The Fivefold Effect - Part One

Turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 12.

First Corinthians chapter 12, we're going to talk about the

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

five fold effect. We've been talking about finding

your fit in the body, Amen. And so I want to kind of talk

about 5 specific fits within the body because the Bible talks

about these five specific fits, OK?

And, and so I want to kind of center in on these, but we let's

look at First Corinthians 12 starting in verse 18.

We'll go to verse 20 and it says this now.

But now God has placed the members, each one of them in the

body just as he desired. OK, if they were all one member,

where would the body be? But now there are many members,

but one body. So when you look at us, you have

to see one. Although we're many, right?

It's good. It's true.

Amen. When you look across the

sanctuary right now, from my vantage point, I see many

members, but yet I see one body. Just one again, when you, when I

introduce myself to you, I do not introduce you, you know.

Hi, my name is Earl and I'm going to place my hand in front

of you so that you can shake my hand that happens to have

fingers associated with it and a thumb.

All right. And it will grasp your hand and

fingers and thumb, and we'll shake it vigorously for a couple

of times and then I will release it.

OK, That's Germany. OK.

And so we do not talk like that. Why?

Because we just extend us. Now, I'm not a hand and fingers

only. It's part of my skin, suit of

which isn't the entire me anyway.

Because I do have a soul, mind, will and emotions.

And I also have a spirit that you do not see, but it's on the

inside. But all three of those together

function as one. Now I can separate them for the

sake of, you know, whatever the case may be.

Like if I wasn't feeling well, what's wrong?

Well, I've got this pain in my elbow, OK, Now the elbow is part

of me and it's affecting me and I'm feeling it in my brain and

in the area, 'cause my brains telling me there's pain there.

And this is discomfort. And so you can communicate and

isolate. But again, it's part of the

whole body. And if it's messed up, it can

affect the whole body because again, even though it's a

member, it's I'm still 1. Are you hearing me?

Paul obviously used this as an analogy with the church because

we are the body of Christ. OK.

But I was talking with Steven Bradshaw the other day.

I'm going to give him credit because this is really good.

He says, you know in my thinking using Paul's example that we are

body. He said I just assumed if I was

an elbow, I'll always be an elbow.

But the reality is God places you in the body.

First of all, there is a call in your life that goes without you

even repenting. The gifts and callings of God

are without repentance, the gifts plural and callings or

calling or without repentance. Meaning God does have a purpose

for you. Before you ever met, you were

placed in your mother's womb. However, for you to get to the

ultimate place or assignment that fulfills the fullness of

your purpose, you may go through different places within the

body. Because again, Stephen was like,

if you were just an elbow then when you were in church serving,

you would have been there forever.

But that was the place that developed me for the next

assignment, for the next assignment till I ultimately

arrived at where I'm at today, which even now there are

additional assignments that occur.

Hallelujah. Amen.

This is why I say I'll be a better pastor in five years

because I'm growing and developing as well.

And as you grow and develop, then your influence and that

which God is allowing you to oversee, because again, what's

the Scripture? If you're faithful with little,

well, what's a byproduct of that?

You'll be faithful with man and it's good.

So again, your faithfulness can determine can enlarge your

sphere of influence. Which means one place you are

functioning within the body currently does not mean 10 years

from now you'll be doing the same thing within the body

although it's still in the body. Say Amen.

So as we see here in First Corinthians chapter 12, again,

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

18 through 20, as we kind of breakdown these verses, it's God

that places the members. And this is the, this is

something that is overlooked mostly within US churches, the

United States, because the United States comes from a

mindset of independence. You know, we rebel from the

monarchy. We became our own nation and we

associate independence with freedom.

So the minute we make this association, it becomes a

conflict in the church because freedom in the Kingdom is not

independence. In fact, independence in the

Kingdom is rebellion. I'm going to say that again.

Independence in the Kingdom leads to rebellion.

Hallelujah. Now God places you in the body

because he knew you before you even knew yourself, before the

world knew you. Which means He is creator and

creator of you. He is the Potter.

We are the So how can the clay tell the Potter where they're

going to go to church? Amen.

But we do it all the time in the United States.

Now, I'm not saying you'll be in the same local church your whole

life. I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying if the Lord's not doing it, you're probably

missing it. I mean, because you can

accidentally fall into the right church.

It's true, but not highly probable all the time.

OK. And again, if we are really that

spiritual, then we should hear God say go here because God

knows where He can grow you, develop you, and put you on the

right in the right body where you will grow and flourish the

most. So it's God who places the

members, each one of them, not one is excluded.

God's not overlooking you. This is not like red Rover, red

Rover stuff when they're picking teams and you're like, well,

nobody really wants me. No, God wants you and he's

placing you in a body, each one of you.

And it's where he desires. It's his desire.

And again, when we say God will give me the desires of my heart,

God will give you the desire of of what local church you should

be connected with. All right, So again, we're not

all going to have the same function because there's many

members. We are all individuals in the

Kingdom. You do not lose your

individuality. In fact, your individuality is

actually demonstrated more so because you are gifted and God

wants to showcase you in your gifting with the grace he's

given you in this amazing because he loves every one of us

when we obey God at his word, he's like that's my son, that's

my daughter. He loves and is well pleased and

has no problem put you up and saying, wow, this is my child.

I mean, he loves us and he wants to to to show us to the world.

Amen. Come on as a proud parent, like

that's my boy. That's my boy, right?

They win a championship, they overcome.

They they do great in school, whatever the case, and you're

bragging on man, the father will brag on those who obey him doing

exactly. He's like, that's my child right

there. So what he said about Jesus.

This is my beloved son in whom I'm what?

Well, well, there's only one way to please God.

The Bible tells us without faith it's impossible to.

So if the Father was pleased with Jesus, Jesus must have been

in faith. Well, how does faith come now?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God.

So he heard what the Father said and he didn't just hear, he

acted on it. Remember when he told John, he

said John baptized me. John said man, I should be

baptized by you. He said no, you, you baptized

me. Permit it so that all

righteousness in can be fulfilled.

