More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
October 6 - October 20, 2018
Since the 1990s (when the first edition of this book was published), the world has seen more quantity, intensity and sophistication of activities involving aggressive spiritual warfare than ever before in recorded history,
John Eckhardt focuses his whole book on the completion of Jesus’ Great Commission.
Jesus’ words in John 14:12? “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
God is stirring up in His people a discontent with the average, run-of-the-mill, status quo Christianity that has tided us over, for the most part, since the deaths of the early apostles. God is calling His Church to step out of mediocrity and into the fullness of its calling and heritage, that the Great Commission might finally be fulfilled and the glorious return of Christ realized. But that will only happen through the restoration of the apostolic ministry
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19–20
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15
what it means to be sent, so that each of us may then go forth and fulfill what God has called and gifted and equipped us to do. To be an apostle, or to be apostolic, revolves around the concept of being sent. Only sent ones can fulfill the Great Commission. Only sent ones will be able to overcome the impossible odds that stand in the way of being able to say, “Mission accomplished.”
Let’s first define the term commission. A commission is simply a matter or task entrusted to a person who acts as an agent of another. This means that the task has been authorized by someone with authority.
Jesus authorized the apostles to go into all the world to preach. He authorized them to teach and make disciples of all nations (literally, all people groups). To commission means to authorize, appoint, charge, empower, dispatch and entrust with a mission.
Although evangelism is an important part, the commission is essentially apostolic, incorporating evangelism to fulfill it. Sent ones do more than evangelize. Sent ones preach, teach, prophesy and do the works of Jesus.
This is the basic definition of the word apostle: It comes from the Greek word apostolos, meaning a delegate, an ambassador of the Gospel, officially a commissioner of Christ (with miraculous powers), a messenger, he that is sent. Before this word found its way into our Bible, it was a secular term used by the Greeks and Romans to describe special envoys who were sent out for the purpose of expanding the dominion of the empire. Many of these envoys were military generals with authority to go into new territories and fight, if necessary, to establish the Greek or Roman culture in that region.
...more
commission given to the first apostles. They were sent into the territories of the earth to convert multitudes of people and incorporate them into the Kingdom of God. They were given power and authority to accomplish the task. They were responsible for teaching, training and instructing new believers, making them productive citizens of the Kingdom. Apostles were sent to establish the Kingdom in the hearts of people and to establish churches throughout the world. They were given the power of the Holy Spirit to help them fulfill this mission. If the commission is apostolic, that means only sent
...more
“The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
an awareness of being sent. A sense of purpose and destiny results from the apostolic spirit—a focus upon fulfilling a divine commission. All ministers are sent by the Lord (see Romans 10:15), but the very heartbeat of apostleship is the recognition of being sent.
As you read this book, your mission—should you choose to accept it—is to receive clarity and understanding concerning apostles and apostolic people; to learn to flow and operate in this dimension; and to become an active part of fulfilling the mission given to
God go with you, sent one.
There are seasons when God refreshes His people and also seasons when God restores truths and ministries that have been lost through sin, neglect and tradition. We are now in a time of restoration (or “restitution,” as the King James Version reads) of apostolic ministry to the Church.
keep in mind that God wants to bring restoration and restitution to your life, in personal areas as well as in areas of ministry.
Things deteriorate through neglect; decline is inevitable without constant upgrade and renovation. Restoration is then necessary to correct and change the situation.
Restoration within the Church—and that includes each of us personally—will happen as a result of God’s mercy. He will not allow us to languish in the deterioration of the past. Because of His great love, He restores to us what we need to fulfill His plans and purposes for the earth.
Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you—the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. . . . So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. Joel 2:23, 25, emphasis added
It is the new thing that God is doing, and it is fresh.
God’s people are now coming out of the holes and prison houses. The Church is crying out for the restoration of authentic apostolic ministry. We are praying for restoration and declaring it prophetically. A new liberty is coming to the Church, and a new freedom in ministry is being released through the restoration of apostolic ministry.
