Fivefold Ministry and the Church – 24/08/08 August 25, 2008

By Pastor Julie Shannon

Article 7 in our church statement of faith says the following:

7. Church government, ministry and administration by apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. With elders to be appointed and approved of at the appropriate times by those with the five fold ministry anointing.

What is the fivefold ministry?

What is the fivefold ministry anointing?

I am using a few resources together with my own experience to put together this sermon, the main one being the book “Fivefold Ministry made practical” by Ron Myer. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding this topic more.

You all have most likely heard the terms apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher and evangelist bantered around the traps somewhere in your comings and goings. However there is still much confusion on what makes a fivefold minister and when one is recognized; what are they supposed to do?

When Jesus left the earth and gave us the Holy Spirit he gave us a job, a command, a purpose to our own lives; to spread the gospel to the whole world. The vehicle he wants us to use to get this job done is the church, and for the church to be able to fulfill its purpose Jesus gives the church the gifts of apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher and evangelist – the fivefold minister. Read Ephesians 4: 11-16

The early church as we see from reading the book of Acts was vibrant and full of joy, they met in peoples homes daily, shared their possessions, ate together and made sure no-one in their church family went without. They were generous to outsiders and many gave their lives for the sake of others knowing the truth of who Jesus Christ is. Prayer was a given whenever they met and miracles, signs and wonders were normal!! Every believer did something, they all worked together, they all encouraged the other and recognised peoples God given gifts and abilities were there so the body of Christ, the church could be build up and made beautiful to the world. These believers were under constant persecution, they risked their lives daily, so powerful prayer was necessary to survival and your church friends played a major part in your life.

Now travel forwards a few hundred years to the Roman Emperor Constantine, he apparently converted to Christianity and let the Christians and any other religion worship whatever they wanted. It became “cool” to be a Christian like the emperor and hundreds upon hundreds of people got baptized so they could be called Christians. There was no longer any persecution, lives were not being risked and Christians became comfortable. The church got so big, so quickly that the first church building was built in 323 AD. Leaders were put in charge to bring in some form of organisation and soon enough ministry was only in the hands of the “super spiritual ones”. Sadly this mentality has stayed with the church throughout the centuries and is still very prominent in most of today’s church. There was and still is a big gap between what is expected of a seat sitting pew member of a church and someone in “leadership”.

Now back to Eph 4, does Jesus gives the fivefold minister to the church so they can lead through dictating orders and taking control or doing everything themselves or does he expect them to be equipping the saints? Why do the believers need equipping if only those in a leadership role should be doing the stuff that the church is called to do?

All Christians need to realize that Jesus wants them to be equipped, mature, and able to think and discern for themselves. He wants us all to have a close relationship with him and be led by the Holy Spirit so we can attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

His way of doing this is through gifting certain individuals to lead and train God’s people towards maturity, unity and service for Him. Not everyone is called to do this; it is a function of certain individuals only. These five fold ministers are no more important than any other Christian; they just have a different purpose.

Every human has at least one God given gift

There are three groupings of gifts;

Gifts of the Father, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Gifts of Christ

Gifts of the Father are understood as motivational gifts or certain aspects of an individual’s personality that shows that we have been created in Gods image. Someone could be an amazing teacher for instance but not be a believer, someone else may have an unusual amount of foresight in business and know the changing of the tide so to speak before it happens, this is a kind of prophetic intuition. Someone else may have an overwhelming sense of compassion and mercy for others but not recognize Christ. God wants this thumb print he has left on everyone to be used for His purposes, but many people never get the opportunity to know him let alone serve him through how He has created them.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit are understood to be operational gifts. They are specifically for believers in Jesus Christ only and are to help us to do the work of the ministry of Christ through the covering of the church. Read 1 Corinthians: 7-12.

For example – wisdom, words of knowledge, Faith, gifts of healing’s, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues.