In essence, I read the word and this is what I'm supposed to do.

Dad has assigned this task to me and I'm going to obey him,

baptize me. And that's why the Father was

pleased. And when you obey God at his

word by faith, and he is pleased with you, He loves to herald

that. And he, everyone of us are

individuals with with graces in our lives to accomplish great

and mighty things. They are different, but they

complement. We're not competing, we are

complementing, and God is together doing more with us as

one than us being separated out trying to do something on our

own. Amen.

Now I'm going to quote a few authors today based upon the

teaching that we're going to have concerning the fivefold

effect. And 1st, I want to quote a

particular author by the name of Ernest Gentile.

Ernest Gentile said this. Why stress local churches so

much? Very simply, because the local

church is the key messenger of Christ to the secular community.

The people of a local church become the heart, the hands, and

the voice of Jesus Christ. This brilliant strategy is God's

way of maintaining active spiritual life in His Saints and

then through them, impacting the secular world.

When the people of a community see the members of the local

church body, they hopefully will see Christ.

Isn't that amazing? You understand on March 29th

when a group from Anchor Faith Church shows up at a track meet,

a community, a secular community in the sect, in the sector of

society called sports, can see Christ being operated through a

group that functions as one? Are you hearing me?

I mean, this is evangelism at its greatest.

You know, we love personal evangelism, which is 101.

But what about group evangelism? You understand?

I mean, could we pull up a tent and preach and try to get a

crowd and get a lot of and those things have worked in the past.

But you understand then people like, well, I'm just talking to

this one person and you should share your faith.

But you understand the church also should jump in each sector

of society with groups that are anointed to do these various

types of areas, and as one descend upon the place where the

light of God invades darkness, Hallelujah.

And that's what God always intended, not to remove us out

of the earth just because the Bible says we are not of this

world. That's just saying we're not of

the system of the world we've been redeemed from that we're

out of the domain of darkness. We are in the Kingdom of His

beloved Son. We are in a world we're not of,

but we can invade those sectors of secular communities with the

light of Jesus Christ and the church was always intended to do

so. All right, there is a gift that

empowers the body to do just that.

First Corinthians chapter 12, same book we were just in.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Jump down to verse 27 to 29. It says now you are Christ's

body and individually members of it.

Again, you do not lose your individuality, but you do lose

your independence. He goes on and say, and God has

appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third

teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,

administrations, and various kinds of tongues.

All are not apostles, are they? And the answer is no, obviously.

They're not all. All are not profits, are they?

And the answer is obviously no. All are not teachers, are they?

And the answer is obviously all. They're not workers of miracles,

are they? The answer is obviously no.

OK, now that doesn't mean that you would be.

I would never work a miracle because there are things that

can happen in the believer's life should the Holy Ghost move

upon them with the gifts of the Spirit.

In this same chapter that the Holy Ghost wanted to move upon a

St. to minister to someone through the working of miracles.

It can happen now. With some, it may happen more

often based upon the grace in their life and their assignment.

But the working of miracles is not the big deal.

Jesus is the big deal because if Laura works a miracle, George

works a miracle, Brianna works a miracle, they didn't work a

miracle. It was the grace of God and

their obedience to do what God said, and it was the power of

God through them that did it because they themselves cannot

work a miracle. Yet how many people in the US

church flock to the person as if only God can work miracles

through? He goes on to say then or the

reason this passage is that he starts to define that within the

body there's individual members, but there are some very specific

tasks or assignments or we would call giftings.

Why would we call them giftings because let's turn over to

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 to 20.

Ephesians 2:19–20

Again just kind of look and I'm building a little bit of a

foundation here. He says so that you will no

longer so you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you

are fellow citizens with the what Saints and are of God's

household having been built on the foundation of the what

apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the

chief cornerstone in whom the whole body being together is

growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are

being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit.

So in these two passage of Scriptures, this gift is is

communicated twice. There's two actually that were

communicated twice. That's the apostle and the

prophet. We're going to focus on the

apostle today. Again, Earnest Gentile said

this. The object of the fivefold gifts

is to enable the whole church to become spiritually mature and

truly function as representatives of Christ's

Kingdom. That is the object or the

objective. That's the objective.

The objective of the fivefold ministry is not for you to come

follow it. The objective is for those gifts

to equip you and mature you so that collectively are all

together are as one. We in turn represent Christ's

Kingdom, and again, we came out of the Kingdom that looks

nothing like the Kingdom of heaven we were in, thinking that

was contrary to the word of the King.

It requires training. I said it requires training.

And as we saw in Finding Your Fit, churches are more like

training centers. They are recruiting people to

come together for A cause so that they can accomplish

something within their local community and then expand beyond

that. That is the intent.

It is not so that you can sit and feel comforted of where

you're going to go when you die. That was never the church Jesus

was building assignment. It was to be a training

facility. I said a training facility.

It makes me want to make all of y'all stand up and do 10 jumping

jacks, right? But that's a little tight and

some of you would be hitting people, you know, and I don't

want anyone to get hurt, you know.

All right, it's a training center.

So let's look at Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

We'll look at the latter part of verse 8 and let me read this one

verse and then we'll go on to 11:00 and 12:00.

And the latter of this verse said, and he gave gifts to men.

He gave gifts to men. Now verse 7 tells us that we all

received a measure of grace. And the reason we seem to

received a measure of grace is because we all are gifts.

Say I'm a gift. Say I'm a gift.

You are a gift. You are a gift not only to the

body of Christ, but to the world.

God has made you a gift. Now here's the thing.

Gifts are only good if given and opened because a gift given

that's never opened is as good as not having the gift.

I mean, y'all bless me. This last week I've received

gifts. And when I received those gifts,

you know, if I just would have left every card in the envelope,

I could have said look at this gift, but I would have not been

able to enjoy the benefits contained within the cards.

Are you hearing me? And I could go my whole life

saying, wow, I wish I had something today.

I wish I and I would really love to do.

