The Christian Ministry Today
Once again, a warm welcome to all Bible Believers in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this sermon we are going to study what the Bible teaches concerning the Christian Ministry today.
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Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 8 "Wherefore when Jesus ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men (Psalm 68:18). And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; FOR THE PERFECTING OF THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY SAINTS (or born again) 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 mature 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 by every wind of doctrine, (from denomination to denomination), 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, Who is the Head, even Christ: from Whom the whole Body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working of every part, causing the growth of the Body building up itself in love."
Today's conception of a minister is of a man (or even a woman) busy 25 hours a day organizing famine relief, soup for the poor, administering homes for orphans and delinquents, counselling, running symposia on substance abuse, administering retirement homes, hospitals, schools and universities, fund raising, directing investment portfolios and myriad activities God never ordained. I'm breathless! While these are noble vocations for Christians who feel so led, God never instructed His Church or His ministers to engage in such activities. And presumption is to venture without authority, without faith (Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Revelation 22:18-19).
The other day, a fine church-goer was trying to persuade me that God has ordained women as missionaries and preachers throughout the history of the Church. I said, "But God and the Word is the selfsame Spirit and the Word condemns it." He protested and began naming names of women he said had won many souls to Christ.
If they did or were instrumental, that does not make them right and the Bible wrong. They were presuming, trying to do God a service without it being His Will. God "winked" at this ignorance during the Church Ages when the Book was sealed and Christ was a Mediator. He will not overlook this in these last days. His end-time Bride is without spot or wrinkle: under preeminence to God with the mind of her Husband the Word (John 5:19). Today, any woman who teaches, preaches, or usurps authority over a man proves she is not born again, and is bringing a reproach to the Word. No Christian would countenance her presumption or accept her presumed "authority".
The 'church' (so-called) has been presuming for centuries. Ministers think they are doing God a service with their works programs but without the Spirit they cannot discern the Word. Instead of preparing souls for the Kingdom of heaven they're building Satan's Eden here on earth serving flesh and blood which cannot inherit the Kingdom.
Do you remember Mary and Martha in Luke 10? Both sisters were believers who loved the Lord, but Martha was so busy attending to worldly affairs she ignored the Word. The same trick of the Devil has ministers so busied in worldly pursuits, or works programs; they don't spend time alone with the Word and ignore God's Faith Program for today.
Paul warned us that in the time of the end ministers and congregations would be unrighteous�without Light, "and because they did not receive the Love of God (charity or new birth) that they might be saved, He would send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." The same lie Satan told Eve: "God loves you Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, and Presbyterians so much, although you teach for doctrine the commandments of men, surely He won't let you die." But God does not love us all, and unless we are walking in the Light He is in we are not under the Blood and will face Judgment.
Like Mary and Martha, all denominations love God, but they're so busy serving the world, doing what they think is a good idea, they ignore God's Word. They have not received His Voice for this day but strange reasoning against the revealed Word, and will be damned because of it. Proof God does not love them (John 10:1-5; II Thessalonians 2:12).
Today's Protestants expect God to honour the PART-Truth they know Luther, Knox, Wesley, Spurgeon, etc., preached to their forefathers. When Christ saw faith in the Word for each age, He overlooked ignorance. However, since the Seals are revealed Christ is no longer a Mediator for ignorance and requires us to walk in the Whole Truth. The testimony of our denominational fathers will not baptize us into the Body today (I Corinthians 13:10; I John 1:7).
The ministry and the Church are built upon faith, not good works. God's twofold commission to His Church since Matthew 28:19 is to preach the Word in its season which He will confirm with signs following, notably regeneration, and to baptize in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ask yourself, "Do I know even one minister who preaches the Word for this hour? Do I know what God's Word promises for this hour?" If the answer is, "No!" then there is a famine for the true Word and you had better search the Scriptures, for therein you think you have eternal Life; and these are they which hold the answers (Amos 8:11; Revelation 3:17-20).
Speaking of the five different offices or types of minister, Paul says God ordained them for men, not women. God has never called a woman to the ministry and He never will. Every baby that dies, every cripple, all disease, sickness, war, famine and hardship, each wrinkle and gray hair was caused by the preaching of a woman: Eve.
