God's Diminishing Power by Larry Bushnell

Author:Larry Bushnell [Bushnell, Larry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781449752576
Publisher: WestBow Press
Published: 2012-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

7.

Divine order, Ministry

I Cor. 12:14

I’m having some difficulty with this topic because there is no way a mere human, even a Christian, can evaluate another’s ministry unless there is a moral breakdown and even then it may be only a tradition that is broken, not really God’s definition of the so-called infraction. I tend to believe that most preachers are too often ego controlled persons that love the lime-light as do all of us to some extent and because they are charismatic or gifted speakers (not a negative in itself) they tend to draw the largest crouds. The folloing scriptures tend to address the problem but we seldom see these verses considered as we try to discern the Lord’s will. These ARE, however, a part of the Word of God and should be treated with a much consideration if the Gospel is to be more effectively used in building the Church.

Acts 2:42 & 46, “breaking bread from house to house…”

1 Cor. 12:14, “For the body is not one member, but many.”

1 Cor. 14:29, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

We have an interesting scripture in Acts 2:42 & 46 which read as follows (KJV), “and they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and felowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” and 46 “and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” The DARBY translation as well as others endorse this translation (My College Greek Prod. Said that the DARBY translation was possibly the most accurate of all translations.)

Notice that in large meetings they met in the Temple, possibly for ministry and/or business, but for the breaking of bread they met in small groups from “house to house.” This would give opportunity for many to minister the Word with a small group as well as the other larger groups where the most gifted teachers would minister. The small groups would also make it easier for questions to be asked and discussed as Paul did in the upper room in Troas (Acts 20:9-12.) Children also could freely ask questions. The Old Testament is full of places where God says, “When your children ask?” Surely the New Testament era should also encourage the children to ask questions. THE POINT THOUGH is that they met in homes to break bread, which is another term for “The Lord’s Supper.” This needs to be combined with I Cor. 14:29 which reads, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.” It seems, then, obvious that a multiple ministry in each gathering of Christians was the norm then, not the mega-churches we see today; or even the one ministry churches so obviously, too often, a display of ego. I wonder if the mega-churches are more of a grandizement to the speaker rather than to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.