And all the while I have benefits within gifts that I

haven't even opened up yet. Amen.

So you have to see yourself as a gift.

And unless you allow the five fold effect to go in effect in

your life, you are a gift to the Church and the world left

unopened. And the benefits that you have

as a St. does not take effect. Say that's not me.

Come on, say that's not me. Now let's just pretend a little

bit that I had a gift in front of me and it was not one of

these Sissy gifts that we have today, which is a bag with a

little fluff fluff in it that you throw out and there it is.

No, we're talking about the ones wrapped up.

Because the truth is, y'all all wrapped up anyway.

I, I, I would love to be around the person that gets born again

that all I had to do is pull the fluff out and there I could see

the gift. And it was that easy, right?

I wish it was that easy. But the renewing of the mod is

like a well wrapped package with much tape.

You're like, I, I mean, you understand, you got to RIP that

stuff open. I said you got to RIP it open.

We got to RIP this stuff and man, when that stuff starts

ripping, it starts screaming. People start screaming.

But again, we're just trying to get to the gift because you've

come in here like a pretty package all taped up, but the

real gifts on the inside. And it's time to tear the

package off and get to what everyone can receive benefits

from. So you got to pull down your

flesh. You got to get rid of your

carnality. You've got to put on, you know,

the love of God and the fruits of the Spirit.

Amen. So sometimes you're like, wow, I

feel like I'm a little ripped today.

Well, that's good. Your gift's starting to come

out. Say thank God, pastor's

unwrapping me. Come on now, let's unwrap you so

that your gift can be served. But he said he gave gifts to

men. So everyone has a gift.

But then in verse 11 he said, and he gave some and he gave

some, which means not all have this gift.

And this gift comes from God. It does not come from man.

Man cannot appoint this gift. Man can label himself, yet what

is associated with the gifts as outlined in the scripture will

determine whether or not they are really operating under the

anointing of that gift or if it is a self-proclaimed gift.

OK. And he gave some as apostles,

some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and

teachers for the equipment of the Saints, for the work of

service to the billing of the of the body of Christ.

Now leave this scripture up for a moment because I want to show

a few things now. How many groups are are listed

in this passage? Six.

It was a trick question. Why?

Because Saints are gifts. Saints are gifts.

OK. The difference about Saints is

we do not get a whole lot of context of the gifts that are

associated with just being a St. Because Saints the the variety

of those gifts are something the Lord would have a.

It would be exhaustive for him to try to describe each and

every gift he has placed within his Saints because gifts are

related to the area that they are in, the geographical

territory of which those gifts are released.

The variety is we can't even we, we can't calculate it.

The Lord knows it, but we cannot.

However, there are 5 gifts. There are 5 gifts.

Put that scripture back up please and leave it.

There are 5 gifts that are mentioned and there are is a

description of how those gifts function.

All right. And this is and all five of

those gifts, their purpose is the first 3 letters, 3 words of

verse 12. Why are they there for the

equipping, not for people to follow.

So quit looking for a prophet because you're not supposed to

be following a prophet. And if you're around a real

prophet, then they will equip you, which means they're going

to hurt your feelings at some point because no equipping comes

without some form of pain. Say Amen.

So again, I want to be right up close to the pastor.

You want to be close to the person who is going to initiate

pain and suffering. Come on now.

I mean, let's just be honest now that again, say, wait a minute,

now, you're supposed to be caring.

That is caring. But don't you think that a

pastor is not going to also lead you in places contrary to where

you want to go? Because again, we'll talk about

the pastor next week. The pastor is overseeing a flock

of sheep, and sheep, unfortunately, have a bad sense

of direction when left alone. However, they talk back to the

Shepherd often. Where are you going?

Why are you going there? Why are you heading that

direction? And it just looks back and go

back. Don't talk to me say Amen.

I mean, it's all good. Man, I'm going to preach real

here. Everybody wants it real till it

gets super real, all right? But we're real people, OK?

So he gave some ad. All of these are not for

following before equipping. They're for equipping.

All right, now, the next thing I want us to see in this passage

is they are for the building up of the body of Christ.

And in this context with Paul, he's obviously talking to the

church at Ephesus, a local church.

He was not saying that these gifts, although they may be in

places, you get to pick which one you get to.

All right, Well, come on, help me out.

I got a lot to preach here, man. Coach Hurley, would you stand

up? Coach Hurley is the baseball

coach for Saint Joe's. OK Academy.

Dayton, are you here? Dayton, stand up.

Dayton is a senior on this baseball team.

OK, Dayton, did you pick your coach?

If he's going to go to Saint Joseph St.

Joe's, he has a coach. Now that doesn't mean that his

parents didn't look for one. I understand all that cuz it's a

private school, but we get into public schools.

If you were just district there, then you get who you get.

That's right. So the player doesn't pick the

coach. Now why do I say cuz you get

into into get into college. We even get into professional

sports. Is it the player going to the

coach and saying I've picked you, I'm going to come play for

you? Is that how that works?

Or is it that the coach says I'm interested in this player here,

I'm going to go try to recruit them.

Now, I understand that you get multiple recruitment going on,

then the player can ultimately pick a program, but you don't

even get to pick the program unless the program first came to

you. You can be seated.

Thank you so much. Do you understand what I'm

saying? So again, it looks like oh,

Dayton gets to pick wherever he wants to go.

No, unless they have an interest in him.

I mean, I know Dayton was eyeball in Tennessee for

baseball. We'll forgive you bro, but the

point is if they don't call, the only other way he's going on is

he would have to be what they call a walk on.

He would have to show up somewhere and try to get on the

team and get them to know. But even it doesn't matter even

if he does all that, they still have to recognize him and give

the invitation. So the five full ministry here,

as Paul is saying, is that Saints do not pick the fivefold

ministry because Saints are in the body where it pleases God,

of which God has the coaching lineup.

Now this is going against all USA preaching.

I understand that, but I'm not from the USA solely.

I'm from the Kingdom first, I'm from the Kingdom first, My

citizenship is first in the Kingdom.