I Timothy 2 explains why woman is forbidden to teach or preach God's Word but to be under the authority of men, and subject to her husband. Paul establishes this Command which has remained unchanged from Genesis and the 'original sin,' to the New Testament Church. We are instructed to study Genesis for faith through understanding the separate covenants God has with men and with women.
God formed the human race in just one person, the man Adam; He then formed the animals in pairs�male and female and brought them to Adam as lord of this world to name. Perhaps a century after He'd finished His creation God took one of Adam's ribs from which He formed woman, a continuation of Adam, a by-product in the image of man, not original creation yet created in Adam (Genesis 1:27; 5:1-3; Matthew 19:4; I Corinthians 11:7-12). The last Adam, Jesus Christ, is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature" in the NEW CREATION of God-men. He too was created alone but His Wife was created in Him (Colossians 1:15). When He slept on Calvary's cruel Cross, God took the Holy Spirit from which He is making His Wife the elect Church, a by-product and continuation of the last Adam created by faith in the Spoken Word for her day.
God placed Adam and Eve on free moral agency with responsibility for their choices. As the spoken Word of God, Adam was a son of God and could not be deceived on the revealed Word. Woman is not a spoken Word and is designed so she can deceive and be deceived. Adam was not deceived but the by-product being deceived was in the transgression; Christ was not deceived, but the church being deceived required a Saviour and Mediator (I Timothy 2:14). Male or female, the elect of God once born-again cannot be deceived on the revealed Word of God (Matthew 24:24; John 10:1-5).
The fall, which would be caused by Satan, had to have flesh to make fall. Satan had to come through flesh also. Satan could not come through human flesh to make the fall as Christ would come in human flesh to restore the fallen. But there was an animal, the serpent, so close to man in physical appearance and attributes that Satan could get to that beast and through that beast get to human flesh and cause the fall, injecting himself thereby into the human race, even as Jesus would one day come and inject Himself into the human race, even to the extent of a resurrection wherein we would have bodies like unto His glorified body.
Satan, (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), inspired or incarnate the serpent and deceived Eve to believe God loved her so much He would break His Own Word so she would "not surely die" but learn how to fulfil His command�and bring life into the world. She planned to teach this secret wisdom to her husband, but God's Word is known by faith from Above�spiritual revelation of the Word�not carnal knowledge against the Word.
Both Testaments declare how the original sin (unbelief in God's revealed Word) resulted in adultery between Eve and the serpent�a giant man-like creature before God changed every bone in his body (Genesis 3:14). Eve was deceived; she actually thought Cain was Jesus, the beginning of the creation of God and the Deliverer (Genesis 4:1). She was no longer a virgin when she came to teach her husband how to "be fruitful and multiply." Adam was not deceived, he knew she had stepped from eternity into time and was dying (Genesis 2:17) but he loved her, forfeited his dominion to Satan and sold the whole human race into sin. God's eternal unchanging Word teaches us that if a woman leaves her husband and goes with another man she is an adulteress; she is no longer married and the husband is not to take her back. That Word was true in Eden as it was when Moses wrote it in the Law. The Word can't change. When Adam took her back he took her responsibility upon himself. He knew exactly what would happen to the human race which he sold into sin in order that he might have Eve, for he loved her (Romans 5:14-21).
Adam had the revelation he was a son of God and could no more be lost than God can be lost. God must somehow redeem him, and when He did Eve would be redeemed because she was flesh of Adam's flesh and bone of his bone (Genesis 2:23-24); a perfect type of Christ who came from eternity to time to redeem His fallen Wife, the True Church.
Eve means "mother of all that is living" which she was in the natural, though Adam is not father of all living (Genesis 3:20). Eve conceived by Adam. He knew she would and so those two sons were born, sons that would be the fathers of the human race that was even now polluted. Nowhere does it say Cain was in Adam's likeness, yet he would have to be if he were Adam's son, for the law of reproduction is emphatic, everything must bring forth of its own kind (Genesis 1:11, 25). We must also credit the fact that in the genealogies of Genesis, Luke and Jude 14, Cain is missing. Cain was begotten by that wicked one the serpent, and not Adam who was the son of God (I John 3:12).
