Our Calling
Part I…The plural Priesthood
Ephesians 4: 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what eryjoint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ,
20 But you have not so learned Christ,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
I realize that this walk is not for everyone.
Ø This walk means a dying to the things of self.
Ø This walk means realizing that we are no longer to walk as individuals, but as a one body, the body of Christ.
Ø This walk means understanding that we share the same blood and as such we belong to each other
Ø This walk means we no longer want to be as children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine or new idea that appears on the scene.
Ø This walk means we all need to be able to discern and obey what the Holy Spirit is speaking to and through each one of us.
Ø This walk brings us to the understanding that we need to grow up spiritually together.
Exodus 40:33 And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.
34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Here is an interesting situation.
Ø Moses was given the pattern for the building tabernacle.
Ø Moses raised the tabernacle according to the pattern God had shown to him.
Ø Yet Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle because the Glory of God had filled it.
Until that time the people of God had only experienced God through a one-man ministry.
Ø When Moses stood before Pharaoh, the people saw the Glory of God in Moses.
Ø When Moses parted the red sea and the people crossed over to the other side, the people saw the Glory of God in Moses.
Ø When Moses came down from the mountain after having received the laws of God, the people saw the Glory of God in Moses so much so that his face shown and he had to cover it with a veil.
The people saw the Glory of God in Moses, but now the pattern tabernacle had been built and the people saw the Glory of God fill it.
Ø In this day and age that we live in God has used a one-man ministry to bring us to the place that we are today, but now God is building his tabernacle.
Ø The tabernacle is a type of the body of Christ being built and fitted together with the boards and furniture all in their proper places.
There is coming a time when the people of God will no longer see the Glory of God come forth in one-man ministries, such as Billy Graham and other God inspired ministries, as wonderful as these ministries have been, but we will see God filling His whole tabernacle.
We are about to see God’s Glory fill this whole body as a new priesthood in the nature of Christ comes forth in us.
Under God’s order for His priesthood in the patterned tabernacle:
Ø There were places of ministry for Aaron and his sons
Ø There was a place of ministry for the Levite priesthood
Ø But there was no place of ministry for Moses inside of the tabernacle.
This is because the plural priestly ministry of Aaron and his four sons was a type of Christ ministering to His body through the Holy Spirit’s five-fold ministries; the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers all working as the Body of Christ, but Moses was a type of a one-man ministry.
God used Moses, the one man priesthood, to lead His nation into the wilderness where, just like Jesus, we are tempted and purified and tuned to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Ø While in the wilderness the children of Israel were brought to the tabernacle where there was no longer a priestly ministry of one, but a plural priesthood of five, Aaron and his four sons.
Ø God is again calling us to be under the covering ministry of a five fold, Holy Spirit led priesthood of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, for the equipping of the saints for the work of His ministry.
Ø We are all priests in the Body of Christ and as such He is giving to each of us a measure of His plan for the body. It no longer just rests in the one priesthood ministry.
Ø We all need to hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking to and through all of us till WE ALL come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels.
11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech——
13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
This is the way it is going to be.
Ø The Glory of God filled His entire tabernacle so that Moses, the one-man ministry, could not enter it.
Ø When Christ’s Body manifests the Glory of God throughout His entire being, a one-man ministry that has not yet died to it’s desire to be an individual shall not have a place of ministry in this tabernacle.
This is why we see the Holy Spirit raising up little bodies like this one all over the world.
Ø God has used the one-man Moses ministry throughout the ages to bring about the raising up of this tabernacle, but the one-man ministry must give way to the plural ministry that Christ is establishing in His Body.
Many times I have thought that I had a unique word from the Holy Spirit that was new and fresh only to discover the people of God sitting around a dinner table speaking the same words I have written down, even before I have spoken them.
Ø This is why a group half way across the country can speak the same Spirit word that we are speaking without even being in contact with each other.
Ø It’s now at this very hour, a plural, Spirit-filled ministry is at work building the Body of Christ.
This one-man Moses ministry will have no place of ministry in the tabernacle that God’s glory is about to fill.
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