Five-Fold Today Speaking Prophetically, Acting Apostolically - Push Every Hindrance Aside - Final Sacrifices - My Presence - Follow Me - Reach - My Chosen Ones

November 1, 2001

Speaking Prophetically, Acting Apostolically

Wolfgang Simson

There’s a team, which God puts together, which is the five-fold ministry team. I believe the five-fold ministry of pastors, apostles, prophets, teachers and evangelists is one of God’s ways of empowering the mass planting of churches. I mean mass - thousands. They’re not supposed to be hijacked into one single structure, because they are called not to serve one church but to serve the country or to serve an area.

And what do I mean by apostles and prophets? Maybe with a few sentences I can explain what I do not mean. I do not mean powerful superstars; top-down guys who have it all and who answer the question, “Are you an apostle?” With the answer, “I have 150 churches working under me. I am supervising thousands. I am controlling and top-downing, drowning so many other churches.” I’m not convinced that this is the way apostolic ministry works. I really am not.

I see Paul as a weeping father, crying his heart out for Timothy to overtake him, for Christ to take shape in the nations. I see him broken-hearted - willing to let everybody walk over him. That’s why in Ephesians 2:20, the Bible speaks about these ministries - the apostolic and prophetic- as foundations. Do like this with your feet, just for the fun of it. (Stomp, stomp.) Just hit the foundation of this house. Everybody needs it, but everybody tramples on it. It gives you a good idea about where apostolic and prophetic ministries belong. This is not a joke. Because in many ways this is exactly how they were treated and how they will be treated in the future.

That’s how you will find true apostolic people - usually you can diagnose them - they have a broken heart. They cry more than anybody else. In their wildest dreams, they don’t think of building a big religious empire with themselves at the top and the others being grass roots. Would you like to be grass roots? Who wants to be grass roots? Don’t raise your hand because grass roots sounds like doormat. It is a term invented by people who will explain laity in a new way too. I believe the apostolic ministries are mainly the weeping fathers. The meekness of their heart allows them to inherit the earth. Meekness you can’t learn in seminary. Meekness you can only learn at the feet of Christ. Really, you can only learn it there.

I believe that these people are very ordinary. They are approachable, no faces, no big names. Very un-intimidating. Let’s say un-impressing. The thing that impresses me so much about Paul is that he is so unimpressive. He says that about himself. Weak, stumbling, stuttering - writes long letters. A man you can easily reject. And I think, “Yeah - that is so different from the people who have it all together. Who are on the top because they deserve it so much. You know what I’m talking about. But I’m talking about people who have somehow caught something of the heart of God that He’s given them. Some specific area they are to work in. I think that’s normal. That’s what He is doing around the world. To actually share His apostolic heart with apostolic people like John Knox. Good man, Presbyterian man. He was a Christian in Scotland. He prayed this prayer, “God, give me Scotland or I die.” And God gave him Scotland. And then he died. But I believe the principle here is that the spirit of John Knox is very much an apostolic spirit. It’s still around, and God gives this passion to people so that they somehow know what geographical area they would be willing to die for. Paul defines his own ministry in terms of what I call apostolic territoriality. 2 Corinthians 10:13 -15 is where Paul describes his ministry as reaching according to the measure of God up to Corinth. Not further. So he defines geographically. And Peter worked in Israel, Mark worked in Egypt. Peter worked on the right hand side of the Mediterranean area - it’s the area that God gave them to lay a foundation and to say, “I will not work anywhere else where anybody else has laid the foundation.”

In Egypt, one of my close friends is a guy called Adol Fonsie. He is a born-again Catholic firebrand who plants churches like nobody else I know. He talked about all of these things and he said, “You know, Wolf, what God is doing is like moving into a new apartment. The first thing you do is lay the carpet.” “Right,” I said. And he said, “You know these apostolic and prophetic ministries are like that? They lay the carpet, and later on you put in the chairs and all the rest of the furniture. That’s the way it is supposed to be. These apostolic and prophetic people are like groundcover, and everything else kind of sprouts out of it.” Do you understand what this guy is trying to say? In my mind there is actually a world map with green and red spots for areas of countries. Red means there is nobody whom I, small guy, am aware of, who has an apostolic vision and has said so. There are many people who make bold statements, but they may not be the apostolic people in the area at all. They may be paid by an organization to cover the ground and yet actually are neo imperialists trying to find a country where the organization is not yet working. They send some worker there and think, that is missions. It is not - it is just plain imperialism!

