2Cor.5:17(Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
The worldview of the Church has been founded upon man's ideas and tradition. Paul writes to the Church in Rome and to us today, saying in Rom.9:1-4(Amp), "Brethren, with all my heart's desire and good will for Israel, I long and pray to God that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a certain zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to correct and vital knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness that God ascribes which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought and deed, and seeking to establish righteousness, a means of salvation of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's Righteousness. For Christ is the end of the Law (the limit at which it ceases to be), for the Law leads up to Him Who is the Fulfillment of it's types, and in Him the Purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law was fulfilled in Him as the means of Righteousness, right relationship with God for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him."
Many of today's Christians have a zeal and enthusiasm for God, but they're disappointed when their prayers aren't answered or God's Promises aren't visible in their lives. They have been functioning without the correct and vital knowledge about how God uses His Word and not religious traditions, to bring about His will and purpose. We seem to have forgotten the importance of knowing and hearing God's Voice, through His Word. God's Word instructs and tells us how He deals with His family in the new covenant.
It's important we listen to God's Word and instructions, so we can grow and develop the new creation person we've become. The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all the things that God has said to us and He will bring Revelation and assurance to our lives. We must be single-minded though, about how we hear and know the Word, according to James1:5(Amp), which says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproach or fault finding, and it will be given him. James goes on to tell us that, when we ask, we must "ask in faith and not be double-minded." If we're double-minded, then we will question whether or not, it was God telling us something. For this reason, we must know God and know His Word for ourselves.
Sadly, very few believers spend quality time in God's Word and rely on their pastor's Sunday sermon. It's vital for God's children to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus. We seem to know about God, instead of knowing Him for ourselves. Our pastor probably doesn't know what God's personal plan for us. Many base our relationship with God, on what our denomination says, instead of knowing God's Voice and hearing His instructions for ourselves. This is important for the five-fold ministry and for the individual believer. God used Stephen and Philip in the Book of Acts, along with many others who weren't in the five-fold ministry, because of their faith and relationship with Him.
We're all called to the work of the ministry, according to Eph.4:12-13(Amp), which says, "His intentions was the perfecting and full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's Body (the Church). That it might develop 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 Christ and the completeness found in Him."
This is and Awesome standard of developing the new creation person of God! The above scripture not only speaks about the whole Body of Christ, but about the individual. 1Cor.12:12(Amp) says, "For just as the Body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form only one Body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)." We've believed that the Gifts of the Spirit and ministry, was only for the five-fold ministry, ignoring the Truth that they are for all who believe. 1Cor.12:7(Amp) says, "But to each one is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit (the evidence, the Spiritual Illumination of the Spirit) for good and for profit."
Every born-again, new creation child of God, is filled with the Same Holy Spirit Who lived in Jesus, Himself. The Holy Spirit doesn't ask whether we're pastors or prophets, but whether we will allow Him to work through us, to the Glory of God. Most of the Lay Ministry go forth preaching the Gospel, with signs and wonders following them. Don't think that the Holy Spirit can't use us, because we don't stand behind a pulpit.
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