Each believer will have at least one of these or other gifts listed in the bible from the Holy Spirit, a gift may look and work differently through different people because of personality and maturity. They are evidence that you have made Jesus Lord of your life. These gifts are for the common good of all believers, and they are also used outside the church to help point people to Christ. The Holy Spirit decides who has what gifts and no gift is more important than the other.

Gifts of Christ are understood to be the fivefold gifts. These are the gifts that Jesus gave to the church and are often referred to as the fivefold ministry gifts, obviously because there are five of them. This is my main focus this morning. Each fivefold gift represents distinct ministry functions, however they also show us five principles that help us understand these ministries.

Apostle = governing

Prophet= guiding

Evangelist= gathering

Pastor= guarding

Teacher= grounding

These five ministry gifts are leadership gifts, not every person is gifted to lead and that’s ok, we would be in a mess if we tried leading each other , wouldn’t we? These functions of ministry are servant functions rather than elevated positions of prestige and position. These five fold ministers are called to equip and encourage the body; the church of Christ. These gifts are never self appointed, Jesus gives them and recognized five fold ministers need to be guided by the Holy Spirit so others that Christ chose are recognized also.

Jesus was all five of these ministry gifts;

The Apostle – “As the Father has sent me”’ (John 20-21)

The Prophet – “See your King is coming seated on a donkey” (John 12;15)

The Evangelist – “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6)

The Teacher – “You call me teacher and Lord, and that is rightly so, for I am what I am” (John 13:13)

The Pastor – “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11)

He split himself up so we could handle all the work, and work with each other to fulfill his command to save the world.

The purpose of Fivefold ministers

“Fivefold ministers have a burning desire to lead people into the fullness of their inheritance in Christ and the ministry to which He has called them… They are called by the Lord and commissioned to work within and alongside the local church to help identify, acknowledge and stir up the various spiritual gifts within the body of Christ.” (P27)

These gifts do not always carry a governmental authority (which is where someone has the authority to rule and make decisions In a church), they do however have a higher realm of spiritual authority that is normally recognized wherever they go. Appointed Church leadership should always have the last say and Godly leaders will listen to a fivefold minister’s encouragement in making decisions.

Not every church will have a fivefold minister attending them, but should be willing to listen to Holy Spirit about having them speak into their church for equipping and bringing the saints to maturity. It is common for a church to only have a Pastor and or Teacher as someone in a leadership position, hence why they need encouragement from outside their local parish.

Fivefold minister’s have different levels or spheres of ministry – Local church, Networks of churches, and Internationally recognized ministers. A few of us here are in the transition right now to both networking and becoming known on an international level. Again this is up to God on how and where He chooses to use his ministers to equip and encourage.

Once someone with a fivefold anointing is recognized those who are mature in these gifts assist them to grow and become proven ministers in their own church first before they are then sent out to bring Christs love and wisdom to other churches and the world.

Those Christians within a local church that are not called as a five fold minister have a two fold responsibility; One to allow themselves to become molded and mature by the fivefold ministers that lead them and two- to use their gifts to work alongside them. E.g without the whole body working together we would collapse. People can be great teachers but not have a fivefold anointing on them, people can have a gift of service or helps and without them a fivefold minister may be caught cleaning rather than speaking into someone’s life.

Traps to avoid

We need to understand that how the church is put together is up to God. Through the Father Son and Holy Spirit we are all equipped, anointed and gifted to bring His Kingdom and truth to the world. Jesus trusted the great commission to people, everyday imperfect people. Don’t expect any of your leaders to be perfect or better than you and don’t resent your gifting or compare yourselves to others because when we do that we are saying we don’t think God knows what he is doing.

Godly character is an absolute necessity for a fivefold minister and God often spends many years training and maturing an individual before they are released into a sphere of ministry. Submission, humility, being willing and obedient, self controlled etc. Read Tim 3: 1-7. Churches need to allow anyone to make mistakes and especially five fold ministers so they grow in maturity.

