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Archive for the ‘Doctrine of God’ Category

The Ministry of the Teacher

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , on July 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Timothy 2:7

A congregation can appoint a teacher, but it cannot give him/her a ministry. God alone sets ministries in the body. The ministry of the teacher must come directly from God. From my own experience, when God tells me what to tell His people, He tells me how to tell it. I teach sometimes with a chalkboard, and the drawings I put on the board are those things which I see in the Spirit.

There are, however, many, many different administrations of the Spirit. Although God deals with me in this way, He may deal with someone else in an entirely different way, BUT with the same result – His people will get the message, and it will be directed by Him.

There are ministries with the same name as gifts of the Spirit, but the ministry is different from the gift. The gift is the manifestation of the Holy Ghost within the believer, working whatever gift God sees fit to bring forth through the individual.

On the other hand, the ministry is a special and more powerful endowment to the church. The minister, therefore, is the gift of God to the church. His endowment is not his own. He cannot preach where he wills, do what he wants, but as an important part of God’s machinery, he must move when and where God wants him to move or go.

Every human being is capable of some gift of the Spirit if he or she surrenders to God, but not everyone is an anointed preacher of Christ. It must be remembered that every believer, as part of a body, is a ministering, functioning part. In a sense, everyone who is born of God is expected to work with the ministry in one capacity or another. Without these sinews of the body, the ministries could not function effectively.

These are the five bars of the tabernacle.

We should not forget one important observation. The golden rings which hold the bars are attached to the gold on the boards, thus signifying that the nature of God in the body is that which holds the ministry, and not the ministry or minister holding the congregation.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 80-81)

Thought for today: The nature of God in the body is that which holds the ministry, and not the ministry or minister holding the congregation.

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The Ministry of the Shepherd

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , , on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:11

The word “shepherd,” translated “pastor,” does not give any minister absolute charge over any congregation. It gives him the responsible position of being answerable to the “Chief Shepherd” for the ministry to care for the sheep given to him. Therefore, while he is caring for sheep in the congregation, there are others who would be caring for lambs, and others neither sheep nor lambs, but sons – little sons and big sons. Therefore, in God’s Order, we FIND A PLURAL MINISTRY OF ELDERS WORKING TOGETHER.

It is very easy to discern the true God-appointed shepherds, as different from the man-appointed ones or the self-appointed ones. In Ephesians 4:11, we notice that the Word says that “He gave some, Apostles, etc.”

A man-made apostle is an alien creature in God’s business, yet all the churches appoint their own trainees to positions. Divine Order is totally rejected in the modern church as recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (rebellion) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

History is repeating itself. Just as Israel turned away from God to the dumb idols of the nations, even so, 90% of the church has turned from God to worship buildings, and pews, money and status – rebelling against God. Jesus Christ, our Lord, said that this would happen before His return. He gave a parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:24-30. Then from 37-43, He gave the meaning of this parable of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 13:37-43, “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather OUT OF HIS KINGDOM all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him hear.”

The above passage outlines the condition of the church before Christ comes. It clearly shows that there is at this time a rebellion in the church, against the Master of the Vineyard, and that He is waiting for the time of His judgment to separate the wheat from the tares. From what I can observe, the tares have taken up the chief corners of the streets of our cities with magnificent edifices. They occupy the major positions of authority in the vast majority of the congregations of the world. They are the richest institutions on earth, but we understand that the time of harvest is very near, even at the door.

The true shepherd seeks the glory of the Lord. The false shepherd seeks the glory of his denomination, or group, or nondenominational denomination, or something else beside Jesus. The question here arises, what is meant by seeking the glory? The question brings us back to the teaching of the “firstfruits.” Whatever is the focal point of our operation and programs is the thing that is first in order of priority. Are we more interested in holding our members than in their spiritual growth? If we are more interested in their spiritual growth, even if we lose them, then Christ is first. Are the shepherds God-trained, God-appointed men, or man-appointed pastors, herdsmen, cowboys, man-appointed, Seminary-trained after the order of man, Romish? As God-appointed shepherds, they would be laying down their lives and not looking after their own enrichment or status. Then that is putting Christ first. Is the shepherd striving to do the will of the Father, rather than to please his congregation and the other church leaders around? Then he is Christ centered. Is the shepherd making plans for bringing in money in the church? Then he is NOT Christ centered but otherwise centered. Is Christ the whole motivation of the church? If so, then they are putting Christ in His rightful place – first. A shepherd, therefore, is not a hireling. He cannot be bought or fired, because he is working with God Himself who trained and sent him, and he will teach every sheep to follow Jesus Christ. Every God-appointed shepherd knows that the word shepherd is not a title like the “Names of Blasphemy” – Reverend, Pastor, Father, Holy Father, Pope etc. (Revelation 17:5) – but that it is a spiritual endowment, a deep compassion in the heart for God’s children everywhere. It is a gift of the Spirit, and we should only be under-shepherds with Jesus Christ.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 77-79)

Thought for today: Remember: A shepherd, therefore, is not a hireling. He cannot be bought or fired, because he is working with God Himself who trained and sent him, and he will teach every sheep to follow Jesus Christ.

