In praying for Brother Jerry and Ps John we remind the people from time to time about the work of ‘A SENT ONE.’
These teachings are primarily from Rick Renner, from his book A Light in the Darkness.
Some key points for people to understand and help them in their faith in praying;
An apostle was, a person specially selected, specially commissioned, and specially
sent to represent the Lord.
An apostle arrived on the scene with a mandate and vision for establishing the
Church in new territory. He was a pioneer, an adventurer, an overseer, a coordinator, and the chief leader responsible for ‘colonizing’ a new region with the Word of God and the culture of the new Testament Church.
An apostle provided passage from one spiritual dimension to another.
An apostolic anointing would literally take a church to new levels in its spiritual
growth that it could never reach apart from the apostle’s anointing.
When the word apostolos was applied to NT individuals, it referred to God
appointed ministers who were called to lead believers to spiritual heights and to
depths of revelation that were unattainable without the apostolic ministry.
A New Testament apostle was given revelation of truth and deeply spiritual
experiences filled with insight.
If a person or a group of churches was connected to a particular apostle, they had
access to spiritual truths they wouldn’t have been able to obtain on their own.
In this sense, an apostle was a spiritual passport that gave believers rite of passage into heavenly realms and deep spiritual truths.
An apostle was authorized to speak and to act on the Lord’s behalf, like an ambassador who represents his government to another government, with the backing of God’s Kingdom behind him. As the envoy for the risen Christ, he had the anointing, the authority, and the spiritual backing to get things accomplished.
An apostle was a man of divine revelation.
He wasn’t just an implementer of pragmatic ideas and strategies, rather, and apostle carried with him supernatural insight and revelation that was vital for the growth and the building up of the Church.
Those who have an apostolic call on their lives serve God on the frontiers of His Kingdom, facing challenges and difficulties beyond what others might encounter. For these individuals to make significant inroads into the enemy’s territory, miracles
– undeniable moments when God’s power intervenes in the natural course of events – are required.
APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY IS RELATIONAL.
APOSTOLIC MINISTRY IS GEOGRAPHICAL AND TERRITORIAL.
Although spectacular revelation is indeed a facet of genuine apostolic ministry, the fulfilment of the apostles call is based on relationships, not just spectacular revelations, as the false prophets claimed to possess. For instance, although Paul was universally
respected in the Early Church as an apostle, he was not an apostle to every first century believer.
He was an apostle ONLY to those with whom he had an apostolic relationship.
Churches in other cities and regions acknowledged Paul’s apostleship, but he was not their apostle.
Other believers respected Paul as an excellent minister, as a beloved brother in the Lord, as an able leader. But he only had apostolic responsibility for the churches he had helped start and for those whom he served as mentor, teacher, and father in the faith. Thus Paul’s apostleship was limited to those for whom he had direct spiritual responsibility and with whom he had a unique relationship. This would have included the churches of Ephesus, Colossae, Corinth, Galatia, Hieropolis, Laodicea, Pergamum, Philadelphia, Philippi, Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira. Paul’s relationship with these churches is the reason we have the books of first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. Paul wrote these letters because he was directly responsible for the spiritual wellbeing of these believers and because he had a unique apostolic relationship either with them or with their local leadership.
Paul was very careful not to cross over into another man’s territory if it might produce confusion about who was to give direction to certain churches or to whom those churches were accountable (See 2 Corinthians 10:13, 14). This tells us that Paul not only possessed territory with authority, but he also respected the territory and authority of others.
This explains why he told the Corinthians, “If I am not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you…”
Paul knew that his apostleship was limited, geographical and relational, so he concentrated on those with whom he knew he had this special, God-given relationship.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT ‘TITLES’
This is about understanding God’s fixed plan for the Church.
It is about how the different gifts function together in unity so that everyone develops and matures together into son-ship.
© 2023 – Heritage of Faith Ministries International
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