MINISTERS OF THE MYSTERY

In Colossians 1:24-29 Paul gives us deep insight into his calling to be a minister. From this we learn what are the key components of a genuine minister of Christ.

A Call to Suffer

“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church” Col.1:24.

The first thing Paul says about his ministry is the degree of suffering he experienced in fulfilling his calling to be a minister to the church. This suffering affects Paul’s flesh. It is a real experience that he went through. Some are drawn to the ministry for career or income or position but a true minister of Christ is firstly called and the calling involves suffering.

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” Jn.10:11. A true minister is one who ‘lays his life down for the brethren’. It is a call to suffer.

Some ministers are hirelings

The person who seeks to go into ministry for some self-seeking reason is actually a hireling. Jesus said when “the wolf comes, the hireling leaves the sheep and flees. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep” Jn.10:13.

Concern for the churches

The suffering comes by carrying the burden of responsibility for the body. In listing his afflictions experienced in the conduct of his ministry, Paul says that what came upon him daily was “my deep concern for all the churches” (2Cor.11:28). Paul is saying that his greatest burden is not the difficult things he had suffered physically even, but his concern for the churches.

It is an intercessory burden

Paul says that his sufferings were actually “the afflictions of Christ”. We know that Jesus was “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isa.53:4) and we know that His suffering and death was the full propitiation for our sins. Paul is not referring to the afflictions that Jesus literally bore for us, but there is truly a sense whereby a minister can enter into the sufferings of Christ in prayer and intercession, identifying with the heart of the Lord for His body. Remember what Jesus suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane was not physical but was perhaps harder for him to bear than the physical suffering of the cross.

Every true disciple and certainly every true minister must come to the place of persevering even when there is pressure, perplexity, persecution and physical affliction, “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2Cor.4:8-10). We are called to go through such things for the sake of the body to release grace to the body (v15).

 

A Stewardship of Grace

Ministry is the effect of an enablement of grace. God by His spirit gives us the ability to minister (2Cor.3:5-6). Paul says that he “became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to him” (Col.1:25). This stewardship is a stewardship of grace. Paul says in Ephesians 3:2-3 that it was a “dispensation/stewardship of the grace of God given” to Paul for the church, enabling him to be a minister of the word to make known the revelation of the mystery.

The call to ministry can only be fulfilled “according to the gift of the grace of God” which enables the minister to do the work of the ministry – it is “the effective working of His power” (Eph. 3:7).

 

The Ministry of the Word

The stewardship from God is “to fulfil the word of God” (Col.1:25). The ministry we are speaking of is not the ministry of the deacon which is a ministry of service, but the ministry of the word. The apostle Peter made a clear distinguishment between the calling to minister the word and the calling to practical service.

In Acts 6:1-7 a practical problem had arisen in the Jerusalem church and the apostles’ answer was to raise up more ministers, “whom we may appoint over this business [practical service]; but we [the apostles] will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” The result of this proper division in the work of the ministry was “the word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly.” 

 

TO KNOW AND PREACH THE MYSTERY

The revelation of the mystery

According to the Scripture the ministry of the word is only fulfilled when the minister can make known the “mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations” (Col.1:26). Scripturally a fundamental part of the ministry gifts of apostle and prophet is to receive from the Holy Spirit the revelation of the mystery (Eph.3:5) and make it known to the saints. For many centuries the ministries of apostle and prophet have not been in existence or if they existed they were not received by the church. Therefore the church has been ignorant of the knowledge of the mystery.

The deeper wisdom

The mystery is the deeper wisdom of God and is for the mature (1Cor.2:6-7). It can only be known by the mature. The mystery is made known by the effective ministry of the word, bringing to the saints the revelation of the mystery by the Spirit. The knowledge of the mystery is the means by which God gives to the saints the inheritance.

The inheritance

The inheritance is “incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away, reserved in heaven … ready to be revealed in the last time” (1Pet.1:4-5). The knowledge of the mystery comes by revelation and that revelation is first given by the Spirit to apostles and prophets. That is why the restoration of apostles and prophets is essential in these days for the church to come to perfection.

