The Church Jesus is building 4

We have seen so far that the church Jesus is building is a church where He is manifested in His ministry as Apostle, Prophet, Shepherd(pastor), Teacher and Evangelist. As Head of His church he has not delegated his authority to the church as if He is absent! He may be physically absent, but He is very much present in and through His Spirit. He is building His church and does not need our clever plans, church growth strategies, projects or our enterprise spirit to complete the job. He has not delegated his authority to apostles, prophets, teachers or evangelists and definitely not to that Babylonian created "ministry" called Pastor!

When Paul defended his apostolic authority he did not call on anything else but "Christ who speaks in me"(2Corinthians 13:3). His ministry centered on the revelation of Christ in the believer( Galatians 2:20) and he therefore, knew of no other authority than an incarnational authority! It's Christ the Apostle, speaking through the apostolic man or woman; it's Christ the Prophet, speaking through the prophetic man or woman, etc. He gave these gifts to the church and He administers them through people of His choice until the church becomes "a Perfect man"( Ephesians 4:13) This is the safeguard against the abuse of authority; The believer has the divine Teacher, the Holy Spirit in him/her and will recognise Christ in the apostle, prophet etc. for, "my sheep know my voice". Believers should never bow before a man or woman because they claim some delegated authority, or thousands follow them, or they perform mighty deeds in the name of Jesus- we must ever only bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ as he speaks through His humble servants!

Once we recognise what true authority is and how Jesus ministers that authority in an incarnational way, we will see the fulfillment of many of His promises; "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." Note how Jesus emphasised the fact that he is the One with the authority to perform the works; we have the privilege of being the vessels through whom His power is channeled.

Come Lord Jesus and release the flow of your authority and life through us to those we come into contact with!