Apostles and Church Unity!

by Senior Elder Dr. Michael Scantlebury | elder@dominion-life.org

The Apostles that are being raised up by the Lord in this hour will be used to influence the unity of the faith. When the Church was birthed in the Upper Room about 2000 years ago, unity was a very vital key in its establishment. At the very heart of that unity were the Apostles of the Lamb.

As the Church grew, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers came alongside the Apostles and Prophets so that the five-fold ministry imparted strength into the early Church.

We also saw that during the Dark ages, there was a falling away and the visible, functional ministry of the entire five-fold ministry was lost, ergo, the Church became very separated.

God then began His restorative process by first re-establishing the fully functioning Teacher, Pastor, Evangelist, Prophet, and now in this hour, He is fully restoring the Apostle. The Church will never be fully functional without the Apostles being fully released and fully functioning. Jesus Himself knew that this had to happen, hence the reason He did what He did as recorded in the scripture text below.

"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.' (Now this, 'He ascended' ­ what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, and some Pastors 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." Ephesians 4:7­16 (Emphasis added)

Points to extract from Ephesians 4:7-16

• Jesus Himself gave the ministry gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers to men.



• These gifts were given to His body the Church.

• They were given for several reasons:

a. For equipping the saints in His body

b. To allow the saints to do the work of the ministry

c. For the edifying of the body of Christ

The ministry gifts were to function in the body of Christ for a specific time period, until the following happens:

a. We all come into the unity of the faith

b. We all come into the knowledge of the Son of God

c. We all come into a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

d. We are no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine

e. We speak the truth in love and grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ.

Evidently, these things have not yet been fulfilled in the body of Christ; therefore the ministry gifts are still in operation, with specific emphasis conferred upon that of the Apostle.

As we look back at the Israelites (a type of the Church) and their journey to the Promise Land we can see some striking similarities with what is happening today.

When God called Abram and sent him on a journey, he took Lot with him and just before Abram entered into Hebron, separation had to come between himself and Lot because division stepped in among them (Genesis 13:5-18).

This was very significant because of what Hebron represented. The meaning of the word Hebron in Hebrew is very interesting. It is translated: confederacy, from which the noun confederate is derived and which carries the following meaning: - To unite in a confederacy or to be united in a league. So from this we can derive that Hebron represented a place of unity.

Several centuries later, God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt and took them on a journey to the land promised to Abraham. During the Israelites' wilderness wandering, the twelve spies sent out to report on the land of Canaan explored the region of Hebron. At that time the 'descendants of Anak' populated it. (Numbers 13) These twelve spies represented the twelve tribes, therefore represented the entire nation of Israel. (As we know Israel was a type of the New Testament Church and their possession of the promise land represents us, the Church, coming into our destiny in God upon the earth.) Please keep this in mind, as it will be very significant later on.

As they entered the land of promise, "Hebron" (the place of peace) was their point of entry and they found giants living there. This caused a major split to occur among the twelve. Ten of them brought back an evil report and two, Joshua (a type of the Apostolic) and Caleb (a type of the Prophetic) came back confident that the land could have been taken.

"Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.' And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, 'The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Numbers 13:30-33

This resulted in a divided people going around in circles for forty years in the wilderness until God purged out all the unbelief from them. And although Joshua and Caleb believed the Lord, they had to go through the same journey. If God had only sent them in, it would have defeated His purpose of a united people possessing their inheritance. The desire of God to have a united people go in and possess the land was further highlighted by the fact that the Reubenites, the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh had to also enter and assist the others in acquiring their inheritance.

Remember, under the reign of Moses they defeated the king of Og and took all the lands east of the Jordan and divided it among the Reubenites, the Gadites and half of the tribe of Manasseh (Deuteronomy 3:1-17). However, at that time Moses gave specific instructions concerning their inheritance in relation to the other tribes, which was:

"Then I commanded you at that time saying: 'The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel. 'But your wives, your little ones. And your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall stay in your cities, which I have given you, 'until the Lord has given rest to your brethren as to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.'" Deuteronomy 3:18-20

After forty years in the wilderness, during which time God destroyed all the unbelievers and took Moses because of his disobedience (not unbelief), God then appointed Joshua as leader of a brand new tribe of people. They were now ready to enter into the land of promise.

It was at that time the command that Moses gave to the Reubenites, the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh came into effect, so that a united people went in to possess the land of promise.

"Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 'Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.' ' And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, 'Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, 'The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.' 'Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, 'until the Lord has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.' So they answered Joshua, saying, 'All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.' " Joshua 1:10-16

At that stage they were all united and ready to take the Promise Land. However, unlike the first time when Moses sent the spies and they entered through Hebron in the south, this time they were entering from Jericho in the north. A very interesting point to note: this time instead of sending out twelve spies, Joshua only sends out two (Joshua 2:1). By gaining entry into the promise land through Jericho, the last place the Israelites were to encounter was Hebron ­ The Place of Peace!

