A, E & SM #2
APOSTLES, EPISTLES & SUPERNATURAL MISSILES
EPISTLES
INTRODUCTION
A: review of Last week’s session
Purpose of the apostolic mandate is to build and grow relationship with God and one another, it’s about taking hold of the gift of eternal life. Relationship flows out; of being, belonging and believing
Duties of the Apostles
Revised list from that which was published last week. It is important to understand that this list is not published as such in the scriptures themselves, It is based on and drawn from various portions of scripture where the Apostles mandate was explained.
- Plan , implement, resource (including Tent Making) and facilitate what they are commissioned to – Acts 13:2-4 Matt 28: 16-18
- Prayer – Acts 6:4
- The Word – Acts 6:2 and 4
- To model servant leadership, humility, sacrificial lifestyle even unto death – John 13:4-15, 1 Cor 4:9
- Preach and Teach Jesus Christ crucified, good news of the gospel : Mark 3:14, Mark 16:15
- To gather - he who does not gather, scatters Matthew 12:30
- To impart - Romans 1:11
- To mobilize - 2 Corinthians 9:5-7
- To order (governing anointing) - Titus 1:5
- To ordain - Titus 1:5, John 15,16
- To judge - 1 Corinthians 5:3
- To reform - Hebrews 9:10
- To build - “master builder ”1 Corinthians 3:10”
- To bring revelation - Ephesians 3
- To father - 1 Corinthians 4:15
- To lay a foundation - Ephesians 2:20
- To initiate - acts 2:46
- To bridge (transition from old to new) - Romans 8:1-39, Isaiah 42:10
- To pioneer - John 2:1-11
- To establish - 1 Thessalonians 3:2
- To legislate in the church - acts 15
- To defend - Ephesians 6
- To confront - Galatians 2:11
- To oversee - acts 1:20
- To invade - acts 19
- To war - territorial warriors - 2 Corinthians 10:4
- To enforce - compel obedience - Titus 1:13
- To convert - acts 3:19, 26:18
- To train - Hebrews 5:11-14
- To finish - (win!) John 4:34
Jesus Himself is an apostle – Hebrews 3: indeed the great apostle. So from that sense we can take the words and actions of Jesus in the gospels and their old testament cameos as apostolic
The book titled “The Acts of the Apostles” enhances the priority God gives to the apostolic mantle and leadership in the Church that Jesus Christ is building across the earth.
Sent ones – who is Megamorphic sending?
B: Setting the platform for this week’s session
Jesus stated that heaven and earth will pass away but His word will never pass away. (matt 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33)
Never to pass away is to last forever. Not only is that as durable as it gets, but from the context in which this statement from Jesus was made of the eternal nature of His word, we see He is making about as emphatic statement of the value and importance of His word as can be.
One of the factors that make up the new testament portion of God’s word is the section of documentation known as the ‘epistles'.
Acts 2:42 "They continued in the apostle’s doctrine".
- We find the apostles doctrine laid out for us in the New Testament epistles and in the writings of those God continues to raise from generation to generation in the office of an apostle.
- The writings in the New Testament epistles take precedence to the writings of a given apostle in a given generation outworking a given apostolic initiative for that time.
- The first sets up general Biblical apostolic doctrine that applies to the Church throughout the generations, and the second is specific apostolic doctrine with the teaching that applies to a specific apostolic initiative needing always to line up with the general.
EXAMPLES
- Here at Megamorphic Church one of the factors God has given us to contribute to the general apostolic endeavor taking place in, through and as the Church today, is a fresh flow of the song of the Lord (2 Chronicles 29:27). In our case, we have a mandate to emphasize “we rather than me" in our lyrics, nevertheless our lyrics still need to accurately represent general and overall Biblical Apostolic teaching.
- One of today's apostles, Brian Houston and his delegated leaders, have determined to take a particular line in public in regard to dealing with the sin of homosexuality. Their general line that it is a matter for private conversation is taken by some as a compromise and at times an indication that they are not opposed to the sin. Without knowing them personally it as best as we can tell is definitely the case that Hillsong Church sees all sexual sin as sin, including homosexuality but they are exercising what they are seeing as Godly wisdom so as not to give the fake media and the powers of darkness a platform to mis-quote them and in doing so allow these forces to set and dominate Hillsong's agenda which is win souls, including those trapped in sexual sin.
