FIVE SMOOTH STONES - The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherds Bag

FIVE SMOOTH STONES — The Five Ascension Gifts in the Heavenly Shepherd’s Bag

Acts 11:17 “ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? 18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life ." This is also an example of how the Lord has called apostles to set things in order in the Church (1 Corinthians 11:34; Titus 1:5). This often includes discovery of the things which are out of order so correction may be interjected. There is a difference between the anointing of the ministry and the gift itself. The anointing which is present with a true apostle will often reveal things that are out of order without any apparent effort by the apostle. However, it requires the ministry of the apostle to put things back in order. The anointing goes with the person. At times, just the presence of an apostle can be like tossing a rock in a pond. There will be ripples, or even waves, that go out simply from the presence of the anointing. However, as Jesus said, “ He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward ” (Matthew 10:41), and so it is with other ministries. While the presence of an apostle may reveal things that need to be brought into order, the ministry needs to be re- ceived as an apostle in order to receive the rewards, which in this case would be to set things into order. As a team, receiving the prophet in his ministry may also reveal things which are out of order, and the apostolic ministry may be received in order to bring the order into the Church. If it were more generally understood that the apostolic and prophetic ministries can bring light to what is not in order, and direction on how to bring things into order, there would be much more to what the Church accomplishes when building upon the proper foundation, and less frustration with what is built by man and must be removed at a later time by the Lord. The prophet will often be called upon to identify the apostolic and, at times, even prepare the way for this ministry. In the 1990s prophets were prophesying about the apostles which the Lord was going to raise up, yet in the 2000s when there were apostles being raised up, the prophets seemed to be ignoring the apostles that had come. In fact, John the Baptist set the pattern as the more senior minister, a prophet, who proclaimed the apostle to come, and yet was not intimidated when He arrived. In fact, John was not in the least

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