The days of sermonizing, with only one man speaking a Word, may give way to an apostolic company function that will be exceedingly great. We will speak the Word of the Lord together, yielding to one another in speaking and teaching that may become very common in the days to come. The Word says, “If anything be revealed to those that sit by, let the first hold his peace, for you all may prophesy one by one” (I Corinthians 14:30–31). As the anointing shifts from one to another, the sum total of the Word will be fantastic. No one person could give the truth as it will come forth from the mouths of several.
The Lord is again speaking to us about the way we are going to relate to one another and to the ministries over us. This is very important. If you do not know how to relate to me properly, you will also never learn how to relate to another apostle, another prophet, another man of God. At this particular point, it must be thoroughly established in the minds of the people how they are going to relate to what probably will be the greatest flow from men of God that has ever been in any generation. And it will be very easy for people to focus upon them as men, rather than focusing upon them as stewards of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:1).
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? I Corinthians 3:1–3.
We are all walking with God, but we have to walk as sons and not as mere carnal men. From the very beginning, we have known that we are a spiritual entity, a spiritual Body; and that we have to relate to one another as such. Whenever we relate, as men, to a leader as a man, with whatever adulation, inevitably God seems to humble both the leader and the people together.
For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? (Notice that: “mere men.”) What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. I Corinthians 3:4–8.
He who plants and he who waters are one. These ministries abide in a unity, but the thinking concerning them is divided when the congregation move as mere men. This is the key: Authority serves and submits to the ward that is under it.
So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. I Corinthians 3:21–23.
You cannot evaluate the ministries properly until you understand this. And I’m afraid that some of the ministers have not had a conscience or understanding about this. They have felt that the people belonged to them, that the sheep were their possession. It is just the reverse.
God gave gifts to men. He gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the edifying of the Body, to bring it into unity.
Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. Ephesians 4:8, 11–13.
Whatever ministry I have is a gift from God to you. All things are yours. You possess them. All of these ministries—Cephas, Apollos, Paul, myself, the apostolic company—are your possession.
And this is where the danger comes. If you think that you belong to us, you can get yourself in trouble. And if we think that you belong to us, we get in trouble. It cannot be that way. You must be aware that you are the heritage of the Lord for whom Christ died. Though we share together in the Body of Christ, it goes way beyond that.
The ministries that are raised up in authority are raised up to serve. Christ washed the disciples’ feet (John 13:3–17). The apostles wash the ministries’ feet and the feet of those whom God raises up. They serve. Paul said that as a spiritual father he had not been raised up to prey upon the children, but to lay up for them; the father makes a provision for the children (II Corinthians 12:14). In a sense, the purpose of everything that a ministry has is to serve the people. Galatians brings it out so clearly that the heir does not differ at all from a slave until the time appointed for him to receive his inheritance (Galatians 4:1–2).
Many of you have been my wards. I fail God, I am not a faithful steward of the mysteries of God, I am not a servant of Christ, if I do not see that I come as a steward to deliver everything to you, as you are ready for it.
Paul spoke about that. He said, “I couldn’t talk to you as to mature men, but as to babes. You could not receive it” (I Corinthians 3:1). As a faithful steward of the mysteries of God, he gave them what they could handle. Yet he reminded them, “Everything is yours (I Corinthians 3:21–23). But you are not receiving everything yet; first you will have to grow up to a certain level.” We could compare it to an inheritance that is left to a child in a trust. That child may be an heir, but he is given guardians to watch over him. He can draw a certain amount of money for his education and for other legitimate expenses. When he gets married, he receives a certain amount. After he has had some experience in the business, he can take over more responsibility. He has a wise father. Although the father gave all of the inheritance to his son, he refused to give him what he could not handle. He had to grow up into it.
We, the leaders, are stewards of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:1), and we must be faithful to see that you receive it. We may treat some of you like babes and some of you like young men; yet in our mind must be the awareness that all of this inheritance is yours. The whole thing belongs to you. We belong to you. We were raised up to be like guardians, those who watch over the inheritance.
