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Cor1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
Cor1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
The apostolic office is not a ministry, which one chooses for himelf or is conferred upon by men. It is a divine summons from the Lord. He or she are divinely picked and divinely sent out.
Hence the apostle can have a traveling ministry, and belongs to the body of Christ at large. He or she might not be called to be a member of one particular church but belongs to and embraces the whole body of Christ.
Because he or she are divinely summoned, and a divinely appointed ambassadors belonging to Christ Jesus by God’s will, he or she operate with the full credentials of God’s power.
These credentials of power however are only manifested in relationship and proportion to how much the apostle operates in the will of God. The fullness of God’s power belongs to the one who operates strictly by the voice of the Holy Ghost in the rhema Word of God.
The apostle is of no consequence or importance. The apostle Paul in Acts 20: 24 tells us that he did not hold his life in honor, dear, or precious to himself so that he may finish the course of the Lord.
The one giving the apostle the commission, the Lord, is the one who is of consequence or of importance. The apostle is nothing more than an ambassador of the one who sent him. He or she are forevermore under orders to execute what the Lord wants. That is their lives.
No one can be sent except the one who is under orders. The apostle must be in constant submission to the Lord.
Gal 1:1 ¶ Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
An apostle does not get their ministry, calling or ordination from men.
He or she are not raised up by men but by Jesus Christ.
Thusly the apostle cannot please men outside of God’s will, but must always please God who chose and raised him or her up. Not pleasing man, but a bond or love slave of God.
Eph 1:1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
The apostle can proclaim the will of God, because he or she live strictly out of the will of God.
1Tim 1:1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
He or she can proclaim God’s commandments, because the apostle lives strictly out of the commandments of God.
2Tim:1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
With the promise of resurrection life goes the provision for its proclamation.
Hence the apostle in proclaiming Christ’s power and life must be an ambassador of the life of Jesus. In other word he or she must live in the resurrection life of God, which comes forth from the death of Christ’s cross, which has touched everything in their lives.
Titus 1:1¶ Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
The apostle lives in accordance with God’s level of faith for His saints. God’s level of faith is His rhema word. Therefore the apostle lives out of God’s rhema word.
He or she must also live in conformity to the full scope of the Word of God.
These two things together promote r godliness or being “God like”, which is one mission of the apostle.
Through this, the apostle stimulates and promotes the faith of God towards His chosen ones. The stimulation of this faith is to make others thirsty for the Son of God and not just simply for the blessings, prosperity and other things that come from God.
True promotion of faith by the apostle is to reveal the Son of God, and give the saints the knowledge of what is their participation, ministries, and callings into the riches found in the Son of God whom the apostle has just revealed to them.
Secondly, the apostle reveals to the church an accurate witness of the Word of God found both in the logos and rhema word. This allows the saints of God to participate in the truth of the Word, which will produce godliness in their lives.
The apostles thus must live themselves in that accurate recognition and participation of the truth so that they may be able to testify to it and bring others into its participation or fellowship.
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship( Participation) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Romans1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
The apostolic ministry promotes obedience to the gospel, and through it makes disciples amongst all the nations. The gospel must be testified to in such an accurate way by the apostle that it will have the power to promote obedience to others.
True apostleship can only begin with the revelation of the Son of God. This is because for every individual, the revelation of the Lord automatically carries with it the callings, ministries, and giftings for each individual person. All resides in the Son of God.
The apostle can only promote obedience to the gospel to the extent that they are themselves living in accordance to it.
Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Greek:To welcome with open arms i.e. receive with hospitality.
The reception that the apostle receives is in fact the reception given to the Lord Himself. This is because the apostle always lives and acts in accordance to the voice of the Spirit through the rhema word of God. A hospitable welcome given to the apostle is a hospitable welcome given to the Lord whose rhema word the apostle is executing.
The called apostles must realize that the Lord must whittle down everything in their lives to the point that nothing else is left but their living their lives out of God’s rhema word.
This is what gives the apostle his or her experiential oneness with the Lord and makes them fit to be ambassadors of the Lord with the backing of His full credentials.
As we had studied last time, the rhema word of the Lord is the FAITH OF GOD. To live out of the faith OF GOD, the Lord must take the apostle through a season of material want and lack that will take number of years. This will get the apostle to a place where she or he learn to live strictly out of the rhema word of God and not out of the appearance brought by circumstances. Herein lies a signs and wonders ministry.
The rhema word of God gives to the apostle the Lord’s credentials in that the rhema word of God represents the desires, the faith, the power, and the timing OF GOD HIMSELF.
Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Greek ; He that is making light of, or is despising you, despises me. He that is paying attention to what you are saying pays attention to me.
The apostle must live in a continual state of obedience to the Lord. He or she must live in strict obedience to the rhema word of God so that when they are rejected it is in fact the Lord who is being rejected.
The opposite is true; when the apostle is being listened to, it is in fact God’s rhema word, which is being listened to. Hence the Lord Himself. The apostle is no consequence or of importance. The rhema word of God is the revelation of the Son of God.
John 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me ( Greek: apostolic sending), and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Greek: The apostle or the one sent on an apostolic mission lives moment to moment through the Father who does the works.
As I have taught, the works of the Father are translated into rhema words. The apostle must continuously discern and carry out the rhema word. That is the apostle’s whole objective in life.
Any time that the apostle acts in the flesh, he or she will experience a loss of the full credentials of the Lord’s power, which is found only in the voice of the Spirit.
John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Greek: The apostle, or the one on an apostolic mission, is birthed from God and lives continuously out of God just as a tree must live out of its roots. Not only is their ministry birthed from God, but also their constant presence in this world must be accomplished out of this same dependency.
The apostle has no agenda. His or her agenda is the Lord.
The apostle therefore lives in utter dependency upon the Lord. The apostle has been broken by the Lord and lives out of the strength and the power of God. There has been a death to his or her ability to overcome, so that their overcoming now comes through the revelation of the Son of God.
His or her whole existence is sustained and originates through his or her relationship with the Father.
John 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
The apostle’s work originates in God. It is consequently done with the full authority of God and in signs and wonders of the rhema word.
Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Greek: It is the priority in this case, or it is always necessary that we obey God rather than men.
The apostle is called to obey God rather than men. He or she cannot be men pleasers. One reason for this is that the rhema word of God most times goes contrary to reason, logic, and the flesh of men.
Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Greek: It is not pleasant or agreeable that we would leave, abandon, or forsake the word of God. This is part of the apostolic commission.
Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
Greek: But we will steadfastly without pause adhere ourselves to prayer, and to the office of the Word of God. The apostolic commission.
Acts 9:22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
Saul, later Paul, was more and more filled with God’s power and was continuously strengthened. (This is the ongoing responsibility of the apostle.)
He therefore threw into disorder and the perplexing of mind the enemies of God through the display of God’s power.
Acts 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
The opponents of God had absolutely no inward strength of spirit to take a stand against Steven. This is the resurrection power abiding in the apostle.
Please remember, the rhema word is the only thing that the apostle has left when he or she has lost everything else for the sake of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is all that is needed.
Acts4:33 And with great power gave (discharged their responsibility, debt or duty) the apostleswitness(martyrdom) of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
One of the calls of the apostle is to give witness of the resurrection of the risen Christ.
The Greek word for witness is martyrdom. True resurrection witness of the Lord can only come through the death of ourselves which brings the resurrection of the Son of God.
The apostle gives back the witness of the resurrection as something that is simply his or her obligation or duty. The Greek word “gave” tells us that it is in fact the apostle’s responsibility or debt to give witness of the revealed Son of God. In other words this is the “normal realm of function” for the apostle.
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