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Offices of the Holy Spirit 2
The Apostle
by Pastor John Hamel
“And he gave some,
APOSTLES; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers;” (Ephesians 4:11)
Paul started with
the Apostle so we will, too. This office is still in operation
because it is for the perfecting, edifying, unifying and maturing of the
saints. (Ephesians 4:12-14) We are not yet all of the above.
Not completely. So the Apostle’s office and all other offices are still
in the Earth, plowing and planting!
The Greek word for
Apostle is “apostolos.”
It means, “One who is sent forth. A delegate. One who has power
of attorney to speak on behalf of another, the sender remaining behind to
back up the one who is sent.” Now, that’s a
happy mouthful!
Jesus stood in this
office more powerfully than anyone ever will again. The Bible calls
Him, “The Apostle and High Priest of our Profession.” (Hebrews 3:1)
He stands in a class of His own because He is actually God the
Apostle! Heaven’s Sent One! There is no need for another
Redeemer so this will never happen again.
Jesus’ original
disciples are called “…the 12 Apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation
21:14) To be an “Apostle of the Lamb” one had to walk with Jesus
while He was here and to witness His resurrection. (Acts 1:21,22) This class of Apostle has passed
away. Even the Apostle Paul lacked these qualifications. He
didn’t walk with Jesus, neither did he see His
resurrection.
There is another
class of Apostle, which is referred to as “Foundational Apostles.”
Foundational Apostles shared in the founding, or the writing, of the New
Testament. Some of the Apostles of the Lamb were also Foundational
Apostles.
“…ye are…fellow
citizens…and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets …”
(Ephesians 2:19,20)
Paul was indeed a
Foundational Apostle. He wrote somewhere around two-thirds or
three-quarters of the New Testament. It all depends upon whether you
believe he wrote the Book of Hebrews or not. I believe he did.
There are no more Foundational Apostles, either. We don’t need them
because the Book is complete.
However, we still
have “Non-foundational” Apostles in existence today. There are no
less than eleven of them mentioned in the New Testament. These men
and women did not and do not write Scripture. However, they do have
outstanding credentials that show us who they are. (Acts 14:14; Romans 16:7; 1Corinthians 4:4-9;
2Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25; 1Thessalonians 1:1; 2:6)
In order to qualify
for Non-foundational Apostleship, one must have had a dramatic, supernatural
conversion experience. (Acts 9:1-19)
One must also have
had at least one personal visitation of
Christ. (1Corinthians 9:1)
The Apostle must
also be an excellent Bible Preacher or a Teacher or both, first and
foremost. (1Timothy 2:7; 2Timothy 1:11)
Signs, wonders and miracles also confirm
the Apostle’s preaching and teaching. (Romans 15:19; 1Corinthians
2:4,5) You cannot properly establish Churches if you cannot draw
people to Christ through signs, wonders and miracles. Even if you
were able to draw 10,000 people without signs, wonders and miracles, you
would have been able to draw 100,000 or more with them. All true New
Testament Apostles have a consistent operation of the Power Gifts of the
Spirit in operation when they preach and teach.
You are at the
Bible Study Centre of this website. You are reading under the topic
of “The Holy Spirit.” Under this same topic you will also find ten
messages on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. There you will read of the Gift of Faith, the Working of Miracles and the Gifts of Healings. These three
Gifts are commonly referred to as the Power Gifts. These Gifts must
accompany the office of the Apostle.
Apostles are also
anointed to go where the Gospel has not been, to preach, to teach and to
establish Churches. (Romans 15:20; Hebrews 6:1-3) This takes special
skills. (1Corinthians 12:28) Once the
Apostle establishes people in the faith, he or she will hand the work over
to an anointed Pastor. The Pastor will continue the Apostle’s work
from there. (1Corinthians 3:10) Without the
power to establish and organize Churches, it is absolutely impossible to be
a New Testament Apostle.
Also, Apostles have
NO authority in Churches they did not establish. No Pastor should
ever be afraid of withstanding an “Apostle” who attempts to usurp authority
in his Church, if that Apostle did not establish that Church. (1Corinthians
9:1,2,11,12)
It is not unusual
for an Apostle to stand in all Five-fold Ministry Offices. This is
because it takes the anointings of an Evangelist,
Teacher, Prophet and Pastor to get things up and running
supernaturally. Therefore, any or all of these anointings
can rest upon the true Apostle of God.
Be Blessed … John and Barbara Hamel
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