Today a certain church claims to be "the mother of all spiritual living" but the Bible calls her a whore. She claims to be the Bride of the Word yet she is committing adultery with man-made creed and dogma, and her daughter churches are harlots like their mother (Revelation 2:20-23; 17:5; 19:20).
Lust and sin intervened between God's holy command of Genesis 1:28 and the procreation of the human race, for "all are shaped in (Adam's) iniquity and conceived in (Eve's) sin" (Job 14:1; 15:4; Psalms 51:5; I Timothy 2:14-15).
Now can we see why God placed man and woman under separate covenants? The peculiar token of circumcision under the Old Testament was the evidence of God's covenant with man and applied to the woman only through the marriage union (by obedience to a godly father or husband). God's New Testament covenant is with the Man Jesus only, and applies to the woman or Church only through new birth, the Spiritual Marriage Union with Her Husband the Word. A woman serves God as she obeys her husband; likewise the Church serves her Husband the Word in everything (I Corinthians 11; 15; Ephesians 5). Can we see why woman is forbidden to handle the Word of God, or usurp authority over man but to remain under obedience?
These things may be verified by comparing Genesis 3:14-19 with the present reality. Does the serpent still crawl on his belly? Do women conceive in pain today? Does the earth produce thorns and thistles rather than edible crops, and does man still toil for his livelihood? If the answers are "yes," the ban on women preachers is not a question of culture but faith.
Jesus gave the five gifts or offices of ministry to men. Elected lay offices such as deacon and bishop are also men; it is improper for a woman even to lead song service (Ephesians 4:8; I Timothy 3:1-13).
As Satan deceived Eve, he's deceived the church. Some ministers are deceived, trying to do God a service without His will: reprobate concerning the faith, they hybrid God's Word with man-made creed and tradition. Correcting the Bible they write another gospel that permit women preachers, mixed bathing, free love, homosexuality, equality between the sexes and 'marriage equality,' making God's Word of no effect to themselves (Matthew 15:1-9).
Is God the author of confusion? The born-again Elect cannot be deceived on the Word of God. Folk who advocate women ministers might be sincere but they are without faith and sincerely wrong. Neither born again nor Christian, they destroy every Bible type, making mockery of God's unchanging and infallible Word. Jesus' sheep receive only His Word and cannot be deceived in the faith (Matthew 24:24; John 10:1-5; 16:13).
Paul said if people refuse correction after the second admonition you know they are wilful sinners and God is not their Father, for they are not under the Blood but spiritual bastards despite their claims (Titus 3:10-11; Hebrews 12:8).
Contrary to popular belief God's ministers are not sent for sinners. Jesus said, "I pray not for the world but for them which You have given Me out of the world." God set the five different offices of the ministry in the "Church," the ecclesia or separated ones who are saints called out of the world, not sinners (I Corinthians 12:28).
The function of the five-fold ministry is to bring those who are already born again to maturity so that each member of the Body will compliment and build up his brethren in Christ. It is not meant to prepare saints for the pulpit but to help them mature from "spirit babes" through faith and experience in applying the Word in their own lives to "elders" prepared at all times to give an answer to every man that asks a reason of the hope that is within them.
We must have the Token of the new birth, which is the Life of Christ, on display twenty-four hours a day, being constantly under pre-eminence to the Word, doing only what the Father reveals and speaking only what He has inspired (John 5:19). As Sarah called Abraham her lord and master and a woman obeys her husband in every thing, our soul will do only what the Word says do; thus our life will be "salty" causing those without the Spirit to thirst after what we have. Herein each member of the Body finds his or her ministry as priests before God and ambassadors for Christ, sharing their experience of conversion, reconciling others to God through faith in "the present Truth" (II Corinthians 5; I Peter 3:15; Revelation 1:6). Hereby sisters may witness their personal experience without teaching.
