Mind Sets

Accountability In The Church: A Five Prong Circular Model

Service/Accountability Series: Part 5 – Accountability Is A Multidirectional Street

 

Years ago I journaled asking the Lord what this Five Fold Ministry is all about, and he gave me a simple diagram for a simple mind (which fits me).  He showed me how each of the fivefold is to serve the other four, and in return, they serve you, thus a reciprocal back and forth of service through love.  There can be no greater love than “laying down your life for your brethren” (I John 3:16) to those who are “laying down their life for you”.  This selfless, sacrifice of giving and receiving brings an accountability the Church has not seen since its inception.

If you extend the fingers of that diagram from each of the fivefold to the other members, a five pointed star in a circle is created.  You now have an accountability structure between five different mind sets, passions, and points of view which together gives you a picture of unity.

Leadership with this model would be dynamic, for it would replace church counsels, pastor-parish committees, board of elders, strong pastor models, etc. because none of the five is “in charge”.  The Holy Spirit is in charge, and the gifting that is needed at the moment can arise, thus the wheel can rotate when needed.

For example: Hypothetically, let’s say a church with the five fold is seeking how to reach the homeless in their fair city.  Instead of using the “Homeless Evangelistic Model”, or the “Effective Intercity Church Model”, or some other model used by another congregation or famous speaker or preacher, the group actually seeks the Lord to speak to them in a time of fellowship, prayer, and worship.  The prophet speaks a prophetic word, confirmed scripturally through the teacher, affirmed by the pastor, and birthed by the evangelist with the oversight and approval of the apostle. An answer and strategy is reached in unity, and each of the five uses their gifting, strength, and passion in making the answer become reality and a success.  We just took the politics out of church politics, replacing it with sacrificial service resulting in unity.

The evangelist comes to the forefront in an effort to birth the project; then the wheel turns. The pastor comes forth with a plan to shepherd the new flock, to meet their daily needs and teach them how to walk in this new found faith, birthed by the evangelist. The wheel turns again as the teacher shares scriptures from the Word, the Bible, to build up the saints and five direction while the prophet speaks Rhema life into those words. The wheel turns again, and the apostle, who has done nothing but “seen over” this process gives his “oversight” and approval of the whole picture working together in unity and direction.

All this works only if there is trust and faith in one another.  Do we as a Church have the faith to trust the Holy Spirit to give us answers and/or direction?  Do we have the faith and trust in our fellow believers whom we have bonded with to release control of the situation and allow each of the five fold to use their gifting and passion?  Can I trust a brother or sister in the Lord who is different from me: one with an evangelistic heart and spirit to birth, one with a passion for shepherding to pastor, one with teaching talent to decipher the Logos Word, one with a prophetic heart and spirit to bring life to the Word, to the project, and to the group, and one who will over see, or see over what is happening without controlling it, only serving the others who are implementing, doing the work of the ministry? The purpose of the five fold in Ephesians 4 is “to equip the saints for the work of the service”. Doesn’t this look like “equipping” and releasing one another for the common good of the Church?

Can a model like this work in Christianity today? Only with faith and trust. Faith is the essence of things not seen but believed. Can we believe the Holy Spirit for answers and direction? Can what is not seen but revealed by the Holy Spirit be seen through the working out of that revelation through five different mindsets, points of view, and passions working in unity? Trust is letting go, not hoarding, not controlling, but freeing one to follow and serve.  Most of all, none of this will work unless we as Christians begin to “lay down our lives for the brethren.” 

Wow, faith, trust, love… write out of the book of II Corinthians. The first century Church at Corinth struggled with it, and the twenty-first century Church in my local town is still faced with it, unless we continue to ignore it!  Do we have the faith?  Can we trust?  Can we love?  That is the challenge of this blog!

Leadership Accountability

Service/Accountability Series: Part 4 – No “Blame Game”

 

Where is there accountability in the Church?  How often have I head from the pulpit about “those others who call themselves Christians, but … ‘They’ are false teacher who don’t believe the scriptures and do things differently than ‘us’ who are Bible believing.” No wonder there is division in the Church.  Each faction, sect, denomination, or group that claims to be Christian feels they have the truth and follow it, and the rest of the Body of Christ is in error, so they blame all of the Church’s ills on “them”, the "others".

I once heard a teaching that changed my life and mindset about leadership and the Church. The teacher explained that even though Jesus loved the Church, that is not why he died on the Cross.  He died on the Cross out of “obedience to the Father.”  When on the Cross he took 100% responsibility for your sin, my sin, the sins of the world, and he did not blame the Romans, the Jews, the Pharisees, his accusers, or you or me. Instead he proclaimed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Here is the key to leadership and accountability as exemplified by Jesus on the Cross:  A true leader takes 100% responsibility for that which he/she is responsible, and blames no one!

If a platoon leader and his battle group accidently kills civilians during combat, the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief, addresses the nation and takes responsibility for their actions and apologizes to the nation and those offended and does not spread the blame even though he was not directly involved in the incident. That is leadership!

If each leader in the Church would stand up and take 100% responsibility for the Church that he so preciously believes in and supposedly loves, and doesn’t blame every other faction of the body different from him, he would earn my respect.

If a husband takes 100% responsibility for his family and doesn’t blame the wife or the kids, he earns my respect.  Most marital arguments and divorces are nothing but “the Blame Game”, the key to winning custody and postnuptial battles in court.  If the man took 100% responsibility for his family while giving out 0% blame, he would earn his wife’s and children’s respect.  According to the Bible, men are to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”  Women are to “respect” their husbands.  I contend that if men practiced this kind of love, their wives would not only willingly submit to them, but run to their arms because they would see Jesus in their husband’s life.

If an employer takes 100% responsibility for his business and doesn’t blame his employees for the company’s faults and ills, every employee would work their tail off for him and the success of the company with pride.

