The Need For Apostolic Teaching!

Are You Tired Of Being Tossed To And Fro?

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. Eph. 4:14-15

In my youth I remember listening to a local religious station that had 15 minute blocks of teachers, constantly all day: preach, preach, preach.  Unless you were a Christian, I have no idea why you would listen to that station.  Almost everyone of them gave the “salvation message” and a call for “financial support from listeners like you.”  After several hours of various “salvation messages”, I remember Jimmy Swiggart’s program as something refreshing because it had to do with Christian growth and something different called the Baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  Well not much teaching could be done in fifteen minutes when five minutes was introduction and another five pleading for financial support, so he had to speak in “series” that may last all month.  As son as he was done, the next radio preacher to come on preached against the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, claiming the gifts died with the apostles, and Swiggart and others were examples of the “beloved” who were to be deceived in the end times as recorded somewhere in the book of Revelations.  This was followed by a Bible Prophecy program teaching from the books of Daniel and Revelation claiming that Henry Kissinger was the anti-Christ because if you studied the numerical Jewish alphabet the numbers from the letters in his name added up to 666.  What a fiasco!  And this was Christian radio!  This is what Christianity in America looked like?

Today, the internet has exposed Christianity as a hodge-podge of theology that divides and polarizes the body of Christ.  I watched a YouTube video of an affluent pastor talking about the different streams of the emergent church movement, pointing out their fallacies.  Although boasting to be more mainline historically, he refuted being a denomination or label, but actually a correct branch of the emergent movement. Are you confused? Of course his interpretation and his sect’s interpretation were the only “correct” interpretation. 

Every branch of Christianity feels they have the “truth” and all of the millions of believers world wide who do not share their views on theology are down right wrong somehow!  We even have Christian Talk hosts who love to pull witch-hunts on famous church leaders for the sake of so called truth by revealing heresies, false doctrine, and false teaching.  There life has become a crusade fighting everyone and anyone in the Church who is not under their theological umbrella.  Of course their views are never in error.

Are you tired of being tossed around and blown here and there by all these so called bible teachers and self proclaimed prophets as defenders of truth?  Whose right?  Are any of them on base? What good is Christianity if there isn’t basic doctrine?  Can’t we go back to the time the book of Acts was recording the “acts of the apostles” who had a simple message.  There was simplicity to the Christian message.  There was power in the Christian message.  There was unity in the Christian message because of what was called “the apostles teaching”.  The apostles taught the same message that Christ in the flesh had taught them and that the Holy Spirit taught them after Jesus’ ascension. 

I have come to realize that the salvation message is the same for those in a denomination church, or evangelical church, or denomination church, or emergent church, etc.: We are sinners in desperate need of a Savior, and Jesus is that Savior. It is that simple!

The Hand Of God: The Apostolic Is Like A Thumb

The Purpose Of The Thumb: Creating a Power Punch?

To the question, “What is the purpose of the thumb?” Answers.com/Wiki Answers says, “To put opposing pressure against the fingers enabling the hand and fingers to grip, climb, or make a fist.”  Take a second and look at your hand, palm facing you.  All four fingers are facing your direction.  They are distinctly different in length: pointer, middle, ring, and pinky fingers.  The thumb does not face you; it faces the four fingers for the purpose of applying “pressure against the fingers” enabling the “hand” to “grip, climb, or make a fist.”  It is a process involving all five.

In the five fold gifting, passion, and point of view, I see the apostle like a thumb, it “sees over” the other four fingers, yet can not be effective unless it works with them, serves “pressure” for them, then “releases” that pressure.  It cannot apply pressure on all four at one time, only on the finger needed for the specific function at the specific time.  The thumb cannot do the work alone; it needs another finger! They key for the thumb is knowing when to “apply” pressure and when to “release” it to allow the finger to be on its own. 

It is amazing though, that the only way the hand can “receive” is when all five are extended wide open.  When all five are extended it can catch larger objects, hold them, and release them when necessary.  I have seen hands upraised toward heaven, fingers extended, reaching, waiting to grasp what the hand of God is ready to release to them as an “act of worship.”  Extended hands in worship are beautiful, and when done in unity in a corporate setting, phenomenally awesome!  But to grasp all that the Lord wants to give them, all five fingers have to collapse around the object to grasp, have a grip, or hold what has been given to them.  If one of them does not cooperate, it is easy to drop the object, never getting a firm grip on the object, and sometimes totally missing the object. All five working together can grab a hold of and grip the fullness of God corporately.  When one of the five does not cooperate with the other four, the hand is severely crippled and nothing can be held effectively.

In a fist, the thumb naturally lays over the other four fingers, protecting them, keeping them together, applying pressure to keep them all in place. When “googling” the word “fist”, I got the definition: “Noun: A person’s hand when the fingers are bent in toward the palm and held there tightly, typically in order to strike a blow or graps.”  A fist is powerful, and the Body of Christ, the Church, needs the thumb, the apostle to “lay over” the fingers in protection, creating power when all five fingers bow with one another. In unity there is “power”!  The Church will manifest its “power” when all five fingers, all five gifting, passions, and points of view bow together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Satan cannot survive a power punch from the “hand of God”, His Church, when all five are working in unity together.  Jesus said that “a kingdom divided can not stand”, and if all five do not bow together (to his Lordship), and even one rebels refusing to bow, you can not have a fist!  The power of the punch is totally lost.

In terms of spiritual warfare, the Church needs a punch of unity, a punch of power, a punch created by all those in the Body of Christ, no matter what gifting, passion, or point of view, bowing together.  Satan and his kingdom of darkness has no defense for that kind of punch.  The fullness of Christ with his death on the Cross and resurrection from the grave completed the fullness of Christ on earth, a punch Satan could not stand, for as Jesus said, “It is finished” when he died on the cross. That “fullness in Christ” is in the “hand of God” when Jesus “released” it into the “hands of God”, his Father, who then released it in the form of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ on to the Church.  The Church has the potential for knock out punches every time the five fold works in unity.

The fullness of Christ was exposed at the Cross when the supernatural (the vertical), God’s only Son, died, “laying down his life for our sins” while penetrating the natural world (the horizontal) creating the Cross.  That same supernatural power can penetrate today’s natural world effectively when all five passions, and points of view are willing to “lay down their lives for their brethren,” laying down the horizontal arm of the Cross.  The Church has been given the “fullness of Christ” vertically and horizontally: the CROSS!  God’s love is shown both vertically and horizontally. 

