 welcome back everyone we will continue we've been talking about features that we can look at in the present times and identify an apostolic ministry or an apostle so there are some more features I'll go over this particular chapter and then as we look at the section ahead we have about 60 trends that are set to emerge right the apostolic within the church and this has been compiled by someone known as John Eckart so he repeats some of the features that I've already spoken of what I'm going to do is I'll take us through the current set that I'm discussing and then when we come to these 60 trends there I will only touch on the newer ones which I've not mentioned so far that way I'll go with it I don't know it might take 15 minutes 20 minutes or something but if we finish we'll just stop with that and then next class I'll come back and talk about the apostolic in the church and the apostolic church and all and we can wrap up our study of the apostolic so continuing in chapter 4 here I said that even the apostolic is pioneering causes us to have a lasting foundation it comes up with good plans and then new plans and also execute those plans well guard doctrine very careful to establish people in the word of God activate an equip believers for spiritual ministry those who are in the calling of apostles generally end up as fathers and mothers to the body of Christ then establish order in churches so this much we saw a few more things that we would notice in apostolic ministries is they have the capability of influencing leadership governmental you know authorities so people who are in positions of leadership authority they would reach out to them so if we consider the life of Apostle Paul we know Sergius Paul is right that was one person whom he reached out to in Acts chapter 13 so in this manner we noticed that they speak to leaders and even towards the end of his journey he went and he was minister though he was in trial it was actually a ministry because different governors came you know different people came to question Paul and each time he gave the testimony of his life each time he spoke about the transforming power of our Lord Jesus Christ so he's speaking to people in authority so in that sense what we notice is that the apostolic has great influence you can look at it that way in those ministries that apostolic or people who are apostolic or leaders who are apostles God gives them influence they can you know have a say in what's going on in the in the region okay now this doesn't mean that they have some political weight and or a political sway that's not what we are talking about spiritually there is an influence which God gives them that's how we look at it okay now what else do we see about Apostles Apostles have a godly independence okay so when we study the life of Apostle Paul he states in Galatians chapter 1 he says look I did not have much time like to spend with the Apostles in Jerusalem okay he did not have in fact he went I think he writes in only 15 days I went and I spent time with Peter that's about it and in those silent years he did not go and get groomed under the Apostles so in a way God shaped him by himself also but that was fine he never felt that something was wrong or that you know he really needed to be a part of a leadership group and that's how he would gain his affirmation and validation he was okay to be independent so sometimes we find that Apostles are like that they don't mind now if they are part of a group well and good but if they are not it's like they can can boldly rise up even if they are alone and get the work done that's the kind of people they tend to be the Apostles so there is a godly independence it's not like an arrogant independence or a proud independence but it's a godly independence they don't mind they can go alone they can get the job done so that form of confidence and boldness also comes with the apostolic anointing then what else supernatural manifestation of science wonders miracles could somebody please read 2nd Corinthians 12 and verse 12 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 when I was with you I certainly gave you proof that I am an opposite for I patiently did many signs and wonder so we noticed that that you know he is saying it's part of the evidence of being an Apostle also mighty signs and wonders when you consider all the things that happened through the life of Apostle Paul I'm just taking example of Paul for you know understanding sake the supernatural blindness on LMS you know by Jesus it happened how we don't know but then when he was hindering the preaching of the gospel through Paul's life it happened then you find that a man who has never walked in Lister suddenly he begins to walk okay so these are all like mighty signs and wonders he's never walked it's very similar to what Peter and John saw happen at the gate beautiful in Acts 3 so there are amazing amazing miracles signs that take place you remember acts for the people pray and they say Lord you do more science through the Apostles because they also understood that the apostolic carries that anointing with itself you know supernatural happens to every believer that we know but there is a connectedness to mighty signs and wonders and the apostolic so that's why the people recognize that and they prayed Lord you do more signs and wonders through the hands of the Apostles so that's another feature so when we have somebody in that apostolic ministry we would notice mighty signs and wonders and these signs and wonders obviously will lead to an impact at the time of the book of Acts many people were coming to know God and thousands of people got saved on the first day through Peter's sermon and then you have you read that daily right people were being added to the church so there is an impact on Jerusalem something changed in the city of Jerusalem through the work of the Apostles so there is an impact there is you know different things that are going on so that is part of the apostolic and regarding persecution we've already talked about it so now in these features which have been listed I told you 60 trends that we expect to see emerge among us what are the ones which are somewhat different