You are submissive to us, but you do not even know the meaning of the deep submission that has to be within those in authority. The authority has to be submissive also. You could say, “We are submissive to an apostolic company because this is the way it’s supposed to be. But we are having some problems with them.” You have problems with us? What do you think we have with you? Do you realize that you have to be submissive in order to receive the ysteries of God and the treasures of the Kingdom? You have to be submissive. You have to be submissive to receive at our hands the greatest treasures that God has ever laid up for a people in any age. You have to be submissive to that. We cannot hold back anything from you, but we also cannot give it to you too soon or too late. It has to come in an appointed time when you are ready for it. And that, of course, becomes the key of everything that is taking place now.
And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Luke 12:42–44.
More and more the ministries are backing off and saying, “Now you move in.” Did you think they were to do everything for you forever? No, we taught you and equipped you for one purpose: You’ve got to function as ministries also! Move in! Move in! Get into the ministry; get into the flow. This becomes the great key: The people must know how to relate to the ministries and the ministries must know how to relate to the people. If we look at you as our possession, we are wrong. There is a lessening of restraint upon the people as they are impelled into the liberty of the Lord. Do you see that you are God’s holy possession but that you, in turn, possess all things? It is all yours. It all belongs to you.
There must be a progressive change in our mentality. We still have a world’s mentality. We have become part of the Kingdom of God, but in our thinking we are still moving on the level where we relate in terms of mere men. We are evaluating and comparing men with men. We are comparing them with ourselves and with one another (I Corinthians 3:3–4; 4:1, 6; II Corinthians 10:12–13). And because we are comparing men on the human level, we are keeping ourselves from moving into the reality of our inheritance as the sons of God, which is progressively being unfolded to us. We are possessors of all things. It is very difficult for most of us to grasp that we are the possessors of all things that God has freely given (I Corinthians 2:12; 3:21–23), that we are truly the sons of God, that we have truly inherited a Kingdom (Hebrews 12:28), that this Kingdom is a present possession.
For some reason we seem to have difficulty moving into the Kingdom and receiving it and really walking in the whole possession of what we receive. Therefore, the ministries are continually working to bring us into each progressive stage of a new mentality, a new thinking, a renewed mind, a new way of grasping the things of God, a new way of relating, a new attitude, new feelings. And by this we are able to relate to the ministries on a proper level.
Until we can relate to the door-opening apostle, we cannot relate to any of the other ministries who come up and begin to move. And until we relate to the ministries as a whole, on every level they are on, we cannot move into the Kingdom. Until we do, it is only a theory to us, something out there in front of us. God is pushing on us, by the Spirit, to move into a maturity, to take the Word that we have and move into a whole new way of thinking, a whole new way of believing, a whole new way of receiving, a whole new flow of understanding. As the revelation breaks in upon us, we are breaking out of the Church Age into the Kingdom and we put the ministries in their right place.
We elevated them to the wrong place in our minds. God didn’t; God had them in their right place. He knew exactly where the ministries were and He knew the importance of each ministry. But in our own minds we often moved them into the wrong place. Therefore, in our own renewed mind we have to put them in the place where God put them and recognize them to be exactly what God declared them to be: an oracle of God or whatever other dimension God is moving them into. And then we begin to relate on that level. This frees us to move in the ministry that God has developed in our own lives—as a prophet of God, as a teacher, a pastor, or whatever it is. We are able to move because we bring that ministry not down, not up, but we relate to him exactly where God put him. And we relate to him in the proper way.
The ministries, of course, must do this too. This is what is happening to the ministries on the receiving side, because they are having to relate to the people in a new way. Some of them have related by thinking that they own the people. But God really owns the people; they are God’s unique possession.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I Peter 2:9–10.
