Apostolic Theme
An apostolic theme deals with the fact that everything an Apostle teaches always flows along the same line of divine order and calling people to ever increasing levels of consecration to the Lord. This is a theme that is evident in everything that an Apostle does.
Increasing Levels of Consecration
Calling believers toward increasing levels of consecration can be compared to climbing a mountain where people arrive on various levels and plateaus as they go from one level to another in God. Some however will choose to remain on some particular level and refuse to go any higher. It is at this point of stagnation that they will typically fall out and fall away from the Lord because they are not willing to count the cost required of them to go still higher. This serves to sort people out over time as they are forced to use their human freewill to make a choice either for or against God.
Jesus the Apostle
Hebrews 3:1 (NIV2011)
1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
The scripture above says clearly that Jesus is our Apostle and High Priest. The meaning of the word “Apostle” is one who is sent by God so Jesus was sent from the Heavenly Father and came to earth to pay for the sins of all humanity.
Jesus our Apostle brought healing and prosperity and divine order everywhere that he went. He healed the sick and fed the people and also taught them many biblical principles which brought divine order to their lives. Prosperity means having a full-supply and more than enough. This is evident in the time that Jesus fed the five thousand men (heads of households) and their families.
John 6:10-14 (NIV2011)
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there).
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”
13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Here when Jesus fed the people, they all had more than enough to eat and were completely satisfied and afterward they gathered up twelve baskets full of left-over food. These baskets were huge man-sized baskets (large enough to put a man inside). The crowd of people “saw” the miracle that had taken place meaning that they were amazed by the huge amount of left-over food and knew it was a miracle of multiplication!
See the link “No Pitiful Sized Hand Baskets” for more details.
The feeding of the crowds of people and the supply food in a “more-than-enough” manner speaks of prosperity. Prosperity is to have all of your needs met and have and abundant supply that is more than enough! Jesus was the first Apostle to come to earth and his ministry on earth was marked by healing the sick, feeding the people in abundant manner (prosperity) and teaching the multitudes biblical principles of divine order.
Ephesians 4:8 (7KB)
8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, Jesus the Messiah led captives in his procession and gave ministry gifts to men.”
The 7KB-bible speaks of how after Jesus rose from the dead that he gave ministry gifts unto men. These gifts include the five gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Pastors and Evangelists. Today there are still men on earth who were born with Fivefold Ministry Gifts and this includes the gift of Apostle.
See the link “Abraham’s Bosom” for more details.
See also the link “Preaching to Righteous in Center of Earth” for more details.
Although Jesus the first Apostle has now gone into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, he has not left the church without Apostles. There have been men born in every generation since the Resurrection of Christ who have been given the gift of Apostle from birth.
See the link “Fivefold Ministry Gifts” for more details.
Just like the first Apostle Jesus, the men who are born with the gift of Apostle have the fruit of the Apostle to bring healing and prosperity and divine order to the lives of those who follow them.
Healing and Prosperity and Divine Order
John 6:10-15 (NIV)
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”
13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
When Jesus fed the multitude, they saw the sign of the huge amount of left-over food that remained. Then they wanted to take Jesus by force and make him king so that they would have a full-supply of food for life.
Seeking the Lord for the Wrong Reason
John 6:24-27 (NIV)
24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
The crowd went searching for Jesus only because he had given them free food in prosperous and abundant manner. This means that God will show himself real to people in the beginning with healing and prosperity and divine order but they are not to remain on this level of only seeking to feed their bellies. This is of no more eternal purpose than that of a dog that eats and poohs and makes puppies and then dies. Humans are called to a much higher purpose than that of animals. Humans are made in the image of God and are created to worship God and come into relationship with God just as Jesus also walked in relationship with his heavenly Father.
Therefore, the ministry of an Apostle will bring the fruit of healing and prosperity and divine order to those believers who follow them but his is not the main goal or purpose of the Apostle. This is only the bait on the hook to show the people God is real and that God is able to meet their needs. But once they are healed and fed and have divine order then they will be called to come into a higher level with God. This involves consecration at every level as God deals with secret sins and idols of the hearts.
But if they love some idol more than they love God and refuse to repent of it then they will eventually be abandoned by God and sent to hell. They cannot love anything more than God and if there is anything which they refuse to give up then this is an idol.
Again see the link “Idols of the Heart” for more details.
Love God with Total Being
Matthew 22:36-38 (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
The first commandment of God is that humans are to love him with all of their heart and all of their soul and all of their mind. This means they are to love God with their total being. This is the first and greatest commandment above all other commands of God. But if a believer has some area in their hearts that they love more than God and they refuse to give it up then this is an idol. They cannot enter the kingdom of God and harbor idols in their hearts at the same time. God is patient and he may deal with them for decades to repent of some heart idol but if they play games and do everything imaginable to avoid repenting of their idol then they will eventually cross the line of perdition. This is the point where the believer will become like King Saul and the Spirit of God will depart from them and they will be eternally sealed up for hell.