right now we've discussed many things what's going to happen so we will see the common things such as there will be an importance on signs wonders miracles there'll be an importance on revelation right and insights on the mysteries of God so when apostolic ministries are there they will be prophetic also like they'll try to find out what is God saying the present truth and then Enrich refreshed the people with that truth and the moves of God they'll steward the moves of God okay in a powerful way so that's that is something that we are seeing happen and we will see happen even in the days to come then extension of the ministry new territories that we've already discussed right and spiritual warfare I think spiritual warfare is your next point here where you would find that the apostolic because it's about entering new territories so whenever we are talking about establishing a church or establishing the kingdom of God in a new territory Satan will not be happy about it so then a feature of entering in has to be accompanied with spiritual warfare without spiritual warfare pioneering is very difficult so in the apostolic there will be an emphasis on prayer prayer believers authority spiritual warfare so when all these things are together with your pioneering getting ideas from God implementing the ideas it works okay because it's a spiritual task that we are undertaking so part of the apostolic anointing is also spiritual warfare understanding of how to battle our adversary the devil so that also is another feature of the apostolic okay here's the next different thing what this person John Eckard is is writing is for kingdom advancement the apostolic will also experience he says a supernatural provision so there will be resources finances people coming in or human resources you will find that these things are adding up or increasing through the apostolic anointing only then you can send out missionaries right you need them you need money you need people train people and so in an apostolic setup you will find that these things will increase and that's how the ministry will be able to develop so that's another it's a different thing different feature that we can expect and he writes here a spirit of faith so in general when we consider apostolic anointing we know that it is associated with boldness because it's about doing new things but a spirit of faith among the believers also so because the ministry is apostolic because they anointing of the leader is apostolic you would find that even the believers come up with new things they have faith to step out and do kingdom exploits because that's how they see things being done in their midst so you know you find that the people are also bold and they overcome unbelief they step out and do great things for God the next different feature would be the fellowship of leaders in a given region so part of the apostolic is unity okay while we study the apostolic it seems like you know there is godly independence and thereby the apostolic leader or the apostle will stand out you know among all the other leaders and receive all the prominence receive all the fame but a true apostolic ministry or anointing is such that it actually brings about humility and unity of leaders think about again people like Paul think about the apostles of that time they may have had their own issues you know disagreement on how ministry should be done disagreement on you know certain doctrinal truths but in general they all work together they all came together they all serve together they they honored one another so when even that acts 15 later in 16 they send out a decree they make a clear decree on you know circumcision the matter of circumcision Paul did not do it on his own there was a Barnabas you know and as you read that chapter you find that there were the Apostles of Jerusalem you find that there were other elders also in this particular meeting there were other elders also that's why it's called as the Jerusalem Council so a unity among pastors leaders ministry heads okay so that will also begin to take place under the apostolic anointing so for us to think that because the apostolic sounds so bold and pioneering all these strong leaders are going to start fighting with one another right because they all wanted to exploits for God through apostolic anointing actually brings a sense of humility a sense of unity among leaders in the city so kingdom work if you want to call it that you have that book right Kingdom Builders ABC publication and a course Kingdom Builders Kingdom mindset is a part of the apostolic anointing so when you find an apostolic leader you will see that their efforts are in bringing togetherness among pastors leaders so they may have these conferences so apostolic ministries have these conferences uniting pastors helping them work together encouraging them developing a kingdom mindset so that is all part of the apostolic ministry upgradation of churches in the present truth we already talked about how revelation is a key part of what the apostolic does but it's possible that some churches can be dry some churches could have gone you know spiritually bankrupt but the apostolic anointing brings refreshing so even as the ministry or the leader reaches out to churches what happens maybe they don't know the present truth they have not felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit but this ministry will bring it into dry churches as well so you can see what we are calling as an upgrade or a revival or a reviving of churches you know that are connected to the ministry so refreshing and reviving then reformation reformation and change because the apostolic is connected with newness right newness boldness creative ideas you would find that changes or impact is what actually happens through the models of ministry that come out of it reformation is transformation so you can expect a city transformation I'll just give you one example we think of working among youth and some of the normal ideas are let's have a youth meeting let's invite people on a Saturday that's a normal way of thinking but when you think in an apostolic way you think how about we go to the college campuses how about we