I believe that there are areas of the world which are green. I believe that what God is doing is preparing some people, men and women, who have a broken heart - they may be totally unknown, everybody trampling on them - who actually cry out day and night. We need to find these people and pour oil on their fire. Then God will give birth to what He has put into them, and all you have to do is hold their hands. These are people who cover the ground with their vision. God has given it to them. I could give you the names of people in these areas. Then there are areas in the world where, at least to my knowledge, there is nobody. There may be strong people, well-known people, but not with that kind of spirit. There is a guy in London who says about himself, that he is the guy to whom God is giving London. And he wrote a book about how to reach London and how everybody should join him in reaching London and build a big church with him at the top. He said this is the way London is going to be reached. Sounds good! But totally wrong! The church is falling apart as I speak.

In a way, this is a corrupted version of apostolic ministry. If I were the devil, what I would do first if genuine apostolic and prophetic ministries were about to appear, is to throw up a smoke screen. I would throw up false types, or corrupted types of these ministries and call it the real thing, so that everybody would be confused when the real thing came. Nobody would recognize it because converts would be already fooled, the books would be already written.

Nobody recognizes the apostles when they really walk into the room. They just don’t. Sorry, you’re not impressive. Sorry, you’re not charismatic enough. Sorry, you’re not mega this or mega that enough. Really, many are just this — unassuming people! If I told you about most of these apostolic people, you would not be impressed; you would probably not recognize them if they were in your church. Because all they would probably do is cry when you mention their country. And you think, “Poor you! What’s wrong with you? Maybe one of our workers can come and straighten you out.”

Can I say this? I think that part of the redemptive purposes of America is to give all that you have to people you don’t control and who have a vision that has nothing to do with you. And to serve them in a spirit of crucified colonialism. Sell your houses, and give your money to poor people who have a vision. Give with no strings attached, which is only possible if God does a miracle, and the cross works in your life and mine, and Jesus gets all the glory. You will not believe it - but God will set you free.

And by the prophet, I also don’t mean the person who turns his eyes backwards and floats above the ground and speaks in a strange voice about the million dollars we’re going to inherit pretty soon. They are also, very often, broken people, who spend most of their time just chasing God. And then they speak for us not just personal prophetic words. Dare I say that? That has been the hang-up of a lot of the Pentecostal and charismatic scenes. They just want to hear God speak to ME, ME, ME, and the goat wants to be tickled. Yes! God speaks to people! But prophets also, often, have a word for the nation or the city, or whatever. Why? So that we can become one. God’s purpose is for the area.

The significance of prophecy cannot be overestimated, because it was God’s centralized system to speak from His headquarters in heaven a personalized word to every house church on earth. Can you imagine? It’s great to have the pastor’s teaching notes to mull them over on Wednesday night, but it’s better if Jesus Himself speaks a personalized direct word into that house church.

Can you imagine the Church in Denver coming together every Sunday or every Saturday and being one church, and there is not one “big guy”? Rather than “Pastor So-and-So has graciously consented to come here,” we would say, “We welcome you, Jesus.” There is no platform because we don’t need one. We are one family under God, and God is going to use His apostolic and prophetic people to speak, and to lead us in all this and clearly move the whole church in one direction and express our oneness in Christ. Can you imagine that? Maybe some can and some can’t. But the early Church was exactly like this, and it shook the earth. It really shook the earth! I remember the other day there was such a meeting of the city church coming together in Buenos Aires. It was in September of last year, and when they came together, 400,000 people met together down on the Plaza de República in Buenos Aires. The earth shook, literally, with an earthquake at 3:59 p.m. They measured it because, they thought, “What’s happening here?” And for anybody who knows the New Testament, that’s not too surprising, because in Acts chapter 4 when the church prayed like this, the earth shook, so don’t be too surprised.

Just imagine that God were to bring us back, NOT to the New Testament model of church but to the New Testament DYNAMICS of church, and principles, which need to be incorporated - the word I really love is, “incarnated.” You know I have an Indian wife, but this has nothing to do with reincarnation; it has to do with the Word becoming flesh, the Spirit marrying the soil. That’s what I speak about. I believe what’s happening is that there is this travail going on, that people are pregnant with these things; trying to give birth in their village, area, town, city, state and nation. What I see happening is the Church in its authentic expression as house churches AND as a city church, together. For me, all this “together” I understand by the term, “house church.” That’s how I feel, because I think that’s the way it was before. I don’t mean these little rebel groups of disgruntled believers, unhappy with institutional churches, sitting in the middle of the ghetto firing fiery darts at anything that moves and saying, “We’re right and everybody else is wrong. Independence Day is our big day . . . “ No, no, no! That is not apostolic, not prophetic, not profound, not God. It’s a trauma. And we need to see it, and we need to cater for it. We need to have hospitals for it. We need to help these friends. But they are NOT the foundation for what God is going to do here in America. There’s a fresh start, a fresh breaking of ground, a fresh laying of apostolic and prophetic foundations. I’m not saying that this meeting is part of it - maybe yes, maybe not. But God is doing this everywhere. I see that. I believe that. I want to stay to see this happening. It is happening. I see it wherever I go.

