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

sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord .”

And while Jonah was not motivated to use evangelistic techniques to sell salvation to the people of the city, his gift was working and brought results. Jonah 3:1 “ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, ... 5 so the people of Nineveh believed God, [elohiym, the creator, not a false god].” Just as Jonah prayed from the fish’s belly, “ Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. ” Jesus also preached while he was in Sheol, 1 Peter 3:18 “ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison .” The heart of an evangelist is to reach those who are lost, to bring into the kingdom those who are fatherless and under the authority of the prince of this world. The evangelist is the midwife of the Kingdom, delivering new-born souls into the family of God. While supernatural signs follow all Christians who believe (Mark 16:17, 18) they are especially apparent with evangelists and the evangelistic ministry. This is seen throughout the New Testament, where ever Christ and the Kingdom is preached (evangelized) signs and wonders follow. Since the time Christ walked the earth, supernatural signs and evangelism have been a distinct part of the Christian experience. There was, however, a profound decrease in both as the early Church fathers, and the five-fold ministries they walked in, were replaced by dogma, ecclesiastical positions and man-made traditions. Beginning with the Reformation in the early sixteenth century a reversal began in the trend of supernatural signs. With the eighteenth century began the restoration of the evangelist ministry to the Church and with the ministry simple signs began to appear with the preaching of the kingdom of God. John and Charles Wesley along with the Moravians, John Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards and others began the restoration

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