1 Samuel 16:14 (NIV)
14 Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
King Saul once had the Spirit of God upon him but after he disobeyed God and feared humans more than God then he was rejected as being king. From the time of his rejection the Spirit of God departed from Saul and an evil spirit came and tormented him.
This can happen to believers who fight and resist God for decades over some point of idolatry in their hearts that they refuse to repent of. A time will come that the Spirit of God will depart from such people and they can be open to having demonic torment instead.
See the link “Christians in Hell” for more details.
So, Jesus the first Apostle healed the sick and prospered the people and brought divine order and peace to their lives. This was evidence of God’s blessing upon the people through the life of an Apostle. The men born with the gift of Apostle (since the Resurrection of Jesus) also have the same fruit and it is to show people the reality of God so that they might believe.
But God does not leave these people on the infant level forever like a baby being comforted and breastfed by his mother. A time will come when they will have to stand on their own two feet and they will come under the discipline of a Father who will call them to repent of secret sins and heart idols. If they use their human freewill to resist God then they will end up in destruction because God will not deal with them forever.
Genesis 6:3 (NKJV)
3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with humans forever . . .
The principle to be seen here is that the Spirit of God will not deal with a believer forever regarding some type of unrepentant sin. If they persist in that sin and refuse to repent and play all kinds of tricks trying to retain that idol then eventually, they will end up crossing the line of perdition. It is at this point that their names will be blotted from the Lamb’s Book of Life! Once they are rejected by God, they will be like King Saul and the Spirit of God will depart from them.
Revelation 3:5 (NIV)
5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.
Those believers who overcome will not have their names blotted from the Book of Life but those who do not overcome all sin and idols will have their names removed from God’s book and this will equal eternal damnation for them!
Process of Purification
It is this process of purification that is a typical theme of the ministry of an Apostle. He will bring good things to the people like healing and prosperity and divine order to show them that God is real with tangible proofs. But they are not to remain on that infant level but are called to climb higher in their consecration to God. This process can be compared to climbing a great mountain that has many levels and plateaus where people go from one level to another. But if at some point they decide to camp out and do not want to go any farther then this is when they have made a decision to fall away from God.
This is therefore a process of sorting people out as believers go from one level to another until some of them decide to go no farther. When they decide to camp-out, they will have made a decision that they do not want to love the Lord with all of their being. This causes them to falter when God deals with some point of unrepentant sin that they do not want to give up.
Again see the link “Idols of the Heart” for more details.
Often people want the healing and prosperity and divine order an Apostle brings but they may not be excited about the consecration and call to repent of “secret-sins” and idols of the heart. But once they have tasted that the Lord is real then they are without excuse because they cannot deny that they received measurable increase and blessing from the time that they started following the teaching of an Apostle.
This fruit of the Apostle testifies that he does indeed carry the message of God for their life. But the same Apostle also calls them into deeper consecration and they will be called to accept the discipline and rebukes and correction of the Lord just as a father corrects his son so that he will not turn out bad. The correction of the Apostle will save them from hell yet at the same time they still possess a human freewill so they have to decide and choose to submit to God’s correction as given through the teaching and ministry of an Apostle.
Seeing People Prospered
In my own experience I have seen people prosper and be healed and receive divine order in their lives everywhere that I have went. But often this does not work out well for some believers after they are prospered because they will want to keep it all to themselves and act as if their own hand has made that wealth. They fail to recognize that they had nothing prior to the time they met me and only increased after receiving my ministry. It is typically at this time that they only want the prosperity I bring but do not want the teaching about consecration anymore. So that is when they will fall out and go their own way. This is however a decision against the Lord just like those who wanted to be fed by Jesus but left him when he spoke to them about consecration.
John 6:66 (NKJV)
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Jesus the first Apostle brought healing and prosperity and divine order to the people but they were also called into consecration to the God. When they only wanted free food then they became offended over the message of consecration. So, they followed Jesus no more and that is when they fell out.
I have seen a number of people fall out after they received the blessing that comes from the ministry of an Apostle. Typically, they fall out after they are prospered as if they assume, they increased by their own strength and so they grow arrogant and go off on their own and fall into perdition.
John 6:67-68 (NKJV)
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Such people who fall away will often try to go to some dead hireling fake minister instead who will flatter them and tell them what they want to hear. But flattery will not help them cleanse their hearts of idols and so they will end up in hell together with the false preacher who flatters them for their money.
See the link “Religious Vultures” for more details.