get permission you know maybe if it's legally permitted why don't we go there how about we impact hundreds and thousands of students at the same time so creative ideas how can we impact them how can we bring in you know Godly principles to them maybe we can create an app maybe we can you know publish something or we get into nowadays you have new media right you have AI you have gaming so we are thinking of impacting tens of thousands of young people not just a Saturday meeting but you see that's an apostolic mindset because what are we looking at we're looking at reformation we're looking at you know a large impact we're looking at transformation city transformation national global impact okay so the apostolic things very big the apostolic things very you know impact oriented thoughts so that's the difference that's the difference between just a pastoral kind of an anointing and an apostolic anointing reformation change new models new ways how can we do this in a new way right so like even I think APC Bible College it's it's very apostolic because here we are people from different countries connecting so through each one of you where in whichever region you come from some part of India or some part of the world you are becoming a carrier of that of the fire of God the revival you impact your nation you impact your region so what is this it's actually a new model otherwise how would we think in a standard way we would think yes we want to equip people let's bring 20 people let's teach them the word of God over three years but the new way is now technology is available people also to some extent you know connecting to a class it's basic most people know why not go online why not take it globally right so the apostolic way of thinking change impact reformation transformation that's very different compared to a pastoral way of thinking okay moving on what else do we see we would okay he puts one statement here the point 27 he says changing and shifting spiritual climates over regions and territories causing a new receptivity to the gospel and things of the Holy Spirit so some shift happens in the spiritual realm as this anointing is released I think all other points here we have already covered I will just give it to you for your you know study and understanding so these ones are not so different from what we have learned so far does talk about social justice new ways of doing outreach street ministry and making an impact of for the church in the city as well okay so I will just stop with that for today any thoughts any questions any practical discussions we can have let's do that and then we will move on next class we'll just touch a little bit about yeah apostolic impact and stop the next class so yes jeffina you had something to ask yeah so we talked about a person's going to new places and extending the kingdom so I just want to know so we we know that missionaries go on new places mostly as far as I have heard missionary work is very different they go into the complete new place it's something they go into complete new language they learn the language and then something very different so it doesn't mean that every every missionaries and opposite and I have one more question like can we desire to be an opposite like I mean I know it's a very very very big thing but can we have the desire and can we pray like that like that I want to be an opposite or else developed me in a way of an opposite or something like that can we have that desire and these are my two questions yeah okay thank you jeffina thank you for that so you see every apostle is a missionary but every missionary is not an apostle okay because missionary is going out and entering new territory but they may not have the other features of the apostolic so you can be a missionary but you need not be a apostolic for that you can just go to a place to share the gospel you can just go to a place to teach the word of God that makes you a missionary now an apostle is much more than that that is why I said every apostle is a missionary but then every missionary is not an apostle does that help okay fine so we've answered the first question second question can you come again okay so the answer is we can't because these are these are these are not grace gifts these are offices so when we read Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 through 13 we see here that Christ Jesus he gave gifts to the church the apostle the prophet the pastor the teacher the evangelist so for the equipping of the saints for you know the work of the ministry so it very clearly tells us that it is by appointment unless we are appointed or handpicked by God for example if you take Paul on the road to Damascus Ananias God speaks to Ananias and he says this man he is going to stand before kings he's going to so in God's mind God has already decided this is an apostle that is a but can I be apostolic I can that's what in the next class I told you we can be apostolic but we cannot be apostles unless we are called by God so that is how it is sure thank you good questions so yeah any other questions would having a couple of churches make somebody an apostle let's imagine that okay I have planted five churches am I an apostle okay Jeffina says no so yeah see being an apostle it has a complex set of features associated with it as I've been describing so one has to be like you know that that spiritual energy is very different so just having multiple churches also would not make somebody an apostle you can be a you know great pastor and you have a good number of churches but maybe time can tell if you see that consistently leaders are being raised up they are being well equipped in the word the doctrine well instructed and the churches are multiplying over time yes we could we could look at all this and say oh wow it's very apostolic seems like this person is an apostle so the apostolic generally has a very large impact very large impact so here in India I have heard it said that people like you know the DGS then occur and people like them in their times when they started out there was really like a move of God because people were not you know yes evangelism people were coming to know the Lord and all