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. (Ephesians 4:11)
As you continue to read Ephesians 4, you see that the church cannot grow and develop properly or stay out of false doctrine without the influence and anointing of ALL theses ministry gifts operating in the church. Each office has a specific anointing to affect the church toward spiritual maturity. The pastor, teacher and evangelist are very needed for outreach and ministering to the individual needs of the Christian. Without these ministry offices, there would be no church.
It is odd that many in the body of Christ have said that all of the ministry offices have passed away except the Pastor, Teacher, and Evangelist, yet there’s no scripture to back that up. That is because there is none. None of these have passed away and they are all still necessary for God to accomplish what He wants to in the church.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. (Ephesians 2:20)
Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone, and then the church was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. All ministry offices are very important and necessary. Yet why have the apostle and prophet ministry offices seemingly gone into obscurity? The devil knows the church will not have the proper structure and be able to change the culture of society without these two offices. Therefore, he doesn’t want them to operate in the church.
That is why he has fed the church the lie that these ministry offices are no longer need and have passed away. If he can remove them and the anointing that comes with them, he can take over. Until these offices operate properly in the church, it will move further and further away from the plan of God.
It is true that some people claim to be apostles or prophets and they couldn’t be further from it. Yes, the titles get abused, but so does everything else. Pastors don’t cat according to their call and neither do Christians. Don’t let a little error get you to agree with the devil and reject the truth.
I know some true apostles and prophets and it seems they are the most negatively talked about, abused and made fun of, in all the ministry offices. The devil comes against them with oppression, financial problems and people problems. The devil does his best to kill them if he can and he sometimes succeeds.
Why? Apostles and prophets are used by the Lord to preserve the revelation He first gave to the church. They boldly speak out against false doctrine and error. People don’t like to be corrected in their sin, false doctrine and error. They team up with the devil to help get rid of them, in their ignorance. Pray for the apostles and prophets. Pray for those who stand in the office that they would be able to accomplish what the Lord has called them to do so that God cal do what He wants to in His church.