With the recognition of, the maturing and developing of, and the releasing of the apostle in to the Church, the Church will again see the protection, the “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit of Jesus is doing, again!  The restoration of the apostle in the five fold is crucial if the “hand of God” is to work with all five fingers!

Why The Five Fold As The Next Movement or Revival to the 21st Century Church?

A Review Of History From Dr. Bill Hamon

As the Church faces a new century and new movements of God, how will it respond?  Dr. Bill Hamon claims, “When this occurs [a new movement], some of the pastors and denominational leaders will take a neutral attitude, ‘Hold steady; do nothing; wait and see.’  Others will accept the new truths and ministries and incorporate them into their own teachings, ministry, and ways of worship, but some will reject and condemn the movement.

Those who do not like the movement and want nothing to do with it will find examples of ministers or members who have been confused or hurt by their involvement in the movement to prove that it is not of God.  They will also focus on little phrases or particular teachings of the leaders of the movement and make them sound unscriptural, out of order or cultic.  Those who oppose and persecute the movement will declare publicly that it is not of God and forbid their members to participate. The leaders of past movements, independent groups, and denominations will finally issue an official document declaring that this movement is not condoned by them and is therefore not of God.  Those who were leaders of God’s established order until the new movement came along are the ones who fight what is new the hardest.¹”

 So why do I, the author of this blog, propose the five fold as the next movement of God.  Hamon takes a historical view at this proposal.  Hamon has charted the change produced by the Restoration Movement since its inception in the 1500s with the Reformation.1

                  Year Restoration Movement               Major Truth Restored

                  1500 Protestant Movement                      Salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8,9)

                  1600 Puritan Movement                           Water Baptism, separation of Church and State

                  1700 Holiness Movement                          Sanctification, Church set apart from the world

                  1800 Faith Healing Movement                   Divine healing for the physical body

                  1900 Pentecostal Movement                      Holy Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues

                  1950 Latter Rain Movement                       Prophetic presbytery, praise and worship

                  1960 Charismatic Movement                      Renewal of all restored truth

                  1970 Faith Movement                                 Faith confessions, prosperity

                  1980 Prophetic Movement                           Prophets and gifts of the Holy Spirit

With this Hamon also teaches that in each of the last five decades of the twentieth century, one of the five fold ministries (Eph. 4:11) has been reemphasized or restored, and certain Biblical truths and ways of worship have been reactivated in the Church by the Holy Spirit.²

                  Decade Five Fold Ministry                  Movement/Revival

                  1950’s Evangelist                                 Deliverance Evangelism

                  1960’s Pastor                                       Charismatic Renewal

                  1970’s Teacher                                     Faith Teaching Movement

                  1980’s Prophet                                     Prophetic Movement

                  1990’s Apostle                                     Apostolic Movement

I, the author of this blog, have personally experienced the effects of all five of these movements during my life time.  Because of the institutional mentality of the church, I have seen the church make “offices” out of the five fold, usually held by positions of leadership, usually the senior pastor, bishop, staff, etc., not the grass roots laity.  When there is a movement of God, it affects the grassroots of every believer, the priesthood of believers, not just the institutional hierarchy. This, I believe, is the biggest change to Hamon’s chart.  God’s Spirit through this next move of God will continue to be upon all flesh. (Acts 2)

I believe the Holy Spirit is shaking out, developing, teaching the five fold as passions and points of view that, when equipped, developed, and released, can bring maturity in individual believers while bringing unity among the five if they are willing to “lay down their lives for their brethren.” (I John 3:16).

The five fold will bring accountability to the Church unlike it has experienced since the first century because its foundation is on “service”, different passions “serving” each other and receiving the “services” from each other.  This accountability is based on “relationship” not on hierarchy of position of power or influence.

I agree with Kent R. Hunter and Dr. Bill Hamon that the wind of change, the wind of the Holy Spirit, is blowing, and we are seeing just the beginnings of the next great move of God upon the 21^st Century Church.

 ¹ Dr. Bill Hamon, Prophets and the Prophetic Movement:  God’s Prophetic Move Today  (Shippensburg, Pa: Destiny Image, 1990), 107.

 ² Ibid., 44-45.

Equipping Series – Part V: Apostles

“Ephesians 4” Call To Equip The Saints For The Work Of Service As A Apostles:

I believe the five fold passions and points of view are in every believer in Jesus Christ since the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ indwells them.  So how do we allow the artesian well of the Holy Spirit to surface the apostolic spirit that is in all believers?  That is the calling of the five fold ministry of the Church.

If there was ever a time in Church history for one to be called to “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in the body of Christ, to release the various giftings in the Body of Christ, to bring maturity to individual Christians into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ, to bring unity to the Bride of Christ to usher in his return, it is now!  So, how can we, the 21^st century Church allow the creative apostolic spirit to arise in believers, aiding, caring, developing, and then releasing him to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God?

I certainly don’t have all the answers, but encourage you to ask the creative Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to give you “revelation” of who He is and how to show that to others.  I only offer a few suggestions:

The Price Is Heavy:  Read in the gospels what it cost Saul when he became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles: ridicule, rejections, being stoned near death several times, constant conflict, opposition, and travel.  He had to “die to self” in order to “live in Jesus Christ.”  I personally believe the only way five different passions and points of view can be effectively used in unity is by those involved practicing I John 3:16, “laying down your life for your brethren.”  To be an apostle you major in death to bring life, a heavy price.  You have to lay down your life for your brethren to give them life; lay down your giftings to allow your brethren’s giftings to arise and be released; laying down doing it yourself to let others develop, grow, and mature into the image of Jesus Christ, and lay down your personal life to see the Body of Christ corporately have life in unity.  It is an awesome price!