The Cross is all about accountability: vertically – being accountable to God by taking 100% responsibility for one’s actions and sphere of influence (John 3:16); horizontally – being accountable to fellow believers by not “blaming” them, but “laying down one’s life for their brethren” (I John 3:16).

This is the key to Church leadership and relationships within the Body of Christ.

Who Do You “Hang Out” With?

It Is All About Relationships

 

Rather than getting hung up on the Five Fold as offices or even ministries, let’s look at it strictly in the terms of relationship and the need for that relationship.

It has taken me quite a time to learn that I need the Body of Christ, the Church, and the Body of Christ needs me.  I need Jesus, and Jesus needs me for my body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and this is where His Spirit has chosen to dwell.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about relationship, with Him and with His Body!

If I am to grow in the Body of Christ, I need to make wise choices as to who I “hang out” with, who will influence me, who will be with me day in and day out, who will be my close friend.  These are the personalities and characteristics that I need as a Christian around me:

I need a person who is a new babe in the Lord.  Their enthusiasm and newfound faith are contagious.  They bring life and inspiration into one’s life.  Their faith can be obnoxious at times and their doctrine a little off, but they are like little kids that just discovered Christmas and want to open up all the gifts given to them. They will invite you to play with them and their gifts!

I need a person who wants to grow in the Lord, build character, and continue the change that was started in them during their new birth in Jesus.  Doing Bible study together is enriching; their desire to want to now “walk out this walk” that the Bible outlines.  Walking this daily walk with them strengthens you and keeps your direction true.

I need a person who loves to study the Bible, read the Bible, then use those Biblical applications in walking out their own lives.  I need a person who takes “the Word, and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,” a person who makes Jesus alive through the Word.

I strive to be with a person who makes God real in their life, who desires an intimate relationship with Him, who not only knows of Him, but strives to really know Him. “Where two or more are together, there I AM.”  I need others who want to be in God’s Presence through corporate worship.

I need to hang around someone who “sees the big picture”, the body of Christ as a whole, who can give a healthy perspective of the Church.  A person like that builds up my faith and belief of the power of the Church in our age.

Hang out with those five type people, and one is apt to grow in the Lord, maybe even mature in the Lord. Relationships with those five are vital for a well balanced Christian walk. I encourage you to start looking for those kinds of Christian friends to “hang out” with!  The experience in heaven will be “hanging out” with the saints for eternity; let’s start the trend while on earth!

Vision Series: Part VII – “Clarity of Vision!”

“Without Vision The People Perish”

 

Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:22-25)

When we receive the touch from Jesus things change.  Change is imminent!  Jesus criticized the Church people of His day, the Pharisees who he called blind.  In fact he said that they were the “blind leading the blind.”  In our self righteous religious attitudes it is difficult to admit that I can be blind to how the Lord really sees something versus how I think I see it.  I have heard many a preacher preach from his pulpit the warning of “there will be false teachers in the end times.”  Of course it is never he nor his bent or persuasion of Christianity. It is always “them”, the other deceived Christians in the Church.  Could we, who point the finger, be the very one who is blinded or deceived?

Often as Christians we talk the talk without walking the walk.  It has been a long time since I personally have seen someone who is a broken evangelist who is driven to win the lost at all cost.  Most churches I know have “church hoppers” from one church to another rather than winning the lost.  I have seen where a church “rejected” young unsaved youth from their youth groups because they feared they may influence their church kids rather than thinking their youth would be salt and light!

The Church founded schools, colleges, hospitals, etc. in the United States when government was small.  Today, we count on government to help fund and run these “institutions” and “social services”.  What use to be “ministries” have turned into “institutions”.  The Church has often given up its influence.  How often has the Church been blinded, losing its vision, losing its passion, losing its drive, losing its calling to win the lost, build up the body, work as different parts of the body of Christ but remember that it is part of the united Body.  When the Church vision for “ministry” is blinded, it is replaced by an “institution” mentality. That is when it needs “the second touch” of Jesus on its eyes.

Now it is easy to blame “the Church”. Church bashing by the church against the church is a common practice.  Jesus never blamed. He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He saw their blindness rather than their blame. Instead of the Church, we need to begin to personalize the blame, recognizing it is “I” who may be blind.  Do I see the people around me only as “people”, like human trees, stick figures, or do I allow the second touch of Jesus to clear my vision and see the passion, the drive, the desire that drives “ministry”, the act of walking the walk.

What do “I” need to do to bring clarity to my “vision” for Jesus?  How can I prevent “what I should be doing” into becoming something “institutionalized”?  How can I be broken, broken out of the box of my institutionalized beliefs and thoughts, and allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate my spirit, my being? Will I embrace new “mindsets” on what I think about the Church, or will I keep the institutional mindsets that I have always accepted.  Am I willing to say, “Lord, I see people only as trees. Touch my eyes again; clear my Vision”?

Vision Series: Part VI – “I Can See Clearly Now!”

“Without Vision The People Perish”

 

Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:22-25)

I can remember singing in the ‘70’s, “I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone.”  I would replace “trees” for rain when reading the above scripture. Clarity of vision is so important.  As believers in Jesus Christ we need the touch of Jesus to bring us clarity in every situation.

Can you imagine a believer who cries out, “Lord, give me the heart of an evangelist.” The Lord touches him, and he begins to see people, non-churched people all around him, but his heart isn’t there yet. He confesses, “Lord, I only see people as people; touch my eyes.” His prayer is answered when he sees not just people, but people who are lost, who need Jesus, who need to hear the gospel.  He is a changed man with a changed vision.  His reluctance now becomes his passion, for his vision is now cleared.

Can you imagine a believer who sits in the pew every Sunday, smiling shaking hands, giving informal greetings but feeling cold, alone, and almost displaced and prays, “Lord, touch my eyes to see who these people really are around me.” At first he looks and sees “church people”, people who look as if they got it all together, but then the Lord touches his eyes a second time!  He is shocked seeing people who do not have it all together, but are hurting people, sick people, confused people, lonely people, a needy people. Jesus then touches the heart, and with the proper vision this believer begins to minister to those needs out of compassion which becomes his passion.