Conclusion

This church has an apostolic heart, as all churches should have. When you think and breathe apostolicaly you tap into the heart and mind of Christ. Without each other there is no church to impact the world. Seek the Lord and understand how he has made you, approach those in the church that are in leadership or have five fold anointing on their lives and as you learn, encourage them back so “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it’s work.” Whether you are a large limb that is seen and has a fivefold anointing or you are the ligament that helps it move and keeps it strong you are very important.

I’m going to follow this sermon up with an explanation of all gifts and how the fivefold minister’s do their job in practical terms. Be encouraged and know you are loved and valued as a child of God, trust Him to use others to bring you to maturity through relationship and love.

Fighting on the battleground – 10/08/08 August 21, 2008

by Stephen Hills 10/08/08

Begin by reading – Eph 6:12

Introduction:

There was a little boy that enjoyed meeting friends and whoever

Would talk. One day, as he was walking in the forest he met a man.

The man asked, “Who are you?” “I’m Timmy” the boy replied. The

Man said again “Who are you?” Timmy uncertain of what to say now,

wondered, why ask again! But seeing the man looking for an answer,

He replied, “I’m Timmy, who are you?” The man looked, didn’t answer,

and proceeded to walk off. Timmy followed, hesitant at first, but felt

safe. After a short while, he stopped. Turning, he said; “I’m a very

good man, I wont harm you”. Timmy smiled, unsure what to say again.

The man then showed him some books he had, and told him many stories

about his life. After a long while, Timmy said, “I must be going now,

thankyou sir”. “Can we meet again?” replied the man. Timmy thought

about it before answering, not knowing what his mother would say.

Perhaps she’d be angry with him. But he was enthralled by the mans stories.

“I’ll ask mum”, he replied. “Yes, you must do that” the man said. They

parted. He did ask his mother, she was not pleased with him seeing

strangers and wanted him not to. However, Timmy kept visiting him in

forest, listening to the stories, to the books, to all the man said, with a

Curiosity of a child. Over time, Timmy grew up, his mother still warning

him, but it was ignored. For the innocent little boy, now older, knew

what was right, knew the truth. He had experienced it, life was good.

The man succeeded in his mission, over time, he had won the boys mind…..

In this world today, there is so much said and implied about spiritual things. Supernatural shows, psychics, mediums, find out your future, contact the dead, spirit guides, psychic healing- and all manner of ‘spiritual assistance. The spirit world and all it’s practitioners is alive and well.

On the same token, the battle for our minds from all quarters is just as hot, is also alive and well. We not only have a world full of stuff to occupy our minds, keep us happy, entertain us, thrill us, sell us something, amuse us and so on. Media being a huge vehicle in all things concerning our minds. We must be entertained at all costs, to keep us feeling good. From video games to ipods, you can’t go anywhere without seeing someone with either a mobile phone to their heads or earphones attached to some tiny little electronic device for pumping out music into our heads.

But what does all this do? Are we happy? Does it help with our internal battles? For if we struggle and fight with say immoral thoughts images etc, that bombard us from everywhere, what happens? It sets us up for spiritual battles, where strongholds can form and demonic influence can come. So with lust, spirits of lust can come and drive us to sexual addictions, compulsive behaviors, and the eventual outcome would be destruction in a lot of cases. Either physical, emotional or spiritual or all 3.

So what is this spiritual realm and spiritual stuff? We’re in a war, whether you know God or not. If you’re not a Christian, the enemy seeks to keep you that way, prevent you from knowing true life and happiness in this life, and finally destroy you. “The devil comes to …..”. If you are a Christian, he tries to firstly make us turn back from faith, or handicap us, weaken us and stop us completely. That is all done by whatever means possible. This all can come about if we allow him access to our minds and spirits.

