us “the people inside the church”. Most churches are filled with lovers of their traditions rather than true love for the commandments of God. Folks it’s time for us to wake up and realize that there is still a world full of lost and dying souls not just strangers but family and friends.
No matter what you think if you are a true Christian you are responsible for their souls. Look at the bullet points below to see if any of these are familiar to you and your church experience.If you are truthful with yourself much of this will hit home with you. We must wake up, people are dying outside the church walls and even worst also on the inside!
Let us first take a look at how our thoughts or our way of thinking has and still holds us captive. In other words many people are imprisoned by they way they think. Thinking has prevented many people from acting upon the will of God. Many people are held captive by the thought of sickness and financial difficulty. This may come as a total revelation to you so we must look at the origination point for these thoughts.
What thoughts do you have in your mind? What do you see in your mind when I say car? How about money? How about sickness? With every word mentioned, you can see a mental image or picture. Mental thoughts were implanted into your mind by a family member, a boss, a church, maybe even by fear. The point is that your thought process is influenced by the things that enter into your mind. A repetitive cycle of these influences can start to translate into and form your belief systems.
If you are not experiencing a breakthrough from God, could it be a product of faulty teaching that has influenced your belief system? Have you become sick of being sick and see no hope? Could your sickness be the result of a faulty understanding of healing that has created a faulty lack of faith in healing? More importantly can you do something to change your belief system? Yes, just study the Word of God, Believe the Word, and Speak the Word. [Click for Full Message]