And that culture runs contrary to US culture and US

Christianity for that matter. So Paul never intended for the

Saints to hire their coaches. I mean, what professional team

are the athletes actually picking their own coaches and

telling the administrations or the owners of the team, hey, you

hire this for? I know they have some input.

I recognize that some athletes have aspired, but you know what,

Even when they have, those teams usually don't do great anyway

because again, there's personal selfish ambition, interest

there. And again, if the owners like, I

really want to have a winning team, I'm not going to have my

players dictate who can oversee this organization.

I'm going to bring the right person in to pull them up as

players. That's the intent.

Now that's just using a natural example.

God is not even considering Saints getting involved in

determining the five fold effect coaching team because God knows

how to put a winning team together.

Come on, say, say, say, you know that's true.

You know that's true, which means now when we first come

together, we may look like the bad news bears initially, but we

just stayed with the program. We going to be a championship

for this thing's over with because we guaranteed to win.

I mean, all we have to do is submit to the program that the

head of the church is orchestrating through the

fivefold ministry, fivefold effect of the coaching staff to

the Saints to equip us so that ultimately we get to maturity

and we dominate on a global scale.

The things that are hit that's happening.

All right, OK, so what's the original meaning of we're just

going to look at this one of five fold effect, which is the

apostle. We're going to look at it and

it's original meaning. OK.

The very nature of Apostolic ministry lends itself to being

relational, geographical and territorial.

All right. During the ancient Greek times,

the word apostle was a was a naval term.

So before Paul pinned this Greek word for apostle back in 300 and

something BC, the Greeks were using the exact same Greek word.

But it was in terms of a it was a naval term that described an

Admiral, the fleet of ships that travel with him and the

specialized crews who accompanied and assisted the

Admiral. In essence this term was that an

Admiral would have a group of people and would go into non

civilized territory of which then the team he had with with

him or her. But back then it was only a him

OK with him would then come in and create an infrastructure, a

community and a culture. Right?

Amen. That then the ones that were of

that land would become a part of that culture.

And once they created that culture and they established

that culture and caused the ones that were in that territory that

they that was non civilized and came in and brought them a

culture and they assimilated and grew in that culture and could

reproduce that culture. Then he would grab his team and

go find another territory to bring that culture there.

And this is what Paul penned when he said the apostle.

So this gift is relational, geographical and territorial.

Rick Renner, Greek scholar, said this out of his Sparkling Gems 2

books said the word apostle was a term of great honor that

referred to a person who was personally selected Commission

and sent on an assignment on behalf of a very powerful

government. Do you happen to know a very

powerful government right now? I do.

It's the Kingdom of God. It says this person wasn't

merely sent off, he was empowered, invested with

authority, and then dispatched to accomplish a special task.

So when we talk about apostles, we are discussing individuals

who are appointed, empowered, invested with authority by the

Lord and then dispatched to do a special task.

And their task is the establishing of the Christian

community in places where it had not existed theretofore.

Now you could say, and I would, I understand the US church

thinking we say, well let's go into places where Christ has not

been preached. First of all, no one can

honestly say that because the planets been around a lot longer

than we've been alive. So when we act like there are

actually nations that have never heard, in fact, the ones that

are the least converted or knowing Christ, actually it was

their first. When the original apostles went

out, they went through the Middle East.

So the gospel has been in the Middle East for 2000 years.

Can I help correct a few things here?

OK #1 is the Lord King of Israel OK?

Did he not say when he established this nation?

It originated with Jacob, who became Israel, 12 tribes.

Then ultimately it went into Egypt, of which a man named

Moses brought it out. Then he created a law, some laws

concerning his nation that would make them stand out different

from the other nations of which he's king.

He does not leave his kingship or he, when I say that he was

he, he let go of direct kingship and released it to a man.

When Israel rejected him in First Samuel chapter 8, they

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

said we want to see our king. Now, although God's king, we

want to see him and remember what the Lord said.

He said they've rejected me as king, not you, Samuel.

Give the people what they want all right, but he let them know

you take a man king. Here's your problems and did

they have problems, But now he also laid out within the within

Moses's writings concerning the nation that this is what will

occur with this nation. Deuteronomy 28 if you obey what

I say because he's king, his words life, you'll be blessed

coming in, blessed going out, heading out the tail.

Your enemy come for you one way, leave before you seven ways.

I mean, he's letting know this is the strategy on how we'll

deal with other nations. All you have to do is obey me

and I got you, he said, but if you don't obey me, then all

these curses have come. Now God is long-suffering.

He's merciful. And so we pick up and see the

rebellion of his nation page after page after page, and we

see nations conquer. And then they cry out to him.

And guess what he does? He comes back in and he delivers

them. We see this through the book of

Judges. Then we see this when he

establishes kings. He sees this with David.

We see this with other kings that rise up.

You know, we have a split of the Kingdom that takes place

between, you know, in the nation of Israel through the tribes.

And so we see this thing going up and down.

But there comes a time frame. It's not in the lifetime of one

person, but through the history books that the Lord comes to a

time with his own nation that he has delivered after their

rebellion multiple times, that he sends a prophet by the name

of Jeremiah and say preach to him again.

But let me tell you what's going to happen.

They're not going to repent. I have been with them for

hundreds of years. I, my word, has been with the A,

have seen the miraculous. It is through it has traveled

through every generation and yet this generation has risen up and

are so stubborn and stiff necked that they're not going to

repent. Here's the thing you preach,

they're not going to come. And even if they cried out to

me, he says I won't even listen. Now, again, ministers aren't

going to touch that, but I'm touching because it's in the

Bible. So there comes a point where the

Lord has to act on Deuteronomy 2815 and the rest of it.

If you do not obey me, these things are going to happen.

So much so that he he did it in part.

He let him see it. Every once in a while they were

turned over to certain, but this time he's like we're done.

In fact, it's in Jeremiah that this scripture says this the

Lord divorced Israel. In essence, he said the covenant

we're in. You've broken it so many times.