Or how about the frustrated teacher who “knows” his material, but it seems no one is interested in what he is teaching or understands the “material”.  Then the Lord touches his eyes. He begins to see those whom he teaches beyond the view of just his material, but he sees them only as “students”.  Only after a second touch, his vision clears; he realized who he teaches is more important that what he teaches.  He begins to look into the heart, the spirit, and the daily lives of what he use to think as his “students” but discovers they have become his personal friend, and pour scriptural truth through practical applications into their lives.  Teaching through walking out his lessons with them in their daily lives becomes his passion.

Or the believer who has learned the truth of intimate worship, that experience of being in the presence of God, through the shed blood of Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit.  During one of those intimate experiences God not only touches their spirit, but also their spiritual eyes.  They discover that God is in the midst of His people, but they are just other “believers” joining in this worship ritual. Only after a retouch by Jesus do they discover the mystery of unity of Spirit as those around worship together with this believer in Spirit and in Truth, taking corporate worship to a totally new level.  The prophetic passion has now burns in these believers’ lives.

Finally, the person who has walked the evangelistic route being ridiculed by the lost, had his pastoral heart crushed by hurt relationships, felt no one listened when he spoke and taught the Word, and has experienced an estranged, almost distant feeling when worshiping, even wondering if God was there.  He knows that what he is now seeing and feeling is not the will of God, so he stops and cries out for a touch from the Savior’s hand for clarity of vision.  When first touched, he sees the hand of God in his past experiences, but he wants a fresh touch for the now, for the future, and Jesus lays his hands back on his eyes.  Now he sees others who are doing the work he use to, but his heart is changed.  For the first time his eyes are open to see “The Big Picture”, the entire Body of Christ. Now he wants to reach out to other believers to encourage them, strengthen then, guide them, and lead them by walking by their sides, not being in front of them. The servant’s heart kicks in to selflessly giving and thinking of others in their spiritual developments. The passion of an apostle is born.

I know I have tried to do what I thought was serving the Lord, serving the Church, for most of my life, thinking I was doing the Lord’s Will until I asked Jesus to touch my eyes again, for all I saw was “non-church people” in my daily life at work and “church people” in the social circles of my life.  Wow! The second touch was dramatic: I discovered the lost; I discovered those already in the Body of Christ who were serving. A passion has now arisen in me to encourage, develop, support, lead through relationships, guide through the leading of the Holy Spirit those believers, those “brothers” and “sisters” who are in my family, the Family of God, the Body of Christ. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, has truly opened my eyes.

Stop right now.  Ask the Lord to touch your eyes, give you vision.  He will do so.  If the vision at first isn’t entirely clear, ask for that second touch, but I warn you, that second touch will be life changing for a passion will be released in you to further the kingdom of God, in not only recognizing but also developing the body of Jesus Christ, His Church. “Lord, touch our spiritual eyes. Give us clarity of vision; give us Your vision. Amen”

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.

Vision Series: Part IV – The Prophet “Sees Need For Intimacy With A Personal, Living God”

The Vision of the Prophet

 “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?

Personal relationships were important to the evangelist, pastor/shepherd, and teacher for it was person-to-person ministry.  An individual’s touch and influence on another human being proves to be life changing.  The prophet also strives for that personal touch, not necessarily the human touch, but the intimacy with a personal loving God who has become their real best friend and the earthly living out of that relationship.

It is God’s desire to commune with His people, to dwell in their personal lives and hearts since their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and to be in the midst of the congregation. He developed a relationship with Moses where they became best friends.  The relationship with Jesus, God who became flesh, with his Father in heaven is monumental in the way Jesus saw things, heard things, and did ministry.  He looked to his Father, listened to His Voice, and was obedient to what he saw and heard.  God wants that kind of intimacy with mankind, for He proved it can be done through His Son, Jesus.

Sin broke that intimacy between God and man, but God made a way for reconciliation, a way to right a wrong.  He sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins, and make a wrong right. That is called “righteousness”!

The believer who is driven to develop that intimacy in the body of Christ is the prophet.  The prophet not only wants to “see” God, but “hear” God, and “experience” God in his fullness.  The “fullness” of Jesus Christ in a believer’s life is the ultimate relationship man can have with His God, and the prophet is driven toward that experience.  Moments in personal Bible study, personal prayer, and personal worship drives the prophet to a closer relationship with his/her God.  A prophet would love to just live in the heavenlies.  Unfortunately that can also bring his or her demise, for then one can become no earthly good to God’s extension to the earth, the Church.

Instead of business meetings, board meetings, elder’s meetings, and annual conferences that birth and develop church policy, the five fold prophet longs for a time when the members of the body seek that personal intimate experience to see and hear from God to determine His Will for their own private life and the corporate Body life of the Church.  The only requirement is “obedience” to what has been revealed.  The prophet “sees” the need for the heavenly to bond with the earthly in unity that requires revelation and obedience.

Only in the last half a century has the Church again struggled with the role of the prophet in the body of Christ, but one thing is for certain: The Church needs the “vision”, the point of view, the passion of a prophet for intimacy with its creator, its head, Jesus Christ.

The evangelist “sees the needs” of the lost; the pastor/shepherd “sees the needs” of the newborn; and the teacher “sees the need” to make the written Word, the Bible, a Living Rhema Word in every believer’s daily life; and a prophet “sees the need” to bring spirituality to reality to see, hear, and through obedience “do” the Will of the Father in their own private life and the life of the Church.

Vision Series: Part III – The Teacher “Sees the Written Word Become The Living Word”

 The Vision of the Teacher

“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?