See, there is a crossover between our minds and what goes on in there, and the spiritual realm. Our minds are linked to our spirits. Now briefly (as this is a subject for another time), I will mention the demonic world, as I know it, see it (as by no means do I know it all). Like an army, Satans troops have different ranks, titles, positions, job descriptions-assignments and weapons. They come in all shapes, sizes and disguises. Many look after hell and those souls there. Some just inhabit this earth, and some in the physical atmosphere (where I’ve read in a book about a vision they saw) the headquarters is located. The high ranked demonic stay there, and send lower ranked on assignments from there, back and forth. The bible mentions 3-heavens:1 atmosphere, 2 universe, 3 heaven itself.

So there is a vast number of spirits out there heading our way. Do we fear them? 2 Cor 10:4-read. We don’t fight alone, or with no defenses, no weapons. Cause with Jesus, he’s done the major job and defeated the enemies power base. Col 2:15 reads. See Satan is like a terrorist, man in the garden gave him the right to be ‘armed. But at Calvary, that right was removed. Now he’s still out there, but he’s a disarmed terrorist. The unseen spiritual world is, as populated if not more so, there is a lot going on out there. For me, fortunately or unfortunately, I see it nearly all the time. Believe me, they don’t like been ‘seen’. The demonic gravitate to pain, hurt, trauma, sin, and death like vultures to dead things. It starts from actions of people’s minds, that is where sin is conceived. Mat 15:19 and Mark 7:22. From that results every bad action, thought and words, which your enemy uses to come and attach himself in some way. Just for instance, when man/woman rebels against God, often they then worship idols of various kinds and shapes; they can be anything, even our own minds and selves.

In this life, by and large our focus is constantly on our own battles that we face everyday. That affects us so profoundly as we journey this life. Sometimes we get tired, weary, despair of the battles, which occur mostly in our minds. The battlefield of our minds is second to the supernatural.

The verse says we don’t fight-battle against people (including ourselves), but the real instigators of many problems. But primarily, our battles-fights in this world are focussed on people. What they did or didn’t do. Whether they like us or we like them. Jealousy, anger, all those thoughts emotions then outplay towards people. We use so much energy attacking-fighting, judging, criticizing, pulling down, comparing, and hurting others. Why all this pain- hurt? Why often are we directing so much time and effort towards others? Can’t we learn to get along, love honor, respect, build-up, encourage and strengthen each other. We are all guilty! So all the while, the real culprits laugh at our foolishness, and get away with their actions. Because we’re too busy directing our attention elsewhere. Instead of us mowing down the real enemy by the authority and power of Jesus. We mow down our spouses, family, friends, workmates, bosses and anyone else in our sights. In our minds, in the midst of the battle-often needless battles, we forget our mission and orders. Consumed by fear, we ignore the fact Jesus came to destroy the devils works, so we could live battle-free.

How do we live with minds free from unnecessary battles? Living with confidence that though we have the whole demonic realm arrayed against us, we can through Christ do anything, and they can’t do a thing about it. Stand firm in Him. Jesus has already fought for us at the cross. Walk, act, and think in that victory

The mind of Christ – 6th July 2008 August 4, 2008

By Pastor Julie Shannon

1 Corinthians 2:16 “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” NLT

Working towards having “The mind of Christ” brings us an understanding of what Spiritual reality is. We can have confidence as Christians that we are being conformed, our minds are being transformed and healed if choose to want to be like Him. Touching this spiritual reality brings us to view and respond to situations just as Jesus did while He was here on earth.

We have been commanded to live in this reality, it’s not just for the “spiritual ones” it’s for every person who loves the Lord!

1 Cor 13:12 “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Romans 8:29 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

There are three levels of spirituality that a Christian needs to learn to move in to become like Christ and therefore be an effective Christian witness in the world.

1. SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

Moses, Isaiah, Solomon, David, Deborah, Hanna, Esther, John the Baptist, Luke, Matthew, Mary, Peter, Timothy and Paul – these were all men and women just like we are. The key to their successes was that they not only heard from God, but they also responded to Him correctly!