but it was almost like a move of God that took place through somebody like the DGS in those times and I'm talking about the early days so that's very apostolic touching different parts of the nation and then also you know parts of the globe he did not have multiple churches but the ministry cut across regions and impacted nations so you may call it as apostolic ministry and then yeah do you can you think of any examples of people whose ministries are apostolic I think now there are a lot of preachers calling themselves as a possible I don't even know if it is right to call ourselves as apostles any thoughts on that possible again also we see that lot of people it becomes like I'm sorry to say but like a fan following and as we said in the beginning like more like father father kind of a thing and it makes a big deal out of it so my question kind of is like in case if we come across with some people so because I personally had met some people who considers few others as their father and father's so do we say anything or do we just keep quiet so the thing is John see it's an excess there is a spiritual truth here that you know when when a mature personal leader is grooming others and they are growing in the Lord whether we like to say it or not this whole father something is going on but the excess is that you know they've made a doctrine out of it that okay I'm your father you are my son and this is like an you know covenant relationship it can never be broken so the error comes in there when that this extra extra things are added to the father son apostolic relationship so what do we do about it see we have to as pastor always says he says amplify the truth and you know the the lie will disappear so we have to amplify the truth I remember I don't know if you were there in those meetings when we were hearing about this concept of father son globally globally it was going on you know a spiritual father son you have to be connected to me for the anointing to flow through your life and all but there's no biblical basis for that because anointing flows through God not through some man so pastor did a series called spiritual fathers I think that's the name given to it I don't remember the exact name but it is in our APCWO sermon resources you can go and you can listen to those sermons at least two sermons if I'm not wrong about this concept of spiritual fathers and he he's gone through the scriptures properly and he has you know analyzed it is it right or wrong to to make such a big deal about somebody being my spiritual father or spiritual son see people sometimes use it to control others when I keep saying I'm your spiritual mother spiritual mother it's like you're obligated to me now to whether help me financially or help me in some other way or show up for me when I'm in need so it's actually spiritual manipulation okay so I mean that's the reality if somebody is overdoing this truth so what we can do is we can quietly direct them to some of these resources you go through it first and not in a you know if required in an outright way you can refer them to these resources or in a subtle way also you can just say hey we have all this would you like to go over it go through it because we are demystifying this you know like this very fascinating concept of being a spiritual father so give them some resources John that's what I would say and whether we can call ourselves apostles see Paul said that I am an apostle appointed by God he introduced himself like that sometimes when I think there was an issue of acceptance because they people accepted Peter better than Paul I don't know I think it's it should be a very rare thing John and hopefully I mean we are talking about Paul mighty Paul and all but in today's times I think this is my way of looking at it I it might take a lifetime to figure out whether somebody is an apostle so you might have to wait for 30 35 years of ministry for you to understand that you're doing an apostolic work and for people to understand that you're doing an apostolic work so after 30 years if you want to say oh apostle but the nicest thing will be if others affirm you with that title and you don't put it you know doctor apostle prophet reverend so-and-so it's very what can I say it's not at all a humble thing to do to name myself an apostle so yeah my thoughts it's possible yeah thank you for the insight yeah sure sure yeah thank you thank you yeah but I think now there's a lot of people are called apostles I don't know how what do you know oh okay she's saying there are many Instagram Instagram accounts which have names apostle so-and-so see again another thing is this understanding of what is apostolic also people don't have like I myself I learned it when I you know began to study all these things and I'm sure even all of you have been enlightened in the last couple of weeks so that's another problem we don't have enough teaching on the apostolic so obviously people don't understand what it means they just use that word apostle and put it against their name okay so jeffina is when I ask the question do you know any apostolic ministries or apostles she wrote here Billy Graham Billy Graham yeah I could consider I think you can consider his ministry apostolic but I think Billy Graham is more evangelist from what I can see I feel he's more evangelist because I don't have they raised up churches it was more about getting people saved okay okay he was apostolic and he was an evangelist and he was apostolic yeah correct we can be correct right so people can be apostolic in what they do but they need not be apostles any any other questions thoughts brother Lubega anything that you wanted to ask because I remember you were saying you want to learn more about the apostolic first what is confusing these days is that everybody who has a say a local church I'm talking on my local context here anybody who has a local church and it has maybe one or two branches he declares himself an apostle if not if not an apostle he calls himself a bishop now you find bishops of 21 years you find bishops of so but I think just as you've said a person to should be called an apostle maybe through the laying of hands when professor comes