New-born babes in the Kingdom of faith are often full of denominational schooling. Prior to regeneration our souls served the world by catering to the desires of the flesh and mortal spirit. Now we must now learn to bring those carnal senses subject to the Word, the Husband and Ruler of our soul. Through the Spiritual Marriage Union we two are one as Jesus and the Father are One�by the obedience of faith (John 17:20-26; I Corinthians 6:17).
A life lived by the Word is the Word expressed and this is the only way Jesus Christ can live in us as Lord. Dead to our senses, with the world and the things of the world crucified with Christ, no longer is you or me projected through the flesh but Christ the anointed Word living and reigning by the understanding of faith (Galatians 2:20).
When folk see Christ on display and become curious your testimony can pass His Life through the Body, quickening their soul to the increase of the Body. Every member of the Body draws sinners into Christ. We need only display the Token of His Life, and sometime we'll be asked to give account of our faith. Those who do receive, will seek a real Holy Ghost-filled pastor who can feed and lead them by the Word, that's God's way (Ephesians 4:16).
Some dismiss the five-fold ministry claiming all Christians are ministers, one wonders to whom they pay tithes. Male or female all Christians are priests or intercessors before God with the ministry of reconciling others through prayer and the Word of faith (II Corinthians 5:16-21), but not all Christians are ordained of God to minister His Word in public. I Corinthians 12:28 states that God alone decides who is and who is not a minister, and Romans 11:29 states "The Gifts and Callings of God are sovereignly given by God and are without repentance [or predestinated]".
One cannot attend Bible School or theological training to become either a Christian or a minister in the Church of God. Prayer, fasting and study have their place but they will not cause God to "change His mind" and ordain you to the ministry. Likewise the laying-on-of-hands does not endue or endow people with the Holy Spirit or new birth, grant the Gifts of the Spirit, or place them in the five-fold ministry. Laying on of hands is a witness by the elders recognizing a sovereign Gift of God already in the brother, acknowledging also that he has waited on his ministry and is a sufficiently experienced elder to exercise his Gift. (In the same vein, water baptism is the outward evidence of an inward work of faith II Timothy 1:5-6; II Peter 1:21).
Paul asks, "Are all apostles?" The answer is NO! "Are all prophets?" And the answer is NO! "Are all teachers?" Again, NO! Not all are teachers. Not all are doctors. Not all are mechanics. Not all are mothers. All Christians do not speak with other tongues, work miracles, possess the gift of healing, and so-on. God is sovereign and it's our responsibility to recognize our several abilities as well as our limitations, laying them before the Lord for Him to use as he should choose. We can never succeed at being what we are not (I Corinthians 2:11-16).
Next we face Mr. Unbeliever, Mr. Holier-Than-thou, and Mr. Sceptic, who say "the days of miracles are over" and "there are no prophets or apostles today." This is true as far as their churches are concerned, for no heaven-sent minister could serve God amongst the sinners in their churches. God placed His chosen ministers in the elect Church. Do you know that some who claim to be Christians and even ministers deny that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is for today? Yet one cannot be a Christian without the baptism with the Holy Ghost for this is the new birth!
With respect to those who say these ministries were only for the apostolic age, this is the apostolic age. It began with the Church on the Day of Pentecost when the "call" first went out in Acts 2. And God is still calling so the apostolic age will be with us until Christ takes His Church Home (II Thessalonians 2:7).
There isn't a minister who doesn't believe God still has pastors: some believe He still has evangelists, even teachers, but few believe He could have a prophet or an apostle today. Paul said these five different offices will be in the Church until the translation; until all the saints come into the unity of "the" faith and mature into the measure of the fullness of Christ. This upsets those yearning to retire on the beach with sinners rather than the first resurrection and the millennium. In order for saints to "come into the unity of the faith" they must "come out of her" the church, and gather unto "Him" the Word (Ephesians 1:10; 4:13-16; II Thessalonians 2:1; Revelations 18:1-4).
