Want to be an Apostle? Then Read this by Reinhard Bonnke...Evangelist to Africa through the last 50 years.
When Apostles are sought, there is no shortage of applicants. It is a noble title. But how many would want to be an apostle knowing what they really had to do?
I do not think apostleship meant sitting at the managing director’s desk. They did not just sit around in committee meetings all day long. Apostle means “sent one.”
What were they sent to do? First, they were sent to evangelize. Second, to suffer for it. Let me tell you – to witness and to evangelize is our privilege. We are doing just what the Apostles did.
The Lord appointed the twelve as His first witnesses. They were sent to introduce the gospel to the world, and our task is to follow on. Their distinction as apostles was to initiate all evangelism. Jesus gave them His teaching, and they passed it to us. They were the foundation. We tread where they led.
“Apostle” was not a title of honor to make them famous. It described what they should do (go), and what they should be (prime targets for persecution, not for prestige). We read, “God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death” (1 Corinthians 4:9).
The apostles were not divinely appointed church bosses. They left church management to others. In Acts 15, the man who did that kind of thing, James, was not an apostle. James the Apostle had already been martyred (Acts 12).
We read nothing about apostles giving out orders. Their special honor was that “they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name,” and they rejoiced (Acts 5:41). Suffering as pioneers of Christ was the only high status that they enjoyed.
When Apostles are sought, there is no shortage of applicants. It is a noble title. But how many would want to be an apostle knowing what they really had to do?
I do not think apostleship meant sitting at the managing director’s desk. They did not just sit around in committee meetings all day long. Apostle means “sent one.”
What were they sent to do? First, they were sent to evangelize. Second, to suffer for it. Let me tell you – to witness and to evangelize is our privilege. We are doing just what the Apostles did.
The Lord appointed the twelve as His first witnesses. They were sent to introduce the gospel to the world, and our task is to follow on. Their distinction as apostles was to initiate all evangelism. Jesus gave them His teaching, and they passed it to us. They were the foundation. We tread where they led.
“Apostle” was not a title of honor to make them famous. It described what they should do (go), and what they should be (prime targets for persecution, not for prestige). We read, “God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death” (1 Corinthians 4:9).
The apostles were not divinely appointed church bosses. They left church management to others. In Acts 15, the man who did that kind of thing, James, was not an apostle. James the Apostle had already been martyred (Acts 12).
We read nothing about apostles giving out orders. Their special honor was that “they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name,” and they rejoiced (Acts 5:41). Suffering as pioneers of Christ was the only high status that they enjoyed.