The pastors do not own them; they should not manipulate or control them. The pastors are the servants of the people. They are the gifts to the Kingdom, to the Church. God gave them as ministry gifts to the Body to prepare the Body so that it could move in all of its ramifications and all of its fulfillment into the positive flow of the Kingdom of God, causing us to receive all of the benefits of the Kingdom because we relate correctly to one another.
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11–13.
This whole question of relationship cannot be bypassed. It is something we will have to pursue aggressively until we get everything in its right perspective. When we relate properly in every way, then we can put the ministries where they belong, we can move ourselves where we belong, and we will be released into the positive flow of seeing the Kingdom Age unfolding to us.
We have had the Paul and Apollos situation in the churches in the past (I Corinthians 3:4–7), and the dregs of it are not completely gone. But we are moving out of it now because God is giving us understanding. He is teaching us—forcing us, as it were, into situations that are exciting. In the midst of what looks like an explosive problem, God is actually just stirring the pot so that He can get everything functioning the way He wants it to function, so that He can flow right down through the stream of those ministries and bring everything into the perfect flow and fulfillment of every provision He has made. We are moving into the exact place where God wants us.
God has us right where He wants us now. And this means that ministries who have received a potent word are beginning to move up into their place, exactly as God has prepared them to move. The restraint is being lessened so that they can move in. It is not being taken off completely; it is only being lifted to give them a little more room to be able to exercise and function under the tutelage of the Lord.
This is exactly what the Lord did with His disciples. He taught them very carefully and then He sent them out, but He held them in check. They accomplished a level of work, and they came back rejoicing in the authority they had exercised. He said, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:1–20). He had to continue to hold a hand on them. Even in the final hours, their immaturity was very evident. But they were not cast aside. He simply gave them instruction to wait. He appeared to them after His resurrection and continued to minister to them concerning the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:1–5). All of this was preparing them for the time when the Spirit would be manifested to them and would fill them (Acts 2:1–4), so that they would be able to go out and accomplish what they had observed Jesus doing all those years. What Jesus did, He taught to them (Acts 1:1). He did it first; then He taught them. He taught them, then energized them, then loosed them to do it. By that time they were capable of doing it. Their progressive maturity had carried them to the point that when they were anointed as He had been anointed in Jordan (Matthew 3:15–17; John 1:32), they were able to go out and really be the apostles of the Lord and be exactly God’s ministries.
It is very easy for a pastor to look upon his elders as just those who function underneath him and behind him, those who are handy to have when there are jobs he doesn’t want to do. But that is not what God has in mind. God has raised up shepherds to shepherd the flock, to push the man of God into his next place, into that flow of the apostolic company. This reciprocal motion in the ministries keeps moving as the Kingdom of God keeps coming forth.
I recently had a good time of counseling with a precious spiritual son. I have never felt a freer, more beautiful spirit between any two people than that which existed between us. He made a statement, like a loving entreaty to a father: “If you see anything wrong in me, tell me.” I appreciate what he was saying and I am willing to do it. In fact, I’m going to do more than he asked for. I will not constantly watch over him to punish him; instead, I will continually shove him out on his own and demand the maturity of him. There is a big difference.
This is exactly the stage that we are in now. We are going to relate to you as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 4:1). We relate thus to you so that we can deliver those mysteries to you. But the more we deliver to you, the more you are then becoming the saints equipped for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12). Then you come into the place that God has for you.
The greatest injustice that could be done to a congregation is to give them teaching and ministry such as you have had, and then fail to demand that there be fruitfulness coming forth out of them. There must be the demand for fruitfulness.
We miss God’s purpose if we treat you like an audience where we get up under the anointing and the inspiration that we have and preach, but it leads to nothing. Unless we deliver the goods to you and you then deliver the goods, we are missing it. It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. I Corinthians 4:2, KJV.
That stewardship means we have to be faithful to deliver the Word to you. You have to be faithful to continue delivering it to others. Then the Kingdom will see a kind of evangelism that we have not witnessed up to this point. It would be a tragedy if all of the churches became so ingrown and inner-focused on their own growth that they did not know for what they were created.
