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I thought these email articles I receiced recently were worth passing on:
Concerning Apostles and Prophets
by Jim Rinker
Numbers 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, [and] that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
The heart cry of those who are TRULY sent as a gift to
the body as apostles and
prophets will be IDENTICAL with the heart cry of the
Father. That cry in their
voice will be the same as Moses heart cry that we have
just seen in Numbers,
that ALL of God's children would be raised up to the
full stature of a man, to
full maturity. The ministry of the apostle and prophet
will be TEMPORAL in the
sense that it's only purpose is to work with the Lord
to raise up a NATION of
prophets and apostles.
There is a desperate need of a shift in focus from apostles
and prophets to the
APOSTOLIC and PROPHETIC. In the former the focus is on
the one
sent while the latter is to focus on the goal or end
product which is the maturing
of the BRIDE. The goal is to produce a people who are
raised to full maturity,
who fully reflect the nature and character or Jesus and
who are thus capable
of having the fulness of power placed upon them and the
full stamp of approval
of the Father upon them. The one(s) sent are simply instruments
to meet the goal.
As the talk about the release of apostles and prophets
escalates to gigantic
proportions so does the deception concerning the purpose
of the apostles and
prophets.
Matthew 24: 5 For many shall come in my name, saying,
I am Christ; and shall
deceive many.
Many shall come in Jesus name yet they will deceive many.
I don't want to focus
on what they said that will deceive many but rather the
fact that they proclaimed
"I am Christ". The proclamation out of their mouths is
I AM ANOINTED, I AM A
SENT ONE, I AM AN APOSTLE.
Note the focus of the "deceivers" is on being a "sent
one" rather than bringing
the body to maturity. Those being sent are not to bear
a "title" or a "position"
but rather POSESS the ability to reproduce in others
that which they have. They
are thus constantly trying to bring others to the place
of complete reliance
on the Lord while working themselves out of a position.
That is something which
can be done whether the body recognizes your calling
or not. Those who are truly
"sent" bear the seal of the Father in their forehead
[mind] (Revelation 7 and
14). Those who are "sent" know they are sent and WHY
they are sent. They need
not proclaim WHO they are but rather "do the works which
the Father has sent
them to do". Their total focus is on bringing the bride
into the true place of
worship, which is into the holy place.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of
him abideth in you, and
ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie,
and even as it hath
taught you, ye shall abide in him.
The true [holy] place of worship is covered and unlike
the "outer court" has
no "natural" illumination. It's light is the golden candlestick
which is fueled
by the anointing oil. The illumination for those in the
holy place is strictly
from the Holy Spirit. Beside the golden lampstand is
shewbread. Those brought
into the holy place partake of the pure word of God.
They no longer run "to and
fro" being satisfied by what they are given but partake
of the bread of life
under the illumination of the Holy Spirit. They can now
partake of and understand
the deeper truths that the Father wishes to relate to
us and with us.
The joy of the true apostle and prophet is to watch those
they have been sent
to enter into the fulness of their inheritance in Christ
Jesus. As they watch
this they watch those under their care GROW UP and no
longer need their ministry. Only the truly broken are able to rejoice
in this.
The reason that multitudes were "deceived" by these "sent
ones" proclaiming that
they bore then 'anointing" is that they had no capability
of reproducing Christ
in others. Perhaps we may say it was not their goal to
make a nation of apostles
and prophets but rather be an apostle or prophet. They
are "sterile" in spiritually
and incapable of reproducing. Because of this, those
who follow or gather themselves around such people never are lead to maturity
are will inevitably be deceived.
Ephesians 4:14 That we [henceforth] be no more children,
tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight
of men, [and] cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But such is life in the outer court. There is no capability
of "understanding"
in the outer court because it is only illuminated by
natural light. And in this
is the difference between the truly "sent" and the ones
who "proclaim" they are
sent. Those who are truly sent know that this is the
case and at all personal
cost (including recognition) seek to lead God's precious
children from the outer
court into the holy place were they can now worship the
Father in spirit and
in truth. Those who send themselves wish to (either intentionally
or not) keep
the minds of God's precious children "darkened" by keeping
them in the outer
court. They thus build a ministry in the outer court
instead of leading them
into the place were only Jesus ministry exists, which
is the holy place.