The sermon has often been the standard of teaching throughout Church history.  The “hearing of the Word of God”, the reading aloud of the Holy Scriptures, has been pivotal in most church services throughout the ages.  Often though, the way and method of teaching the Word, the Bible, in the Church has become “legal” rather than “living”.  Legalism divides the Church; a Living Word unites the Church.

Today’s Church needs their teachers to break from the Westernization of an “academic” gospel to a more Jewish, Lamad, approach of living out gospel.  The passion of a five fold teacher is to help a believer in Jesus Christ “walk out” his faith journey in his practical life, rather than becoming a Biblical academic scholar.  Jesus never founded a “seminary”, nor a “Christian Bible College”, nor formed “conferences” in hotels during a week or weekend where his 12 disciples or the many new followers gathered to hear His faith message. Jesus walked by their side, in practical living, teaching practical Kingdom of God principles from practical everyday experiences.  People knew how a sower sowed seeds, a harvest was gathered, how to draw water from a well, etc., and Jesus took those experiences to teach His believers kingdom truthes.

The teacher sees the written Word, the Bible, as not only a written document, but a “living” document to be walked out in each believer’s life.  Westernization has taught us Christians how to “talk the talk”, (defend the Bible, refute untruth, debate its meaning through our interpretations, and divide the Church through doctrine), but the Lamad, or Jewish mindset, is to “walk the walk”.

The five fold teacher “sees” what is needed to teach the “walk” that is founded on the “talk”.  If the Word is not a daily practicality in a believer’s life, it becomes mundane theology of only academic value, open for academic debate, that produces division, not unity in the body of Christ.  The early teachings were based the “Apostolic Teachings” which were simplistic and brought unity in the body.

Acts 15 displays the division of “legalistic” teaching of the Pharisees in this new movement of God, verses the “living” teachings that both Peter and Paul witnessed in the living out of this new faith in questioning if Gentiles could be believers and should they be circumcised in this new movement.  Peter and Paul had to share testimonies of the spiritual “visions” they had seen over the question, and the practical “living” that the Gentiles were experiencing, the same faith journey as they had witness in their own personal lives.  The issue was settled in unity through the living Holy Spirit.  “Legalism” fell to “Life”!

The five fold teacher “sees” how to teach “life lessons” that exemplify the Truth of the Written Word, the Bible, the anchor of one’s faith in a practical daily walk.  John I states, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  The Word became a living Gospel when Jesus came to earth.  He taught us how to walk out this Word in his daily life which is recorded in the Written Word, but the Father sent the Holy Spirit to teach us how to “live out” the Word in each individual believer’s life.

The five fold teacher has to teach individual believers how to walk this walk through the leading of the Holy Spirit.  He has to teach the individual believer to trust the Holy Spirit who was sent to teach him or her all truth.  The believer can then go the to Word, the Bible, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach him/her truth, and how to “live it out”.  The goal of a teacher should be to develope the believer to become independent of their teacher, and dependent on the Holy Spirit to develop him/her into the maturity and fullness of Jesus Christ through their personal reading of the Word, the Bible.  Then the Church will see staggering results in maturity of its believers.

The evangelist sees the “needs” of the lost; the pastor/shepherd sees the “needs” of the newborn; and the teacher sees the “need” to make the written Word, the Bible, a Living Rhema Word in every believer’s daily life. 

Vision Series: Part II – The Pastor/Shepherd “Sees the Needs”

The Vision of a Pastor/Shepherd

“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?

The pastor/shepherd driven believer rejoices with the evangelism over the “new birth” of a person into the kingdom of God, but becomes heavily burdened by the need for the nurture and the care of this new babe in Jesus Christ in his development, his life’s journey now as a Christian, his becoming “mature” in the “fullness of Christ”.  It is a tall order.

The pastor/shepherd is driven to establish a “spiritual nursery” for this “newborn” in Christ.  Early childhood growth is developmental. We rejoice when our own children first “roll-over, or talk, or take their first step to walk.  Humans are helpless at birth. They total rely on their parents, particularly their mother, for nourishment, diaper changes, caring, cuddling, etc. in their early stages of life.  Why should we not expect the same from a “new born” in Jesus Christ. 

This “new life” is just that, “new”!  There is a turning from the old to the new, but the question is how to do that in one’s daily life, one’s daily walk while making daily decisions.  How do you “walk out your faith daily”?  That is the passion of a pastor/shepherd who “sees the needs” of new believers in their development of growing into the mature image of Jesus Christ, and does everything within their physical and spiritual grasp to meet those needs to help this spiritual newborn to take their first steps of faith, learn verbally how to share their faith, and continually grow.

The pastor/shepherd has to teach practical everyday applications of this faith walk in Jesus: To teach the newborn the power of prayer, the foundation of reading the Bible, the need for intimacy in their relationship to God, to Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, total reliance in a practical way on their new found faith in Jesus Christ, and so much more.

Without a pastor/shepherd driven believer who seeks out these new believers and sees their needs, that new believer will be dumped at the doorstep of the world and will not survive. Many a newborn has “back-slidden” or gone back “into the world” because that is where they were dumped after their “new birth” because a pastor/shepherd did not rise from the body of Christ to walk by their side relationally in their every day life to nurture their care in their new faith walk journey. 

That is why it is so important to have a pastor/shepherd and an evangelist side by side in their ministry. The evangelist “sees” the needs of the lost; the pastor/shepherd “sees” the needs of the new believer.  The evangelist “sees” and quotes John 3:16 while the pastor/shepherd “sees” and quotes I John 3:16. How often have we alienated these two passions, these two different points of view, dividing the Church rather than unifying and strengthening the body of Christ?  That is why the five fold ministry and the “laying down your life for your brethren” is so important in not only developing the individual believer, but developing the entire “body of Christ”.

Without the evangelist there is no birth; without the pastor/shepherd there is no development.  Both of their “visions”, their points of view, their passions are needed in the nurture of the Christian and the Church.

Vision Series: Part I – The Evangelist “Sees the Lost”

The Vision of an Evangelist:

“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?

