"The Fivefold Ministry Gifts" Kathryn Kuhlman Ephesians Chapter 4 Part 3

Now we're going to go right ahead with our little heart -to -heart talk, and I'm going to begin exactly where I left you when I walked out of your home during the last broadcast, and we were discussing that person, the Word of God, as found in the fourth chapter of Ephesians. And Paul here is talking to members of the body of Christ. to you and to me, those of us who had been born again, having been adopted of the Father, having been baptized into His body by the Holy Spirit. The Father, having given Jesus gifts to be Stow upon those of us who are members of his body. And these wonderful gifts that are being operated by the Holy Ghost in the church today. Oh, to me, that's one that's marvelous. All right, here we go now. We shall begin, if you will please, with the 11th verse of the 4th chapter of Ephesians. And he gave some apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Now he goes on to tell the purpose of these gifts. for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 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 fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children. tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. for whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body into the edifying of itself in love Oh, that's beautiful. Pause a minute and just remember to whom you belong. No wonder he admonishes us to remember how we act, how we live, what we do. We should constantly remember the vocation into which we are called. You and I be deemed members of his body. Active, living, vital members of the body of Christ. Now, let's go to the gifts which he bestowed and bestows today. And that's recorded in the 11th verse of this chapter. And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists. Some pastors and teachers. And we see the purpose in each one of these gifts. First, let's take apostles and prophets. Do you want to know something? We still have apostles and prophets in their writings. Paul is just as much alive today through his writings. as he was in person when he walked this earth. He's just as vital to all of us. That's right. He's just as real. We've seen from former studies of the word that these precious apostles and prophets have laid down the great doctrinal foundation. propounding in their writings in Christ and the doctrines concerning Christ. And in these inspired writings, today these precious prophets and apostles still speak to us. Take the second gift, evangelists. of the evangel, or the carrying of good news concerning salvation through faith in the shed blood of the Son of God. Evangelists are especially prepared by the Spirit of God to reach the unconverted, to reach unconverted men and women with the message of life. And I believe that if... Any man, any woman who has the gift of an evangelist, who has been called to be an evangelist in the true sense, who has received that gift from Jesus, from the Lord, I believe that that one will have a passion for souls, a burden for souls as no other. other living being on this earth today. Now, there are a lot of folks going around calling themselves evangelists who've never been called of God, who have never really received this gift. And they're bringing an awful reproach upon the ministry and upon Jesus Christ and upon something that is very sacred. and very precious in the sight of God. When a man or a woman, I repeat, has received the gift and has been called of God to be an evangelist, there will be with that gift a burning compassion, a zeal, a burden for lost souls as no other human being has today. I believe that. That's right. For how can you win men and women of the Lord Jesus Christ without a great compassion, without the burden for their lost souls? The two go together. Now the work of a pastor, the work of a pastor is not the same as that. of an evangelist. It is a separate gift. A pastor is a shepherd, and God especially prepares certain members of his body to shepherd the flock, to minister to them in sickness, in sorrow, in death, in bereavement, as well as to feed them on the bread of life. Oh, a good pastor. A good pastor is the most precious, the most vital thing in the world. The shepherd of the sheep. And to be a good pastor is literally a gift that Jesus bestows on certain men. A precious gift. Now we come to the gift of that of a... teacher. Now, a pastor may not have the gift of a teacher. Neither is a teacher a pastor or an evangelist. You know, some people expect all of this in one person. They're looking for the whole thing in one person. You'll never find it in one person. Each of these is a separate gift. given to one individual in exactly the same way that we have the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are a whole, a unit, yet the work of the Father is separate and apart from the Holy Ghost. And the work of Jesus is not the same work as the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet one never works separate and apart from the other. Neither should the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher, work separate and apart one from the other, yet each has a distinct and separate work to be done. One just as vital, just as important as the other. A teacher is one to whom God has given special insight into great... truths of the word of God, one to whom God has given the gift of imparting the same to the members of the body of Christ in order that they might become rooted and grounded in the doctrines whereby they may be shielded from false teachers and false prophets. And I'll tell you, that's certainly one thing we need in the church today. We need teachers to whom God has given special insight into the great truths of the Word of God. We need to be taught these deep truths where members of His body know what they believe. A lot of folk don't know what they believe. That really, that's the reason they're swayed by every wind of doctrine. They become so deceived. Somebody can come along with a false doctrine and they fall for it, hook, line, and sinker. Why? Because they have never been taught. They have never been rooted and grounded in the truth, in the word of God. It's just like that. And God has called certain folk and have given them the gift of a teacher. He has revealed to them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, the secret to the deep truths of the Bible, the Word. They, in turn, are to impart these deep truths to members of the body of Christ. order that the members of the body of Christ might become rooted and grounded in the doctrines whereby they may be shielded from false teachers and false prophets. God has thought to make every provision for members of the body of Christ. Oh, to me that's marvelous. Now, pause just a minute, and let's go a little deeper into something that I hope will be as thrilling to you as it is to me. The gifts to the church, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, are beautifully set forth in type in the service and worship of the tabernacle and Solomon's temple. The buildings, of course. The tabernacle and the building of Solomon's temple. as we've already seen, were shadows of the church. The present inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Everything about these two buildings was in keeping with what we have in Ephesians as shadows of the body of Christ. There were three divisions in the tribe of Levi. Let's say, and it's more understandable, that there were three families of the tribe of Levi. To each, a part of the tabernacle was entrusted. The first family cared for the silver sockets, made of atonement money, the boards, the pillars, and the bars. cloudy pillar rested, meaning that the twelve tribes were to camp, to cease on their journey toward Canaan. The members of this family were called upon first to erect the tabernacle. They were the ones who laid the silver sockets. The bars were then put upon the boards, thus holding the tabernacle together. Now, we'll see the work of the second division, or the second family of the tribe of Levi. They were the ones who carried the beautiful curtains, the coverings, the hangings, and the cords to spring them. Oh, they had a very marvelous work to do. Then we have the third. family or the third division or the tribe of Levi. They followed the second family carrying the holy vessels, the ark for the holy of holies, the table of showbread, the candlestick, the golden altar of incense for the holy place. They had a very definite work to do. Their work was separate and apart from the second family. And the second family had a work separate and apart from the first family. But watch something. To me, this is very beautiful. In these three families of Levites, we have foreshadowed the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. The evangelist carries the silver sockets and by the spirit of God causes men to be built upon that redemptive foundation. The pastor strengthens and beautifies the work thus accomplished. Oh, sure. Watch. And here comes the teacher. bearing the vessels of the sanctuary, foreshadowing the great doctrines of scripture. There you have the three, each one with a very definite and distinct work to do. All working together for the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness until it was completed and sold the gifts to the church. the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers. Why? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Testimated, it is worthy of notice that these three families of Levi did their work under the supervision of God's high priest, Aaron. He was their supervisor. All their work was done under his supervision. Aaron, God's great high priest, and so beloved, the avengers, the pastors, and the teachers today are to work under the supervision of our great high priest. The one who stood at the right hand of God the Father. Aaron is no longer in position of great high priest. Today we have in person the very son of the living God in position of man's high priest. And all of us, whether he be evangelist, pastor or teacher are to work under one supervision, the supervision of that one great high priest, the son of the living God, Jesus Christ. Make this real, I pray to our waiting hearts. Amen.