May we recognize and receive the ministry of the true
apostles and prophets in
this hour and seek to align ourselves with the goal of
the father which is to
raise up a people who will come to full maturity.
Blessing in Christ Jesus
Jim, Terri, and Joshua Rinker
rinker@3dp.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OUT OF A JOB!
by Doug Fortune
I want to work myself out of a job! I stated in an earlier
writing that I believe
my calling is that of an ‘apostolic prophet’ but my desire
is to become obsolete
in that calling... I’ll explain...
‘...He gave some to be apostles, some prophets... His
intention was the PERFECTING of the saints, to do the work of ministering
toward building up Christ’s body, UNTIL we all attain oneness in the faith
and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son
of God; that we might arrive at really mature manhood- the completeness
of personality which is NOTHING LESS than the standard height of CHRIST’S
OWN PERFECTION- the measure of the stature of the FULLNESS of the Christ,
and the completeness found in Him...’(Eph.4:11-13 Amplified Bible).
THAT’S where my desire is, that we enter into the FULLNESS
of Christ, not to
remain in the ‘in-part’ ministry of the five-fold. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m NOT
saying we lay aside the emphasis of the five-fold, for
THAT is part of what brings
us to the FULLNESS. Rather, I’m saying that the restoration
of the five-fold is not an end unto itself, but rather a means to bringing
us to the Perfect Man, Christ embodied in the earth.
There are many exciting things happening all over the
earth... revivals, signs,
wonders, miracles, a great release of the gifts of the
Spirit... I am very thankful
for all of this and have been impacted deeply by it.
Let us keep in focus though
that all this is really the ‘earnest’ (or down payment)
of the Spirit, it is ‘in-part’
(we know in part, we prophesy in part)... the FULLNESS
is yet coming!
Let’s don’t get so wrapped up in the ‘down payment’ that
we loose sight of the
ultimate purposes of God, which is the Kingdom manifesting.
I look forward to
the day we will no longer need the gift of prophecy,
when we will walk as Jesus
walked- not in the ‘gifts’ but in the ‘fullness’... when
we will no longer need
to exhort our brothers saying, ‘know the Lord’ for ALL
shall know Him, from the
smallest to the greatest. And I don’t believe we can
really walk in the ‘fullness’
of the FULLNESS as individuals, but rather as members
of the BODY, fitly JOINED TOGETHER. We NEED each other! This is why ‘networking’
is so crucial... we are seeing apostolic ‘joinings’ happening everywhere,
ministries ‘joining’ together in spirit and releasing a synergy that surpasses
an individual anointing.
We really need each other in this time of transitioning
from refreshing / revival
to REFORMATION. I have always believed and still believe
that spiritual ‘power
encounters’ (like we’re seeing in the current revival
movements) are an important
aspect of our being conformed into the image of Christ.
I have seen many times,
even in my own life, where a genuine ‘power encounter’
has not led to a lasting
change, although they certainly can and sometimes do.
This is where REFORMATION comes in... the systematic, sometimes uneventful
pulling down of strongholds of thought and doctrines that are inaccurate
in the ultimate purposes of God.
This is the strength of the Apostle... laying accurate
foundations upon which
the Kingdom advances with God’s ultimate purposes in
mind. I would rather see
a person being quietly reformed to manifest the FULLNESS
of Christ by the pulling down of inaccurate religious strongholds than
the person who is in the excitement
of revival... I’m NOT saying that both cannot happen
simultaneously either, it is just my observation that it too often does
not.
Revival is a step on the way to Restoration... in our
journey, let’s not forget
our destination which is CHRIST IN US the hope of glory...
Christ embodied in
the earth in the many-membered MAN of whom Jesus is the
Head and WE are the Body. Let us move TOGETHER toward God’s ultimate purposes
as the kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdom of our Lord and His
Christ.
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