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Fivefold Ministry Topics

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Levite Topics

Fivefold Ministry Gifts (Text)

Handwriting on the Wall (Dream)

Levites Commanded to Live of Ministry

Never Apologize for God's Word

Fivefold Ministry

It should be noted that the present-day New Testament Fivefold Ministry are direct counterparts of the Old Testament Levitical priesthood. Anything that is applicable to the OT Levitical Priesthood can also be applied to the NT Fivefold ministry.

Leadership Core and Service Core

There are several divisions within the Levitical ministry in the OT era and these are the priests (the leadership core) and the remaining Levites who belong to (the service core). The priests were born into their office by being a part of the lineage of Aaron. The Levites of the service core were assigned from the tribe of Levi.

Under the NT era the Fivefold ministry are born from their mother’s womb with a ministry gift and do not receive their assignments from human origin. Under the NT era the deacons are given to serve the Fivefold Ministry in natural matters so that those called to the Fivefold ministry can give themselves completely to prayer and ministry of God’s word.

Acts 6:1-4 (NIV2011)

¹ In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

² So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³ Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them

⁴ and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

The first deacons were selected to do natural service so that those called into the Fivefold Ministry could give their full attention to prayer and ministry of God’s word.

Acts 6:5-7 (NIV2011)

⁵ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.

⁶ They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

They chose seven men to be the first deacons and several of these men were later promoted by God into the Fivefold ministry. Stephen was the first martyr and was killed after giving his first sermon and Philip later became an evangelist. Sometimes God will use "serving as a deacon" as a means of testing the faithfulness of those born with a Fivefold ministry gift before they are released into the ministry.

Acts 21:8 (NIV2011)

⁸ Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

Philip the evangelist was one of the original seven deacons appointed to the congregation. He was faithful in doing natural service and God released him into the office of evangelist (which was the calling he had been born with from his mother’s womb).

Numbers 3:9 (NASB)

9 "You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.

Under the OT era the Levites were set apart to serve the Aaronic priesthood and the same is true of the deacons under the NT era who are set apart to provide natural service to free the Fivefold Ministry from natural duties in order that they can give themselves to prayer and the ministry of God’s word.

Numbers 8:19 (NASB)

19 "I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary."

The OT Levites were given as a gift to Aaron and his sons who served in the priesthood. In the same way, under the NT era the deacons are given as a gift to the Fivefold ministry to preform natural service needed to free the Fivefold ministry to focus on spiritual things without distraction.

[See the link “Fivefold Ministry (Text)” for more details]

Fivefold Ministry Gifts

Ephesians 4:11-14 (KJV)

¹¹And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

¹²For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

¹³Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

¹⁴That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

There are five ministry offices which are:

1. Apostles

2. Prophets

3. Teachers

4. Pastors

5. Evangelists

The spiritual job of the Fivefold ministry is threefold:

1. They perfect (or mature) the saints by ministry of God's word and teaching.

2. They perform the work of the ministry.

3. They edify the Body of Christ which is the total sum of all believers living on earth who are under the ministry of these five spiritual offices.

Note: A commonly used false translation of Ephesians 4:12 has caused many laymen to forsake natural roles of service and to quit jobs or businesses or even political offices in order to intrude in the ministry based upon false teaching created by the mistranslation of Ephesians 4:12.

See the link "Endorsing Laymen Intruders" for more details.

Top Three of Five Ministry Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:28 (NIV)

²⁸And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

The first three gifts in order of importance are the ministry of Apostles, then the Prophets, and then the Teachers. The Apostles put the lives of believers in order by the teaching of God's word from the perspective of an Apostle. Second in importance is the Prophet who is able to clearly define sin and may even expose it publicly. This produces holiness and fear of God within the congregation of believers. The third in importance is the Teacher who can bring revelation of God's word from his bible teaching to cause believers to grow by feeding them spiritually. These three gifts provide divine order, holiness, and biblical knowledge to make believers grow up spiritually and mature in Christ. Pastors typically provide edification and exhortation and oversight while it is the Evangelists who win new believers to the Lord. All Fivefold ministry gifts work together to cause the Body of Christ to multiply and grow and mature spiritually.

