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The Apostle, & The Prophet

When the Governing Body of our local church first set out to create our own non-profit corporation and govern what would eventually become the “Keeseekoose Full Gospel Fellowship”, and then ultimately the “International Full Gospel Fellowship and International Full Gospel University”, which currently hosts the “College of Bishops” who oversee our Clergical Training, Ordination and licensing body; we decided on an approach we found in the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians.

Simply said, we chose to create a Council of Five.   We began seating an Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher to work together in crafting our organization.  Now I don’t advise everyone to take this absolute approach in their ministries but for me it only makes the best sense.  Why?  Because the Word of God states that this group is chiefly responsible for mine, yours, and everyone else’s  maturation into perfection.

Actually in Ephesians chapter four and the thirteenth verse it says that this work and unity will eventually even guide & mature us in the Faith and Knowledge of God until we measure up to the fullness of the stature of Jesus. Wow!

I just can not possibly think of anything greater in all of existence then to be like Jesus!  He is full of Mercy, Full of Grace, Full of Power, Full of Authority and Full of Love.  Seriously?  And right here in Ephesians, the Word of God promises that the five gifted ministries Jesus gave are the key instructors in lifting me to the fullness of the stature of the King– Lord Jesus!  Okay again I say… WOW!!!

The Gift Of The Apostle

Among the many Apostles it has been my pleasure to know personally, none stand out so magnificently as, my close and precious friend, Dr., Apostle, Eugene Satterwhite.

With his ministry and home base in Washington U.S.A., brother Eugene, among many other endeavors, which include for instance, the LOVINAC, (“Love In Action Ministry”) Apostle`s own autonomous US based fellowship, a prolific teaching and prison ministry and vast International Evangelistic work.  Apostle also sits on our College of Bishops council for our International Full Gospel University Located in Keeseekoose FN, Reservation, in Saskatchewan.

Generally, understanding the “Apostolic gift and office is very, very simple.  I prefer at least for now, to keep it fundamental.  Essentially, a true Apostle will not, at first, be marked by his grandeur of office, but rather by his meekness, and humility.  I know, these days the bishops and apostles of the circles who have these offices are more full of the opposite.  Rather haughty and high minded individuals.  This is simple to explain, God hates seven things and one of those is pride!  A proud look.  Therefore, these are false apostles.  Fleshly and sensual, who do neither have nor love the truth.  Rather, they prefer the chief greetings in the market place.  Catch my drift?  The Word says we will know them by their love and by their fruits.

You see the Apostle will definitely strike you with his love.  Being with an Apostle is much like being with Jesus Himself.  It is as if this servant, and really that is the bottom line, the greatest of all among men is the servant of all, not the master of all.  It is as if this servant has gotten everything he says directly from the risen Savior.  And actually he has!  No one knows Jesus like the Apostle.  That is where this distinction was created, back when Jesus chose twelve disciplined disciples to make Apostles.

Aside from the obvious qualities of character and faith one had to possess to be an Apostle, there was a particular quality considered when the original eleven were replacing the Apostle Judas.  The candidate had to have had a personal revelation/encounter with the risen Christ.  The Apostle is one who is sent.  The Apostle is almost synonymous with  the office of the Bishop, and really is the key to all church business and order.  When you really need to know, the Apostle has an answer for you if the road to hearing from heaven is obscured.  When the heavens are brass and you have prayed and prayed God will send an apostle with direction.

The Apostle, according to Ephesians chapter four, is one fifth of the team it takes to perfect the church.

The Gift Of The Prophet

Bishop, John Weatherley, has been my best friend for nearly a decade.  I have had the privilege of benefiting from his accurate and powerful prophetic voice and influence in my life over the years, and know most of what I know about the prophetic office and work from having been close to him as he has grown into one of the purest prophetic voices I have ever heard.

Brother John lives in Houston TX. with his precious wife and also my friend Mary Weatherley.  We work very close together and John also is the prophetic representation on our Council of Five and serves as the Dean of Students.

The prophet can be appreciated best if you can imagine this prase:  The Prophet is the “Voice of Sight” — “Sees & Speaks.”

