5 Smooth Stones

He could not have been speaking of a time while He was still on the earth, because He never ful fi lled that, He did not ordain any ministries while He was upon the earth except apostles. But He was saying that after He ascended that He was going to commission and send more gift ministers from His throne in heaven. Ephesians 4:10 “... the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fi ll all things. 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” Since the early centuries after Christ ascended, heresies have crept into the church including the idea that the ascension gifts passed away with the passing of the fi rst century ministers. This false teaching has promoted that the gifts of God from heaven were replaced by positions of bishops, priests, kings, and administrators. This was never the will of the Lord and, as usual, when people replace the ways of the Lord with their own ways, darkness, not light, is the result. And the resultant years after the ministries were hidden are called the dark ages, because the light of the simple gospel was hidden and masked. During these dark times there were still men and women each given as gifts to the church, under the authority of these fi ve ministries, by the Lord. But their function was hindered, and often confusion, and ignorance limited their open functioning. Even Jesus could not do many mighty works when confronted with an unbelieving populace (Ma tt hew13:58). There are many di ff erent types of unbelief and lack of knowledge is a type of unbelief. Although there were reformers before the time of Martin Luther, the great reformation really commenced in earnest with the teachings of Martin Luther. He is credited with restoring the theology of the Pauline Epistles including justi fi cation by faith and the priesthood of all who believe upon the Lord Jesus. But what also began to be returned to the church at this time was a beginning of the understanding of the ministry of the pastor. The hierarchical priesthood was revealed as a counterfeit to the priesthood into which all believers are called to participate. Not only was a priestly clergy replaced by the service of each believer, but a process of restoring biblical pastors also began. Not that this happened overnight, as it is still occurring to this day, and will not be completed until all fi ve ministries are functioning together from The Shepherd’s bag. 15 Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you.”