and they declare him say an apostle all through the characteristics when you look through what an apostle does and you see that you are you are in that line it can't take a lifetime it is not easy if you just wake up one day and you add something on your name that you say that I'm now a post of columns it is he so hard these days yeah that's that's true but also as I was saying I think the understanding of this term apostle is not enough so that's a problem among God's people they don't understand what it is they just know that many churches I'm an apostle and others also encourage them so they go ahead and need themselves apostles and even education is a problem a person these days gets three four five lines in the end in the Bible and then he calls himself an apostle but now like a PC is hoping a great deal to train people now it's not easy for one of our members here to call himself an apostle tomorrow yeah I'm glad you know that there's some impact right through all this teaching in your part of the globe yeah so thank you thank you so much for sharing brother Lupeka yeah understanding the apostle so nowadays if you go and you look up there are many networks in ministries which have networks of churches that is very apostolic so back when like I was a kid I have not heard of multiple churches multi-site churches and all that but nowadays that concept is very common one ministry has multiple branches they live stream the services across you know they have campus pastors so it's you sort of see that there is that apostolic way of doing things which is touching a lot of ministries and if you look carefully there are some ministries which have a lot of churches like vignard you know vignard is one ministry where you have so many churches then what else do you have certain names new frontiers I've heard they have many churches so network of churches that is very apostolic to have network of churches okay so this way I'm sure across in your nation in your region you would be aware of some such ministries that have that have pioneered many churches that are overseeing churches that have raised up many leaders and they're continuing to equip them with with good doctrine and good structure so there are lots of such churches coming up ministries coming up and this is only going to increase so the apostolic is only going to increase the prophetic is only going to increase so that is a given because we are living in those times where God is strengthening the five-fold ministry offices you will see while we are feeling sad that people are not recognizing the apostolic office we will also see true Apostle Apostles and begin to thank God for them so all this is expected okay so let me just stop here very good questions practical questions I'll also try to bring you some you know names and all that in the next class when we close off but you come back to me with some more questions I think that will really help alright so we'll close now let's pray could somebody please lead us in prayer I know we prayed for brother Isaac's family but I just feel like we need to pray some more so please pray for brother Isaac's family we've all heard the sad news that he went to be with the Lord so yeah please somebody lead in prayer let's pray for Isaac's family too let's pray father we come under the name of Jesus thank you for this day thank you for everything that we learn today God God I pray that whatever we have learned we will put it into practice in our life we thank you for calling us Jesus help us to understand more about our calling help us to walk in your ways help us to not to dilute the doctrine in any way then we go out and teach and preach Lord fill us with your wisdom and knowledge whatever we have learned help us to put it into practice and help us to understand more about the Apostle ministry Jesus and God right now I pray for brother Isaac's family we thank you for his life we thank you that he was an amazing student he was an amazing slave of Christ he worked for you we thank you for his life Jesus right now we pray for his family Lord strengthen them Jesus in the times of trouble you are an everlasting help Lord God we believe that you will be there everlasting help right now we don't know what are the struggles we understand their pain we take part in their pain Jesus but we just pray that you will comfort them you will strengthen them we pray for the ministry that they are doing Jesus that it won't stop but they will be strengthened and much more to do more for you Jesus you comfort them Lord you bring back the joy in them Jesus you bring back the peace in their home whatever they are struggling with Jesus we know that you are more than enough God I pray that they will understand this truth that you're more than enough be with them Jesus you are the God who heals the broken hearted we declare your name over then we declare your healing over them right now Jesus heal their broken heart with Jesus bring back things that will bring joy into their life fill them with your blood wrap them in your arms Jesus so that they can stand against so that they can preach your gospel again so that they will be strengthened they will keep moving forward in this life knowing that you are enough knowing that your love will cover everything knowing that greater days are on the way knowing the joys of the way knowing that Jesus is enough be with them and guide them Jesus we pray for them we ask you to heal them right now Jesus what else we can do as we are partaking in this prayer God we thank you that you are touching them right now you're healing them right now and you are bringing back the joy we know God you're the God who never leaves never for six we know God you're a God who never leaves us during the times of trouble we believe that you are with them we know that you are guiding them right now we just pray that you heal them you heal them Jesus you strengthen them and you come for them we love you and we honor you Jesus we pray amen amen amen thank you thank you jeffina thank you everyone God bless you let's connect for next week sessions which will be your last class and yeah looking forward to that thank you so much have a blessed day bye for now