“Seeing Over”, Not “Oversight”, An Issue Of Control:  A Christian with a true apostolic calling enjoys “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing, and constantly releasing the Holy Spirit to do so.  They lose all control to the Holy Spirit, instead listening to the still small voice prophetically to the Holy Spirit, being grounded in the Logos Word, while teaching how the Rhema Word is the living Logos Word, exemplified through his own life, while caring for, nurturing and developing the saints towards maturity in Jesus Christ, while allowing birthing, newness, and renewal to always be present in the Body of Christ.  They give up all control to the Holy Spirit, only to be obedient to Him!  If the Holy Spirit is to be in control, the apostles must forfeit all control.

The Power Of Releasing Others, Not Doing It Yourself:  Want it done right?  Then it is easier to do it yourself, at least until you become overwhelmed with too much to do!  The apostle oversees the nurturing and developing of the corporate body of Christ by overseeing the nurturing and developing of individuals in the body of Christ towards their “maturity” in the likeness of Christ.  The most powerful tool an apostle has is that of “releasing”: releasing the Holy Spirit to teach and minister, releasing individual members in the body of Christ to use their passions and points of view for “service”, and releasing the Body of Christ as a whole in its efforts to become the Bride of Christ.  Apostles can birth, can nurture, can teach, can give revelation of Jesus Christ to individuals and the body, but chose not to do so in order to release others to do it!  This way the Church grows.

A Wider Visions:  An apostle can not help himself, because it is not at all about him personally, only his vision, his passion, how he pictures the Body of Christ as a whole.  If Jesus is exemplifying and revealing who He is on the earth right now through His Church, then the apostle must see the Body of Christ as a Revelation of Jesus Christ!  An apostle is allowed to see this wide vision, because that is who he is in Jesus.

Release The Apostle:  The worst thing to do after training or equipping someone is then to stifle their vision, their enthusiasm, their drive, their passion, and just let them sit back. RELEASE THEM TO SERVE!  You have equipped the apostolic for the “works of service”, so let them serve!  Let them do what drives them: Release the five different passions and points of view for the maturity of believers in Jesus Christ to be like Jesus Christ and the Church to be unified to be the unified Body of Christ!  As he released the other four, they will effectively serve the body and mature in Jesus. Release them. Will we ever think one is “ready” to be an apostle? Probably not, for apostles have awesome responsibilities and insights. Will they make mistakes? We hope not, but the answer, of course is yes, we all do. Peter majored in mistakes when leading the infant, newly born, developing, but listening Church in the 1^st century.  Submission and service is a two way street, and the apostle will serve and be served by the other four bringing unity and accountability to the Church.  Church, lets equip, nurture, care, then release, while continuing serve the apostle bringing accountability and unity, and we see a “new day” in a “new way” that the Church does church!

Retooling: Tension Brings Strength

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXXVII

Several years ago we had a pastor who claimed he liked to “stretch” us, so he found a six fool rubber band (unstretched) and stretched it until it was almost ten feet long, threatening to “let it fly” when released.  Later as a lay witness coordinator, I gave everyone on my team rubber bands to wear around their wrists all weekend to remind them of how we were going to “stretch” their faith that weekend.

A rubber band is really of no value and no use until it is stretched.  With tension comes strength.  A strong rubber band is one that can be stretched a great distance and hold its tension.  There are a multitude of uses for stretched rubber bands. Unfortunately a rubber band whose tension is too great, being stretched too far, can snap, be dangerous, and cause harm.

Often in church, every thing is done to avoid tension.  Tradition often compensates the fear of change, the fear of being stretched too far.  Church is all about people, people and relationships, and that is the breeding ground for tension, particularly when there is diversity that is unchecked.  So what does this have to do with the five fold?

With the five fold, you have five different points of view, five different giftings, five different passions, and if there is not a system of check and balances, you too have the breeding ground for tension and division.  Each different point of view and passion tugs and pulls, stretching the others.  It would be very easy to dig in, defending ones point of view, creating division, rather than submitting to other’s points of view, creating unity.  What can take the edge off of all the tension that could be created? Answer: service and accountability.

With the five fold, each point of view and passion must lay down their lives to each other in service, or there  will be no integrity in one’s ministry.  When one lays down their life for you, it is easy to submit to them, creating accountability.  If the five fold is to succeed, service, the laying down of one’s life, and accountability will the ingredients needed to succeed.

The 21^st Century Church needs stretched if it is to be retooled.  The tension it can take is the gifting of an apostle who can read the tensions, know to use those tensions for the common good producing productivity while creating unity.  If there is ever a time that the apostle needs to be reestablished in the Church, it is today, while the Holy Spirit is retooling the Church!  That over sight, seeing over how far things can be “stretched”, but allowing tension to be used in a positive manner, can be an effective tool in the retooling process.

How far will you allow the Holy Spirit to “stretch you”?  How far will you allow the Holy Spirit to retool the church you are part of?  How far can you “trust” the Holy Spirit, the true measurement of how far you are willing to be “stretched”.  The Holy Spirit will not allow you to break, to snap.

A church without tension is a safe church that will never snap, but it will never be very useful either!  Come Holy Spirit; come retool the Church today; stretch us!

Retooling: From History To Present – Saul To Paul

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXVIII

God, who is the I AM, is THE WORD! 

The early Jewish patriarchs “experienced” their faith.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to “live” their faith long before it was written down. They had to learn to “live by faith” in a “living” God, something totally different then those who worshiped idols around them.  God then gave that word to Moses in written form.  The Jewish faith since that day has taken the “experience” of their forefathers and the “written” document of the ten commandments and the book of Mosaic Laws in the Old Testament, molding them into the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.  Then, academically, they created the Talmud, the “rabbinical book of interpretations” “about” the truths in the Torah. The Church has done the same: “experiencing” Jesus is the gospels and book of Acts, to writing commentaries on the “theology” of Christianity.  The only way for the Jew to “know” their faith is the same way the Christian can “know” his faith: THROUGH A PERSONAL “EXPERIENCE” WITH JESUS CHRIST!  Ask Saul who became Paul because of it!  The rock of the rabbinical educational world “experienced” Jesus, and the Holy Spirit “retooled” his mindsets about the church from persecutor of the church to protector.

The “retooled” 21^st Century Church needs a “Saul to Paul” experience again!