I'll never leave you, forsake you, but you have played the

Harlot so many times. You want to be out of this

covenant, fine, we're done. And Babylon crushed Israel.

Now, that didn't happen overnight.

So again, when we come to the end Times, although there are

billions of people on the planet, that doesn't mean those

regions have not heard, nor does it mean it's not in those

regions. Now, that doesn't relinquish our

responsibility to go. I'm not saying that God sent

Jeremiah even though he knows they're not going to repent,

because God is masterful. No one will ever be able to

stand before him and say he's not just and full of mercy.

It's never going to happen. It's never going to happen, all

right? And so he'll still send to

nations that he knows they have had thousands of, in this case,

a couple thousands of years of Christ the King, the gospel.

But those nations have rejected it.

They hate it. They kill people who love it and

there is a tribulation period awaiting their lives.

Say Amen. Anyway, so I say all this

because the apostle. It can go to an area that a

church may be there, but is the culture of the Kingdom there

'cause the Admiral was sent to bring a culture and we

understand in our nation that's a be 275 years coming up.

Not every church has the Kingdom culture.

In fact, there are a lot of US churches that people don't even

know the Kingdom is even a reality today.

The only thing they actually know is where they're going to

go when they die. And that was never what God

intended. So the apostle can move into a

territory for this purpose to establish Kingdom culture.

Are you hearing me? Rick Renner went on to say when

the word apostle was applied in the New Testament apostles or to

the early New Testament apostles and applied that an apostle was

a spiritual passport that gave believers right, gave believers

rite of passage into heavenly realms and into deeper spiritual

truths. One can certainly see that those

who were under the apostleship of Paul were taken into realms

of revelation that they could have never attained on their

own. His ministry was a spiritual

passport that gave them rite of passage into spiritual

revelation. It should be noted that any

person who operates in a genuine Apostolic calling will lead

people into new spiritual realities.

Now look what it says here in Acts 242.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles,

teaching and the fellowship to breaking the bread into prayer.

Now let me say this about revelation again.

We were instructed at Rhema that we should pray the Pauline

prayers because the Pauline prayers talk are for the church

today. And and that means that we are

to ask the Lord that we will receive revelation knowledge

that we would receive a spiritual insight, wisdom,

revelation, these things that are all through these particular

scriptures that are eyes of our understanding would be

enlightened. Yet if you don't watch out in

the US church, if you start speaking something not

everyone's heard yet. Why are we praying the prayers

if we don't expect to hear something different than what

we've always? What's the reason for praying

them? Now let me say it this way.

There is no such thing as new revelation.

This is what I loved about Doctor Miles Monroe's book.

He called it Rediscovering the Kingdom because it wasn't new,

it was known. It just became lost through

tradition. Paul spoke a mystery concerning

the church, but it wasn't new because the Old Testament talked

about the light was going to come to the Gentiles.

So it wasn't a new revelation. It was a rediscovered hidden

truth that was already contained within the old covenant

scriptures that Paul by the Holy Ghost was able to communicate.

This is what God meant when you read this.

This is why Jesus after his death burial in the resurrection

came up on a couple of disciples remember?

And they were he was like why y'all so upset?

He goes like bro where you been? I mean you didn't hear about

Jesus. I mean, are you the only person

in Jerusalem that know about the prophet that was killed?

And it said that Jesus as he walked with them, began to

reveal to them from the the law that's the writings of Moses and

the prophets who he was. Notice it wasn't new revelation,

it was a rediscovered understanding of what already

existed in Scripture. So you understand, in our

society, when someone starts to minister something like, oh, I

haven't heard that before, why do we get resistant?

Because if it's in Scripture and you can prove it with two or

three, I tend to go through the whole context of the Bible if

I'm dealing with something. Why is it that we don't think we

can't see it more clearly? And why would we think that God

would not want to reveal more about His Kingdom, since that's

what this dispensation is coming to?

It's not coming to a suffering servant.

It's not coming to the lamb that was slain because the lambs been

slain and the lambs poured out his blood.

No, we're coming to a king now. You don't like want to

acknowledge him as king, but he's king nonetheless.

You might not want to see the Father on the throne as a king,

but he is 1 nonetheless, and he's coming to rule and reign

with his son. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

So we're not learning new revelation.

We are rediscovering truths that exist but we had not been taught

because tradition squeezed it out.

And the apostle will bring those types of spiritual insights. 2nd

Corinthians 1212 says this concerning the apostle as well.

It says truly, the signs of an apostle are wrought among you in

all patients in signs, wonders and mighty deeds, which again,

sometimes, sometimes I would love to say, OK, Lord, give us a

description of Saints. Well, there is a description of

Saints. It's a general purpose.

You're supposed to function in the fruits of the spirit.

You're supposed to walk in love towards one another.

You're supposed to reconcile. There's plenty that we can judge

fruit concerning Saints, whether you're functioning as a true St.

or not. All right, you're to be a

disciple actually, not a convert, which means you are to

be a studier of the word. This is what Saints do.

So we can find some things generally concerning the Saint

when it comes the apostle. They wrought in them all

patients, signs, wonders and mighty deeds.

Now again, reading from Rick Renner because he's a Greek

scholar, he said this patience is an attribute that most people

overlook, yet is just as supernatural as healings and

miracles. Put that scripture back up.

I want them to see this. Truly the signs of an apostle

were wrought among you in all patients now because Saints in

their carnality lust for power. You left around where you only

wanted power cause your daddy was power hungry.

And sin makes you power hungry. But when you come over to the

Kingdom, you're no longer power hungry because you have power.

You have power. It's just whenever God wants to

release that power through faith, not so that he can, so

that you can become God over here.

You're already a child of God, and again, you're not competing

with your brothers, you're just doing your assignment.

So it says the signs of the apostles now are patience.

Patience. So it's just as supernatural as

healings and miracles. It comes from a Greek word which

when seen, depicts a person's supernatural ability to hang in

there and to stay put no matter what forces try to stop them.

This is the number one sign of apostle.

