Everyone on the road to the city of God must be a worker for God, because God does not recognize ordinary church members. So, what do we do in God’s vineyard? That’s our focus in this concluding part of Anointed to Serve.
Kings rule and exercise dominion, Priests teach and intercede for people and Prophets hear and declare the counsel of God. And it is a combination of these three offices that makes one a Minister as described in Isaiah 61:1-6.
This calling is actually how God shows His divine nature in His children (see II Peter 1:3-4; “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: hereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I John 4:17b “because as he is, so are we in this world.”). When one is endued (filled with the Holy Spirit and the power of God), the supernatural begins to happen. The SHALL BE IN YOU WHICH JESUS PROMISED BECOMES MANIFEST FOR ALL TO SEE (John 14:15-17). “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
In the Old Testament He operated directly from heaven in the lives of His chosen ones. For example, Numbers 11:25-29 shows how the anointing (power) on Moses fell on 70 others as God willed-as God chose to divide and manifest His nature (gifts) The young man, Joshua that ministered to Moses was alarmed, but Moses said, unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
And this He did through Jesus: when Jesus died and resurrected, He took captivity captive, and gave gifts (His supernatural nature) unto men…” (Eph. 4:7-15). See also Roman 12:6-8; I Cor. 12:4-13. 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: 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 sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they (the false teachers) 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
So, we see, all God’s children: anybody that is genuinely born again is entitled to the gifts. This is because without them it is IMPOSSIBLE TO BE THE SERVANT OF THE LORD IN THE MANNER IT IS EXPRESSED IN ISAIAH 61:1-9 and Acts 1:8.
There are various phenomenon and experiences that characterized the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Promise was given to us in Mark 16:15-18, “And He said unto them, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these SIGNS shall follow them that believe (i.e. happen to them): In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” And true to His promise (which never fail), on the day of Pentecost, after the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, they began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4). Not only this, many signs and wonders were done by the apostles thereafter (see Acts 2:43; Acts 3:1-10; Acts 5:12-16; Acts 16:16-18). Paul even raised the dead Acts 20:7-12; and when he was bitten by a snake, nothing happened to him (Acts 28:1-6). In Acts 10:44-48, even those that heard the gospel for the first time and believed received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Other instant manifestation of the Holy Spirit can be found in Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they had assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spake the word of God with boldness. Boldness to preach the word of God and to defend one’s beliefs (faith) is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit: “For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power; and of love, and of a sound mind (II Tim. 1:7-12; Rom. 1:16-17).
We are still in the New Testament era, but when one looks at Christendom at large, what beholds the eyes is a sad situation. One sees a mass of laymen; people who are contented to just come to fellowship: sing, dance and listen to sermons without declaring the works of God. A lot of people that call themselves born again Christian cannot witness to people about the saving grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. They cannot pray for their own healing, talk less of ministering deliverance to the needy, and always leave the workings of the power of God to the church leaders.
But scripturally, this is wrong! All born again Christians are supposed to be gifted!! 1 Cor. 12:7 says “but the manifestation of the spirit is given to EVERY MAN to profit withal”. If you are a child of God and you are not useful to God or those around you then you need to go to God in prayer. Start by being born again; and then move on to asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit and the enduement of power, without which it is IMPOSSIBLE TO SERVE GOD CORRECTLY.