Christ has not been a Mediator since the close of the Laodicean Church Age in 1963 when Revelation 4, 5 and 10:1-7 were fulfilled (Daniel 12:4, 9; Revelation 10:7). Every denomination is apostate and united against the Word, impersonating fulfilled history and "crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh" (Hebrews 6:6). The four Gospels, II Timothy 3 � 4 and Revelation 3:17-20 foretold this apostasy at the end of "the last days" or Messianic Age of redemption and completion. "The mystery of God was finished" by the revelation of the Seven Seals in the ministry of the seventh angel to call his end-time Bride to maturity in perfect agreement with the Word, "no longer children, tossed to and fro, and carried by every wind of denominational doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." At last we have THUS SAITH THE LORD by a vindicated prophet; now the folly of seducing clergy spirits is made manifest when they dispute the revealed Word of God.
All five offices of ministry will be in the Body until the dispensation change and translation. And those with special responsibilities here will still be leaders on the Other Side. So let's distinguish between these offices.
There can be no greater office than the apostle for he is one who has been sent. For some reason they are now called "missionaries." An apostle is one who sets the Church in order. He travels out from his home church to minister in other congregations, perhaps overseas but does not set up permanent residence in the "mission field".
The Word of God comes only to a prophet. The apostle, evangelist, teacher, pastor and brethren receive it secondarily; their personal revelation by the Spirit conforms to the Word God has already delivered through His prophet (Numbers 12:6; Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:15-22; John 10:34-35; II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21).
The office of prophet is a "calling" distinct from the "gift" of prophecy. Although God may anoint a person to prophesy in a meeting this does not mean to say he or she is a prophet; they may never prophesy again. The gift of prophecy must be judged by two or three spiritual judges whereas one does not judge a prophet in that way.
When we consider the great worldwide 'revivals' of men like Dr. Billy Graham, we can see how very different man's ways are from God's ways. Contrast what they preach with the Scripture and consider their results�they are not according to the Bible! They gathered bottoms on seats, but did not convert souls to Christ by "the present Truth." The evangelist has an ability to revive and spiritually enliven those who have the Life of Christ within, bringing revival among those who are already saints.
The pastor is a feeder of the sheep. He separates himself with God alone to seek "Spiritual Food in due season" and then breaks it down for the Sheep to digest. He understands the sheep God has entrusted to his care and although they seldom fully appreciate his concern and discernment, he has them constantly in his heart and prayers.
The teacher has a depth of understanding in the Word way beyond the other offices; he can teach the other ministers. The reason so much error is believed as truth is a lack of sound teaching. Preaching brings condemnation, correction and repentance; teaching shows you your position in the Body.
It is essential all Christians including ministers discern the ministry God has set in His Church and humble themselves before the Word, seeking understanding or faith instead of trying to justify their own beliefs. If a point of truth from the Word comes up and a man tries to explain his view to one with an opposing view, the listener is not at all listening that he might learn; he is listening only to refute what is being said. Where is the Holy Spirit in this? If the speaker is presenting "the faith," to dismiss it is to reject the Spirit; the listener is not born-again and has no respect for God's servants.
It is high time we took stock and recognized God has declared a time when every Church and every minister would be found preaching error. They have been in error since Pentecost because the Book was sealed which is why Christ was a Mediator. If the Church and God's ministers had been preaching THUS SAITH THE LORD all this time He would not have been a Mediator. When Revelations 4, 5 and 10:1-7 were fulfilled the Church Ages ended as Spiritual moves of God and all the mysteries of the Seven Sealed Book were revealed. That was in 1963, 44 years ago; it is later than we think.
Fleshly church members without the Spirit, unable to discern the ministry, imagine they can worship wherever they please. But God said we must not worship in any entrance into the Kingdom God has given through the Ages�Lutheran, C of E, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Assemblies of God, United Pentecostal, etc., but in the Place He has chosen to put His Name (Deuteronomy 16:2, 5-6; Isaiah 28:8-13; II Peter 1:12; I John 1:7; Revelation 1 � 4:1).
God placed His Name in Christ the anointed Word. But do you see how the Place of God's Presence through which the believer enters into the Kingdom has moved as He revealed Himself in greater measure through the Reformation? It is not acceptable for us to walk in part of the Word, we must walk in all of the Light God has revealed for our day or we cannot enter the Kingdom (I John 1:7).