1 Corinthians 12:28 (NASB)-M

28 And God has appointed in the [Messianic Community], first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

The order is significant because the first three of importance are the Apostles and Prophets and Teachers. These are the main or foundational ministry gifts as seen in the ranking listed above.

Ephesians 2:20 (AMP)

²⁰ You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.

Out of the three foundational gifts the Apostles and Prophets are listed as number one and number two in importance right under Jesus the Messiah who is Himself the chief Cornerstone. The spiritual analogy used here is that of a building using a cornerstone, which is the most important. Then Apostles and Prophets being built on top of that corner stone with other layers being put into place above them. The idea here is that the entire messianic congregation is ultimately built upon the foundation of Jesus the Messiah.

The activity of spiritual building involves the Apostles and Prophets who have a key role in all of this because they are a foundational ministry. The reason for this is that the ministry gifts of Apostles and Prophets depend upon the operation of the revelation gifts which are the most important of all spiritual gifts.

(See the link “Spiritual Gifts” for more details).

1 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV)

⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

⁸for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

In the scripture above, these spiritual gifts are lumped together randomly without regard to order but if these are placed into groups according to their order of importance they would be divided into:

1. Revelation Gifts

2. Power Gifts

3. Inspiration Gifts

The Revelation gifts “reveal something” and these are:

1. Word of Wisdom (that reveals things in the future)

2. Word of Knowledge (that reveals things in the present)

3. Discerning of spirits (that reveals or discerns the human spirits of mankind if they are good or evil)

The Power gifts “do something” and these are:

1. Gift of Faith

2. Gifts of healing(s)

3. Working of Miracles

The Inspiration Gifts provide edification, exhortation and comfort. These are:

1. Gift of Prophecy

2. Gift of Tongues

3. Interpretation of Tongues

Revelation Gifts are the Foundational Gifts of the Apostle and Prophet

The Revelation Gifts are most important and again these include the following:

1. Word of Wisdom (that reveals things in the future)

2. Word of Knowledge (that reveals things in the present)

3. Discerning of spirits (that reveals or discerns the human spirits of mankind if they are good or evil)

The Apostles and Prophets normally operate in these gifts on a regular basis. Word of Wisdom operates when something about the future is revealed in a supernatural way. The Word of Knowledge operates when something is revealed that belongs to the present time-frame. The Discerning of spirits operates when the human spirits of mankind are revealed if they are good or bad revealing heart motives (and also discerns if a man possesses a Fivefold Ministry Gift).

This gift of Discerning of spirits is critical for leadership appointments in the church because if the wrong person is placed into a leadership role this can wreak havoc within the church. The Discerning of spirits can tell the difference between an Absalom-type of leader who manipulates people with flattery or a Korah-type of leader who manipulates others using political intrigue or a David or Moses type who serve God out of honest motives through obedience to God. This gift reveals the heart motives of humans if they have a bad spirit about them that disqualifies them from service or a good spirit which means they qualify by God’s standards to be a leader to serve within the community of believers.

Ephesians 2:20 (AMP)

²⁰ You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.

The foundation of Apostles and Prophets speaks of the top two ministry gifts which regularly utilize the operation of the Spiritual Gifts of Revelation. The two gifts of Apostle and Prophet operate in such similar manner that they are like a left and right-hand punch to knock out disorder and sin from the Messianic Community. The Apostles bring divine order and the Prophets expose sin and rebuke it causing holiness and fear of the Lord to manifest within the congregation. Often these gifts operate with a dual-function together with the gift of Teacher. Sometimes a man with a dual gift of Apostle/Teacher will set things in order using bible teaching to expose a problem and give the solution of how it is to be set in order. A man with a dual gift of Prophet/Teacher might use biblical teaching to expose sin and give solutions how to deal with that sin and remove it from the lives of the people.