They don't go and pastor for three or four years and then

pick up and leave. Now, some apostles are extremely

dedicated to just the planting of the church, raising up a

culture and doing another, and we're going to talk about that

here in a second. However, when they come in, no

matter what comes to say the church can't be there.

They will stay till it's established.

This is what Paul did when he came into a community and they

grabbed him and threw him in jail, right?

Well, after this whole turmoil, they're like, OK, you can go.

He said no, no, no, no. You tell them to come in here,

they going to come. In essence, he says, I just

planted a church, and I am not sneaking out of this place to

make it look like, you know, hey, when trouble comes, you

just got to go. No, they're going to come in.

They're going to escort me out because he was showing the

church. We have authority here.

We have a place here, and we will not be intimidated with

people who try to shut us down. And that's what Paul did.

Come on. That's what Paul did.

All right. He goes on to say Rick Renner.

He says people mistakenly get the impression that Paul's

ministry was continually visited with miracles of this nature or

of of miracles, signs and wonders, he said.

But one careful if, but if one carefully and honestly examined

the book of Acts to determine the regularity to which these

types of supernatural signs occurred, you will find that

these events did not occur non-stop in Paul's ministry, but

rather at pivotal and crucial moments when miracles were

needed to open the door for the gospel even wider.

These were supernatural signs intended to grab the attention

of the listeners and to serve as proof that the gospel message

they were hearing was true. See, in the USA church, we're

looking for one person to work miracles in every service at the

expense of you keeping your gift unwrapped.

But it's the apostles job to say, look, I'm not the only only

one who's going to raise the dead, lay hands on the sick,

cast out devils. You do it and you do it and you

do it and you do it. OK, let's give a little moment

here for the Spirit of God move. Why?

So that God can use somebody else.

Because here's the thing. How regular would it look if you

laid hands and you laid hands and you laid hands and you laid

hands. Because if you did it this week,

you did it next week, you did it the week after you did it 4

weeks later, you did it 5 weeks, six weeks.

We could go through a whole year where every week the miraculous

was happening, but it just wasn't happening with one

person. But again, we idolize.

Yeah, that's good. Come on now, you know where the

church went wrong. The church went wrong because it

called these five fold effects or these ministries titles.

The Bible doesn't call them titles, calls them gifts.

Subtle, but it's profound because the minute we called it

a title, then anyone who truly operates, all of a sudden people

think they just want power. Because in the corporate world,

well, their title is CEO, Their title is this.

Their title is that, their title is this.

So that rebellious nature of not submitting, oh, y'all don't want

to hear? OK, that's fine.

It's easier to kick because nobody's going to be over me.

Well, the Lord's over you. But then he has overseers.

Amen. Now ultimately you are in

control of your own personal destiny because how you submit

to how God's put it together is up to you.

But God has a way of doing it, period.

And let me just say it this way. There are plenty of churches

that will let you have church your way.

Burger King. Yeah, they're Burger King

churches out there. Have it your way, you rule.

Well, when you have it your way, you actually don't rule.

You'll be in bondage because you think freedom's independence.

And that may work in the US, but it does not work in the Kingdom.

True power works submitted to the king and his way of doing

things. Hallelujah.

And we know I was talking with a young minister this week,

talking about, you know, different churches wondering,

you know, will they continue? And I said, I'm going to be

honest with you. The answer is yes, because the

Bible tells us in the last of the last days they're going to

be seducing spirits and doctrines of demons and seducing

spirits are not just associated with the church.

Seducing spirits will seduce you to get into places of

employment, seduce you into into places of raises, seduce you

into other things to take you out of the church.

A seducing spirits there just to get you out of the church, to

gossip, to do all kinds of things just to get you out, get

you disconnected. All right.

However it goes on says that these last days that there will

be congregation members that will heap teachers to themselves

because they have itching ears. In essence, we're going to tell

you what to teach, we're going to tell you what to preach, and

we will pay you to do it. Hallelujah.

Amen. So it's going to happen.

It's going to be here. But the true churches, they'll

function differently, Amen. They'll function differently.

So again, these things are not just with regularity.

However, if all of us came together, we would see more

things being done because all of us together can work the size

period. Now I know in my own personal

life there was a child that had died when we were over in 312

laid hands. By the grace of God, she was

raised from the dead. OK, we've laid hands on people

with cancer. They've been healed.

We've I remember one time in India, we gave an altar call.

These people came up and I had to communicate to them because

in India they, they'll just add Jesus to their God.

So I said, you have to denounce every other God.

Now the minute I said this, this woman was here and her husband,

they had a child who was crippled and I said you're going

to I said you must denounce every other and Jesus is Lord.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell out the men.

I said the name Jesus, that spirit that was on her left.

I had a nurse that was on the trip with me.

She came up. I knew it was a spirit that

left. I said she's fine, leave her

alone. She came to, I told that couple

specifically. You go home, you burn every

idol, you get rid of it. The next year they were still in

church and their daughter was healed.

The reason she was healed because that spirit of infirmity

that was associated with the idols couldn't keep her crippled

anymore. Hallelujah, are you hearing me?

Amen. Now, I know in my own personal

life, Paul on the road to Damascus had this encounter with

God that pulled him into his apostleship.

And when I was studying Rick Renner concerning these

particular things because he said one aspect of the apostle

is that they'll have a divine revelation moment with God.

And I never equated it with this, but when I was called to

ministry for the first time as I was driving to Atlanta, GA, I

had a 89 Ford pickup and I was driving to work and my whole

windshield disappeared and I saw myself ministering to thousands.

I mean, sea of people had an open vision.

It was undeniable. And I knew I was called.

I knew I was ministering the word of God.

All right, so these miracles that function with the apostle

are not just for tours. It also brought him in

deliverances. I mean, he was supernaturally

delivered for some major trouble by the Holy Ghost because of the

Apostolic call on his life. Look at this in First

Corinthians 1510, nine to 10. He says, For I am the least of

the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because I

persecuted the Church of God. Well, that's how he felt.