Paul was trained under the best rabbinical scholars of his time, but had his “theology” not only challenged, but drastically changed because of his “experience” with Jesus Christ.  All Jesus asked was, “Saul, why do you persecute me?”  Saul had no idea that he was persecuting his God; he thought he was defending his God!  It is a hard lesson to learn that often when we “academically” defend our God, wanting to be its protector, we become the very tool of “persecution”, its attacker and “preventer”!  Amazingly only after Paul “experienced” Jesus could he be transformed from “persecutor” to “protector” understanding his vertical relationship with God (John 3:16) with his horizontal relationship with Jesus (I John 3:16), the body of Christ, in whom he becomes their protector.    Paul never physically saw “Jesus on the Cross” as the other apostles were afforded the opportunity to do, but he “experienced” spiritually “Jesus on the Cross” when a supernatural God knocked him off his horse, retooled his spirit and mindsets, and had him defend Jesus, the Body of Christ, as its protector as an apostle.

The five fold apostles are the Church’s “protectors” because they “experience” Jesus in a different point of view than others.  They see God’s supernatural intervention in the natural life of the Church, in other words the Cross!  Watching, observing, experiencing the dissection of the supernatural into the natural is something an apostles cherishes, for that insight is so unique, so insightful, a gift from God. This vision give the apostle the opportunity to “see over” what the Holy Spirit (the supernatural) is doing in the Church (the natural lives of the believers in Jesus Christ).  He receives insight is “seeing over” the various and different giftings that are in the Church, knowing when to encourage those with those giftings to be “released” for the benefit of the Church as a whole, bringing unity in the Body of Christ, and maturity in the individual believer.

Often, people I know, who have an apostolic spirit and point of view of the Church, were at one time “persecutors” in their early days as a Christian of the very things they later come to “protect”.  A true five fold apostle who starts out as a Saul, a defender of the faith, often has to get knocked off of his “theological” horse, blinded, only to regain his spiritual sight by having his “scales” of the way he “sees things” fall off, only to gain the sight of “seeing over” the very thing he has now been called “to protect”, and be retooled to being renamed.  Saul would never go back to his old name nor theological beliefs when he became Paul.  Saul, the “persecutor” of the faith, became Paul, the “defender” of the faith to which he would be beaten, imprisoned, mocked, rejected, stoned, and even left as dead for!

There is a retooling at how we, the Church, needs to view the apostle.  If there was ever a time we need “apostles”, it is today!  I believe some of those who criticize the five fold, defend that the apostles died when the Canon was established, who persecute new movements of God, the Saul’s of our generation, just may be come the Paul, the retooled “protectors” “looking over” the Body of Christ in an attempt to “release” the giftings, ministries, and points of view that already exist in the Body of Christ, just waiting for their release.  Sauls, go ahead and criticize these blogs I write, for I prophesy that your criticism may be the very tool that will lead you to your road to Emmaus, the knocking you off your horse, the restoration of your blindness to sight, and your renaming of becoming a Paul, a protector of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst!

Can We Lay Down What We Value?

The 21^st Century Price For Church Unity 

Recently Nick Francis, a friend of mine, gave me an extremely insightful diagram he developed displaying four camps of Christianity: a) the evangelical, he called the “Vision Driven – Mega church “Marketing” model; b) prophetic, the “Value Driven – Emergent Missional” model; c) teacher, the “Virtue Driven – Theological Message” model; and d) pastoral, Venture Driven – Process Ministry.  In his diagram he outlined each camps needs, values, strengths, weakness and definition of community.

What each group valued caught my eye. The evangelical Mega Church camp valued corporate productivity while the  prophetic Emergent Missional camp valued authenticity.  The pastoral Process Ministry valued structure and organization while the teacher Theological camp valued teaching the word, content, and clarity.

As you have seen in earlier blogs, I have wrestled with what “laying down one’s life for his brethren” (I John 3:16) means to the individual believer.  This diagram illustrated to me for the first time what it might mean corporately for the Church, for to have unity in the Church, something Jesus specifically prayed for in John 17 which has not occurred in over two thousand years, the corporate members of the body might just have to lay down what they most value on the altar to see what the Lord will do with it!  Those very things each camp valued has been the wedge of division in the Church, but I believe they should actually be the things that brings unity if they were laid on the altar.  Each camp has exemplitory strengths and glaring weaknesses. The strengths and values of each camp could augment, support, enrich the other three camps if they were laid down on the altar and received by the other camps to strengthen their weaknesses.

Anything we hold on to can be hard to release.  We have to release a sinful life through repentance to receive salvation.  Giving up that “precious” garbage and lifestyle is hard for so many as shown in C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce.  Giving up something we “value” is very difficult because we are afraid we will lose it. It becomes the very thing we hold on to. Jesus tried to show this to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day, when telling them how they were so hung up on Moses whom their tradition valued that they lost sight of the light, their Messiah, the savior of the world who was right in front them physically.

I once heard a speaker give the illustration of the little boy who had a friend over to play, but every toy his friend wanted the little boy grabbed and held on to.  Soon the little boy had his arms full of toys while his friend had nothing. Who do you pity? At first you think the boy that had nothing, but that is wrong; it is the boy who has everything but holds onto it and all those toys become useless, in fact they become a burden, and no body gets to play.   That illustration is a perfect example of the different Christian camps today in the body of Christ: they hold on to everything they value, keep it exclusive, and prohibit the others in the Church upon receiving what had been their strengths.

On a practical level, in public education at the secondary level, each “major subject” (math, English, science, & social studies) values their content area and feels their subject material is the epitome of education, refusing to cross curricular lines while teaching.  I was placed on a “multi-disciplinary team” at the middle school level where we had to work of retooling, changing our secondary mindset, by having to, at times, lay down our academic elitism for the cause of a multi-disciplinary” project which always had a greater impact on our students than did our individualistic subjects. More learning, and a better quality of learning, was done when we were willing to lay down our disciplines in an effort to work together.  The same is with the Church.

At the center of this diagram given to me was a circle with “Truth Ephesians 4:11”.  Amazingly each camp individually believes they exclusively have “the truth”, but the truth lies in the middle where they all come together, willing to lay down their values, give from their strengths to one another, and receive from the others to bolster their weaknesses, thus defining true “community”.