The evangelist “sees the lost”, and his/her heart is broken by what he/she sees.  They are driven to share “the Good News”, the Gospel, with those who have never heard it.  Their passion is to bring the lost into the Kingdom of God.  They see the “needs” of the poor, the effect of poverty, the hopelessness in mankind, and they are driven to bring a message of hope, of salvation, to meet the spiritual need of the lost: Jesus.

"General" William Booth, founder of the Salvation ArmyA person driven by the evangelistic spirit is a creative person who will “birth” innovative ways to share the message of spiritual birth, “you must be born again.”  Wesley and Whitefield broke from the tradition of sinners coming into the house of God to hear the salvation message by taking it to the miners at their work place.  The whole tent-meeting movement was birthed. “General” William Booth packaged it as an Army which became effective in reaching the poor in England, birthing the Salvation Army.  Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday developed it into large evangelistic city-wide tent meetings.  Billy Graham used technology to birth an electronic evangelistic message via television to millions.  I am waiting to see who and how the “gospel” will be impacted by today’s “social networking” where the world is but a click away, and the message of “the new birth” will go to the world wide masses.  Evangelists major in “birthing”, and I am sure God will raise up an evangelist to use the technology that is present today.

Amazingly, the most effective form of evangelism doesn’t come from the use of current technology, but by one-one-one contact with believers and nonbelievers on a personal, relational level.  The church is willing to spend large sums of money on large scale city-wide, or television campaigns, but the greatest majority of new believers comes from another common believer sharing his/her faith, his/her walk, his/her journey in Jesus Christ.

Still, the evangelistic spirit breaks the heart of the evangelist in order for him/her to move on, move forward, continuing to explore and birth new ways of telling the message, sharing the message, living the evangelistic message, the gospel, the good news to the next lost, dying individual who needs Jesus who crosses their path.  Being an evangelist is a never-ending battle, a sacrificial lifestyle “driven” by the passion to save the lost.

The Evangelist “sees the lost and the dying” and is driven to share the answer: the new birth of Jesus Christ in each person’s life assuring them of a relationship with the God-head that was broken by sin, but reestablished because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Sacrificial Lamb, giving life and hope to those who chose it in this lost and dying generation. That is how the evangelist sees it; that is what drives the evangelist.

What/Who Are The Church’s Ears?

“He That Has Ears To Hear; Let Them Hear”

 

Did you ever feel that no one is listening to you.  You have good ideas to share, concerns to be addressed, developed your own opinion, but you don’t think anyone is listening or wants to listen.  You feel isolation, rejection, and loneliness.

Often I hear loud and clear what church leadership believes, thinks, or dictates. We hear it from the pulpit, in private conversations, or in the bulletin or newsletter, but how does church leadership hear from their congregation. Do they need to?  If the church is all about relationships, then it must not only speak, but also listen.

If the five fold is present in a congregation, multiple eyes and ears should be present if the five fold is a passion and point of view.  The evangelist listens to the voice of the “street” to know how to be more effective in meeting the needs and addressing the lost.  Not only does the sheep know their shepherd’s voice, but he knows theirs.  The information a teacher expounds is not of importance if he just lectures or preaches, but a good teacher listens to his student(s), a process that helps him to measure his teaching effectiveness.  A prophet majors in listening to the voice of God, craving its intimacy, but also needs to listen to the voice of the believers and see if it parallel’s God’s.  Listening is critical to the apostle, for not only does he “over-see” the flock, but also “listens” to the many voices in the midst of the congregation.  His gifting is to react to what he hears, leading the congregation towards the heart and voice of God in very practical ways.

As a person who loves to talk, I have had to learn the power of listening, even the power of silence.  Being an extravert, it is so easy to express my thought, my opinion, my knowledge on a subject, but I am continually learning that “silence is truly golden” and listening a very powerful tool.

As a church we need not only to teach the believers under our care how to “hear” to voice of God, but also teach out leadership how to listen to the voices of the believers around them in their attempt to lead. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” It is a key to powerful leadership.

 

Why Do Churches Have Sunday Services?

What is their purpose?

 

It is Sunday morning(!) or (.) What does that morning mean to you?  Just another morning of the week?  Or as a church person, does it meaning going to a Sunday morning Mass or a Sunday morning Worship Service? 

Some would justify it as a time for God’s people to meet corporately. I ask, “To do what?”

“To worship the Lord.” To which I reply, “How”?

How much does “God’s people”, alias Joe Average Christian, participate in the service?  Is the service really about Joe, or his spiritual journey that week, or his needs in growing into the likeness of Jesus Christ, or his need to fellowship with the saints? Or is it about the institution, the traditions, and the distinctive tenants of that group’s faith that makes them different from the rest of the Body of Christ, or what has been planned and now implemented by the staff?

Some feel Sunday morning is a time to “bring in the lost” and give them the “evangelistic” message of the Gospel, or good news; some feel it is a time to “feed My sheep”; some feel it is a time to minister to the needs of the sick and afflicted through prayer and the laying on of hands; some feel it is a time to sing with hymnals, overhead projection, or power point presentations, or to listen to others sing in the choir, worship teams, or special music.

Is it a time to read a bulletin to see the social and ministerial events the church offers that week, or to take notes of the sermon on the back, or fill in the sheet as an added insert while the sermon is being given, or as I did as a kid (and I still find myself doing when bored), “fill in the empty space in the  “e’s”, “a’s”, and “o’s” with a pencil or pen. No it’s not about reading the bulletin, because there is an “announcement” section of the service to reiterate everything that is in the bulletin under the assumption that you don’t read your bulletin anyhow! If that is the truth, then why did we get one in the first place?

Is it a time to “meet and greet” for five minutes or less, “Hi, glad you’re here (but I will never see you again this week, unless we both come back here next week and sit beside each other and do this same ritual again).