However, he said, But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

And His grace towards me did not prove vain, but I labored even

more than them, than all of them.

Yet not I, but the grace of God within me, which tells us Paul

was driven. And he was driven not because he

was personally driven, but the grace on his life caused him to

drive. It was part of his Apostolic

anointing. And when it came to being called

that he didn't aspire, but he is what he is because again, we are

what we are because God picked us and made us that at the end

of the day. And so Paul was saying here

prior to this whole deal way I persecuted, I shouldn't even be

enlisted for service. But God knew before he was in

his mother womb this was his destiny.

And the fact that he tried to destroy the church didn't change

God's mind on his appointment. His assignment, he just needed

his repentance. I mean, so he could really walk

in it. Now, if he didn't repent, he

could have done what he did die, and the Lord would have said,

well, my apostle and he'd been like, I'm obviously not.

He said, yeah, I know. So what you were supposed to be

and you didn't repent to do it. But this is what I'll judge you

in based upon what I call what I destined you to be, not what you

did. Are you hearing me?

But he did repent and he says I labored more than them all.

And man, when he put his his list out, I mean, he started

throwing his resume out in Scripture so all of us could

read today. If you start talking about your

resume, people call you arrogant when really you're just talking

about the grace of God on your life, the grace of God, and when

you function in the grace of God that's on your life.

Well, then things will occur. What are some Apostolic

attributes again? Ernest Gentile said it this way.

An apostle initially has a relentless that relentlessness

that cannot be stealed, a drive to see God's Kingdom advance, a

determination to reach new towns and new cities and new cultures

and new peoples. Apostles want to plant the flag

of Christ in people groups. They have long been captive to

the Prince of darkness. They cry out with Peyton or

Patton. My God, I was born for this

hour. Now here's the challenge.

In the US church specifically, we love pastor, we love teacher,

and we accept evangelist. But the other two gifts we do

not talk about. There are some denominations

that function there and there have been abuses on all 5.

But again, just because there's been abuses doesn't mean there

aren't those who are functioning in them properly.

Because can I just, can I let you in on a little secret?

There's been abuses from the Saints, been a lot of abuse come

from the Saints. It's amazing how a St. will

don't want to be around none of the fivefold just because they

get around an abusive one if they're faults and that like I

don't have to do God's way now. I mean, the God of heaven and

earth can bring you to the gifts that are functioning in

obedience and right. Because if you're that good of a

St. you ought to be able to hear from heaven and get to the ones

that are doing it. Because if you're the Saint that

says you don't need it, you may be just as abusive as the ones

you left. Hallelujah.

We are to grow together. You are not to grow individually

independent by yourself. Hallelujah.

Are you hearing me? So apostles are big picture.

They're casting a wider vision of the church.

I remember, and I'll give you a couple instances myself

personally, I went to Pastor Jack Meyer's church down in

Plant City. He invited me to come minister a

couple of days. And so I came in and I, I mean,

I was honestly there 15 minutes, 15 minutes, all right.

And the grace of God started to activate my life.

They started talking about how they had run, was running out of

room, didn't have a size based upon their building the property

wasn't a whole lot, you know, thinking about how they, you

know, what are they going to do? They can't really grow in this

location. There's another little piece

that another pastor ended up getting on a, you know, secret

bid. He put in Pastor Jack put in a

dollar. The other guy I think did $1.50

and one I'm like, bro, she should have dropped $100 bill,

man. I mean, what's $100 anyway?

So he has this other that he that this new pastor has, he

can't even build a building there and he wants him to, you

know, trade not happening. So got this little quandary.

The grace kicks in. I walk in, right, we're talking

and I said, well, do this. And I started explaining how he

could change his sanctuary, how he could pull this wall, move

this here and move that. That's the anointing of the

apostle, big vision, bigger picture.

And they, him and his wife both looked around and they're like,

we've never, they never saw it, didn't consider it.

Now they are pastor evangelists. That's what they are.

That's their gifting. So then when I came in under the

Apostolic anointing, they have literal plans built that way

now. And when Pastor Marsh and I go

minister there in September, they're hoping to have it

finished, built out as we spoke it, by the grace of God.

But that's what I've gone into some churches where there's

pastors, and they're talking about how they're not growing,

and yet they have 80 seats. They have enough aisle space

that you could put a whole nother row in between it.

And they have enough seats for everyone who's currently coming.

So if anyone else comes, there's nowhere else for them to sit.

I'm like, you need to tighten this row.

This is Apostolic. You tighten this row up.

How many more chairs do you have?

Let's bring in another 20 or 30 chairs in here.

Yeah, but we don't have that many people.

Well, how are you going to get that many people if we do not?

That's the Apostolic. I was around another minister

not too long ago, didn't even say anything, but they wrote me

back and said, listen, just being around you gave clarity of

some things we had, why it was the anointing.

It's not me. It's the grace of God to release

into those gifts. That's what it does.

And the things that we do today are not because I pastored

Anchor Faith Church is because I was an apostle for Anchor Faith

Church that also pastors one of its locations.

Hallelujah. So in First Corinthians 92, it

says if to others I'm not an apostle, at least I am to you,

for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Earnest Gentile said it this way.

Every Apostolic Church should equip, mobilize for people's

conversions, numerical growth, church planting, spiritual

maturity, penetration of secular marketplaces, and global

expansion. Apostolic describes the

ambassador function of the local church moving outward from the

local setting, planting churches near and far, reaching the

nation's as well as the local marketplace, impacting culture.

Now, if you've been with us very long, you realize we do that.

That's what we were ordained to do.

When I first came into Saint Augustine, the Lord clearly

spoke to me, said he said, Earl, do not buy 5 acres.

Don't do it. You are not going to find 5

acres and build a church. We're doing something else, and

I did not realize at the time it was the Apostolic call on my

life. Why in the world again does the

Lord want us to purchase them all?

Takes us 17 years to buy land. Why?

Because I'm not just pastoring. We are changing cultures.

We are in every sector of society.

We have deployed into every sector of society.