The riches of the glory

The knowledge of the mystery makes “known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col.1:27). It is the knowledge of the mystery that makes known by revelation the glory of God. “God ordained this mystery, the hidden wisdom, before the ages for our glory” (1Cor.2:7).

The fellowship of the mystery

Paul was graced to “preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ” Eph.3:8-9.

The result of the saints coming into the revelation of the mystery, which is a deeper fellowship, is that “now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (v10).

The victory of the church

Therefore the victory of the church over the spiritual enemies of God is dependent upon the church coming to the knowledge of the mystery and therefore we need ministers who are able “to fulfil the word of God, the mystery” (Col.1:25-26), bringing the revelation to the saints, enabling the whole church to walk in maturity. The walk in maturity is the walk in the glory and this is all dependent upon the church knowing the mystery. As the church comes to know the mystery and walk in the inheritance, “the knowledge of the glory of YAHWEH will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea” Hab.2:14. The principalities and powers will be overcome and Babylon will fall! (Isa.2:2-4, Mic.4:1-4, Rev.18:20).

             

HOW DO WE MINISTER?

“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” Col.1:28.

Preaching

The first expression of the ministry of the word is:

• to preach Christ;
• to proclaim the word of God;
• to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph.3:8);
• “to declare the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27);
• to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk.16:15);
• to “preach the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12)

Warning

This word ‘noutheteo’ SC Gr.# 3560 means: to put in mind, to caution or reprove gently and is translated ‘warn, or admonish’.

The second expression of the ministry of the word is:

• to warn everyone;
• “to admonish one another” having been filled with all knowledge (Rom.15:14);
• the ministers are to admonish the saints as part of their oversight (1Thess.5:12);
• those who do not obey the word are to be admonished as a brother (2Thess.3:15);
• when the word of God abides in the saints they are able to “admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col.3:16);
• the Scriptures are written for our admonition (1Cor.10:11)

Teaching

The third expression of the ministry of the word is:

• teaching every man;
• “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt.28:20);
• teaching “the first principles of the oracles of God” (Heb.5:12);
• teaching the doctrines of the faith (Jude 3);
• teaching the apostles doctrine (Acts 2:42);
• “teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31);
• “they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus the Christ” (Acts 5:42)

In all Wisdom

The fourth expression of the ministry of the word is:

• in all wisdom;
• Christ is for us “the wisdom of God” (1Cor.1:24);
• Christ “who became for us wisdom from God” (1Cor.1:30);
• “Wisdom is the principal thing” (Prov.4:7);
• it is the wisdom from above (James 3:17);

 

The Goal is Perfection

“That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” Col.1:28.

The goal of the ministry work of every five-fold minister (Eph.4:11) is “the perfecting of the saints, building up the [whole] body till we all come … to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph.4:12-13).

The minister is responsible through the ministry of the word to bring the saints from being children (Eph.4:14) to being mature saints, who are able to “speak the truth in love” (v15) and function effectively being “joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causing the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” Eph.4:16.

The goal is perfection: “let us go on to perfection”, having laid the foundational principles “of the oracles of God” (Heb.6:1). The saints are to become skilled “in the word of righteousness” (Heb.5:13). This will be the result of effective ministry of the word.

 

Ministry is “according to His working”

“To this end I also labour, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” Col.1:29.

The minister is called to “labour” and strive in the work of the ministry. The minister is to “be diligent [study] to present oneself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” 2Tim.2:15.

However the key to ministry is to know “His working” in us; it is the working of God, His operative power working in us and through us. Effective ministry is God acting through us by His power bringing forth tangible results.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” Eph.3:20. The answer to Paul’s awesome prayer for us that we be “strengthened with might” (v16); that our hearts be filled with faith and that we comprehend His love and be filled “with all the fullness of God” (v17-19) is only possible because we are the children of God – His power is already at work in us.

It is this same power that works in the minister, enabling the minister to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus”.

Paul Galligan.

CALENDAR                                                                               

SHILOH Centre will be officially closed from Wed. 12^th Dec.

                                                            & reopening on Wed. 2^nd Jan. ‘08

 Sun.23^rd Dec.  -   Community Sunday at SHILOH 9.30 for teaching,

                                    10.30 worship, communion, 12.15 fellowship lunch                                                             

Please note Sunday morning fellowship in worship & word every Sunday 9.30 at SHILOH

                       as well as various house church meetings.