ANY BUSH WILL DO

When God spoke to Moses in the desert wilderness, there may have been hundreds of bushes in view on the hillside, different shapes and sizes, different ages and a wide variety of flora to choose from. How did God choose the one bush through which He spoke? Was it how beautiful, large and healthy it was? Or did it just happen to be in the right place at the right time? Only God knows, we don’t, we can’t. So why do we try to work out why God has called us to do certain things or have certain gifts or made us a certain way?

Once we conclude that it is God’s choice who He will use, we are left with the conclusion that it is not our innate ability on which the success of our mission is based. Rather, since “any old bush would do”, we must place all of our dependence on Him. This frees us up from Pride, self Righteousness, Fear, Arrogance, and trying to perform for God and others.

The key to Spiritual Awareness is the understanding that God has chosen us and that He will work through us. He does this when we are available. If we make ourselves available to Him, He will use us where we are at spiritually mentally and physically.

We hand over our availability to Him. He imparts grace and faith according to how much we need, and some of us need it more than others! He doesn’t waste any experience, good or bad!

2. SPIRITUAL HEARING

In Romans 10:17, we find one of the pivotal verses of the Bible. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ”.

This verse implies that Faith and Hearing are likely dependent on each other, with both qualities hinging on the word of Christ.

John 1: 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.”

Jesus is the word, he reveals himself through the written word and through the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us when we accept Christ into our hearts.

Hearing God is the access valve for receiving your faith, the thing all Christians need to learn is how to open their own personal access valves. If we immerse ourselves in the word – (Scripture and Jesus) we will begin to have spiritual hearing. Spiritual hearing is very rarely physical hearing (through our eardrums)

Hebrew 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Hearing the word goes deep into our very beings: e.g. ways people hear God…….

3. SPIRITUAL ACTION

When you have surrendered yourself to Jesus and begun to be transformed into His likeness you can’t help but want the mission he has given to all of his believers.

Psalm 22:27 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him”

Matthew 28:18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,^[b] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Acts 13:46 “For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. “

Once you have accepted Christ, your mission is to take action, no-matter how small it seems to be.

How would you go about taking action? Would you jump on a plane and hope it all worked or would you make sure you were prepared as much as possible so the rescue is successful?

THE NEED TO PREPARE

First, you would have to undergo rigorous mental and physical training.
Also, the procedure of action would have to be determined. Will you make a swift frontal attack, or will you secretly secure their release?
Then, there would have to be a confirmation of the authority under which the rescue attempt would be launched, who is in charge, who do we report to, who backs us up from base camp?

Can you see the correlation? As a believer, you have been selected for the mission of setting the captives free. However, your job assignment is not the same as my assignment. Your rank in the spiritual army is not the same as each other, but we are all being trained both as individuals and as a group of soldiers for the Lord.
We each must get our individual assignments and then, be sensitive to the leading of The Holy Spirit. It is His responsibility to direct us in our job assignments. It is our responsibilities to “pray and obey”.

DECISIONS

As we move out in obedience and surrender, we will need to be willing to instantly respond to the leading of Holy Spirit. Jesus, our pattern, said that He did nothing except what He saw The Father do. He said that we would have the same relationship with Him that He had with The Father. He also said that the Holy Spirit would, “Guide us in all truth.”

We are called to be a living sacrifice, this is a giving up of ourselves and our agenda’s and trusting all things to the Lord.

Living Sacrifice – Dying to Self
So, how do we truly present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice? In a nutshell, we must die to our prior selves. This concept is wonderfully presented in this anonymous poem…

When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don’t sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

Conclusion

We as Christians are called to have the mind of Christ, Jesus commanded us to be a light to the gentiles so His word can transform the world to the ends of the earth. For us to be effective we need to understand the spiritual realities of awareness, hearing and action. Understanding who and what the word of God is, is paramount in our becoming transformed into the likeness of Christ. Having His mind, His heart and His guidance will bring release for the captives. He will start with you and move you on to others, until he comes, this is our mission. Be part of the mighty army and live a full life, one of sacrifice of self, one of knowing Christ and becoming like Him, one of setting the captives free.