On the evening of April 15, 1993, while sitting quietly in my living room, I asked the Lord a question, “What is the five fold ministry all about. How is it to work? “
Here is what I wrote down that night: (Continuation of the last two days blogs)
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In Acts 2 apostle Peter sees a glimpse of the whole Body as people begin speaking in the native tongues of many languages of nations of their known world. Little did Peter know that he had much to learn about vision of apostleship (House of Cornelius, acceptance of Gentiles, etc.), but the apostolic vision came upon Him (vs. 5-13)
When questioned, Peter kicked into the prophetic (vs. 14-21) as he quoted Joel 2:28-32 and shows its fulfillment.
(Versus 22-36) Peter flows as a teacher, explaining the prophecies of Joel using Psalms 16:8-11 as a teaching text, and explains the purpose of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When he proclaims Jesus as the Messiah, it “pierced their hearts”.
(Versus 37-41) Peter, the evangelist, manifests himself as he leads 3,000 to the Lord’s gracious salvation.
(Versus 42-45) illustrates the pastoring that took place in those early days to the 120, then 3,000, then 3,000 plus as they grew.
The results was the birthing of the five fold ministry and its fruits:
1) Unity in faith - continuing with one mind (Acts 2:46);
2) Knowledge of the Son of God - Peters sermon of Acts 2:14-42;
3) Maturity - fellowshiping with gladness and sincerity of heart (Acts 2:26);
4) Measure of Stature - having favor with all the people (Acts 2:46);
Acts 2 is only a measure compared to what we are about to see:
Pastoring: Who would have ever dreamed of Pastor Cho’s church reaching the 3/4 million mark?
Evangelist: If Peter could have seen into the future at how Billy Graham has been used with massive meetings and satellite TV international hookups, he would have said, “What is only 3,000”!
Prophecy: As we are currently witnessing this movement, the Lord is exhorting, encouraging, edifying, purifying, and challenging His Body as the Church is again “hearing from the Lord”
Apostolic: The Holy Spirit is birthing vision of Jesus and His Church in men and women who will “see over” the work of the Holy Spirit who is doing the work, not try to “oversee” the work of the Holy Spirit and interfering with it, and will have their spiritual eyes open to the revelation of Jesus Christ as He prepares to return for His Bride.
We are truly living in an exciting time:
The Evangelist will need the prophet to give him/her direction and spiritual insight to break down the darkness of a city and bring revival. Old evangelistic modes will be replaced with new strategies planned and implemented by the Holy Spirit. The evangelist needs the pastor to nurture the new converts, and the teacher to teach them while the apostle watched over them to “guard this new body” and develop it toward maturity”.
The Pastor needs the evangelist to birth his flock; the teacher and/or the prophet to nurture and verify the flock, and the apostle to help it mature into the “fullness of Christ”.
The Teacher needs to hear the apostle’s vision, and the prophet’s fresh word, then dig into the Word, the Bible, to verify it and teach its principles. He/She needs the evangelist and pastor to prepare the ground and planting of the seed for his watering through the Word.
The Prophet needs the pastor to balance his/her assertiveness; the teacher to authenticate the Word; the evangelist to initiate the word, and the apostle to verify the fresh word.
The Apostle needs the prophet to give a fresh Word to verify his vision or revelation of Jesus; the teacher to check it out through the word; the pastor to see if his “heart” lines up with the Word as a shepherd, and the evangelist to birth the Word.
Together they function 1) in unity 2) in revealing the knowledge of the Son of God; 3) maturing or preparing the church, the Bride, for her Groom, and 4) measuring the stature or having the church as the Revelation of Jesus Christ shining, bringing respectability.