We've been government, we've been in sports, we're in

business, we're in education. I mean, there's not a sector of

society we are not currently infiltrating because the

Apostolic anointing on my life is filtering over into your life

to where we're having this Apostolic move.

And then because of that, people have come to me and say we want

your culture. And so initially we transformed

existing churches to our culture, like an Admiral who

went in with a special team to a location and say this is the

Anchor Faith way. Why?

Because they saw themselves in that vision.

They wanted to be a part of that culture.

They basically said, I'm not an island.

I am Anchor Faith Church just in Nicaragua.

See, this is what you have to understand.

Anchor Faith Church is not me, it's you.

You are, and that's what the Apostolic anointing does.

It causes you to see you. You're not doing the vision for

me because the minute you see yourself doing the vision for

me, you're not of me because you see yourself outside of me doing

something for me. I am Anchor faith.

You're anchor faith. We're just doing us.

You do your part. I'm doing my part.

And we accomplished some great things.

Why? Because Anchor Faith was never a

man or a woman. It was all of us.

And this is what the Apostolic vision will do.

But you know what? If you don't watch out, You want

me to be just pastor where I just care for you and your

family and think about you and you alone And like, why in the

world we trying to get something else?

Why do they want to plant churches all on every coast of

Florida? Why can't they ever be

satisfied? Come on, are you hearing me?

I mean, these things take place. Paul himself had challenges

because of taking territory. In fact, Rick Renner said this

because you push drive, you go after things, you're after the

world for the sake of Jesus Christ and expanding his

Kingdom. Listen, you have to admit, the

Kingdom culture is not in the planet.

Very well. Let's just to me, let me just

get real. The Kingdom culture is not

extremely huge in Saint Augustine.

And This is why God has you here, so you can deploy it.

And you know, you feel that, don't you feel that alien you

don't you feel that thing just rise up and you're like, my

gosh, man, I got to take some territory.

I've got to bring this Kingdom somewhere.

I mean, you sense that, Rolanda inside you, You're like, my

gosh, man, we have other expansion to do.

Sabrina, don't you feel that on the inside?

It's what attracts you, is what pulls you.

And that's what the Apostolic gift does.

Now, I pastor this location, but if you leave me only in the

pastoral role, you're going to be highly disappointed.

And you'll be disappointed because you don't want me to run

here or there or do this, that, and the other.

But you're telling me to deny the grace of God on my life.

And here's the thing. God has the fivefold ministry

right here in Saint Augustine. We have the apostle, the pastor,

the prophet, the evangelist, and the teacher, and you get to grow

underneath every one of those gifts.

Wow, how amazing is that? It's not common, I understand

that, but we need to value it. Are you hearing me?

But when you get into this Apostolic position and you start

taking territory and you start doing things in different

places, you will create conflict.

Conflict comes. In fact, let me read about some

conflict Paul had. It says this.

Paul frequently had to defend his apostleship because of

deceitful workers who swarmed in trying to exert authority over

entire regions of churches that he and other apostles had

established to which they had imparted their lives.

Apostleship was power, so those with impure motives sought to

invade Paul's territory and claim his fruit, seeing it as an

effective way to exploit someone else's work for themselves.

Says Those who coveted the Apostolic position used every

imaginable method to attract, tempt, lure, entice and seduce

the churches under the realm of authority of genuine apostles.

In Paul's case, the impostors could not find a legitimate

reason to accuse the apostle, so they use slanderous and even

stupid accusations as they tried to persuade the churches to

reject Paul and submit to their authority instead.

So every five fold ministry is going to have an attack of a

false one and Saints are going to come against it.

However, those that are true will endure because the apostle

#1 supernatural is patience. I can endure the season of

slander and overcome. I can endure the season of

attacks and not be moved because the grace on your life is to

accomplish it. I'm really excited about where

we're going and I'm more excited about where God's taking us and

I'm more excited about the next season we're in and get ready.

Just going to fill on up because of the call, because of the

assignment, because of the culture of the Kingdom.

I'm not looking for followers, I'm looking for workers, those

who want to be deployed, those who want to get in every sector

of society, those who want to take territory, those who want

to release their gift and get unwrapped and do something

significant in their workplaces, their secular markets, their

community. This is what we're doing and we

will continue to do it and we will not be stopped.

So, concluding, Ernest Gentile said this apostles are able to

lay biblical foundations and keep the New Testament pattern

of work among the churches. They strengthen and encourage

pastoral leaders, mobilize churches for action, and and

present the global vision of Christ and his church.

They inspire greater faith and empower workers to reach the

secular marketplace. Apostles present the big picture

in an impressive way, often with miraculous confirmation.

They hold fast the standard of members to be saved, water

baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit.

And I add this, live a life holy, separated unto God.

Amen. And so the role of the apostle

was functioning right here in Anchor Faith Church.

And I'm just going to say I am what I am.

Now listen, I do not ask you to call me Pastor Earl, and I've

not asked you to call me Apostle Earl.

You can do whatever you want to do yet in this place.

I've had both people, both acknowledgements.

I do say this though you want to.

The Bible says if you see receive a righteous man in the

name of righteous, you'll receive a righteous reward.

And if I'm brother Earl, you're going to receive righteousness

from me. That's right.

The Earl's received that. But if you want the anointing a

pastor, well then you have to acknowledge the gift.

And it's not I, but it's the gift.

I am what I am. But sometimes you need to

acknowledge the apostle because at times you need that gift.

Especially business owners and people want to take territory

because there's a gift and it's God who gave the gift.

So the minute if you disdain saying it to someone's name,

you're really disdaining God because it's his gift he gave.

At the end of the day. Now you can do what you want to

do. I'm going to do what I'm, I'm

called to do because I am what I am by the grace of God.

I said I am what I am by the grace of God.

And because of that, we're taking territory.

I said we're taking territory and we're going to take more,

not only in Saint Augustine, but in our state, our nation and the

world. And This is why I know the

Lord's talking to you, because He is settling you in to your

fit. Because whatever you release

locally, it has a more profound effect than just local.