What happened to the Israelites is so relevant to us today. Let us look at some of these principles at work today:

The Church of Jesus Christ today has a destination, a land of promise, to enter into. The Apostle Paul declared it this way:

"And He Himself gave some to be Apostles, some Prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors 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 into 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." Ephesians 4:11-13

Our land of promise is the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ and in order to get to that place, unity will be our final frontier. Over the past two thousand years the Lord has been working to get the Church to a place of maturity. However, there have been several obstacles along the way. We overcame several of them, but the unity of the Church is what the Holy Spirit is working on now, today.

In order for the Church of Jesus Christ to walk in unity, we MUST have the full restoration of Apostles and Prophets. Without the full acceptance and restoration of these two ministry gifts we will not have the equipment to take us to unity.

However, just as it was in Hebron, where the sons of Anak (giants) dwelt, in the realm of unity some of the biggest devils dwell. The devil will do all in his power to try to stop the Church from entering into the place of unity. The word of God declares in Matthew 18:19

"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven."

Agree is a very interesting Greek word, it is the word sumphoneo, which is derived from two words: - sum = "together" and phoneo = "to sound". Sumphoneo then means ­ to sound together, to be in accord, to be in harmony or to be united. This is where we get our English word symphony.

God is bringing His Church to the place of "Hebron", where we are going to be a symphony in the earth. This is why Apostles and Prophets are being united in this hour, so that they can join with Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers to equip and unite the church. There is tremendous prayer going up in every quarter for this final stage to be entered into by the Church so that we can get down to the real issue of doing the work of the ministry.

Networking

Part of the technology that the Lord is using to establish this unity is "Networks". We will see what we call Apostolic and Prophetic Networks being established all over the earth. As these are established we will see individual networks joining and relating to other networks. There will then be "Apostolic Councils" that will be set up for the purpose of discipline and correction. They will also be used to confirm Apostolic callings and to prove whether particular doctrines being taught are correct, accurate and in line with the revealed word of God.

The establishing of these "Networks" is very important as they will be used to pioneer much of what the Lord will be doing in these last days.

As with every move of God's Spirit there will be excesses, inaccuracies and outright error. Some networks will be established to draw away people unto themselves. Others will be established to try and take control of what the Lord is doing. Others still, will be established to see how many churches, ministries and organization they can have "under" them. Because of this, these networks will be established and built wrongly and will eventually collapse. (I remember just a few months ago this "Apostle" contacted me through e-mail and told me that he visited our website and the Lord wanted me to consider joining his network. I do not know this man, never heard of him, nor does he know me, but insisted that I join his network and contribute financially to what he was doing. Of course I did not give it second thought, as I know more of this crazy stuff will develop. We have to be discerning and wise in this time.)

We are to be very careful of the choices we make when networking. There are some ministries to which God will want us to minister, but not to have an intimate relationship with. This is very important, because as the Prophet Amos declares, "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3)

In the book of Isaiah, the Lord reveals to the Prophet the things that are to come. He shows him, the eventual state of the endtime church in chapter two, and then He goes on to reveal to him the tremendous cleansing that will take place. In the context of this in Isaiah 4:1 we read the following:

"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, 'We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel; Only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.'"

We are now entering into these days, as the Apostles and Prophets are being restored. God is now moving in the realm of networks. However, we have to be careful in networking. As was said before, some will establish networks for the wrong reasons. In some of those cases these networks will be built with "seven women" (representing local churches) taking hold of one man (representing an Apostolic/Prophetic network), but without any true representation of the network. They will only assume the name but not the inner identity and vision of the network. A lot of these kinds of networks will crumble as we press further into the true dimension of what God is doing in this hour. Networks that are built on strong relationship and sincerity will survive, as the purification from the Spirit of God will demand it in this hour.

Purity, part of the Process towards a Unified Church!

The unity that is to come forth has to be very pure or it will not survive. In many places, the people of God are crying out for His Manifested Presence. They are fed-up of the programs, activities and shallow religious stuff. Saints from every nation are storming the heavens and proclaiming that the glory of God must cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. God is about to respond, but it will be as in the book of Malachi.

"Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 'But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness." Malachi 3:1-3

There is a purifying that has already begun in the ranks of professing Christianity. Some apostles in training are being cast into the backsides of the desert to be purified. Others are being purified in motion, they are in charge of networks and ministries, but there is a deep inner work being done. Still, others are being purified under the Saul and Laban types of ministries ­ Saul took the best from the people and Laban deceived Jacob into working longer for him before receiving his legitimate inheritance. However, the Father chooses to do it, it is being done, so that the earth can see His Glory through the Church.

When all is said and done the unity that will result will not be superfluous. It will be real, as invisible threads will connect the Body of Christ, and the Church will stand united in the earth. Just as the Internet is invisibly linked and connected, in like manner the Church will be.

(Go to: "Apostolic Endurance")

---

(BACK)