The need to restore the apostolic to the Church is not a brand-new idea. In 1896, John Alexander Dowie, the founder of the Christian Catholic Church, preached a sermon from his headquarters in Chicago entitled “The Ministry of an Apostle—Is It for Today?”
Dowie maintained that God’s order is first apostles, second prophets, third teachers.
Dowie preached a message of the restoration of the apostle to the Church that was ahead of its time.
important forerunner of the modern Pentecostal movement, Dowie brought to the Church a message of healing and deliverance that had been obscured for hundreds of years.
Hundreds were healed and thousands came to hear his preaching, to the point that he was able to fill the second-largest auditorium in Chicago.
The apostles were given instructions by the Lord before He left: They were to go into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature and to teach all nations. They were also given the power and authority to carry out these instructions.
The Restored Church And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28
This modern restoration began in the 1830s with healing in the American holiness movement under Charles Finney and Phoebe Palmer, the 1860s under Dr. Charles Cullis, the Keswick movement (with internationally famous leaders such as William Boardman, A. J. Gordon, R. L. Stanton, R. Kelso Carter, Andrew Murray and A. B. Simpson), Carrie Judd, Maria Woodworth-Etter and John Alexander Dowie.2
The 1940s and 1950s saw a further restoration of healing and miracles with the coming of many healing evangelists. The restoration of the teacher came in the 1970s, followed by a strong move of the prophetic in the 1980s. Finally, the 1990s saw the beginning of the restoration of the apostolic office.
With the restoration of the office of the apostle comes a restoration of apostolic doctrine, apostolic binding and loosing, apostolic revelation, apostolic governments and apostolic boldness. According to the prophet Haggai, the glory of the latter temple (the Church) shall be greater than the former (see Haggai 2:9).
But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.” So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it. 2 Kings 6:5–7
The lost ax head represents the anointings that were submerged under religion and tradition for centuries. With the apostolic and prophetic anointings being returned to the Church, we are seeing a return of the ax head. These are cutting-edge ministries that give the Church the ability to build.
This is what the Lord is requiring the Church to do in this hour. We must take up the apostolic and prophetic ministries that are coming up from the place of submersion. These anointings are once again coming to the surface. We must not be afraid to pick them up. God is doing His part; now we must do ours.
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
Acts 1:8
“go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” and to “make disciples of [teach] all the nations” (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19).
it is an assignment given to all believers. Each of us who has received Jesus Christ as Savior has a part to play in the fulfillment of this commission.
My vision for the local church was limited, however, because I did not fully understand the apostolic mandate upon my life.
This apostolic mandate is also found in Acts 13:47: “For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Where did they find this commission? Where did it come from? It came from the prophetic word spoken by Isaiah hundreds of years before: “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
missionaries to foreign lands will not do. Thank God for every missionary who has labored in the field; many have done great works. Many, however, have been sent out by mission boards instead of being sent out by the Lord.
Just as the evangelists were stirred to go to the nations (and will continue to go), the Lord is stirring up the apostles and prophets to go as they begin to recognize their commission and anointing.
Dear evangelist, pastor and teacher, do not fight the apostles and prophets the Lord is raising up. They are needed in order to fulfill the Great Commission, just as you are.
The Uttermost Part of the Earth But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8 KJV
It is larger than our local church. It is larger than our city or nation. We cannot contain it or limit it to these areas.
the beginning of the release of a new anointing for the world. The Lord told me to tell His people that we are not walking in the fullness of this anointing until we are touching the uttermost parts of the earth. If we are just touching a few in our city or region, we are only walking in a part of the power available to us. The power of the Holy Spirit is given to us to touch nations.
the American church has a responsibility to touch the nations of the earth. Just as America’s government cannot limit itself to a domestic policy but must also have a strong foreign policy, so it is with the Church in America. Every church must have a foreign policy.
