The Apostolic and It's Relation To The Prophetic

In our last lesson we looked at the church as an apostolic center, operating in the five-fold ministry and gifting. We saw that the apostolic center must be filled with the power of God to make an impact on the community, that it is not to be introveretd, but to focus on really reaching the communicty it is in. But the apostolic center's vision does not stop there, it also looks to raise up, equip and send out people to advance the kingdom of God. We have also seen that God never intended any one individual to do it all, but many members with different giftings working together in unity to accocmplish His kingdom purposes. Apostolic Centers train and raise up people. They provide ministry opportunities to get their people experienced in the operation of their giftings, so that they become prepared and capable, ready to do God's kingdom work with Him.

But for this to be accomplished, the body must fit together and work together in unity. And a part of God's apostolic/prophetic mandate right now is to re-establish unity in the Church, to bring them into proper order in that area.

In this hour, God is bringing three streams together. He is bringing the apostolic ministry, the prophetic ministry, and the ministry of intercession together. Without the ministry of intercession, you will not see the strength in the apostolic and prophetic that you need to see. That is one of the reasons why when we are ministering prophetically, I want people praying. When people pray, it adds power. It causes the pastors, prophets, and teachers that are flowing in the gifts of the Spirit to have an added dimension of strength that rises up in them. If we have prayer for every outreach or thing that we put our hand to, God's Spirit will begin to rise up in us, and we will plant that which needs to be planted in the Spirit realm, but also manifesting it in the natural realm.

God is raising people up in this hour to another level. Do you want to go to another level in God? Do you want to go forward in the Spirit of the Lord? Do you want to see God bring to pass the word that is over your life? Then, we must work together and not against one another. We must choose to flow by scriptural principal. We must choose to operate by delegation. We must trust those that we delegate to.

It is time to take a risk. It is time to either do it or do not do it. It is time to either step forward or do not. It is time to follow the cloud or the crowd. I do not want to follow the crowd because they are not going anywhere. They are just walking in circles.

But you know a three fold cord is not easily broken. When you have the apostolic, prophetic, and intercession you have a three fold cord that is not easily broken.

The nature and objective of every five fold ministry is to shepherd the lost. Let us look at Matthew the 9th chapter, verse 35. "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd." That is what is going on in our community. We have people that are sheep, but have no shepherd.

I read something recently by Ed Silvioso. He wrote the book, That None Should Perish. He said, "not to make the mistake of just shepherding your church. Shepherd your community." It changed my perspective when I read that. I cannot just treat you as the sheep that God has given to us. Because there are others in this community that need a shepherd. If we will reach out to them and become a shepherd to them, God will cause them to be a part of that which we are doing. They will in turn go out and shepherd someone else.

We need to be a part of one another. There is one thing that we must know. That is that God will give anyone a shepherd's heart. You do not have to be a pastor to have a heart to shepherd people. There are nurses here that shepherd people. You are in the medical field and are shepherding people because of mercy and compassion. There are people on their jobs that are always pastoring or taking care of someone. God puts that compassion in us, and He puts it there for a reason. So that we can reach out to our community and touch them. Not only to touch them, but effect their lives for eternity.

You do not need to get in someone's face and tell them where they are going. They already know what is going on. They already know they are experiencing hell in their lives, and their life is a mess. What we do need to do is show them the love of Christ. Amen!! The love of Christ has been shed abroad in our heart that will change anybody's life.

Every five fold ministry is called to shepherd God's people. It does not matter what your call is. That is to oversee them. Even with King David, we see him in the 23rd Psalm saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want." But even as we hear that, we think of a nice gentle breeze growing across the pasture and nice, green grass, and we think how peaceful that is. But the shepherd may be keeping a watchful eye on the horizon for a wolf to show up. Because the word says, "Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." What do the rod and staff mean? The protection of God is there to take out the enemy that would rise up in that situation and devour.

So even in the midst of peace, we must be a people of war. Being ready to come into someone's life and knock down the strongholds that have been formed there by poverty and all the mentalities that they have been locked into. Whether it is alcoholism or drug abuse, it does not matter. God has given us the ability has people of God to reach out and effect their lives.

What would have happened if David Wilkerson had never moved to New York City? Would the likelihood of Nicky Cruz being saved and the gangs every has happened? I ask that kind of question because I know there is a chance that it may not have happened. I also know that God is big enough to know how to arrange things.

You know those things that you just happen to walk into may not just be a coincidence. I believe in divine appointments. Do you believe in divine appointments? That is one thing I am praying for in my life right now. I want divine appointments with other ministers that have the same vision and goals. I do not care who they are. If they have the right heart, that is what matters. I am not going to wrestle with the religious ones. I am interested in results.

We must not divide ourselves. We must multiply our efforts by reaching out to those that have like vision and like heart. You see that is what unity is all about. Unity is not for us to all get together and smile at one another. Many of us know that we can walk away from smiling at one another and backbite one another.

I am going to tell you something God is going to deal with in all of us. That is a grumbling spirit, or murmuring and complaining. One of the things that God did with Israel was to bring them into a situation so that they could see what was in themselves. He said, "I brought you this way to test you." If grumbling, murmuring, and complaining is coming out of your mouth more than exhortation, edification, and comfort then what is happening are we are going in the opposite direction of where we need to go. God will not let us step into our promised land with a grumbling spirit.