www.house2house.tv
info@house2house.tv

Push Every Hindrance Aside

Shelleymae Bartlett

I saw many burning bushes and many that the Lord wanted to set a blaze for Him to speak through.... In My Spirit I hear PUSH EVERY HINDRANCE ASIDE for I see that you worship the hindrances by loving or trusting them more then you Love and Trust ME Many of you have cold feet because you have not the RIGHT CLOTHING on Cold feet to reach out with your hands because your afraid you will mess up... and there are those who are afraid because you'll get hurt again. Whose Strength are you Trusting in?

Yours, others, or MINE?

There are some putting others----looking to others for their counsel, and have found great disappointment and some, even great hurt and it has caused you to stumble in your Faith. It is not MY Desire for you to eat crumbs The enemy has lied to you and convinced you to look to man for your leading But did I not tell you that I would TEACH you? That I would never leave or forsake you

I AM YOUR COMFORTER. Let ME COMFORT you even now. I have invited you to MY TABLE. Will you not Trust and Walk in MY WORDS? COME and TASTE and SEE I have called you to MYSELF and I Will never ever let you go, So DO NOT GIVE UP!!!! DO NOT LET GO OF MY HAND DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF ME. For you NEED TO KNOW that YOUR FAITH NEEDS TO GROW as you LEARN to WALK IN ME.

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
I AM THE BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN
I AM THE LIVING BREAD
He Who Eats and Partakes of ME shall never die But SHALL BE FILLED and LIVE WITH ME LIFE EVERLASTING.

You desire to see MY FACE.... These are the "Road Signs" Every step you take I will meet you there.

Have I left you in the meantime? NO, I AM HOLDING YOUR HAND. How will I meet you "there" you ask? WHEN YOU SEE ME, WHEN YOU KNOW ME MORE, WHEN YOU HAVE BECOME MORE LIKE ME...

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD!!

Humbly Submitted,
(\O/)o Shelleymae Bartlett
CRICKETAK@aol.com

Final Sacrifices

Jim Grayson

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Genesis 22:1-5

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Genesis 22:9-14

Do you want to go on with God, with the work He has been doing in you, to see the vision He has given you come to pass and become a reality? I'm sure you do, as I do, but there are some things we have been holding on to, things which have troubled us and until we release these things into His care and His control, we will go no farther but will simply sit and dry up on the Vine. Our fruit will wither and our lives will never reach the potential He wants for us. Knowing this, do you still want to go on with God?

Some of us have been pressed beyond measure and are still walking with our Lord, even though we have experienced much pain and the long, dark nights of the spirit. We've stayed with Him in spite of all. Even when we became so weary and sick we wanted to quit and go Home to be with Him, He sustained us and gave us the Bread of LIFE and gave us to drink from the River of Living Water which flows from the fountains of God, which will soon flow through us. We have come far, beloved, but there remains something in our lives which needs to be surrendered and it's not a pet sin, per se, but a situation and an attitude.

Do you have a loved one for whom you have grieved because of their situation? Have you found yourself trying and trying to make a change in their life, but to no avail? In fact, the harder you tried, the worse it got, didn't it? That's because you and I are trying to do God's work for Him. He has asked us to simply obey Him, not be God and make changes in the lives of those we love. Only He can do that.

The same goes for situations in your life. You may not see a way out of where you are but there IS a Way and His Name is Jesus, and yet, He will not force Himself on you. If you want to persist in holding on to the pain of the situation and feeling that sick worry in your heart (I can relate), He will allow you to do that, but we should never expect to find victory there, for that person or situation is not in His hands but in ours. Only when we relinquish our loved ones and our situations into His hands...and LEAVE them there...will we find victory for victory is born on the wings of freedom and freedom comes from surrendering all to Him.

Just as Abraham took Isaac to the altar and bound him, so must we take our loved ones and situations and bind them and lay them on the altar, not to kill them but to kill our own wretched desire to interfere with the work of God in their lives. Do we realize how much damage we do when we interfere? Do we realize we could have seen the victory long ago had we simply released these things to God, so HE could work on them, rather than we with our poor efforts? This has been a hard lesson for me to learn but I'm learning, even as I see I have a way to go before I learn to relinquish all. I know that if I want to see the vision He has given me fulfilled in my life, I must learn to give all to Him and leave it there, because in the future, there will be many situations which will rob me of my peace if I don't learn to surrender it to Him. So long as I am working on a situation or trying to change a loved one, I am concentrating on them, rather than on my Lord, and when I do that, I DISCONNECT myself from Him, trading HIS peace and joy, for the cares of this world and I become worthless to Him or to anyone else. This is a part of taking up our cross daily and being crucified on it. It's a part of death to self and the decision is ours whether we die or not.