For quite some time now, maybe five or six years, as a result of the close proximity to many of our nation’s chief prophets, as well as my own personal ministry within the prophetic calling,  I have gleaned an intimate understanding of just what A Prophet’s Reward is.  I am sad to report at this point that there has indeed been a problem and Satan had wounded many in his attempt to undermine this gift.  This one timely revelation I received directly from God regarding the Prophet.  I needed this understanding and poured through His Word in a desperate effort to comprehend why the church is saturated with power mad men and women mis-appropriating this calling, juxta-positioning themselves for the highest office and giving themselves to a form of self promotion that has done more to shake the faith of the church at large and given rise to some notorious scandals.

Today largely, and likely, as result of the refusal of the church to be overcome by the enemy, many people are attempting to call themselves prophets.  The ignorance about this office and the lack of proliferation of the ministry of the powerful office of the prophet, has given rise to a lot of pseudo-prophetic activities such as prophetic-dance, drama, ribbon and flag waving, and prophetic writing.  I won’t exactly repudiate these activities nor condemn them entirely erroneous, because some of these things are very valid, albeit highly misunderstood.  I even think back to the cloud of mystery surrounding the one-time new and curious manifestations of soaking services and the Holy hushed reverence experienced by many churches that preceded the move to deeper things of God manifesting in the last 15 years or so.  However, I will qualify these statements by saying that much–not all– but indeed much, is little more than men and women desperate for the prophetic vein, simply confusing the gift of office of prophet with the manifestations of words of knowledge and words of prophecy. Despite this fact however the true prophetic office is at work in the church, however the real prophets are far fewer and farther still between than most people think.

Let`s look though at the prophet`s reward.  Matthew 10:41 The bible tells us that anyone that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet’s Reward.  Now some people think that if they can locate a prophet, that they can have them prophesy some finance into their life.  or they will get a word from the prophet and then somehow, all of a sudden-like, know what their ministry is supposed to entail.  Please don’t get me wrong, I concede that both of these things can and do happen, however, in the majority of cases this is greed and laziness at work.

We do not need a prophet to communicate with God for us!  We can, with boldness, enter into the throne room of God for ourselves; thanks to Jesus’s finished work on the cross!  And so far as prophesying things into our lives, every single believer on earth has such authority, in Jesus’s name.

Since it was common practice in ancient days to honor the prophet with gifts, many also think a prophet’s reward is money or possessions.  Naturally then, many false prophets have preyed on folks falsely telling them that if they will believe that, they are a prophet, then, say they, “Give to a prophet in the name of a prophet and you will receive a prophet’s reward.”

In those classic days gone by, the days of Elijah, & Elisha, a prophet only had ONE THING that motivated him or her…  A reward, so far as a prophet was concerned, and still today should be, was to see their prophesy come to pass.  Period.  That is what a prophet’s reward was.  When you received a prophet, in the name of a prophet, you accessed that particular blessing!  You benefited by having that word of prophesy come to pass in your life!  Furthermore, a prophet whose prophesy failed to come to pass was stoned to death, so in the reward is the winning of their life, a true prophet’s reward.

Prophet’s are passionate, not arrogant and prideful.  God’s hates a proud look and a haughty spirit.  A true prophet does not exude an “I’m the prophet” demeanor.

Prophets were not a fly by night, ambiguously speaking group, but honorable and sober sons to others, who, were called and validated in the vein of the prophets themselves.  To receive a prophet IN THE NAME OF A PROPHET, possibly you can understand this better by thinking about Elisha, who had the name of Elijah for a mentor and father in the office of the prophetic order.

Many an evangelist, pastor or even a teacher or brother/sister has been mistakenly called a prophet out there.  Many who have been given a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom have also been confused with the prophet.  However, a true prophet is less concerned with things, and only lives to speak to the furtherance of the Gospel and the advance of the church–at large, and never for personal or greedy gain!

The Prophet is the voice of God to proclaim the hour we live in.  The eleventh hour, the critical times in which we live require a strong voice to qualify the age.  As John The Baptist proclaims, let the valleys be exalted, and the mountains brought low!  The Prophet shouts to this world make straight your paths, repent for the day of the Lord is at hand!