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The Apostle

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , , on July 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Psalm 42:7

There is one rod in the center of the Tabernacle of Moses, which goes straight through from the first board to the last. This rod represents the APOSTLE. It is 30 Cubits long, which is the number of the matured son. The work of the apostle is therefore like that of a mainspring. It is vital to the construction. It is CENTRAL, and lays down the line for all the other ministries to follow. The true apostle brings the people of God together, and cannot be LOCAL in his operation, but must encompass the whole tabernacle. Once the boards are in their place, they not only feel the power of the apostle’s message, but such a message binds them into the Body of Christ. WOOD never touches WOOD. GOLD touches GOLD.

“Deep calleth unto deep,” Psalms 42:7 says.

Every God-ordained group, or church, must have an apostolic vision. “Without a vision the people perish.” The people of God cannot grow in Him without a vision of what they are, where they are going, and where they are.

The true message of God will bring the people into DIVINE ORDER. There is disorder everywhere, but it is the business of the true apostles to bring order by the power of the message of God in them. This power is now being asserted by the APOSTLES OF THE END TIME, and every false thing is being swept out of the way. That which many call accidents are incidents which God is using to clear his field, and to make way for his true messengers. Someone getting upset and leaving a group or a body might well be a blessing to that group or body. If they were of us, then they would not have left us.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 72)

Thought for today: The true message of God will bring the people into DIVINE ORDER.

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The Necessity of the Prophet

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , on July 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 20:25-27

The church cannot reach to its height in the Spirit without the function of the prophet ministry. By this, I do not mean prophesying in the church. The ministry of the prophet is one which carries a power and authority in the church next to the apostle.

The mistaken idea about spiritual authority is that men who claim to have authority in the church are mostly those who rule over different sections of the church, BUT authority is from God. WHEN THE WORD SPOKEN is powerful in heaven and on earth, then that is spiritual authority.

An example of this is a situation where a certain minister’s preaching was being challenged, and the brethren decided that they would not have him any more. He said nothing but went away and prayed to God. The result was that they were sorry, and reversed their decision. The authority was exercised in the Spirit.

On the other hand, there are those who speak great swelling words, only to find that the Spirit of God was not with them, and their words did not carry with the spiritual people.

Jesus had this to say of spiritual authority:

Matthew 20:25-27, (RSV) “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but who so ever would be great among you must be your servant, and who so ever would be first among you must be your slave.”

This simply means that God will exalt such a person to a place of authority, so that “whatsoever he binds on earth is bound in heaven.” We can see clearly that God intends a Prophet to speak as the very oracle of God.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 74-75)

Thought for today: WHEN THE WORD SPOKEN is powerful in heaven and on earth, then that is spiritual authority.

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God a Prisoner

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , on July 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Colossians 1:27

When we contain God, we retain, restrain and detain Him. Even as God THE MAGNIFICENT was contained within a man named Jesus, so also He is now within human frame again by the same process of procreation of the species which he used in bringing forth the FIRST CHRIST. This is a paradox – the ALMIGHTY GOD inside the closed confines of flesh which is addicted to corruption; BUT how else would this flesh become incorruptible?

SIN entered into man! Thus God must enter into man to finally deal with the foe. Even while Jesus walked on earth in human flesh, the LIFE of God within Him sought for a resurrection or a breaking forth. The same is within us who have the true work of the blood within us. THIS WORK AND THIS WORK ALONE makes us the church, none other. This is the entering, in the beginning of the creation of God. WITHOUT A BEGINNING there can be nothing at all.

The imprisonment of the Christ within us is a great mystery (Colossians 1:27). In order to manifest HIMSELF within our realm, Jesus Christ our Lord had to come as a prisoner of humanity. Humanity contained and restrained DIVINITY, until Divinity overcame that which contained Him, and the man and the contained became one expression of God. I am depending on you to be in the Spirit to understand what I am saying. If you can understand this, then you are in the Spirit. If you cannot, then pray.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 46-47)

Thought for today: God must enter into man to finally deal with the foe of SIN!

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