God makes people for a certain purpose. Let me illustrate this on the natural level with a kind of R-rated story—one missionary’s description of a tribe in Africa. He said that the boys and girls run around naked, and the parents watch their children very carefully. When they see that their son is at the age where he is ready to move into a man’s responsibility, they send him out to hunt and kill animals. There he learns how to be the responsible head of the house. They also watch the girls for that certain time when the breasts begin to form. And when they get a certain droop to them, then the parents know that their daughter is ready for marriage, because her breasts are ready to suckle a baby. That is what the breast was created for. It is not to be just an ornament on a woman; it is there for a function—to nurse a baby.
Even in a newborn baby, all of the organs are already present that will be needed at the time of maturity. But the parents must take care of the children—feed them, educate them, train them—and bring them up in the various phases of responsibility that maturity entails, until finally they can say, “Now you are ready! You are ready to go out into the world and be fruitful!” That is what God is saying to the churches.
The church bogs down when the people say, “No, we insist on being babies.” Paul told the Corinthians, “You insist on being babies. I have to treat you like mere men, like babes. I give you the milk because you are not ready to handle the meat. Now come on! Let’s get with it!” (I Corinthians 3:1–20.)
That is what God is saying to you. The ministries have to bring you into the place where you are ready to go out into the battle and bring men into Christ. You’re going to be fruitful. If we lose sight of that objective, then we have lost sight of what God is trying to do in the Body ministry. What good is an apostle or a prophet if he only builds a little circle of influence around himself of people who are utterly dependent upon him and will be dependent upon him until the day that they stand before God, still a bunch of babies. The purpose of an apostolic company is that you be no more children (Ephesians 4:14a, KJV). That we henceforth be no more children!
We could apply this to Shiloh, where we are now reaching out to the surrounding communities. People are being sent out in little groups to visit the churches and encourage the pastors who are open to this walk in the Spirit. We are schooling and training the ministries at Shiloh so that with faith they learn how to focus their intercession in an expression that is not offensive to a babe.
Changes are taking place in the churches so that people can be brought in. We will find a way to relate to the harvest and the influx of people that are going to come. However, the flow will be no less intense, no less anointed, as far as intercession is concerned. Up to this point, the Lord has been primarily concerned in our intercession that we would come to the end of a certain reserve or pride. But now I think He is concerned that changes should be made—not because we are proud, but because we have enough love that we want to get other people in without stumbling them. We will find ways to do this.
I have no fault to find with what has happened so far in the intercession. We were blasting ourselves out of a state of indifference. But now the intercession must have a richer, deeper expression, with real focus. It may not be any better received, but it will be better presented. Let’s work on it. Let’s start by having some teaching on intercession. Each church is going to begin to move into a responsibility for the surrounding area, for to us has been committed and is being committed more fully the Word of the Kingdom. And that Word of the Kingdom is designed ultimately to create the greatest revival of the Word that the world has ever heard. Joel prophesied, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved, because in Mount Zion shall be deliverance in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:32, KJV).
For what purpose is a remnant if that remnant is not the source of deliverance to everyone in the whole world who calls on the name of the Lord?
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. I Corinthians 4:6.
The apostolic company must come into this spiritual evaluation of the ministries. I give a lot of attention to trying to tell you how to think about me, how to relate to me. The Spirit has caused you to focus upon me in your intercession—almost exclusively for a period of time. Why? If you don’t know how to focus on me and relate to me, you will not know how to focus on anyone else. You will not know how to receive authority yourself and have people relate to you correctly.
The one thing we have been trying to eliminate is having the ministries excel in being people-collectors. I have prayed against it and taken authority over it. You are not people-collectors.