What is the purpose of this service? I have often asked this to church leaders who give me some of the lame answers above, or aren’t sure themselves. What is the target, the objective, of the service? What is supposed to get accomplished during the service? Who is to participate? Who is allowed to participate in what and how? Is there an evaluation of the service? (Yes, over the dinner tables Sunday noon by the congregation, and over business tables by the staff Tuesday mornings!)  What does anyone in the pew remember about the service a month later unless it was the same-old, same-old. They remember the repetition, but specifics? The pastor says, “Do you remember last month when I preached about ____, and the parishioners smile as if they did, but will not admit it has been lost in the recesses of trivial meaningless!

What did Joe Average Christian have to do to “prepare” for the Sunday service, to “participate” in the Sunday Service, and “take with him to walk out for the rest of the week” from the Sunday Service?  Maybe we should ask, “What is the purpose of our Sunday Service?” or better yet, maybe we should ask, “What or how does the Holy Spirit want to edify Jesus Christ this Sunday through all and in all who gather in Jesus’ name?”

The early church gathered at the temple to do what they always did at the temple, even while Jesus was with them, but all that changed at Pentecost when they began to do “different things”, to the point the public thought them drunk.  They gather, but are later forced to scatter because of persecution, and they break way from Temple worship (which also physically gets destroyed) and begin to worship in different cultures and environments with “Gentiles” who mess up this whole Neo-Jewish movement called Christianity.  The Spirit helps us to break away from our Temple (Church building) mentality, to scatter to fulfill the Great Commission, and to reach others (the gentiles of our generation) with the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Let’s allow the Holy Spirit orchestrate our Sunday’s together through His people. Sunday mornings should be about the gathering of the Saints, those who believe in Jesus Christ, and their obedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading. 

Sammy’s Story: A Story of Success!

Sammy’s Story Part II

 

(Read Part I first)

Sammy was lonely, in the depths of despair, bottoming out, lost, but then he met a man who told him that in spite of how he felt, God loved him. The man began to explain how he personally had once be as lost as he, but was introduced to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Sammy, desperate, listened. When asked if he wanted that saving grace, the man lead him through scripture called the Romans Road before leading through the sinner’s prayer. Sammy’s burden miraculously lifted, giving him an experience he had never known. He now felt peace.

This man then introduced him to Ralph, a close Christian friend, who invited him into his home as he began to walk Sammy through his new life as a Christian. Sammy was told that in Christ Jesus all things are new, thus Ralph helped his new friend understand about all this newness in practical everyday terms.

Bob came to Ralph’s place on Tuesday nights to teach a Bible study, noticing Sammy’s curiosity and thirst as he asked question after question. After the gathering, Bob came up to Sammy and asked if he could come over in two days and continue to study with him. Sammy was ecstatic.  For the first time, hearing the Bible seemed to make sense, and Sammy wanted to make this knowledge a reality in his life since all he had was simple naive faith.

Then he met Ruth who came to the next Bible study.  She had a passion to worship like Sammy had never experienced before, and soon Sammy was seeking how to draw nearer to God and learning to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  This Spirit walk, like everything else, was new to Sammy, but Ruth helped him along.

Over the first year, Sammy had grown spiritually at a torrid pace as Ralph nurtured his walk, Bob taught him the Word of God, and Ruth challenged his intimacy with God. Amazingly in just a few years, Sammy found himself nurturing other new Christian as he had learned through Ralph. He loved doing it, for helping new believers in their infant walk of faith in their daily life had become his passion.

Sammy’s Story: A Parable of Soil!

Sammy’s Story Part III

 

(Read Part I & II first)

Luke 8:4-15

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and chocked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.

When he said this, he called out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that “through seeing, they may not see; through hearing, they may not understand.”

This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who received the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are chocked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.  But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Thought:  Is this process uncontrollable, beyond our reach as a Church, and should we just accept that we will loose a lot of grain, and only a few become productive and multiply by the hundreds? Or is it just possible that the Church is the soil, and we, the church, are responsible for removing the rocks so the good soil is exposed and weeding out the thorns before they are huge, prickly, and blossoming with seed to pollute even more ground, so the good soil nurtures the seed,

I would like to contend that the evangelist can spread the seed, but we need the shepherd to clear the rocks and help root the new believer.  We need the prophet to separate the wheat from the tares, weeding out those thorns of temptations by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, by having the new believer focus on his intimate relationship with God, the Father, and the furthering of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.  We need the apostle as an overseer to help others prepare the soil no matter what condition it may be in so newly sown seed, new believers, may grow productive and multiply. We need the five fold to equip the saints for the work of preparation for the (harvest).  This may be a new way to look at the five fold, but the outcome is soil preparation for a good harvest.  Jesus said, “the harvest is ready, but the workers are few”, and encourages us to go “harvest what we have not sown.”  The Church needs the five fold to sow the seed, prepare the ground, water the new born plants, and harvest.

Can I Not Look For A Church Like This?

Dare I Dream?

 

Everybody has their opinion, vision, or dream of what they think the Church should be, and often go on a journey to find it; most times unsuccessfully.  In America we “shop” for a church that meets our needs, our wants, that makes us comfortable.  What programs do they offer? A good youth group, share group, children’s ministry, nursery, musical style that appeals to me, etc.? In America Christian jump from church to church, no longer going to the closest location and giving to their community through their local church.  Many churches’ roles are coated with move-ins, not people just born into the kingdom.  So I began to think, what am I looking for?

An evangelistic church appeals to me, because the Great Commission has called us to “go to all the world”, but not “all the world come into our building”. A local evangelical church advertised this Sunday “free car washes” for visitors in attempt to bring people into their sanctuary. A church the infiltrates the world with the Good News, the Gospel, is a must, and new believer’s enthusiasm is contagious to a congregation.

