Today's last lesson, with Wendell Parr!

Wendell Parr-Holy Spirit II Lesson 8

Ephesians 4:8 “Therefore He says: ‘when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to me.’ 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 the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
This “Five fold Ministry” was not talked about so much 40 years ago, and then it swung wayyyy the other way, so that everyone knew what they were, had a business card to show you what they were, and if you didn’t believe them, then why not? They had a card! Whatever.
Now it seems to be swinging back toward where it should be, but what is an apostle, a prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. The Bible doesn’t provide by chapter and verse an exact description!
An Apostle, as was defined recently was someone who has seen Jesus in the flesh, but, you know, no one would be an apostle anymore! Jesus isn’t here in the flesh. And yet there are still apostles today. Paul went in and established new works, so we could say that an apostle is one who is sent into an area to establish something by God Himself. Who calls people to be apostles? The Lord Himself.
Not everyone is an apostle, God is responsible for those who are called into these positions.
God has set some in the church as prophets, but what is a prophet? Would have been great if God had said it directly huh? We have to take it from what we see in the Bible, but the old testament prophets are not the same as new testament prophets! It is not the place any longer for those so called prophets to speak for God, to give direction, we not only have the Bible, but we have the spirit of God living in us! We don’t need that anymore. But under new testament prophecy, God can use prophets to confirm something in your life that you already had on your heart.
Evangelist, pretty simple really, out proclaiming the gospel, and usually working with the gifts of healing.
Pastor we all know pretty well. But what do you really think a pastor is? Someone who just stands up in front of the local church and preaches? This is for the perfecting and equipping of the saints. And the edifying of the body of Christ. Wherever the pastor goes, there is his congregation.
A Teacher, look it up in the dictionary, and you will see a picture of Andrew Wommack (right beneath the picture of the Holy Spirit).
All these are called by God, not by man, not by their own will. But they do have their own choice when they have been chosen.

I like this.
-Ben Heath