 

INTERNATIONAL

APOSTOLIC TRAINING 2008

Monday 7^th - Saturday 19^th January 

(School commences 9am Mon. morning)

 Pastors, Leaders & those called to minister in the body of Christ

 

For International brethren & open to brethren in Australia, a further two weeks of training and equipping is offered in small group tutelage from

Monday 21^st to Friday 1^st February.

Training School for Children & Youth to age 13

Monday 7^th – Friday 11th

to be held at: SHILOH CENTRE

                         19 Russell St TOOWOOMBA, Q4350, ph. 0746130633

                          

Fiji Visit: Paul, Nicholas Jackson, Wendy Morris [Gladstone] & Angie Sharma & her daughter Ashleen [Brisbane] dept. on Fri. 7^th Dec. for one week of ministry in Fiji. This is a follow up visit from the brief one day visit of the team on their way home from America. An awesome testimony resulted from that visit (enclosed).

Pray for fruitful & effective ministry into the Hindu community.

 

OVERSEAS TRIPS 2008: Myanmar – February; India – Feb/Mar,

                                           Kenya – April, West Africa – May

 

A Testimony from Fiji

Coming from USA in October we transited through FIJI, a small Island nation 4hrs flying time East of Brisbane; population 1,000,000, half Indigenous Fijians and half Indians, originally brought there by the British as indentured farm laborers for the sugar industry.

We established a house church in Brisbane in June '07, hosted by an Indian family, Mark and Angie Sharma, who migrated from Fiji many years ago. They holidayed in Fiji this September and asked if we would visit an aunt of Angie’s, who had been suffering with a severe mental condition after two of her sons died a few years ago, being oppressed by the devil.

It was arranged for the husband [Rakesh] of Angie’s cousin [Rohini] to pick us from the airport as we had 15 hours stopover. Rakesh operates a taxi out of Nandi airport.

This cousin and her husband are Hindus; they hosted us marvellously and received the testimony of Christ from the team as we witnessed many things to them from our trip in West Africa.

We asked if we could visit Rohini’s mother and they agreed, but warned us she may not let us in her house. She had refused to see her own daughter many times. There are no medical services in Fiji for a person with severe mental illness and it is a thing of shame for the family of such a person.

The husband Rakesh said to us, "if the mother-in-law is healed such a blessing would impact the whole Indian community".

We were taken to a very humble little shack; the father-in-law was out and the woman refused to see us. I was able to see through and speak through a crack in the door. The woman was dressed in rags, carrying a long sugar cane cutting knife, and in Hindi, telling us to go away, get off her property etc and asking "who killed my son.' She was very restless, driven, threatening and aggresssive. All my peaceful pleas in English made little difference it seemed.

The team of four of us, Paul, Don, Janet and Helen, [Nick had stayed in US] continued on the porch for about half an hour praying worshiping and interceding for this lady. We prayed as we felt lead to deal with any demonic influence over her life. There has been serious witchcraft in the background of the family. We left after we had accomplished all that God gave us to do and were not disappointed that we were not allowed in.

One thing that spoke to us was that on the wall of the living room of the shack there were pictures of Hindu gods but even more prominently a current calendar with a picture of Jesus on it and the word GRACE. That gave us hope.

We went back to our hosts’ home; were able to give them a Bible and instructed them how to pray for the mother - knowing that they were Hindus but oh so close to the kingdom! We also gave them some money to buy a new colourful dress for the mother.

 On Saturday 10^th Nov. our sister Angie in Brisbane called to tell us that on the day before, being a special Hindu feast day, the cousin and her husband went to visit the mother in Fiji taking the new dress. When they arrived the mother and father were sitting on the porch of the shack, having a conversation - the woman was in her right mind. She greeted her daughter, calling her by a nickname from her childhood; she invited her into the house; accepted and put on the new dress; asked the daughter to do her hair [which was tangled and matted from years of neglect], and told her that she had been visited by an evil thing for many years that had terrorised her but now it visited no more!!! The father said that his wife started to get better from the very day we visited! We couldn't get in the door but God did. Hallelujah!