But in fact, it is those men who are born with the gift of Apostle and Prophet who carry the words of eternal life which can change people and clean their hearts up from idols and qualify them for heaven. If they leave real Apostles and Prophets and go join dead religion, they will in fact end up in hell.
Jesus was always calling people to count the cost and go higher in the Lord and the same is true of those men who are born with the gifts of Apostle and Prophet. They also call people to go higher in consecration to the Lord.
Rich Young Ruler Called to Consecration
Luke 18:18-27 (NIV)
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.
24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Jesus saw that this rich young ruler had a problem with the wealth that he had. When Jesus asked him to give it away then the rich young ruler went away sad because he was not able to do so and this means that he loved money more than God. This was a test and a call for this rich young man to go higher in God but he was unable to do so when he loved money more than God.
The Rich Young Ruler Counted the Cost
Acts 4:34-37 (NIV)
34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement),
37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Church tradition says that this rich young ruler was actually a man named Joseph who was a Levite from Cyprus. It is thought that he as a Levite owned land outside of Israel since normally Levites had no land ownership in Israel other than the pasture land to keep donations of livestock alive until it was time to butcher them. But this young man must have counted the cost and realized that he loved money more than God when he was unable to give when Jesus asked him to do so.
This is good news to see that some people do overcome and later repent and get rid of idols as is the case with Joseph the Levite from Cyprus. He sold his land and gave the proceeds to the church by placing it under the authority of the Apostles.
God is constantly calling people to go to higher levels and sometimes they may struggle but later repent and deal with the heart issue that was keeping them from God. Often God will even allow them to keep some of their possessions if their heart is right and it is not an idol to them. God is not against having riches because in fact it is God that gives people the power to prosper.
Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV)
18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
God gives his people the power to prosper and the ability to produce wealth so it is not a sin to be prosperous. The only problem is if they are making an idol out of wealth and love money more than God then God will have to deal with that idol because God is a jealous God and will not permit them to love anything more than him. The tithe will test the heart and if they can give a tithe to God then they are showing that they are not in bondage to covetousness and greed and have not made an idol of money.
But the Lord asked the rich young ruler from Cyprus to give his wealth away because he had set his heart upon it. But later this Levite from Cyprus was able to give so this shows his heart was now clean of idolatry and this is a good thing.
This is an example of how God cleans the idols of the hearts of believers going from level to level always asking them to repent of and deal with various heart idols as they go increasingly higher in consecration to God. Eventually they will come to a place of having a clean heart before the Lord and then God can prosper them financially without them falling into idolatry or greed.
Matthew 20:16 (NKJV)
16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”
This scripture above speaks of the fact that many are called but few are chosen and this also relates to the ministry of an Apostle. People are offered the good things of God like healing and prosperity and divine order as God shows himself real to them. But they are called to come higher into consecration but only a few will be chosen from large numbers of people. Only those few who count the cost and go from level to level without camping-out in one place will come into the Lordship of Christ. Many believers will come to some point of having an idol in their hearts exposed and when they refuse to repent of it then that is when they fall away from the Lord. People sort themselves out by their decision to either go forward or remain stagnant where they are at refusing to go any farther in consecration. That is the point when they have stopped yielding to the Lordship of Christ.
Matthew 13:10-17 (NIV)
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Jesus spoke in parables to hide the revelation from those whose hearts were not right before God. These people were dull of hearing and their hearts had grown calloused and could not see or hear spiritual revelation. Those who are worldly and carnal and love money are those who become dull of hearing concerning spiritual things. They sort themselves out in this manner as well because they cannot progress forward in God when they have a bad heart condition. But the disciples of Jesus counted the cost and because if this they could see and hear spiritual revelation.
Matthew 19:27 (NIV)
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
These disciples (which where were within the inner circle of Jesus) had given up everything in order to follow the Lord. It was this commitment that qualified them to see and hear and receive spiritual revelation that Jesus gave. It is this level of consecration that opens the door for a believer to enter into full relationship with the Lord.
Mark 9:48 (NIV)
48 . . . Everyone will be salted with fire.
Everyone (without exception) will be salted with fire. Salt is used to preserve meat and keeps it from spoiling and fire refines like smelting gold or silver in a furnace. To be salted by fire is to preserve them from hell and this involves purifying them from idols and sin. As salt draws fluids out of meat to preserve it from spoilage so the teaching of the Apostle acts like salt to draw out and expose heart idols and secret sins hidden within the hearts of believers. This has a purifying effect to refine these believers who have gone on into consecration to God. This will result in them obtaining eternal life when they finish their race on earth without falling out.
All of this is part of the ministry of an Apostle and is a constant theme that is followed because all of his teaching will bring divine order and expose heart idols and call believers to higher levels of consecration in God.