You are servants to minister to the flock of God and bring them into their inheritance like Joshua did. It is one thing to be a Joshua; it is another thing to have the understanding of a Joshua. Joshua was chosen by God to lead Israel to possess Canaan. Then why was it so important that he meditate on the Word? (Joshua 1:8.) Although God had given the land to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:18), those whom Joshua would take in to possess their inheritance didn’t know their inheritance or their purpose in God. That great army of incompetents had to be whipped into shape and taught the ways of God. Joshua was going to take them in, and they would have to be submissive to him. They would have to battle the enemy, and after that every man would sit under his own fig tree and walk in the blessing that God had for him (Micah 4:4). The same thing is true today. The only purpose of the ministry is to get you into the things that God has for you. All things are yours.
For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. I Corinthians 3:21b–23.
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. (We are stewards of these mysteries; we must give them to you as you are ready to receive them.) In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. I Corinthians 4:1–2.
Why does the Spirit of the Lord keep emphasizing humble stewardship? I tell the brothers repeatedly, “Don’t think that there is to be any competitiveness in this.” The day that there seems to be jealousy and strife among us, and we become arrogant one against another, we have missed the whole thing God is doing. There is no competition if the ministry is functioning right.
In the true function of the Kingdom, there is no competition. Do you want to be a great minister? Good—go and get a basin and start washing feet (John 13:3–17). That is the principle: Authority serves (Matthew 23:11). Authority serves! Christ serves us (Luke 22:26–27).
Those who have come forth in this generation with the strongest ministry in the Word come to serve you. They belong to you. Then what are you to do? Are you to say, “When we snap our fingers, we’ll expect them to jump.” Of course not. You are God’s army and you are getting whipped into shape.
My job is to be a sergeant. Do you know why? If I can teach you to be a good soldier, then you won’t get your head shot off, and you will go in and possess your inheritance. I want you to be good soldiers. I want you to destroy in the Holy Spirit as many nephilim as you can. I want you to bring down as many principalities as you can. I don’t want you to be a casualty, because then you are no use to God. If you get wiped out, that doesn’t do God any service. So we must teach you how to live, how to survive in the battle. All things are yours—the world, life, the apostles, the prophets. All are yours.
Brother Maybee: The army that God is bringing forth usually does not know its right hand from its left. This army is being trained, but not with theory. The Kingdom of God is not good views, but good news. We are not bringing the views concerning what God is doing. We are bringing the good news of what God is accomplishing in the ministries.
I Corinthians 4:8: You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
Paul was saying, “I wish all of these things had really happened.” But now they were in boot camp, in preparation, so they would not get their heads shot off. Then Paul went on to tell what had happened to these ministries who were servants of the Lord.
For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I Corinthians 4:9–13.
This is not just the review of a man’s life. It is the description of the avenue that God uses when He raises up an apostle and tells him, “I will show you what great things you must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). Isn’t that what He told Paul? He was raised up for the Body. He would serve the Body. By his life, by the way he lived, he would show the Body how an apostle was able to move and receive the things of God, how he was to relate to the Lord and to the Body. His life would be a spectacle, an expression, an example, a living reality of the pathway that those who followed him would have to walk. They would have a capacity to relate to it because they saw it in motion; they saw it happening.
I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me. I Corinthians 4:16.
After relating his experience in the basic boot-camp training, after relating the avenue over which God had led him and the other apostles, Paul could then say, “Imitate me.” Knowing that he had walked in the right relationship with the Lord, he could say, “Imitate me. Imitate me as I imitate the Lord.”
Isn’t that what we too have been hearing? We have been hearing about years of relating to the Lord, of holding fast to a Living Word, of pressing through in the face of all kinds of obstacles, and now we are in the same kind of situation. The Spirit encourages us, “Be imitators of that which has come.”
What is the Timothy spirit? Isn’t it imitating what God has done in the apostolic ministry, in the faithfulness, in the dedication to speak the Word and preserve the Word? Isn’t it moving with a faith and a confidence and a love toward one another? You will not find another ministry with such great faith for other ministries and for the people. It shakes me to my very roots when I see him reaching out for a brother far beyond the place where anyone else would reach for him. The door is constantly open. That is the heart of the Lord coming through, because that is what Jesus Christ does.