This has opened the door, as the husband Rakesh had prophesied, to the Indian community.

                                                      ***************************

Testimonies from a Ministry Trip.

A team ministered in Caboolture, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay & Proserpine and visited brethren in other localities over six days, travelling 2,500kms.

Pastor Ian Stapleton, The Cross Christian Ministry, Warwick.

As a new pastor and a first time ministry team member it was amazing to travel house-to-house and witness the liberty into which Yahweh is leading His people once again. I have come away from the six days of ministry with many testimonies that are faith-strengthening.

The awesome wonders that Yahweh showed me were:

1) A deeper revelation of family

I saw the vastness of the family to which we belong. The family of God has no city boundaries, no state or province borders; not even nations can separate us. This, coupled with the intimacy and trust that abounded in the smaller house church meetings we were involved in, was awe-inspiring. We were not just a visiting team, passing through, but brothers and sisters becoming a stronger part of one another’s lives, true koinoinia, (fellowship) sharing in common as per Ephesians 4:4-6 and Psalm 133. Through this intimacy, this unity, this bond, our Father’s grace flowed freely to all who were willing to receive, and there was not one who was not willing.

2) Seeing how hungry His people are for the word of truth

The first fellowship meeting was like a nest of baby birds eagerly feeding off their mother on her return to the nest. This experience grew more intense as the days and meetings went on. I myself was joyfully feasting on the bread of life (Jn.6:35, 58). I learnt not to take the meat we so readily hear at SHILOH for granted. Many brethren who are truly seeking His truth are in isolated areas, with an insatiable appetite to be filled. This can only be done through the word of Messiah.

3) A true display of His grace, loving kindness and authority.

Through the ministry of the word we saw how Yahweh is able to persuade us by His grace, loving kindness and His mercy, even in situations that seem totally hopeless. He so tenderly sets the captive free and restores life to the full (Jn.10:10). In one meeting a young woman was delivered, healed and made whole. I have experienced His tender grace so deeply over these past days.

One thing was apparent: God is restoring a passion in His people once again. Every meeting we attended the love for God was obvious in a free and unreligious way. He is so wonderfully leading us back as He has promised (Zeph.3:18-20).

****************

Nicholas Jackson, minister in training at SHILOH

We ministered from house to house, teaching and sharing the apostles’ doctrine, having fellowship, breaking bread and praying together (Acts 2:42). It was a successful and fruitful trip and two key elements of Christian life were emphasized to me:

1) Revelation of the Apostolic Company

An apostolic company by nature has nothing to do with geography and everything to do with relationships. Brethren who are relating to an apostle and the apostolic ministry all partake in this company of believers and receive the measure of grace that the gift of apostle carries (Eph4:7). All the brethren who hosted us were receiving the apostle [Paul Galliagn] into their midst, along with his team, and so are part of the apostolic company. By receiving the apostle, we partake of the apostles’ doctrine and are built up.

The other noticeable element of the apostolic company is that the brethren come in one accord. On this trip, there was no opposition; our hearts were all open to receive revelation from Jesus and so the Word of God opened up and flowed wonderfully. All of us were brought to new levels of freedom and it was all in the context of being together in the Word and the Spirit.

2) The true nature of ministry

I learnt that ministry is not confined to a pulpit or some formal structured event. Jesus did not preach when someone invited Him to a formal church meeting. He is the Living Word and this is what was evident on the trip.

All the meetings were amongst family! Families generally meet in homes and the ministry on this trip was all in people’s houses. In one place what was meant to be a stopover for a chat and morning tea turned out to be an opportunity to minister to a dear brother over the phone [this brother is in a state prison], a time of sharing testimony of Jesus, and a time of impartation of the Spirit to the brethren gathered.

Ministry comes out of living in the Word and the Word living in us. Sons are led by the Spirit and when we have the Word in us and have received the grace of sonship, we are able to open up the Word and minister according to the Spirit. Over the time the Spirit ministered to us in the area of deliverance from the influence of Jezebel in our lives with the focus being that as we are delivered we will become deliverers who have “power over the nations” (Obad.21, Rev2:26-27).

 

 

     email: rma@revivalministries.org.au

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