Similarly, from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, we see the general apostolic teaching in regard to specific sins which most definitely applies today.
The full counsel of God’s word teaches the importance of knowing the times we live in and the importance of how to deal with situations that involve enforcing victory over the powers of darkness. (Luke 12:56)
Generational specific apostolic revelation can and indeed usually has ongoing application. Examples include; Martin Luther’s “The just shall live by faith”, Asusa Street 2nd Pentecost , todays praise and worship revelation.
BACKGROUND
The 5 sub points below are primarily designed as bullet point prompts to get our Berean Lifestyle cooking
a) What is an Epistle?
A letter. There are two other categories in terms of new testament writings, the four gospels and the book of revelation. book of acts. – we are called to be living apostolic epistles.
b) Where did the Biblical Epistles come from?
Different schools of thought – refer KHouse – Chuck Missler’s study “ where did our Bible come from?”
c) the Biblical Authors
These come to us from five authors, Paul, Peter, John, James and Jude. There is some question as to the authorship of the epistle to the hebrews and whether it was written by Paul or some other author. Either way along with the other espistles this book gives us eternally valuable substance for disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to avail themselves of in regard to their development and highlights the new covenant which is central ot all apostolic endeavor.
d) Who are the Epistles ( letters) to ?
e) Understanding their cultural context
knowing their cultural , historic, and situational context
BENEFITS OF PUTTING IT IN WRITING
As we know, God has chosen to get His holy word down in writing. We should take this as a demonstration to us of the importance of the Word itself and the notion that in God’s kingdom detail, subtlety and mystery matter.
Objectivity
Clarity
Literacy
Memory
Creativity – more than artistry but relational creativity
HOW DO WE APPLY THE EPISTLES?
Washing our minds - Eph 5:26
Inclining our ears to preaching, teaching, testimonies, audio recordings - Romans 10:17, matt 11:15, matt 13:9, 13:43, Mark 4:9, Mark 4:23, Mark 7:16, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35
Studying - 2 Tim 2:15
Feeding - Matt 4:4
Sowing - Matt 13, luke 8, mark 4
Informing - Luk 1:1-4, 1 corinthians 4:13
Revealing- Ephesians 1:17, Matt 11:25, Revelation 1:1
Quickening - Psalm 119:107, Romans 8:11
Edifying - 1 Corinthians 14, 2 corinthians 12, Ephesians 4
Exhorting - Acts 14:22, Acts 18:27, Hebrews 10:25, 1 Peter 5:12, Hebrews 3: 13
Recording - Luke 1, Acts 1
Prophesying - 2 Peter 1:19, Revelation 19:10, 1 Corinthians 14
Teaching - Acts 2:42, James 3:1, 1 Tim 5:17
Equipping - Ephesians 4:12
Transforming - 2 corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:1-2
Healing - Psalm 107:20, Matt 15:26
Deliverance – Mark 16:17
Loving - 1 Cor 13: Gal 5:6, 1 John 5:2
Warning – Col 1:28
Admonishing – Col 3:16
Reproving – Eph 5:11, 2 Tim 4:2, 2 Tim 3:16
Instructing -2 Tim 3:16
Correcting 2 Tim 3:16
Living – Rom 12:1 – 2 , John 10: 10
Giving - - 2 Cor 9:1 – 5, 7 Matt 23
Worshipping – John 4:24
Singing - Eph 5: 19
Relating – Heb 10, John 17:3, Acts 5:42
Compelling: Luke 14:23
Commanding – 2 Thess 3:6, 2 Thess 3:12. 1 Ti 4:11
Preaching - 1 Cor 1:23
Teaching – Heb 5, 1 Ti 4:11
B.I.D – Biblically informed Decisions
Making the apostolic mandate ours by;
Growing as living epistles by intentionally applying apostolic epistles
Developing our understanding of the content of the Biblical Epistles and their whole cousel of the word of God context
Making and implementing a plan to grow in our capacity to teach and impart Biblical Epistles to others