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"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law." (Gal. 5:22-23) |
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"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law." (Gal. 5:22-23) |
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Recent Newsletters
August 2007 Newsletter SOME ASPECTS OF THE DOCTRINE OF SONSHIP Scripture
Alone There is a profound saying that came out of the Reformation, originally written in Latin, which says ‘Scripture alone’. This saying expanded says ‘Scripture is our only authority for faith and practice’. Therefore whatever we are teaching must be clearly in the context of the Scriptures as written. 2Timothy 3:16 testifies to the Divine inspiration of all Scripture and tells us that the Scripture is “profitable for teaching/doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness.” If we teach and preach according to the Scripture then we are able to be judged by those who hear us because they have access to the Scriptures; but if we share authoritatively out of dreams, visions, prophetic words and our own developed conceptual understanding then not everyone is able to judge the veracity and faithfulness of our teaching. Even if we have a strong anointing that is able to be imparted, that does not prove or confirm that our word is scripturally sound. THE REALITY
OF SONSHIP Jesus prayed for the Apostles The prayer
of Jesus in John 17 is
used by many as the mandate for ‘pastors unity movements’ in cities,
and yet in verses 4-18, Jesus is clearly speaking
about the raising and training of the apostles to the place where
He had “finished the work” and was now ready
to send the ones He trained as apostles “into the world”. Then the verses
following which speak of the oneness of all believers make ultimate
sense: it is as apostles go forth, having been trained and raised
by the Lord, making disciples and thereby raising the church, that
there will be the oneness that our Lord prayed for. Therefore it is
incumbent upon apostles to come together in apostolic council whether
it is an informal gathering such as Paul had with the leading apostles
in
Many Sons to Glory In our day the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ [Yeshua Messiah] is doing an awesome work. Heb.2:10 tells us that “it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Jesus the Messiah is already perfected: “having been perfected …” Heb.5:9. Now God is bringing to fulfilment His great goal: “many sons to glory.”
The Age of Inheritance When is God
“bringing many sons to glory”? Is
it when Jesus returns and we receive the finality of our inheritance,
“the
redemption of our body”? Rom.8:23b No! The redemption of the
body is the final fulfilment of the inheritance promised to sons.
Sonship, in simple terms, is referring to a walk in maturity. Our
walk begins at the new birth (Jn.1:12-13
& 3:3-6) but we begin the walk as babes,
becoming children, then growing into adolescence leading to young
adulthood (1Jn.2:12-14). But the expected goal is
to reach the age of maturity, the age of being placed [adopted] into
sonship. There is an age of inheritance when “that which is stored up for me” Lu.15:12,
that which is “reserved in heaven ready to be revealed in
the last time” 1Pet.1:4-5,
is given to us; is revealed in us! It is an unfolding revelation;
it is a walk unto perfection! Unto glory! The First Works of the Spirit We are heirs from the time of the new birth but the “heir as long as he is a child, does not differ
at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians
and stewards, until the time appointed by the father” Gal.4:1-2. We have been redeemed from under the
law by God’s Son, that we might receive the adoption as sons (v.5). Because we are heirs of God (v.7), we are predestined to adoption. When
we first receive God’s Spirit we are born again and according to the
testimony of Scripture, we can receive the infilling of the Spirit
immediately, as in Acts 8:14-17 and Acts 19:6. The infilling of the Spirit
is the gift Peter promised
to those who received the word gladly and were baptised (Acts 2:38,41), and the same gift that
the circumcised believers with Peter recognised in Acts 10:45. But neither the new birth
[an operation of the Spirit] nor the receiving of the gift of the
Spirit to be filled [another operation of the Spirit] equal the adoption
as sons. Adoption into Sonship does not equal
a Father/Son Relationship The adoption as sons is a further work [or third operation]
and manifestation of the Spirit in the life of the believers. It is
the adoption by the Spirit that brings the believer into the inheritance,
into the walk in maturity, the goal being “walking unto and into the glory of God”,
which is “Christ in us” fully manifest (Col.1:27 & Jn.14:21-23). In real spiritual terms coming into
sonship is not coming into relationship with an apostolic father nor
is it conditional upon a specific relationship with an apostle, even
though it is generally apostles who are ministering the message and
impartation of sonship. However even as anyone who is born again is
able to minister to others bringing them into the born again experience,
and even as anyone who is Spirit-filled is able to bring another believer
into the Spirit-filled experience, so it is that a believer who has
experienced the adoption into sonship is able to minister sonship
to others because it is an operation and impartation of the Spirit.
Apostles are Fathers In recent years God has restored apostles and apostles
are fathers to the body of Christ, but in the restoration, the apostles
are often fathers specifically to ministry leaders and elders [elders
according to Scripture are the pastoral leaders of local churches].
However one of the errors promulgated and practised by some apostles
is that the apostolic father sets himself up in an exalted position,
requiring all others to come into a sonship relationship with him.
