Tag: spirit

Who Shall Ascend? Keys to His presence

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Psalm 24: 3-5 “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

Psalm 15 “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the Lord; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”

Isaiah 33:14:16 “The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?” / He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil— / he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.”

Psalm 73:1 A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil! / Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Jesus Christ, The Five-Fold Minister

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Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

Matthew 21:11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel (Evangelize) to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

Matthew 23:10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

There is a revival of five-fold ministry within the church. However, like with everything there is a need for discernment. These ministries were never meant to be titles, or even positions within the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:7-8 it states, But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” Many times we fix our eyes on these ministries, no matter how true they may be, and miss what the true purpose is for them. These ministries are given by Christ, as gifts for a specific purpose, as scripture states:

Ephesians 4:11-16 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors (shepherds) and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Any true five-fold minister is there for one reason alone, to equip and bring each member of the body to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. To grow up all things into Him who is the head, Christ. There is an emphasis that EVERY PART does it share, which causes growth of the body for the edifying itself in love. We can not enter the fullness of Christ without having EACH member in the body function how they were meant to. May we see the body.

As Paul states, “No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”

Let us take an honest assessment of our churches, fellowships and our own lives. If Christ dwells in our midst, then every aspect of HIS ministry should be present. We can have the prophetic, but lack evangelism. We can have great teaching, but have no shepherding. God’s heart to let every gift flow freely. If we are to enter into the fullness of Christ, there is a need to allow Jesus Christ, The Five-Fold Minister, to fully express all aspects of Himself.