The Protestant denominations illustrate this point. Each was founded upon progressive revelations from God as recorded by history and the major doctrines they espoused. In each age, the saints came out of earlier denominations that refused further revelation; when they shunned that closer embrace they rejected the Spirit and died. This proves it is impossible to be reborn by the glare of an Age gone by; Jesus the Light of the world is alive, and like the living creatures He is always moving forward (I John 1:7).
A schoolboy could see that. Yet hundreds of millions of supposed-to-be-Christians, ten thousands of clergymen who've dedicated their lives to studying the dead letter and the educated guesses of educated men can't see it. Blind leaders of the blind! Grace! Grace! God's Grace to see Light!
Now God is calling all of His elect�not everyone�OUT from Rome and her (once) Protestant daughters into Oneness with the Word to fulfil Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 17:20-26; II Thessalonians 2:1; Revelations 18:1-4). The opening of the Seventh Seal was the return of Christ, the Fullness of the Word (I Corinthians 13:10). His end-time Bride is coming into the unity of the faith for the manifestation of the sons of God and the translation. The denominations are in the darkness of apostasy.
The 'rapture' is a revelation, a process of entering into agreement with the Word by faith: the Bride will be under such pre-eminence to the Word she will have the testimony that she pleases God (Hebrews 11:5). In the manifestation of the sons of God after the close of the Gentile dispensation she will be a hunted and persecuted little group, but what she says God will do, for she has the mind of Christ. Then, like Enoch, she'll be changed in the atoms: so few she won't be missed when God takes her Home for the Wedding Supper and the world enters the Great Tribulation.
The Gentile dispensation will end with a concussion of nature unprecedented in the history of man. Over a million square miles of California will be swallowed by the Pacific, tidal waves will sink ships and drown coastal towns, volcanoes will turn the Moon (a type of the Church) to blood, it will be worse than the last days of Pompeii. Political strife will follow, including the invasion of mainland USA; Satan will be cast out and incarnate himself in that man of sin, the son of perdition.
Christ "has come like a thief in the night" and is present with us now; the revelation of the Seven Seals brought Christ back to earth in W_O_R_D form (I Thessalonians 4:13-16; 5:1-5; Jude 14; Revelation 10:1-4; 16:15-16). Without this revelation denominational and nominal Christians cannot see Him. The 'rapture' has been in process since 1963. I did not say "resurrection" or "translation." The first resurrection will begin three days after the Seventh Trump ends the Christian dispensation of grace: the sleeping New Testament will arise in glorified bodies by Church Age, then "we who are alive and remain" will be glorified, and the Lord will anoint two Hebrew prophets to minister to Israel.
"So what about the Lutheran, Anglican and Presbyterian Christians; will they be in the first resurrection?"
"Yes, the bodies of those baptized into Christ in the Sardis Church Ages have been sleeping for hundreds of years and they will rise in the first Resurrection."
"How about the Methodist, Baptist, Nazarene, Brethren, and Pilgrim Holiness Christians, will they be there?"
"Why certainly! All the saints of the Philadelphia Dispensation will rise from the grave."
"And the Pentecostals? Will the saints from the Assemblies of God, Four Square, Church of God, United Pentecostal Church, etc., be present?"
"Yes Sir! All the saints of the Laodicean Church Age will be present. They too will resurrect from the dead to glorified flesh in the likeness of their natural body in the prime of life."
"Well, what about God's children living in these denominations today? Will they be changed from mortal to immortal and be translated?"
"The Bible states that in obedience to His Word all of God's children, the wise virgin, receive the seventh angel's Message, "Come out of Babylon," and are filled with the Spirit. Once again, God is being crucified "without the camp" by mainstream religion (Exodus 33:1-7; Matthew 25:1-13; II Thessalonians 2:1; Hebrews 6:4-20; Revelation 3:20; 18:4). Those who hear and ignore the Word of the hour are removed from the Book of Life and lost. Foolish virgin, denominational believers and others whose names remain in the Book of Life will be subject to the Great Tribulation. Those who take the mark of the beast will be struck from the Book of Life, whilst those who refuse the mark of the beast will be martyred, judged and granted into eternal Life at the White Throne.