A shepherding church is mandatory, for if it is to grow, then the new believers, the new Christians, must be developed and be nurtured in Christ-likeness.  Small group life sharing everyday walks of faith help nurture this environment

Of course, the church must be grounded in the Word of God, the Bible, but I also want a prophetic church that takes the Logos Word and converts it into the Rhema Word, or living Word.  Learning to walk in the Spirit and being taught by the Spirit is mandatory.

All this evangelistic, nurturing, teaching, and prophetic work and life of the church is being done by the believers in Christ, and the older they get, the shift toward nurturing and equipping those newer in the faith becomes evident.  It is believers reaching out and developing believers. All this needs to be coordinated by someone(s) who can see the big picture of the congregation, the church, and who encourages, develops, and equips those believers to grow in Christ, never in a controlling spirit, but a serving one.

Have I found this local church? Of course not! Do I think I can find this church? I am pessimistic when looking at church structure, organization, and leadership styles that currently exist in most church paradigms.  I do know that God’s Spirit is no longer to be boxed in, and for those who think out of the box, revival is the answer, for there is where God works at the grass roots. 

I have been in evangelical churches, nurturing churches, strong teaching churches, prophetic churches, and even apostolic churches, but each has been a separate entity instead of coming together, uniting their strength for the common good of equipping the saints. Often staff has been nurtured and developed, not their people. That dream of unity of the gifts for the development of the saints is still burning within me, and I still have to believer that is the wave of the future for the church. I hope, some day, to be a part of that paradigm. Act 2 proclaims that “old men will dream dreams.”  I guess I am one of them!

A Novel Idea: “Equip; Not Enable”

A Change In Mindset

 Ephesians 4 claims that the purpose of the five fold is to “equip the saints for the work of the service”.  Not equipping the staff, not even myself, but the saints at large!  We, as mature Christians in the Church, have to give up control and begin to teach others how to stand as Christians.  So often we “enable” fellow believers by doing everything for them; for example, we often…..

 

Do This................................rather than........................... Equip Them For This          .

Read the Bible to them...........................................Have them read the Bible themselves

Interpret the Bible through preaching ................Have the Holy Spirit reveal Truth through the Word

Read or recite written prayers................................Allow one to verbalize their personal faith to God

Have a Bible in the pew..........................................Disciplining one to bring along their Bible

Call the Pastor to lead one to the Lord.................Lead someone themselves into saving Grace

Call the Pastor if someone is sick......................... Lay hands on the sick & anoint them for healing

Call the Pastor to visit the sick...............................Personally visit the sick yourself

Send the needy to the Pastor................................Practice hospitality, make meals, reach out

Go on a missions trip...............................................Minister the same way to those in our own community

Good Sunday School Program..................................Raise ones children in a Godly home environment

Provide a good Youth Group......................................Bonding with ones adolescent during puberty

So we may have to rethink how “we can equip the saints for the work of the service”. It may take a new mindset on how to do it.  How can we equip one to share the evangelistic message, or be hospitable, or search the written word, the Bible, for themselves, or grow in their spirituality, or grow in leadership and oversight?  How do we free the believer in Jesus Christ to be all he can be in Jesus unless we free him, instruct him, and guide and equip him? Studying the passions and the point of view of the five fold may change our way of thinking, and when they do, teaching and equipping others may release them to grow in the Lord as only we can now imagine.

 

Can’t Box In God

Twice Boxed; Twice Released

 

On Sunday I usually attend an early service that focuses on prayer, praise, and worship.  I love to just sit quietly and listen to what the Spirit has to say.  During the time of worship, a new revelation came to me.  I had known that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil on the temple had been torn from top to bottom, not bottom to top.  God’s Spirit had been in the Holy of Holies since its inception in the tabernacle, but at the crucifixion of God’s only Son, the Spirit of God rent the veil, freeing His Spirit to go wherever one would receive the Spirit of His Son, Jesus Christ.  The body of His believers would become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

If God’s Spirit was no longer contained at one location, what Satan could no longer prevent in life, he tried to contain in death, thus a huge stone was rolled in front of the tomb where the body of Jesus laid.  Jesus descended to the lowest depths before the power of his resurrection rolled the stone away while Jesus ascended back to life and eventually to the right hand of God, the Father. Death and the grave could not even contain Him.  God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, would not be boxed in any longer.

I got to see the resurrection power in a new perspective.  How often have we either as an institution called the Church or as individual believers try to box in God?  How often do we want to control God’s Spirit by containing him rather than freeing Him in order to lead or control our lives? The Holy Spirit, God’s resurrection Spirit, is a freeing spirit, not a containing spirit.  We can try to box him into our molds of what Church should be, but His freeing resurrection Spirit breaks through those molds to produce freedom in Jesus Christ. We can try to put Him in a “tomb”, so we can do our things, that usually produces spiritual death, but death and the grave can not contain Him, and his Spirit will break through our dead religious practices.

The Resurrection Spirit of Jesus Christ is a break-through spirit, a powerful spirit, a spirit that produces life, overcoming death.  Let’s embrace this Spirit more often.

An Intimate Worship Service?

What The Heck Is That?

Getting ready for church, I watched a TV preacher talking to a crowd at a Conference for 45 minutes.  The last 15 minutes were filled by his grandson’s pitch to buy his grandpa’s teaching tapes. When I drove home from church this morning, I listened to a radio broadcast of a local church’s “worship service” which consisted of highly polished professional sounding music for 15 minutes and a 45 minute sermon on how to “pick a mate to marry”! “The difference between men and women are coming in the upcoming Sundays in this series,” was promised.  My home’s church “worship service” format was basically the same only interrupted by everyone taking time for handshakes and the reading of announcements that were already in the bulletin. Returning home I listened to an internet “live stream” of another church 60 miles away, and again the format reflected the others I had previously heard with music, offering, hand shakes, and a long sermon.