God is bringing you to this place, so that you can see how to move into the example of what God has produced. Ministries are not just to teach you words. God is making them living examples who will walk before Him in love. God will cause them to walk through the steps that will be good, healthy training for you. As you observe their lives, you will be able to follow them and be imitators of the Word that has come. Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to imitate him, to imitate what he had given.
Paul said, I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. I Corinthians 4:14.
He had taught them as a father, “You have countless tutors in Christ” (verse 15). Teachers are a dime a dozen. There are countless teachers, those who know how you ought to do it; but you will not find many fathers who are examples of it. God is preparing us to father. You will take the Living Word and father it in somebody’s heart, just as it has been fathered in your own heart. So deeply will it be worked in your spirit that you will be able to reach out and touch other lives, fathering and bringing alive a Word in their hearts. You will not give them teaching that is so mystical and strange and different that it will shake them out. Instead, you will find out where they are spiritually, and then you will begin to build something into the structure of their very being.
You will bring a Word that is alive, and father it and nurture it and bring it forth just as the Word has been brought forth in your own heart.
The Apostle fathers a Word in your heart, fathering your lives, bringing you forth—not to be followers of a ministry, but to become a means whereby the Kingdom of God can be expanded and brought forth in the earth. We are imitators of the apostolic ministry. We are imitators of Christ as He is being revealed. We are not following a man; we are following the Lord as He is being revealed through that man’s ministry. We are following the Lord. We are seeing the Lord.
In effect, that was what Paul was saying. He was making quite a bold statement when he said, “Follow me. Imitate me. Walk as I walk before the Lord.” Could you say that—“Follow me”? When we look at our own lives, we are apt to say, “No, I don’t want anyone to follow me.” But God is bringing us to the place where we can say, “Come on, follow me.” Jesus spoke to some fishermen and said, “Come on, follow Me. I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:16–20). Something in His life reached out and touched Peter’s heart and drew him. It will draw the people to whom you speak when you say, “Follow me as I follow the Lord.”
God is drawing us into the place where we are ready to be the expansion of the Kingdom of God, where we are ready to move in and see the Kingdom of God grow and unfold in a magnitude that will be awesome as God releases the flow. He is preparing hearts who know how to relate. If we had a massive influx of people before we knew how to walk ourselves, it would bring mass confusion. But God is teaching us how to walk, how to relate. He is teaching the ministries how to relate, how to move in any situation. People will see a oneness and a unity that the world has never seen, because God is working it. God is at work. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
God does not want this unity and oneness to be just a principle of teaching; He wants it to be such a reality that the ministries can move in their place with a sense of security. Insecurity has been the downfall of our lives and the downfall of ministries. When a ministry seems to be having a problem, it is often a matter of insecurity. There is a lack of awareness of where he is in God, who he is in God, what he has in God, and how he received it.
Have you ever watched a little girl play with a doll? (Sometimes little boys like to play with dolls too, and I would not put a boy down if he wanted to play with dolls. We get the idea that this means he is a sissy; but a father instinct can love to take care of a child as much as a mother instinct can.) Now, in the first place, what does a little girl want with a doll? She talks to it and sings to it and puts it through a lot of needless motions. Nevertheless, this is a training period for the child. Sometimes when the little girl has received a reprimand that she thinks she didn’t deserve, or when a playmate mistreats her, she may take the doll by the leg and pound its head on the ground. She vents her frustrations on the doll. She reacts subjectively. She is not objective and filled with love; instead, she expresses her emotions and frustrations by almost demolishing her doll.
A ministry, too, may at times become quite frustrated and react subjectively. Woe be unto the pastor who assumes subjective attitudes toward his people and, in his insecurity, starts beating the people.