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.  The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Amos 3:6-8

Still to come:  WATCH FOR UPCOMING ARTICLES:

• THE EVANGELIST
• THE PASTOR
• THE TEACHER

The Ministry of The Five Major Offices of the Church

When I first began my work as a clergyman on the pastoral team at Little Heaven Full Gospel Church out on the First Nation Reservation of Keeseekoose in Saskatchewan, the first thing that evidenced itself and settled into our hearts as leaders and pastors was an obvious need among the local churches of our surrounding communities to begin to mature and unite.

Nearly everywhere you look, and not just in our region around Keeseekoose, but in church communities within urban and rural locations all over North America.  Churches, or rather, the peoples of the churches, are divided.  The people of God are separated into cliques of diverse descriptions. Some are divided along economical lines, some social lines, and others are separated along doctrinal lines just to name a few.  Now, of course there are exceptions, praise God, but despite those few rare, special houses of faith and love, there remains  an overwhelming presence of divisions and of schisms, which naturally, break down our fellowship and quench God’s Holy Spirit in the majority of the mainstream Christian church.

This is only a reflection of the reality that people are more self-oriented then others-oriented. Offenses have  run amuck, as it were, in the body and as a result folks are reduced to looking out for number one.  The logic being that I have to look out for me and mine because no else will do it for me.  On the surface this looks like a sensible resolution to a situation which I won’t begin to deny exists.

Some Good Questions

But, Jesus meant for us to be closer to each other than this.  Ephesians 4:32   Read also: Ephesians 4:3-6  And once more, read: Ephesians 4:16.  Why aren’t we, closer?  Because we are not perfect.  Why aren’t we perfect?  How long does it take to become perfect?  (I’m not exactly sure of this one because I’m not perfect yet either and at this point do not possess a personal point of  reference to measure with) What does God’s Word say though?  This is the key right here!  If we want to be perfected, (bible based perfection according to James 3:2) We need to have God’s Word ruling over our methodologies and processes of life.

At times while I preach I’ll often present a congregation with this  approach at finding a working man’s frame for context of Ephesians 4:8  My presentation goes something like this:  I’ll ask, “if you had a chance to talk with the Apostle Paul about his letter to the church in Ephesus, you could ask him about this act of Jesus at His ascension when He left this earth physically, and returned to heaven.  What gifts did he give to men?  Why did he give these gifts to men, what are they for, and just what do they do for us?  How long are these gifts expected to last?”

When phrased like this some of the answers really speak loudly to their purpose.

What presents, gifts did Jesus distribute among men?  The Apostle Paul would respond, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.

The explanation for the rest of the impact these gifts are expected to make on our lives can be found in Ephesians 4:12-16

Why?  What are these gifts for?  The Apostle Paul would respond, they are for getting the work of the ministry done.  They are given to you to make you perfect!

This work, and this  perfecting, how is this going to happen?  The Apostle Paul would respond, as with any gift, you must first, accept it.  Next, unwrap or dig in and open it, reveal it, find out what it is. Of course the next logical step is to discover how it works.  To accomplish this you can not leave the gifts in a closet or drawer or cupboard somewhere, you must access them.  When was the last time that you were with an Apostle?  When was the last time you sat under the ministry of the Prophet?  The Evangelist?  Pastor?  Teacher?  Do you know or are you sure just what these even are?

YES, IT’S THAT IMPORTANT!!!

Does this whole subject seem to be way too complicated and involved to take on?  I know it’s highly involved but the point is this is the road to perfection and I need to encourage you to go the distance. Yes, IT’S THAT IMPORTANT!!! Unfortunately most folks put more effort into figuring out how to read the directions for putting together the new book case they bought at their local home decor mart or into how to set up their newest gadget or how to get onto the internet then into applying the principals and process shared in God’s Word about how to be perfect.

Friends there is a lost and dying world out there.  Satan has duped great masses of believers into subscribing to the spiritual myth that perfection is something beyond apprehension.  That, “perfection” is an impossibility.  So don’t even waste your time trying to be perfect.  The truth is, Jesus said He will return for a bride adorned in garments not spotted with the flesh.  Jude 1:23  We are commanded to be ye perfect even as your Father, which is in heaven is perfect!  Matthew 5:48

COMING SOON

Breaking Down The Gifts Of The Five-Fold Ministry

In my next post I will use the model we have crafted for our own fellowship, The International Full Gospel Fellowship & International Full Gospel University’s College of Bishops to illustrate the actual work, nature and offices of Apostles, the Prophets, The Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.