Looking from the outside at how we “market” Christianity and the church, I didn’t even get a glimpse of really who the Church is, “His people”.  I see and heard its “program”, its elevated “standard of music”, its “professional teachers”, but never a word from or about its people. Even in the music mix, the voices of the congregation could not be heard over the band and worship leaders. “Is this what the church calls a ‘worship service”, the world asks?  If so, what would attract anyone to be a part of it, for there is nothing “intimate” about it. Good show, nice production, high orchestrated, but “intimate”? I don’t think so!

So what part is the congregation, or God’s people, to play in a worship service? Why are they so well hidden in television, radio productions, and online streaming?  Why aren’t they and a relationship with them not the central feature of attraction to that church?  Is there a hidden agenda?

I would like the church to reevaluate what an “intimate worship service” really is. Who is worshiping? If “intimate” means relationships, then how do they exemplify “intimate relationships”? If worship is about an “intimate” relationship, when God is in the midst of His people, then why is not “the midst of His people” become the central part of the Worship Service, which we hide so well?

A Challenge:  If your church eliminated the music section of their service (worship team, band, choir, organ, etc.) and the preaching section of their service (pastor’s sermon) what would be left in your worship service? Announcements & offering? What would happen if “God’s people” were forced to come “prepared” to worship, if they actually “expected” the Holy Spirit to move amongst them, and if they would be open to respond in obedience to the Spirit’s leading. Wow, we just might experience an “intimate” “worship” “service”!

Priest or Priesthood?

The Priesthood Part III: Releasing the Priesthood

Nowhere in the New Testament is the issue of  “a priest” addressed except for Jesus as our High Priest; it only refers to “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God”.  The Body of Christ, His Church, is that royal priesthood, that holy nation, that people of God. The “priesthood” is not individualistic, but corporate, for God wants “His people” to draw near to Him corporately through intimacy, worship, and service.

So when that Body of Christ gathers, God wants to be in the midst of his people.  It is a special time for God to work through His people, His priesthood, to His people, His priesthood.   This is such a different mindset than the one we practice today where we are taught the trickle effect: God works through his clergy, or staff, to his laity, his people, and it should effect the way we celebrate corporate worship when we gather.

I believe worship is just “giving back to the Lord what He has already given you,” so the gathering of the priesthood should be a time when the priesthood gives back.  If during the week the individual believer has been reading the Word, the Bible, daily and allowed the Holy Spirit to teach him its truths, and that written word has become a living, vibrant, active word in their life, why shouldn’t he be allowed to share the living active truth that he has learned and experienced amongst the people of God?  How dynamic and “intimate” would that “worship service” be if he were allowed? 

We “script” our worship services instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them. Scripted services are “safe” because we are in control of them.  Allowing the Holy Spirit to move among His priesthood, allowing his priesthood to speak His written Logos Word, the Bible, to share His living Rhema Word, and to minister that Logos and Rhema Word to one another is scary or threatening to most of today’s church leadership, for they have to give up control for that to happen.

The question is, “Who is in control”?

If we believe in a “royal priesthood of believers”, then we need to let them function as “priests” for the good of the “priesthood”, the “Body of Christ”. Let the “priests” be accountable to God to be prepared for an “intimate worship service.”  Or we can just “script” the service, print it in a bulletin or handout, make everyone aware of the planned order of worship that they are "expected" to follow, having the “staff” share, teach, and “lead worship” while the “priesthood” remains pew or chair dwellers singing the “scripted” songs and listening to the “scripted message” (and of course all the “announcements” the staff deems important), and is only allowed to give through tithing which will support the “professional staff” for all their efforts “ministering”.

Are we going to continue to play it safe, or should we release this priesthood that already exists in every church to “minister” unto the Lord and to His people. It is a different mindset, for releasing is never safe, but the releasing of this priesthood will produce profound results.

The Answer: A Perpetual Priesthood by the Order of Melchizedek?

The Priesthood Part II:  What Am I To Do As A Priest In The Order Of Melchizedek?

God established a priesthood in order for man to “draw near to God” by establishing His Son, Jesus Christ, as the High Priest who is in the heavens interceding for the saints, His believers, His priests. He who is without sin paid the price for sin, and has been elevated above the heavens, sitting at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest FOREVER.

So if we, the believers in Jesus Christ, are of the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, what are we to do?  What is our responsibilities, our duties?  Unlike the Levitical system of priesthood, we no longer have to sacrifice animals on the altar for our sins, for Jesus has fulfilled that, and the Levitical system of animal sacrifice is archaic, thus not even practiced among the Jewish faith even today.  Sounds like the priest under the Levitical system has been stripped of most of his duties.

The purpose of the priesthood is to have people who are willing to “draw near to God” and recognize what their High Priest has done and is doing to practice their calling. 

What does it mean to “draw near to God”?

Intimacy:  God not only wants a relationship with his people but an intimate one. When you hug someone, you draw them near your body, bring them as close to your heart as possible, and often intimately hold them there for a while cherishing the closeness. God wants a people he can surround with his loving arms embracing them, drawing them close to his very heartbeat, so they will not only recognize His heartbeat, but “know” it.

Worship: When one draws near to God, an immediate response occurs: one wants to give back to God what he has been given by God, for one realizes that we are only stewards of what he has given us. That is true worship.  Abram, now wealthy, immediately gives 1/10 of what he has to Melchizedek as his response to God’s blessing. 

Service: The giving back, the act of putting the sacrifice back on the altar, is exemplified through acts of service. Serving and giving are the same. Jesus came to earth, not to be served, but to serve, and his life became the supreme example to us from the washing of feet to obediently dying on the Cross. Priests by the order or Melchizedek are called to perpetually serve forever.

So God has set up a priesthood of believers in Jesus Christ, lead by His Holy Spirit, to be intimate with Him, worship him by giving back what He has already given them, and to serve in obedience. That is a far different priesthood than the Levitical priesthood bound by the Law, but not released by grace. We, the Church, need to reestablish this priesthood by the Order of Melchizedek back into the Body of Christ as it is meant to be.