I come on quite heavy when it comes to preaching the Word to you. But you are always aware that I am instructing you in love and bringing you forth. If you do something that you should not do, you are reprimanded for it. The Word teaches you and brings you into a growing awareness.
This growing awareness is probably one of the richest keys to our maturing. You are becoming aware of the Lord, aware of yourself, aware of the place that God has for you to fill, aware of His people.
A little baby does not have much awareness. He is very self-centered, and that is why he is emotionally tied into himself. He cries if he isn’t taken care of. He doesn’t know to do anything else. But after a while, as he grows older and becomes aware of the world round about him, and new brothers and sisters come into the family, he can be given responsibility to take care of the younger ones. He is taught to treat them right, not to bite his little sisters when they cry.
In their insecurity, the ministries may subjectively abuse the flock by reacting to those who are under them, and the sheep cannot understand why. They have tried to tell the truth and keep an open spirit. But sometimes they do not realize, and the leaders do not realize, how much God is demanding of all of us. There is never a time when we are not feeling responsibility. We must grow up in the Lord. The Lord is bringing all of us to the place where we are learning how to relate, in a relationship where we are growing and becoming more mature.
What do you have that you did not receive? (I Corinthians 4:7.) What do I have that God did not give me? When I see the men whom God has raised up, who stand together as one, I realize that most of them have had educations superior to mine, as well as a background and experiences greater than mine. What do I have that is any different? God gave me a gift. How could I do anything else but walk humbly? There is nothing inherent within me that would enable me to walk in leadership with the wisdom and the vision to bring forth truths out of the Word. God gave it to me. I cannot boast as though I had not received it. I cannot boast as though it were something that was inherent in me. I have to say, “Let the Lord be glorified.”
We have nothing of any value except what we received as a gift from God. The things that you are seeing in the leaders are being imparted to you. But do not boast as though you grew all by yourself, as though you developed these things and nurtured them by yourself. You did not. It is all being imparted to you. Great gifts of God are being imparted. As a result, an apostolic company will rise up to minister, and men will wonder, “Where did that wisdom come from?” The answer will be, “These were ignorant and unlearned men (Acts 4:13). Look at them. The wisdom came from God. It was the rain of grace upon their lives that brought it forth.”
Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. Acts 4:13.
There is an ever-increasing responsibility resting on us all; every time He rains upon us, we are more responsible. For example, you have a responsibility to walk in everything that has been taught to you in this message. There will be times when you react, times when it is difficult for you. But the key of it all is this: We are going to grow up into Him in all things who is the Head.
But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ. Ephesians 4:15.
The purpose of this message is to teach us how to relate. As we enter the portals of the Kingdom Age, relationships are the basis of all things. Rules and regulations have dominated us too much; but now even the rules are relative. The restrictive rules that apply to a child become an offense to God after a while, because that child must be given more responsibility and must grow. In the Kingdom, a growing relationship becomes the key—not restrictions. It will never be possible for us to take a whole congregation of people and put them all under a certain restraint, saying, “You’re all going to have the same rules. You will only be able to move so much.” That restraint has to be lifted off of those who would move on in God; otherwise there will be a state of bewilderment.
Certain experiences are devastating. One of them is being weaned. It is something that we experience spiritually as well as physically. There is nothing more devastating than having a ministry over you say, “I’m not going to treat you as I’ve treated you before. You get in and produce. You begin to carry your weight in the church.” He expects you to do it. He checks up on you and directs you with a mature objectivity filled with the love of God, to see that you press in to do the will of God and see the Kingdom of God come forth.
God gives you shepherds. They are yours. They are God’s gift to you to teach you submission and service.
God’s faithful steward will minister all God has for you as you are ready to receive it.
Everything is yours; you will have it as soon as you believe and prepare for it.
A fruitful flock is a sign of a faithful shepherd.
A faithful word from a faithful shepherd produces a faithful flock.
The life of a faithful minister illustrates the Word that he speaks.
If you want to speak it, show it.
A true ministry demonstrates more than he remonstrates.