The teaching on sonship that such apostles are giving is that sonship
is something entered into by finding an apostolic father and that
the revelation of sonship is tied up with and restricted to having
a father/son relationship with that apostle. There is no Scriptural
foundation for such teaching. Yes, clearly Paul calls Timothy his
“beloved and faithful son in the Lord”
1Cor.4:17, and Paul calls Titus “a true son” Titus 1:4, and Paul says
of Onesimus “my son whom I have begotten in my chains”
Philemon 10. As well Paul reveals that he is a father to the Corinthian
church having “begotten” them through the Gospel
(1 Cor.4:15) and he calls
the Galatians “my little children” (Gal.4:19). However in all of his Epistles
he does not use such relationship-based language when teaching the
doctrine of sonship by adoption, which is for all believers, whether
they are Paul’s sons or not. For example, Paul is writing to the Romans
not as their father in the faith but he teaches on sonship in Romans 8:14-17. Again in Ephesians Paul tells us all that we are
“predestined to adoption as sons [sonship]”
1:5, but no where in the book does he refer to himself as
the ‘father’ or to the saints in Ephesus as his children. Paul is
clear: all saints are predestined to be sons – sons of God, not sons
of an apostle. I am an apostolic father by the grace of God and His calling
and gifting. I have many spiritual children; I am raising sons in
the ministry; I have mature sons who have now become fathers. In SHILOH
Apostolic Company we enjoy such apostolic relationships. But the key
to all of this is that we have received the spirit of adoption [sonship]
from God by His Spirit through Jesus Christ, and we are all sons of
God “by
faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal.3:26). We are Called to Walk in Maturity None of the apostles that Christ has raised in these last
days is yet perfect and none has the full revelation of God’s eternal
purpose, otherwise called the mystery or the hidden wisdom. Even Paul
made such a disclaimer in Philippians
3:12. At the same time Paul is calling the church to walk in maturity,
to receive “the
hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory”
1 Cor.2:7. It is the “mystery, which from the beginning of the
ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ”
Eph.3:9. Paul tells us in Philippians 3:15-16 that there is a “mind” that the mature should have;
[in modern understanding this ‘mind’ is a paradigm or a positive mindset
based on revelation]. If we will accept this walk in maturity and
commit ourselves to “walk by the same rule” and “be
of the same mind” then Paul says that “if
in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”
This is a promise: God will do this for us; He will enable us to walk
together in a mature mind. It is a Walk in Grace One of the awesome aspects and key components of the inheritance
is the supply of grace to us in Christ Jesus. Paul says this grace
was made available to us before time began (2Tim.1:9) and again he says in Romans 1:5 that “through Him we have received grace and apostleship
for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name.” It
is the grace of God given to us freely in Christ Jesus that enables
us to walk in maturity. This grace is ministered through apostles
that Christ has raised in the last days to bring the church to maturity,
even perfection, “to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” Eph.4:13b.
In Ephesians 1:5-6 Paul says that the predestined
adoption as sons is “to the praise of the glory of His grace”.
It is only by the grace of God that we can walk in maturity. Our adoption
[placement] as sons is a work of the Spirit that brings us into an
unlimited enabling grace. A Profound Spiritual Blessing One of the “spiritual blessings” that “the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with”
is “having predestined us to adoption as sons
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His
will” Eph.1:3&5. God has chosen us “in Christ before the foundation of the world”
v.4 for this purpose. Brethren,
we are predestined to the adoption as sons by Jesus Christ unto Himself.
This is the entry to, the beginning of, the walk to perfection, unto
glory. This is the placement by the Spirit to receive the promised
inheritance. This passage in Ephesians
makes it abundantly clear that God in Jesus Christ is receiving us
as sons. It is by adoption but the normal understanding of the word
adoption is not the Biblical meaning of the word. The Biblical word
means ‘the placement of a son’. Again it is God who receives us as
sons. This is confirmed in Rom.8:15 which says we “received the Spirit of adoption”;
the NIV actually says “the Spirit of sonship”. God’s goal
is for the Father to have many sons and He has made that possible
through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Entering into sonship is a work of
grace by the Spirit We cannot labour to enter sonship, even as we cannot labour
to receive our initial salvation (Eph.2:8). Everything we receive from
God is by grace through faith; it is not of ourselves; it is the gift
of God. It is not of works, lest we should boast. It is time for all
of God’s church to hear His calling to come home to the Father’s house.
Finally there is only one house [the church] and it is the Father’s
house. God has raised apostles in these last days to lead His church
home. The work of the Spirit in these last days is to bring the children
of God, the servants of God, into the awesome relationship of sonship
to the Father. Such a relationship brings the individual saints and
ministers into a wonderful reality of security, courage, discipline
and identity through the Spirit of sonship or as Paul says in Galatians,
“the
Spirit of the Son Himself” (4:6). Oneness is the goal As we come home and find our place in the Father’s house,
then we become one with all other believers because we have come into
maturity; we have attained “the unity of the faith and the knowledge
of the Son of God”; we have grown into “a
perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
(Eph.4:13). This
coming into oneness will only be achieved when the apostles who are
called by Christ to father and lead the church are of one
mind, following the same
rule and becoming a pattern
for the saints to follow (Phil.3:16-17).
Paul Galligan CALENDAR
Sat. 18th
contact Paula Staples 49794887
*
Fri. 24th meeting in Mackay * Sat.25th-Sun.26th
house church gathering in Proserpine
for 24th
& 25th contact Col Krueger 49470134 Plan to be at Fri.7th 7pm Worship/seeking the Lord night Sat.8th Training Day at
Sending out of team for Sun.9th Community Sunday at
10.30
worship, communion
12.15 fellowship lunch
AGM for Revival Ministries 1.15pm all welcome West
Africa trip: Paul,
Janet, Helen Jervis, Nick Jackson & Don Pitkin dpt. for Ministering
in
Visiting
Attending Paul will be speaking in this
conference on Wed. evening 17th Oct. November Community Weekend at
[team home from
West Africa & USA] INTERNATIONAL APOSTOLIC
TRAINING 2008 Monday 7th
- Saturday 19th January for
Pastors, Leaders and those called to minister in the body of Christ Training School for
Children & Youth to age 13 Monday 14th
– Friday 18th to be held at:
Ph.0746130633
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