The person missing in his diagram was the apostle.  I believe the 21^st century apostle, like Paul, a 1^st century apostle, should be appalled at these divisions (I Corinthians 1).  The 21^st century apostle has to not only “see” the big picture, like these four camps, but allow the Holy Spirit to lead him into leadership that would bring the four together, showing each camp their strengths and weaknesses while calling them to reach out to their fellow brethren who emphasize different values.  Only by leading them to the altar, teaching them the “power of the cross” where the “supernatural” dissects the “natural” can a “God Moment” occur brining unity in the body of Christ.  That unity is what will usher in the Lord’s return.  Let’s begin to lay down our values on the altar corporately, and lay down our lives for each other individually, and watch what the Lord is about to do.

The Power of Preparation

The Step Toward Apostleship

“Prepare ye the way,” is a favorite Biblical slogan.  Preparation is so important to the gospels.  It was God’s plan to send “Elijah” (alias John the Baptist) to “prepare the way of the Lord” (for Jesus, the Messiah’s, coming).  Jesus just didn’t come; a way had to be prepared first.

Later Jesus sends out 70 disciples in twos telling them to “prepare the way for his coming” to those towns. They were like we call today an “advance team” before the Crusade comes to town.  Their job was to “prepare the way”. They did so well, that Jesus even sees satan falling from the sky after hearing their good reports.

So, is there anything or anyone “preparing the way” today?  It is not as popular a topic today as it was when I was a child , but I remember hearing multiple sermons on “the second coming of Jesus” when he returns for the Church, the groom coming for His bride.  If that is true, in the Biblical sense of it all, then I might assume that something or someone will be used to “prepare the way” for the groom’s return for His Bride.  Who might that be?

I would like to throw out, in the realm of the five fold ministry that these blogs propagate, that the prophets and the apostles will “prepare the way” for that event.  The prophets will prophecy about His return as we get closer to the event while the apostles will try to set things in order, which they are good at doing.

I remember seeing the painting about the large banquet table leading into eternity where all the places were “set” or “prepared”, only the participants and the event were missing.  This place “setting” is what today’s apostles are beginning to do.

As the Church recognizes people in their midst whose point of view is to “see the big picture” of the Church and whose passion is to “set things in order” in preparation for Jesus’ return, they will understand in a different light what the role of a modern apostle really is.  He doesn’t control, doesn’t dictate, doesn’t rule or reign, but “sees over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in bringing the Body of Christ, the Church, back together in unity.

I once heard a prophetic word at a Mennonite Renewal meeting that said, “There will be a time when Mennonites will only be recorded in a history book.”  Wow! A word telling Mennonites that they won’t exist as a denomination sometime in the future, but the prophetic word was received.  I believe there will be a time when labels, denominations, Christian groups, will no longer be fragmented in the Body, but they will disappear, for a follow of Jesus Christ will be known as a “Christian”, not a label of their Christian sect, group, or denomination. This is part of the “preparation” that apostles will be doing.

I believe the apostle will also renew the “apostles doctrine” or teaching, the simplicity of teaching the truth of the gospel in unity, like in the first century Church, not theological divisions. We won’t major on our differences, but in our likeness, that of being in the likeness of Jesus Christ.  These teaching will also be “preparing the way” for the groom to come for his bride.

The Bible says that Jesus will return to a Church “without spot or wrinkle”.  I believe that the prophets will be the spot removers, identifying and calling out those things that blemish the Church as a whole and we as individual believers.  The apostles will be “ironing out” the wrinkles by setting things in place.  This setting in place will be done by evangelists, pastor/shepherds, teachers, and prophets under the over sight of the apostles.

When things have been “prepared”, then look out for the event. We are “preparing”, not just planning but setting things in order for my son's wedding in October.  Now is the time of “preparation”, but look out for when all is prepared, then comes the big event. The same is for the Church!

I have been preparing for a new school year all summer, but in one week the event happens. I would not think of entering a classroom as a public school teacher if I were not prepared.  The Church needs to have the same "prepared" mentality as it anticipates the Lord's return.

Vision Series: Part V – The Apostle “Sees The Extension of Jesus Christ Today, the Church As A Whole”

The Vision of the Apostle

“Without Vision The People Perish”

One of the major premises of my study of the five fold ministry in the Church is that the five fold is not necessarily offices, but passions, or points of view.  What passion drives a person in his love in and for the Church?  Through what glasses does the believer see things? What is his vision?

If the evangelist “sees the needs” of the lost and is driven to meet their needs through Jesus Christ, and the pastor/shepherd “sees the needs” of the newborns in the Kingdom to be developed into the daily, living, likness of Jesus Christ, and the teacher “sees the need” to make the Written Word, the Logos, the Bible, a Living or Rhema Word in the daily lives of believers, and the prophet “sees the need” to bring a personal intimate relationship with God, the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit with mankind to bring spirituality into a practical world, then what does an Apostle “see the need” of?

There is debate in Christendom today over what is an apostle. Some debate that an Apostle had to see Jesus when he walked the earth, thus the 12.  Paul earned the right to apostolic leadership because he saw Jesus too, only this time as an extension of His now earthly Body, the Church.  Paul saw the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the midst of His People, Jew and Gentile, as he planted and established the Church outside of Israel into the then Western world.  I believe there are apostles today who “see” Jesus, His Body as revealed today, His Church.

“Seeing” the Body of Christ this way can be gut wrenching, for one has to see Jesus as a unified extension of His Body, not the many groups that divide it.  It is God’s will for an unified body, not a divided body.  Who better to “see” this revelation than a believer with apostolic “vision.”  His point of view is to “see the big picture”, not only seeing its individual parts, but its totality.  The passion of a believer with an apostolic “vision” is to bring the body of Christ together, to unify it, but also to develop the individual believer into maturity, the fullness of Jesus Christ (Eph. 4).

An apostolic vision “sees” the evangelist, the pastor/shepherd, the teacher and the prophet’s visions, their points of views, and understands their passions.  His calling is to now bring the four different visions, points of view, and passions into an understanding of serving one another and receiving from one another that brings unity into the whole Body.  No man can bring the body of Christ together, but a believer who has an apostolic “vision” understands that only the Holy Spirit can do that,  and allows the Spirit to work and move freely among the others in his work of unity.  Being apostolic, the believer can “see” what the Spirit is doing in the midst of His Body, His Congregation, His Church, but does not allow the apostolic believer to “dictate” or control how this unity is to be done.  The apostolic believer “sees the need” to be a servant to mankind, a servant to the other four visions, points of view, and passions of the five fold ministry, and to be a servant to the Father, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, all through obedience.  To have the “vision” of an apostle, one must also have the heart of a servant, for all he will do and can do is be obedient to what he “sees” and “hears” from the Holy Spirit who is drawing all men unto Him (Jesus) bringing unity to His Body, the Church. The “vision” of an apostle is servanthood to others and obedience to the Holy Spirit.

