Many Call Themselves Apostles but are you the Real One?

Many call themselves apostles but are you the real one?

Let’s look at some of the Biblical qualities of apostles.

Do the following scriptures hit home with you?

You may be a real apostle if they do.

John 7:17 If any man will do his will (If any one out of his own will desires to do God’s will) he shall know of the doctrine (teaching), whether it be of God, or whether I speak of (the idea of separation) myself.

In other words, are your words or actions coming from the Holy Spirit?

Jesus never did anything that was exclusively His ideas, agenda or timetable.

Everything which he planned and carried out, was inclusive of what the Father desired.

Every action which He took, and every word, which He spoke, was in dependency to the workings of the Holy Spirit within Him.

The Lord Jesus never acted independently from the Father.

Many things done in our churches are the exclusive ideas of men.

Jesus never did or speak anything, which originated from Himself.

Everything He did, originated from the Father, as it was revealed to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

This was the key to the Lord’s supernatural faith and miracle working power.

The fact that while on the earth, the Lord lived dependent, and originated everything that He did with the Father, shows us the depth of Jesus life in the Holy Spirit.

Is this your life in the Spirit?

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself (my exclusive and independent self), but He sent me.

The apostle, or the one on an apostolic mission, is birthed from God’s will and lives continuously out of God just as a tree lives out of its roots.

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

An apostle is one who is sent out on a commission by another. The apostle himself is of no importance.

John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he (I am), and that I do nothing of myself (and that I do nothing independently and exclusively from the Father); but as my Father hath taught me (but as the Father has pervaded, affected, and influenced me) I speak these things (these things I utter, express, and speak prophetically, by that divine influence which has pervaded me.)

I Cor1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

An apostle is divinely summoned, and divinely appointed ambassador belonging to Christ Jesus.

An apostle is the product, and is a vessel of God’s will, ways, and timetable.

The apostolic office is not a ministry, which one chooses for himself or is conferred upon by men.

It is a divine willed by the Lord.

The apostle is divinely picked, and divinely sent out, and his life is result of the will of the Lord.

The apostle can have a traveling ministry, and belongs to the body of Christ at large.

He or she might not be called to be a member of one particular church but belongs to, and embraces, the whole body of Christ.

Gal 1:1  Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;

In no way is the apostle’s calling, ordination or authorizing from men.

Neither through the assistance, support, influence, or the open doors that man can provide, is his calling.

Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Paul, is an apostle not from men as his source.

He is not raised up by men, but by Jesus Christ.

Thusly the apostle is never intended to please man outside of God’s will, but to please God who chose and raised him up.

2 Tim:1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

With the promise of resurrection life goes the provision for its proclamation.

Hence, the apostle in proclaiming Christ’s power and life must be an ambassador of the life of Jesus.

In other words, he or she must live in the resurrection life of God, which comes forth from the death of Christ’s cross, and which has touched everything in the apostle’s lives.

The apostle can only proclaim the life of the resurrected Christ to the degree that he lives in it.

Titus 1:1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

He is an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the full knowledge of the truth.

The apostle leads the church into the accurate discernment, recognition and participation of the truth, which belongs to, and harmonizes with, and produces godliness.

The apostle must live in that accurate recognition and participation of the truth, therefore.

Romans 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

The apostolic ministry promotes obedience to the gospel, and through it makes disciples among all the nations.

Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

The apostle introduces the fellowship of the mystery; assisting the follower of Christ to discover his or her office, callings, and spiritual gifts, and so that she in turn can do the work of the ministry.

True promotion of faith by the apostle is to reveal the Son of God, and give the saints the knowledge of what is their participation, ministries, and callings in the riches found in the Son of God.

This is the fellowship of the mystery.

The apostle not only reveals the mystery of Christ, its dispositions and arrangements, but also teaches others how to participate according to their calling into this mystery.

Thus, the apostle is used within church to bring the church into the comprehensive participation of what that it has been called into.

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

It is always necessary that we obey God and not men.

The apostle is called to obey God and not men.

He or she cannot be men pleasers.

1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

The apostle is last in receiving honor, last in being recognized by men, and by the body of Christ, last in being raised up by Christ, and smallest in importance and in the estimation of men.

The apostle is set forth, exposed to view; or exhibited, as the last of the least, and the one doomed to die so that Christ can be revealed through him.

He is a spectacle unto the world.

2 Cor 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

The death of Christ is as an “energy dynamo” within us that never ceases, but always works.

The apostle is always handed over to death, so that the very life of Christ can be energized for the sakes of others.

The death of Christ is actively energized and efficiently working in the apostle.

2 Cor1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: (Literally Paul asks, “Am I going to save myself by earthly efforts?

Paul’s answer is NO!! I MUST DIE!! ONLY IN CHRIST AND THROUGH CHRIST.

It is a judicial sentence of death. “An official resolution that stamps a matter as done.’

Whether on asking myself, should I die or whether I should come out of mortal peril, I must answer, “I must die”.

This judicial sentence of death is in the apostle so that the Person of Christ can be revealed.

Is this you?

Many call themselves apostles but are you the real one?