Deuteronomy 16:5-6 types I John 1:7: "You may not worship under any of the Messages of PART-Word which the Lord your God revealed during the Church Ages; but in the present Truth revealed for this your day�this is the one Place you can find Atonement." Once it was in justification, the revelation of Luther�the angel to the Sardis Age, next new birth was in the revelation of holiness added by Wesley�the angel to the Philadelphian Age, then Christ was found in the Pentecostal or Laodicean Message, but that will not give the new birth today. The Holy Spirit moves as it fulfils the Word.
Where do we find Jesus now? Not in any denomination, we must go unto Him without the camp where since the opening of the Seals the Mighty God is unveiled before us in the fullness of His Word.
"But every denomination loves Jesus!"
"True, every denomination loves Jesus the Man who died on Calvary but they hate Christ the Word because it is corrective. They believe and know the historical Jesus Christ like Washington, Nelson, or Captain Cook. They know the "I Was" really well but they've never met the "I Am" because He's known only by faith not learning. They say they're rich and have it all, God says they're naked and not under the blood (Revelation 3:17). Come out of Babylon and be filled with the Spirit."
God is performing a quick short work in this day. Choosing the right minister can mean the difference between eternal Life in the millennium�or the Great Tribulation and possibly damnation. A minister is preaching THUS SAITH THE LORD and Eternal Life, or he's hybrid the Word and preaching death. Since the Seven Seals have been opened and "the mystery of God is finished" every minister should speak THUS SAITH THE LORD from the pulpit. Whilst the Holy Spirit is the Teacher who guides the elect into all truth, His most important tool is the five-fold ministry. We should each seek a born-again pastor, an elder ordained of God. This requires a revelation and you will not find him in denominational service.
If we are His Sheep, God has a pastor somewhere to feed our soul. We may not warm to the man but we must respect his Office which is the Holy Spirit. Our judgment should be spiritual, not based on personality, social or educational standing. In selecting a pastor we must have confidence in the man's testimony, his present life, and his communion with God. Receive his ministry with an open heart, listen to the end of his teaching, and go home and prove by the Bible it is the Logos we are receiving, not some man's personal views or our own private interpretation: THUS SAITH THE LORD will run in continuity from Genesis to Revelation.
The job of the ministry today is to preach Christ's Bride into the rapture. Any minister without a clear revelation of the Message for this hour is either not born-again, or was born-again in the previous Age of Laodicea. In either event he is not equipped to feed Christ's end-time Bride.
The Gifts of the Spirit, fruits of the Spirit and the five-fold ministry can all be impersonated but the Token or evidence of the new birth cannot. It should only take a few minutes to know whether a man has been born again�just give him the Word test. If a man is without a clear understanding of the Word for the age you know he is not born again (I John 1:7).
Ministers like Christians all make mistakes at times. Our faithfulness in prayer and our love are as necessary to him as the tithe of our material increase. If we believe a minister is in error, we should approach him with a meek spirit so he'll feel loved, not threatened, and has opportunity to explain our misunderstanding, or receive correction by the Word. If he is wrong and refuses correction by the Word, you had better run for your eternal Life.
We live in the most glorious time of the history of the world. Satan is in his adulthood and the Children of God are coming to maturity. There is more evil and unbelief than ever there has been in 6,000 years but there is also more revelation. We now have the perfect Interpretation of the Word and Christ is no longer a mediator. Since the revelation of the Seals, the fullness of the Spirit is on the fullness of the Word. Any saint in error will quickly catch the revelation when corrected by the Word. The elect cannot be deceived on the revealed Word, God and Christ and His Bride are One as Jesus prayed in John 17:20-26).
God bless each of you Bible Believers as you confirm these things in your Bible. If there's something you cannot quite understand or with which you disagree, if you've obeyed Acts 2:38, pray. God will surely reveal it through this pulpit if not beforehand. He is the Dissolver of doubt.
Whenever you have opportunity please share this with others you believe may be able to receive faith or understanding in the Word for our day. Just spend a little time and a few cents to mail, e-mail, or fax a copy of this sermon to a friend.
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