The Need for The Apostle

Seeing the Big Picture

The Smaller Image ... Only A Part of the PictureThe five fold is like five different points of view, seeing the same image, but from different perspectives. The evangelist just sees birth and birthing, the pastor/shepherd sees caring and nurturing, the teacher sees only the written Word of God and its application, the prophet sees only black and white spiritually in an intimate relationship and the living out of the Word, but the apostle sees the big picture.

Unfortunately for the apostle, who sees the big picture, he cannot do the big picture himself: he recognizes his need for the other four! Thus the need for the five fold if we wish to see the Body of Christ in unity being used in its full potential, in the fullness of Christ Jesus!

At school I use a program called Rasterbator for Windows, at home PosterRazor for Macs. These programs enlarges a picture, into 6 foot by 8 foot documents, by making pixels.  If you look up close at only one section, you cannot make out what the picture is, but if you walk 10 feet away, the pixels turn into recognized objects as you begin to see the big picture in clarity.

The Big Picture: The Church As A WholeThis is how it often is in the church with different perspectives in the body of Christ.  We only see in the light of the little cluster of church that we go to, or our denominational or influential group.  Very few have the ability to see the Big Picture, the Church of Jesus Christ in its entirety.

Seeing that Big Picture is truly the gifting of an Apostle.  For those who refute that apostles are not for today, I am sorry they do not recognize the need for men and women in the body of Christ who can see the Big Picture of the Body of Jesus Christ today that goes beyond the divisions tunnel vision has produced.

An Apostle

What It Is

An apostle is:

... a broken man before God.  He realizes that nothing he does is of any value without God.  Without God he is powerless, defeated, of little worth.  With God he “can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me”.  He must be a humble man, submitting to and serving others.  He does not dictate; he listens.  He does not command; he serves.  He does not dominate or control; he leads through service and surrenders control to the Holy Spirit. 

...  a broken man before man.  He realizes he cannot be of any value to God if he cannot be in proper relationship with whom he is in agreement in ministry.  His perspective is seeing the “big picture”, but realizes that he personally cannot accomplish that picture without other brethren and sisters who have different passions, desires, and perspectives than his.  He needs the body of Christ as they need him.

... a man who allows the Holy Spirit to be in control.  He does only what the Holy Spirit tells him to do, not what he thinks that he should do.   That is how Jesus, the ultimate Apostle, operated while on earth, doing only what His Father showed or told Him to do.   As Jesus tried to teach his squabbling disciples, the leaders in the Kingdom of God who wanted to sit at his right hand or his left, that they did not understand Biblical leadership, an apostle will be one who will have to support or sustain those under his care, not rule them by placing them under his feet.  He will spiritually place the serpent, satan, under his feet and crush him, but not the saints.  In the Kingdom of God you serve those under your authority, not lord it over them.  Jesus is the prime example.  All those under His authority he served while on earth.  He never dictated to them.  He just served them, washed their feet, loved, cared, nurtured, and eventually died for them.  The apostle is one who believes in I John 3:16 because he is willing to lay down his life for his brethren because Jesus laid down His life for him!  A true apostle is a very humble man because he has had to be broken of all pride and self-centeredness before he could ever perform his talents in ministry.  An apostle is a mature man or women in Christ, for he has to exemplify Christ in every area of his life while all eyes are watching him as a witness.  Everything he says and does influences others toward Jesus Christ.

 ... a man who has an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, seeking at all times to know the heart of the Father, so that he can reveal it to the Body of Christ through teaching and service.  He is a man whose perspective is to see the big picture, the entire “Body of Christ”, the embodiment of Jesus Christ here on earth.  In order to see over this Body, he has to have a revelation of the big picture.  He has to have the revelation of the Father’s heart in all matters.  He has to reveal that Father’s heart, which is love to the entire Body of Christ.  He has to be willing to take 100% responsibility of what is happening in the Body with 0% fault so the present Body of Christ can be effectively healed.  The current church is so divided, so diverse, so hurt, so polar on so many issues and beliefs that they have majored in blaming each other faction within the Body for the Body’s faults.  A true apostle will not be a fault finder playing the blame game, but will take his responsibility head on to bring unity, Christ likeness, and maturity to the Body of Christ, to set it in order for the good of the Church.

... a man who allows the other four in the five fold interdisciplinary team members to minister to him as well as to them through him.  He allows others to serve him, yet he always serves them.  He has to lay down his pride by allowing others to minister to his needs and weaknesses.  It is a give and take relationship.  The apostle is such a giver, but he must also learn how to receive so those who are ministering to him can be free to minister in their talents to him that are so different from his.  By allowing others to minister to him, he is allowing and equipping others to do the work of the service of following Christ, the purpose of Ephesians 4.

 ... a man who will submit rather than control.  He will be able to submit to the different passions, desires, and perspectives of the other four team members, for that must be his strength.  There are others far more gifted and anointed in evangelism, pastoring, teaching, and prophesying than he.  He needs to glean from them, not control them!  He must continually set them free, not put them in bondage. When the five fold team meets, he will not lead them into a business meeting, but into worship, praise, and prayer, seeking and leading them into the presence of God to seek His face, to listen to His voice, and to obtain His heart in order to get the answers and/or direction that the team seeks and needs.  He wants everyone present to experience God’s love, revealing the heart of the Father together in unity, in Christ likeness, in maturity.  That is true leadership!  One of the other offices may rise in his passions or desires by taking leadership because he has the anointing, talents, and point of view that is best suited for the ministry needed at that specific moment.  It is an awesome task to lead, yet not be in control, allowing the Spirit to be in control and lead rather than one’s self, to remain a vessel for service rather than dictating.  It is an awesome task to lay down one’s own pride and ego to allow others who are driven in different passions and points of view than your own to rise to the need of ministry.  It is an awesome task to serve rather than be served.  It is an awesome task to remain broken before God, and even more... before those you serve and work with you.

