Apostles

Theme For The Week: Our main text for this series of devotionals is from Ephesians 4.

Intro Prayer: “Jesus, please help me in this time to be fully present to You and to myself that I may commune with You for the sake of your glory and the world around me.”

Silence: In this time, try and become silent before the Lord both internally and externally for 5 minutes. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to stillness.

Praise: Bless the Lord by declaring these truths about Him!

“You are the name above all names, who never fails and never grows tired or weary. You are the One who draws near, and you are making all things new. You sit in the heavens and need nothing.”

Devotional: Apostles are one of the critical gifts God has given to the church for her growth. In the days of Jesus, when a kingdom wanted to start a new colony, they would send out the apostle ship, whose mission was to establish the culture of the sending empire in this new land. When Jesus calls the 12 in Luke 5, He is calling his own apostles, to send them out to bring the culture of the way of Jesus into new territory.

These are not the only apostles of Jesus. In fact, in Luke 10 he sends out 72 apostles to carry the good news of his kingdom to new places. By the time we have read our way through the New Testament, we will see a total of 83 people (men and women) referred to as apostles.

Only a few of the original Apostle's had the assignment to write Scripture, and the Bible is complete. We don't need a new chapter, verse, book, etc. What we do need is for new generations of apostles to pioneer Gospel works in new places because God's desire is for all the world to know Him and to live in His good and beautiful Kingdom.

Scripture: Read today’s text slowly. Feed your spirit on the words. Your goal in this time is to commune with Jesus through His Word. Take note as you sense His Presence.

Ephesians 4.11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Worship: Worship forms the truths of Scripture deep within our lives. This week we will be worshipping to the song New Wine by Hillsong. It is a passionate cry for a fresh move of God in our lives.

Listen: Take time to listen to the Holy Spirit. Write down anything you sense the Lord speaking.

Obedience: What from today is the Lord calling you to put in practice? Could be to pray for someone, to call someone, to serve someone etc.