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Recovering the Apostolic Way
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is in a battle. Kingdoms are at war for the souls of men. The Church must again dig deep to return to the ancient paths of biblical Christianity. We have lost our way and most don’t even know it, because what we do and how we do it is all we have ever seen. I can’t but feel sorry for them and thank the Lord everyday for His grace in my life. Because, you see, I once lived in that rat race.
The Current Crisis
Apostles and prophets whom the Lord left to steer His ship have been rejected and most thrown over the side. This God-ordained leadership vacuum has caused the American Church to be inundated with “Successful Business Practices to Church Growth,” where the leaders have been administrators and accountants. The apostolic faith and the apostolic mandate to “go” have been replaced by what’s the bottom line. Add to that the current business of offering diplomas for money and you have an entire army of theological “head” soldiers who have never spent one day on the front lines. They have never, like Elisha, poured water on the hands on an Elijah. They have never learned what it means to walk in relationship and covenant.
The cost has been great. Not only has discipleship suffered, but the exponential and multiplication factor of the church has grounded to a halt. We now spend hours trying to keep the same immature Christians, who float from congregation to congregation, looking for who is offering them the most. It’s no longer about what I can give back to Christ, but who can get me my best Sunday high.
In the midst of this mess, The Lord Jesus Christ—the head of the church—has begun to open the eyes of frontrunners. Men and women, young and old, whether by a “crash and burn” with the system, or by divine revelation are beginning to awaken and to forge a path through the jungle vines of human traditions. They march only to orders from the King. They are Holy Spirit people who have tasted of the good things to come and just can’t return to the old ways. They are teachable but they can smell religion a mile away. They don’t really care what others think about them because they are dead or are in the process of dying to themselves. Like bond slaves they have been set free, but have chosen to die in the house of their Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is to these devout, holy, and recklessly abandoned to King Jesus types that I, by the Holy Spirit, pen these words—praying that they will find good ground and bear fruit worthy of our Lord. We are on a journey. Like the original Huguenots who settled Christian America, we must leave the port of Religion and launch out into the deep, not knowing where we are going but knowing we are willing to toss it all for a chance to be free, to abide and raise up spiritual children in His presence.
The Two Greatest Dilemmas
We pull away from the docks, but along with us come two obstacles that we must conquer. They will appear like viruses after we are out to sea. The first is like an unwelcomed stowaway, which is the pain of our past. Whether we like it or not, many of us are wounded from the fight for freedom. Since the church was in the condition she was in, many good intentioned and sincere leaders have suffered at her hands. Things like: no love, no commitment, no covenant and no appreciation have left many who stepped out by faith shipwrecked. Some of those that have survived have told me “I will never do that again.” Their families and their ministries still carry the scars of the last time they “trusted Christ” at the hands of the modern church. Like eunuchs, the devil has emasculated their faith. Healing is the only answer and a healthy loving church is the only antidote. It is my prayer that those whom God is raising up will come together to manifest the true Church and by our conduct be the healing balm of Gilead of the 21st century.
The second dilemma is that, like the Enterprise, we have to go where we have never gone before. The true church is like a ship that has to be built out at sea. It will be a process as the Lord works with us and by His Spirit reveals to us where we are lacking, and what must be thrown overboard. Our greatest battle is our natural inclination to return to the false safety of doing things the way we now know. Many have left the institutional church only to set up an institutional house church. Everything we do and how we do it must be questioned. The secret will only be found in corporate prayer and in the synergy of biblical counsel that is found in a true apostolic company. I am not talking about control or human government. I am talking about a loving family that has fivefold elders with wisdom and faith. These men don’t necessarily know how. But they have the experience of what will not work, and the passion to stay true to the pattern set forth in his Word. It is the biblical model of apostles and prophets who are hammering out the foundations of His true church. This is God’s safety net from heresies and tangents, the counsel of the presbytery.
Returning to the “Apostolic Way”
We know the current system of conferences and seminars, traveling with a guaranteed up front offerings based on the receiving party’s faith, and waiting for invitations. Now we have to forge through these human patterns so that we may be faithful to the apostolic mandate of Kingdom expansion.
Matt 10:7-10
7 And as you go, preach, saying,'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,* cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.
Matt 28:18-20
"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore* and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.*
An apostle in the very definition of the name is a messenger or a sent one. For years the institutional church has used these verses to teach that every believer must go witnessing door to door but these verses were mandated to apostles of the Lord. We must go, and we must go as the Lord sends us, trusting in Christ as our only Source. The faith to go demonstrated by the original apostles must return to the post ascension apostles whom the Lord is raising up at this hour. We must jettison all human measurements of success in numbers and bottom lines.
We need to understand that we are the mature ones and we must step out by faith to expand His kingdom in the areas where the Lord is opening doors. Books, articles, blogs, tapes and cd’s have been a blessing from God but nothing can replace the impartation found in the hands of His apostles and prophets, the wisdom found at their feet, and the anointing that follows where there feet have walked.
My spiritual father, Don Atkin, a true apostolic servant, puts it this way in his book, “Creation’s Cry the Heart of Apostolic Passion,” pp103-104.
“The apostle has freely received the authority and anointing to expand the kingdom within his sphere. His mandate is to freely give of himself in daily obedience to the Holy Spirit for the purpose of kingdom expansion. As he freely gives, people will begin to experience the fruit of God’s love, and embrace His kingdom.
As Jesus dictated to John the letters to the seven churches, He addressed them to the messengers. It is vital that apostles remain messengers, oracles, and not be misled into managing a local church, apostolic network, mission agency, para-church organization-whatever. Leaders need to lead and let managers manage.
The apostles are first and foremost messengers. Jesus said, “As you go, preach! “Repentance” is the apostle’s message. Repentance (in the context of the gospel) is a change of government, from self-rule to the Kingdom (rule) of God. When men and women cease to rule their own lives and yield to the government of God, everything begins to change. They become new creatures from the inside out. Sin is forgiven, the sick are healed, the dead are raised, the lepers are cleansed and the demons are cast out.
Jesus compares the kingdom to leaven, which gradually changes the shape of the loaf. Kingdom influence works like salt and light. Kingdom expansion works like leaven in the loaf.
The administration of an organization will not produce this kind of change. Only the communication of the kingdom message will bring the order of God, to an individual, community and nation.”
Isa 6:8
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
"Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?"
Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
I hear the Lord once again crying out for His apostles and prophets to come together and go where He needs them Sometimes they will know specifically what they are to do. But sometimes they will arrive not knowing what God has planned except that God said to go. Like in the New Testament it will then be the responsibility of the church to send them on from there to continue the Lord’s Kingdom expansion. Sometimes all they will be able to give will be a prayer and a hug and sometimes they will be able to give generously and thankfully toward the work. In the end the Source will see to it that His work is supported.
What I have shared here I have now lived for 25 years. Sometimes more faithfully than other times, but again I feel the urgency of King Jesus for a Bride that he must bring unto himself spotless and without wrinkle.
May the Lord show Himself strong among those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to His apostles and prophets.
for the love of His Name,
Jose L. Bosque
4/4/2011
Article found here:
http://jaxchristian.com/churchminist...-apostolic-way
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