* From Revealing and Releasing Jesus manuscript by Anthony Bachman page 104-105 

An Apostle

The What It Is Not:

The last of the five fold interdependency team to be restored to the Church has been the apostle.  In a day when the office is only now being restored, the understanding of the apostle’s role in the five fold ministry is also in its infancy.  First, we need to understand what the apostle is NOT in a five fold interdisciplinary team before we can understand what he is.

He is NOT:

... “the big cheese”, the “head honcho”, the “head man”, or the “top gun” of the five fold interdisciplinary team.  He is only one man in service with four others, his peers, his equals, his brothers in Christ Jesus who have different passions, desires, and perspectives than he.  The buck may stop with him at times, but he is not the “chairman of the board’, the “C.E.O.”, or the “President”.  The Church is not a business establishment; it is the body of Christ, a body of believers, made up of a New Testament priesthood who are to lay down their lives for each other, not lord over each other.

... in charge. He who rules under his own authority and power, or rules authoritatively without love, rules to “keep order” instead of “setting things in order”.  As a result he will lead the Church back into apostasy and dead works, which was the pattern of the second and third century Church leaders who lead the Church into the Dark Ages.  We need not have another papal church hierarchy and government.  We need to learn from Church history, or we repeat its faults.

... the most important ministry or office in the five fold interdisciplinary team.  The apostle will be ineffective if he does not have the passions, desires, and perspectives of the other four ministries around him.  If his pride motivates him to establish superiority in the five fold team, he will face division, strife, opposition, etc.  That is not the spirit of Ephesians 4, which is to bring unity in Christ.  His four peers in ministry are his colleagues, his peers, his equals, not his ministerial board nor his staff.

... in a power struggle.  The relationship of the apostle to the other four ministries in a five fold team is not like the present relationship model of a pastor to his church board, session, pastor-parish relations committee, etc., but is one of peers, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ who are laying their lives down daily for each other.  Church politics should diminish and even become extinct before the brokeness of Jesus Christ.  The purpose of the five fold is love, revealing the heart of the Father, in unity, in Christ likeness, and in maturity.  This mean everyone is laying down their lives for the other through service.  When everyone is doing this, there cannot and will not be a power struggle.

* From Revealing and Releasing Jesus manuscript by Anthony Bachman page 104.

How About Apostle Paul

Birthing, Developing & Establishing

Some segments of the Church believe that Apostles are basically evangelists sent abroad to establish new churches, aka. missionaries.  Paul went through Asia Minor using each of the five fold gifts to establish churches, then developed those passions in God’s people, establishing them so that he could leave and do the process elsewhere.  He made return trips or wrote letters to “see over”, not “oversee” what had been planted, watered, and now harvested. 

Paul entered a town first visiting the synagogue to proclaim the gospel to the Jew, God’s chosen. After their rejection, he would take the gospel to the Gentiles who would receive the good news of Jesus Christ.  Paul’s teaching skills often kicked in when talking to Jews in the synagogue or Greeks on Mars Hill.  His pastoral/shepherding skills would help the new believer to walk out this new found faith in their daily lives, breaking break together, praying with one another, etc. His prophetic skills would direct his path, telling him where to go and when, as well as manifesting miracles.  He needed all four of these skills to “birth” a church, and usually brought another brother with him on his journey who also had talents, passions, and points of view to share.  With the church birthed, developed, and established, although still in its infancy, Paul and associate would move on to another location, not stay and control, or oversee, their establish work.

Moving on, Paul, usually through letters, would “see over” the works he established, not lord or “oversee” them.  He would share his opinion or point of view with these churches in his letters, but he always trusted the Holy Spirit to do the work, not himself.  The Holy Spirit worked in him and would work in others believers as well!

Paul would establish churches to survive and grow on their own. He did not bring in “leaders from Jerusalem” to “run” the church in his absence. He did not bring a “Jerusalem hierarchy”, or denominational paradigm, to run and rule these new churches. The people he birthed, developed, and established were the life of the church, they remained, so he established them.  Often a traveling apostle, like Apollos, or an encourager like Barnabas would return to support their efforts, but they did not stay. Each had a role, a passion, a gifting, a point of view. Paul would write, “I planted, Apollos watered.” Acknowledging different passions, gifting, and point of view brought unity, not division like in today’s Church.

 Paul never established “St. Paul’s Church of said denomination”, but established a church named after the city where it was located, ie. church of Corinth, church of Ephesus, etc., each with its own personality and make up (as Revelations 2 & 3 so vividly depicts). Maybe we, the Church, need a different mindset toward a common believer who has a passion, vision, and point of view of seeing the Big Picture of the Church and encourage him to exercise them. 

The Point of View of An Apostle

Seeing The Big Picture

The topic of apostolic leadership has had its controversies in the Church.  Apostles are not Sr. Pastors who claimed to become bishops, then prophets, then Apostles because people follow them. Apostles are not Sr. Pastors to the greater church.  Apostles are not like dinosaurs, who are extinct, as some theologians claim, who were no longer needed when the written Word, today’s Bible, was cannonized. Then what are they?

I would like to add to the controversy by sharing a different perspective of what an apostle is. I believe the five fold ministry of the Church is about “passion” and “point of view”, not of office.  It is about what drives a believer in Jesus Christ and how he sees things.  The evangelist is driven to save the lost; he/she is not driven to shepherd or care for the new sheep, nor teach them, or instill prophetically intimacy in them. The apostle may at one time functioned like an evangelist or pastor/shepherd or teacher or prophet, but their passion is for the Church as a whole. Their point of view or vision is seeing the Big Picture. 

Because of this unique vision and point of view, the apostle can empathize with each of the other four passions or points of view because he/she cannot do all of them by themselves.  The apostle needs the other four in order to function properly.  If he/she tries to do it all, he/she will burn out and be no use to the Body of Christ.

One of the functions of an apostle is to prepare the Bride, the Church, for the Groom’s coming, the return of Jesus Christ.  He is to come for a Church that is without spot and wrinkle.  I can testify of the many spots and wrinkles that I have even created, might as well other believers. I believe that the prophet and apostle together will be the “spot” and “wrinkle” removers in the Church in order to prepare the Bride, the Church, by seeing the Big Picture.