NO ONES PERFECT pt.1

People often say:  ”There is no such thing as a perfect church!” And:  ”Hey, if you ever find the perfect church, don’t join it, because the minute you join, it won’t be perfect anymore…”

Are these things true?

Have you encountered cliches like these before?  Have you heard the poems? Poetry crafted to resonate with our mood, and identify with our sense of an inability to be better, to be perfect.  A sense that has become “innate,” deeply permeating our mind-set. Poetry meant to alleviate that frustration we all feel when we encounter failure after failure in our personal lives, when we no longer know what to do about the reality that life can be hard and walking in a straight and narrow path tremendously difficult to manage.

It often seems we pray, we walk in faith, we fall, we fail, we get up and then, the cycle starts all over; most often with the same results.  Sometimes we manage to make great strides, go far distances, experience success for longer periods, then, BAM!  It happens every time, the inevitability always seems to be that things tend to boil over and blow up in our faces.  No matter how hard we try.

What do we do next?

Of course we seek encouragement.  What do we usually find?  That familiar voice that offers us this timeless and seemingly solid little tid-bit of advice:  “No Ones Perfect.” It appears plausible.  And, when you consider that misery loves company, (another cliche) it even makes sense!  After all, it always helps to know that we are not alone, so we conclude “there is no such thing as a perfect person.” We conclude “there is no such thing as a perfect church!”   We even stop trying anymore, to become perfect  …

The Word of God Has A Higher Opinion On The Matter

I want to share the truth about what perfection means.  That’s right, Holy Inspiration uttered by men full of the Holy Spirit, The Living God! Divine text, which came forth out from the very heart of our God.  Just consider the following:

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. Psalms 37:37

For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body  James 3:2

If we are convinced there is no use in even attempting to attain unto perfection, we can’t even begin to make any effort to be perfect.  This is why it’s important to know what God’s Word says about it. Also, it’s imperative to distinguish between, God’s intent for us to walk in perfection; as relates to His admonition to “Be Perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect” Matthew 5:38 which, is ENTIRELY do-able, and, the “false utopian concept” of a perfection which caters to the easy life, the horrid anemic existence in which we never face-then-conquer life’s challenges.  It’s a false picture the idea many people hold onto of perfection hoping and striving  in self-gratifying living.   I am attempting here to describe the “Me-Generation” and the “I want it Now Age.”

We live in the days of fast food, instant gratification and self indulgence.  Lost are the finer points of character and integrity. These days we can often sail right on by on our way to the wide and easy roads —  If we cop the right attitude, an attitude  fueled by the imagery and training abundantly dispensed through prime-time TV and the voice of mainstream media, rather than making our way along that straight and narrow path, building a solid character sustained by a pure diet of God’s Holy Word.

The True Essence of Perfection

It takes great effort, and committment, even discipline to curb our tongues and our thought life.  This however is the truest essence of perfection. To watch what we say, how we say it and work at making sure what comes out of our mouth is not offensive, to anyone, especially to God! In addition to watching what we say, and how we say it, we are admonished to also “watch what we do!”  Earnest effort applied in making sure what we do does not become an offense.  This is literally a biblical definition of perfection according to James 3:2. Ephesians chapter four verses eight, & eleven through sixteen gives us the basic purpose for this concept, a revelation of the real keys to perfection:

“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”  Ephesians 4:8

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:  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 speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ;  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”  Ephesians 4:11-16

We can indeed be perfect.  It’s God’s plan to perfect the body of Christ, the Church, His People.  This is our witness and purpose of our existence to show the lost and desperately hungry people of this earth that Jesus has indeed redeemed us and given us a New Life, A Perfect Life.  Jesus wants you to make up your mind right now to have His perfection in operation in your own life today!

Tune in For “No Ones Perfect” pt. 2
The Ministry of The Five Major Offices of the Church