Daily Devotional, Year 2 – DECEMBER 21 (Come Out of Her, My People! Part 31: “Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors & Teachers?”)
By admin On February 9th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – DECEMBER 21
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Come Out of Her, My People!
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Part 31:
“Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors & Teachers?”
To read Part 1, click here… “May 12th (Come Out of Her, My People?)”
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GOD GIVES US SHEPHERDS
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Listen again to our signature passage for today…
“And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;
and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ…”
Ephesians 4:11-13
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In this above passage, the Lord promises to provide apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers…
“till 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 fulness of Christ:”
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David the Shepherd Boy – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears…”
2nd Timothy 4:3, 4
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The problem is, with today’s innumerable company of pastors and teachers, and evangelists, and prophets, and even self-proclaimed apostles, just who are we supposed to listen to?
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After all, there are many different opinions about the Bible, and what it teaches.
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And the Apostle, John, warns us, that there are many Antichrist deceivers out there…
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And his 1st letter stands as a warning…“These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.” 1st John 2:26
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So then, just who do we listen to?
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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
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“WE NEED NOT ANY MAN!”
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Well, in the very next verse, the Lord, through the Apostle John, supplies the answer…
“But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach
you:
but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth, and is no lie…”
1st John 2:27
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Okay, so this above verse reveals that it is the anointing power of the Holy Spirit which leads a Believer into all truth.
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And those who are true worshipers of God are reassured here, that they do not need to be under the tutorship of any mortal man!
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John The Apostle – by Alonzo Cano – 1635-1637 – Wikipedia – Public Domain
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TWO CONFLICTING PASSAGES?
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But how are these two passages to be harmonized together?
After all, one tells us
that God has supplied us with, “teachers, Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors…” Ephesians 4:12, 13
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So, how does this harmonize with John’s admonition that we, “need not that any man teach” us?
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Well, the fact is, there are no more Apostles around today (even though many, today, falsely claim to be modern-day Apostles).
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So that cancels out the possibility of apostles edifying us!
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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
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But let’s just get right to the point of today’s devotional.
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Magnifying Glass – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
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90% OATMEAL
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The fact is, today’s church-world is so apostate, that it is highly
recommended that Christians turn off the radio and TV teachers altogether and stick with the Bible and the Bible only.
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Oh yes, you are going to get many Bible truths from these people!
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But how are we going to discern between truth and falsehood?
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Even mice poison is mingled with 90% oatmeal.
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And Satan knows that to sell his poisonous deceptions, he must mingle them with much truth!
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Oatmeal – copyrighted but permissable for use – wikimedia commons
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But this brings us back to the question…
“How do we harmonize Paul’s confirmation that the Lord will supply us with human teachers…
…with John’s confirmation that we need not any man to teach us, if we are indwelt by God’s Spirit?”
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Question Mark – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors”
Psalm 119:24
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The answer is very simple!
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We can simply study the Bible and the Bible only, and still be aided by, “Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers”!
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Because, as you have probably already realized, the Bible contains all the above offices in the various Bible writers!
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Chaplain reads Bible – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain
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APOSTLES
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Oh yes, the Bible has the writings of Paul, Matthew, John, and Peter! Were they not Apostles?
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Yes, they were Apostles of the first order!
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St Peter – Brandl – 1724 – National Gallery Prague – Wikimedia Commons
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PROPHETS?
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And doesn’t the Bible have the writings of prophets?
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Absolutely! Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with prophets and their prophecies!
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As a matter of fact, every book of the Bible is prophetic!
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Book of Isaiah – Wikimedia – C.C. Share-alike License
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EVANGELISTS?
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And doesn’t the Bible have the writings of evangelists?
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Well, of course! Paul, Peter, Luke, Mark, James, Philip, and all the rest!
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They were the best of the best of all evangelists!
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St Paul Preaching in Athens (Raphael, 1515) Wikipedia US public domain
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PASTORS?
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And Paul was certainly a pastor!
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And didn’t Jesus say to Peter, “Feed My sheep”?
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Yes, Peter and Paul were pastors in the truest sense of the name!
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TEACHERS?
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And of course, every one of the Bible writers was a teacher!
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Paul Tentmaking – La Vista Church of Christ – Creative Commons License
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COMPLETE HARMONY
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And so, this is how the Christian can fulfill Ephesians 4:11-13, and still hold to 1st John 2:27.
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Now we have complete harmony between these two passages.
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And with the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, how can we go wrong?
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USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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TO READ PART 32, CLICK HERE…
DECEMBER 23 (Come Out of Her, My People! Part 32: “What Good Is Church, If The Holy Spirit Has Been Removed?”)
Audience hands – cropped & altered – Wikimedia – Universal Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER
“Dear Lord, Help me to come out of this Babylon of confusion, and worship Thee 100%…
Prayer – Mother and Daughter – Wikipedia – (cropped image) the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… ”May 17th (The Marinated Christian!)”,
or you can also read this shorter article…“March 29th (Preaching to the Wrong Church!)”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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“HOLY-GHOST-RIDER CONSTELLATION”
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“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;” Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22
Holy Ghost Rider (above western horizon)
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As you can easily see, this horse has some very big ears. Of course, this presents a very big concept.
And since this Rider represents the Holy Spirit, it is obvious that He is leaning close, as if to whisper His words in the horse’s ears.
And so, what is He (The Spirit) whispering in this horse’s ears?
Well, primarily the messages to the 7 churches, found in Revelation Ch.’s, 2 & 3.
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… The Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation
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TOMORROW…
DECEMBER 22 (Apocalypse NOW! Part 13: “The Signs of the Times?”)
Judgment Bus New Orleans 2011 – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