Another function of the apostle is to equip the saints for the work of the service.  He alone cannot do it, so he needs to use his evangelistic skills, his pastoral skills, his teaching skills, and his prophetic skills to teach, develop, and establish the believers in Christ to do the work of “service”.

“Without vision the people perish,” and the Church so drastically needs believers among themselves who have the vision to see the Big Picture and strive to equip God’s people to fulfill it.  That is the point of view of the Apostle.

Peter And The Five Fold

 

Experiencing/Example Of All Five

Evangelist: Peter before Pentecost denies Jesus in the temple fulfilling personal prophecy Jesus proclaimed over him. This new transformed Peter now returns to the temple and boldly preached the evangelistic message. Acts 4 records his evangelistic dissertation. Result, 3000 join the ranks of believers.

Shepherd/pastor: In the twenty-first chapter of John this same Peter who denied Jesus three times faces a resurrected Jesus who asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Upon Peter’s confirmation of his love, Jesus replies then, “Feed my sheep.”  Shepherding became so overwhelming that one of the first delegation of responsibilities from the Apostles to other believers is recorded in Acts 6.  The Apostles elect seven men “filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom” to become the Church’s first official shepherds/pastors.

Teacher: Stick your foot in your mouth Peter, now after Pentecost, speaks with authority in the temple teaching about Jesus’ mission to earth and the implications of that event as recorded in Acts 2.  Untrained academically, without any higher educational degree, a fisherman by trade, Peter amazes the leaders in the temple because he teaches with authority.  The results: The Apostles Teaching.  The same principles taught by Peter in Acts 2 in front of the Sanhedrin are the same principles taught by Stephen in Acts 7 before his being stoned to death.

Prophet:  Peter just wanted to be a good Apostle and pray, but while praying he has a prophetic experience as recorded in Acts 10. He has a spiritual vision of sheets, pigs, unclean creatures dropping out of heaven and realizes the message of the vision, what was once unclean is now clean. This vision tested his obedience to go to the house of Cornelius, a non-Jew to proclaim the message of Jesus. The results: Breaking down the barrier between Jew and Gentile allowing all to be saved, come into the kingdom of God, and setting up the Church’s first battle recorded in Acts 15 at a council in Jerusalem, where in UNITY the Church settles the issue for all centuries.

Apostle:  Peter goes from being a brash, bumbling, big mouth, bull headed, believer in Jesus, to a man who is granted the vision of seeing the birth of the Church as a whole and its implications.  He is to proclaim the gospel, to nurture the new Church, to desire a more intimate relationship with the resurrected Jesus, and is granted the vision to see the Big Picture.  He becomes the point man of the Church in Jerusalem with the other eleven as in unity they lead this new Church in physical and spiritual growth, through joys and persecution, needs to fulfillment, pressing on in vision. The book of Acts records the “acts of the apostles”.  After Pentecost Peter and the other eleven were forced to put their faith into “Acts”-tion.

The Five Fold Point Of View

It Is Just The Way You See It!  

I truly believe that the five fold is basically passion and point of view.  When you are passionate, that passion drives you.  I was passionate to get a room in my house built from scratch to finished project. Because of that the dry walling and sanding, the tedious cutting in for painting, etc. were not so bad.  I was driven to get it done the best of my ability.

The beauty of the five fold is “vision” and “Point of View”. The way one perceives his world and his place in it is his passion and point of view. It is no different for the five fold. Let’s briefly look at these “points of view”:

The evangelist is driven by the desire to see birth and rebirth, taking the lost (those not knowing Jesus) to becoming found (finding Jesus as their Savior). General Booth of the Salvation Army is an excellent example. Winning the lost became all consuming to him, thus he founded an army to proclaim salvation to the lost. Unfortunately, when the lost is found, a new birth or rebirth proclaimed, nurturing their growth is not the evangelist’s top priority, for he/she is ready to move on and win yet more for Jesus.

The pastor/shepherd is driven to care for the sheep. Shepherds nurture, feed, and care for their sheep, which becomes a tedious task, for they teach a believer how to make their new found faith into a lifestyle. A pastor’s vision is to hear the words of Matthew 25:35-36: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you invited me in, needing clothes and you clothed me, sick and you looked after me, in prison and you came to visit me.”

A teacher’s passion is to validate the Word of God, the written Word, the Logos Word, into the lives of every believer.  They want to validate the believer’s walk with the Word.  The teacher wants to validate this new found faith and lifestyle through the Logos Word, making it a Rhema, or living Word. John 1 says the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The teacher wants that word, now in Spirit, that dwells in each believer to teach that believer the truth and fulfillment of the Logos Word through faith.  Study the scriptures is powerful, but dangerous, for if it is done without the Holy Spirit, believers can become Pharisees, those who knew the Word in Jesus’ time, but opposed the truth and spirit of his teachings.

     If a prophet had his/her way, they would spend all day in worship, in reading their Bible, in intercession and prayer, in intimacy with God the Father, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  Adam and Eve lost their intimacy with God when they sinned, but Jesus’ death and resurrection restored the intimacy lost through sin. Sin has been conquered, death defeated.  A prophet is trying to make up for lost time. Their drive, their passion, their point of view is to be intimate with Jesus. Nothing else matters to them.

An apostle has experienced the pain of seeing the lost and the passion to win them to Christ, has experienced the over whelming passion to feed the sheep physically and spiritually to have them walk the walk in their lifestyle, has experienced the power of teaching with authority the Word of God, has experienced that intimacy with his/her God through Jesus, but unfortunately can not to all of them himself unless he wants to get burned out, which happens to many a man of God who takes on more than he can handle. An apostle’s point of view, his vision, his sight is seeing the Big Picture, the Church as a whole.  Since he cannot do it all himself, he is commissioned to encourage others who have the other four passions and “prepares God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4)  His job is to “see over” the Big Picture, not “oversee” it, for that is the Holy Spirit’s job, and to prepare God’s people for the works of service.

     The five fold is five distinctly different points of view that can divide the Church if not led by the Holy Spirit, or be the very tool to unify it.