I have been saying to God for months that I want to be of a humble and contrite spirit. Create in me a clean heart. Then things would begin to come out of my mouth, and I began to say create in me a clean heart. That is what He was doing. So that I could repent. Repentance does not mean that you just ask God to forgive you. It means that you stop doing what you were doing, and you do something else.

Let us look in Ephesians 5. "See that you walk then carefully, not as fools, but as wise." This is what you will find in the book of Proverbs. There were two types of people in the book of Proverbs. It talked about the fools, and it talked about the wise. Let me compare that with where we are in the New Testament today. It is talking about those that walk according to the flesh, and those that walk according to Spirit. "See that you walk carefully, not as fleshly, but as spiritual." We could say. "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always in all things to God, the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God."

Whom do I submit to? You are supposed to submit to everybody. Everybody is supposed to submit to you. It is not a one way street. In order for a body to work, the body has to function as a unit. A body has to function together. One of the things that Paul talks about is, "Why should the foot say that I am not the hand? Why should the eye say, I am not the ear and bring confusion?" God wants the Body of Christ to function together by the Spirit of the Lord, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, speaking to one another making melody in our hearts unto the Lord.

Look over at Ephesians 4:11. "He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ. Until we all come to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love. That we may grow up in Him, in all things into Him, which is the Head, the Christ, through Whom the whole body joined and knit together by that which every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causing the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love."

If everyone does its share as in Ephesians 4, it will cause a tremendous change in the people that are around you. What does that mean? It means that I respect the Spirit of Christ in you enough to submit to that spirit of Christ. Not fearing that you are going to injure me, but that I am going to have to trust you. You can trust people, but still be wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove.

Back in Ephesians 5, it says, "See that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time." That is one thing that God spoke to me is redeeming the time. What does it mean to redeem our time? It means to lose it to us. Redeem means to lose, to liberate, to cut loose, to free, to ransom, whether the ransom is effected by the means of a payment or a miraculous liberation. Buying back something that a person has lost. God is redeeming our time so that we will become effective. God wants you to be effective in that which you are doing.

I began to pray a long time ago and tell God that I wanted to be able to change a life with one word. I am not talking about one word of prophecy, but one word. God, I want to hear Your Voice so clear that I can speak one word to a person, and it will set them free. Why? So that I am more powerful? No, so that I do not have to go through all the jumping through hoops, but just to be able to say, "Be free." We can speak a word of deliverance, and there will be deliverance.

God wants to bring that power to every member of the Body of Christ in this hour. He is setting us free from four things. He is setting us free from witchcraft. Now I am not talking here about someone with a pointy noise and a black hat. I am talking about the fleshly desire that is listed in Galations 5 when it talks about the works of the flesh. It talks about witchcraft. Witchcraft is making someone do something against their will because you want them to do it. Manipulation, dominating attitudes. God is delivering the Body of Christ from attitudes You know what comes hand in hand with that? The fear of man. When people have attitudes and they begin to persuade you with those attitudes, the things that keep you from doing what you know you need to do, is the fear of what those people think. So God is doing a deliverance in that area.

God is also doing a deliverance from witchcraft, rebellion, rejection, and the fear of man. If you are being tried in any of those areas, hallelujah, you are being delivered. If you are getting in situations that you are intimidated, praise God!! Make the best of it. Do not back out of it, but jump into the heat. Jump in where the fire is the hottest and say, "My God is a consuming fire, and He is going to cause this thing that is rising up in me to come out." How do I know? That was me at one time.

What about rejection that is feeling as nobody loves you or accepts you. We have got to be able to jump in where the heart is and say, "I am accepted in the Beloved, and it does not matter what is coming here, or what the enemy is saying. What matters is My God is a Deliverer and He is delivering me."

All these things go hand in hand. You cannot be a member of the Body of Christ and not effect someone else's life. Every one of the works of the flesh effects everyone around you. But the fruits of the spirit-love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance effects people all around us.

You want to see the reality of Christ when you see me because it is this reality that effects other people's lives. You never know when you need to be in a position to pray for someone. You never know when you need to be in a position to exhort someone. You never know who may be fighting with suicide that day. You never know who may be fighting leaving their family that day. You never know whom you will effect. The only way to touch the nations is to touch those around you. The only way to touch those around you is to walk wisely.

How do you walk wisely? Walk that Word. Live that Word. If you see that you are doing something contrary to this Word of God, then get rid of the thing you are doing.

Please go to Phillipians 2:12. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only but how much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless. Children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you who you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. So that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vein."

All that I am saying is that we must flow in the right spirit. We must flow with a new perspective. It is a day of new beginnings, and we must look at things differently than before. I am beginning to find out in this season of my life that I am beginning to experience God differently than I have in my past.

God is beginning to reveal Himself in ways that I had never conceived. God is beginning to say that I do not have limits on myself that man has tried to put on me. I do not have places where I am restricted. Why would you see me as someone who is restricted? We must shake off the thoughts of fear and stir up the thoughts of faith. We must encourage one another, saying to one another what the word of the Lord is and says. Listen, we must not criticize. It does not matter what any one of us see that we do not like. But if we will pray that God's will is done, then He will know out to carry that out.