This is a lesson some of us must learn quickly, for the time for our vindication is very, very near. When it happens, our whole lives are going to change forever and we will absolutely need to keep things in His Hands so that we may fully experience His joy, His Love, His peace and His power.

I pray that nothing in me, NOTHING, ever comes between He and I and diminishes that which He wants for me. I pray the same for you, too, for His glory is about to fall on us.

You have my heart, beloved of God.
And the Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!"
Strength and Honor,
Hail the Lamb!
Love,
Jim
AFresheningWind@aol.com

My Presence

June Anne Garber

The way to My presence is paved with the stones of holiness and purity. These stones must be trodden for you to attain the priviledge of standing in the abiding presence of the Mighty God of Israel. And, as you step out in faith to proceed onto the way of holiness and purity, you must become well grounded and be willing to become an integral part of the path to the Lord. Upon these stones you must move toward the throne of the Living God, to seek My face, My power, and My favour. When you lay down your life to become a part of the pathway, you are entrusted to continue there as you choose to remain and to be a praise unto the Lord. Therefore, be about My commandment to "be ye holy, for I AM holy". For it is in holiness and purity of heart that you will abide in My presence, the Presence of the Almighty.

garber@fyi.net

Follow Me

Johan en Elanie

I have given my life to you. Now give your life to me. Do my will in word in deed. Follow me and I will lead you. Come after me and I will take you to still waters where there is rest. It is my will to give you the kingdom. Abide in me and allow me to abide in you. It is as you abide in me that my will for your life will unfold. It is as you abide in me that your life will truly become fruitful. It is as you hear my voice and obey that great battles will be won in the spirit realm.

Do not trust and rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge me and I will make your ways prosperous. Do not attempt anything apart from me or my grace. If you do that you will surely fail. You have not been made to do anything in your own strength. Seek my face. Seek my presence. Draw your strength from me every moment of every day and you can not be anything else but be successful. Follow me in word and deed for this is the complete work that I require of you.

Do not be afraid of the future for I hold the future in my hand. Do not look to the left of to the right in terror for I alone keep you safe in this evil day and age. Rest in me. Rest in my promises for you. I will surely bring them to pass as you follow me. Do not look to the right or to the left only focus your eyes on me.

Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything more than this is from the evil one.

I love you. Abide in my love by doing all that I command you. I am your strength, your strong fortress, your deliverer. Stand fast on my promises. Do not be moved. Refuse to give in to pressure from the evil one. Do not give him his way.

I will make your ways prosperous. I will make you a strong pillar of my strength if you hold on to me with all your might. Surely I will not disappoint or fail you. Surely I will lead you and guide you. Surely I will be your success.

jm-em@iafrica.com

Reach

Tammie Gelis

I keep hearing from the Lord very loudly one word....REACH.....Reach up and touch that which seems unreachable. Reach up out of those dark places you find yourself in. Grab for the light, grab for the hope you need this day. Reach for me. Use all your strength and reach out for me. I will not turn you away. I will not disappoint you. Reach and touch my face. Reach up out of your fears and depression. Reach for something beyond you, reach for me. I AM that I AM. I can do all things. Reach for me...Reach for my hand. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will bring you through the wind and the fire. Even if it means in the darkest night that you are holding your hand out aimlessly in the dark, take that step and reach toward me. I will take your hand. I will keep you. I will not let you slip. I will not let temptations come beyond what I can give you strength for, if you but hold onto my hand and do not let go. Reach high....grab ahold of me with all you have. You will not be disappointed. Put your hope in me.

needgrace2@hotmail.com

My Chosen Ones

John Bullard

The time has come to separate my chosen ones,
People I can train to be my daughters and sons.
They'll have a special anointing to speak for me,
To go out into the world and set the captives free.

The Holy Spirit will teach them how be a door,
And guide them to be holy, and so much more.
They will be taught how to speak the truth out,
And come against the enemy with a Holy shout.

Wash your robes and turn towards God's Son,
Be a vessel of love that can be depended upon.
Have a teachable spirit; be open to God above,
He will use you to give out His precious love.

Focus on your assignment and don't look around,
Be willing used, know when to stand your ground.
God needs you now to be a special chosen one,
As we near the appearing of God's only Son.

John
john.r.bullard@lmco.com

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