People have asked as we have held our apostolic ministers summits in different parts of our country, “what is this apostolic restoration, is it a new church movement, or denomination, or perhaps one of those fads that sweep through the body of Christ from time to time”? it is none of these, it is the returning of Church or Body of Christ to her apostolic roots, it is the Church rediscovering the life, power, character and spirit the characterized the lives of Jesus and His Apostles.
This apostolic restoration is not the figment of the imagination of an idealist, neither is it the product of wishful thinking, it is the fruit of the power and work of the Holy Spirit today.
Jesus said
“In the last days, I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh” we are living in those days and God is pouring out His Spirit as He has promised.
I remember in my early years as a Christian, how that the Holy Spirit led us to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our days, often night after night was spent in prayer to God asking for a spirit of refreshing upon the Church, this outpouring of prayer was happening all over the world, at that time it seemed that nothing was happening in response to these prayers, but God had heard and was responding in His time.
It is important to realize that prayer always preceded every outpouring of the Holy Spirit, this is God’s way, He moves on people to pray then answers their prayers with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to establish His own will.
One day God said to me ‘in the last days I will restore the office of the Apostle and the Prophet’, at that time it was unheard of for Pentecostal people to address themselves as Apostles and or Prophets, but much has changed since then, hasn’t it.
A few years ago the Lord said to me in a vision ‘the revival you have long prayed for is upon you’.
In between these experiences God began to open my eyes to the huge difference between the Church as it stood today and the Church that Jesus left behind after His resurrection, I began to get powerful revelation from the word about the character of the emerging apostolic Church.
In terms of character, power, life or spirit there was no comparison between both eras. What was the difference? The early Church was apostolic this present Church is not. The word apostolic is gotten from the Greek word apostolos, from which the word apostle is derived, it means one who is sent or special messenger.
Jesus is described in the book of Hebrews as the High Priest and Apostle of our profession, in his teaching and his discourses, Jesus often described himself as one who was sent and that all he did was based on the fact that he was committed to fulfilling the will of the One who sent Him.
“My meat is to do the will of Him that SENT me and to finish His work”.
All that Jesus did or said was conditioned by this fact, He was sent, this relationship between Jesus and the Father was apostolic, Jesus before his ascension said to his disciples, “as my father has sent me so said I you” in other words just as he maintained a life and service based on his relationship with the father, so he expected his disciples to maintain a life and service based strictly on his words to them.
This is where the modern church has failed, the words of Jesus do not mean the same thing to us as it meant to the early church, Jesus is the life of the Church, He is not only our saviour but he is also our Lord, the platform on which the apostolic rests is in the relationship of Jesus to the believer, is He Lord or merely savior?
God is pouring out His Spirit to all flesh, He is drawing people into the same kind of relationship that existed between Him and Jesus and Jesus and the early Church, these people will be sold out to Jesus, not for them the religion and traditions of the Pharisees, to them the words of Jesus will be the most important thing in the world, they will be carriers of a new glory, focused on following Jesus and living His life on earth.
God is raising up men and women with genuine apostolic calls, they will lead the church back to her apostolic roots, however not every body will follow these, some will resist it, because of fear, a fear of losing positions or privileges or political influence, but for those who will follow, whatever seemed to be lost in the natural will be rewarded with true spiritual power and impact.
The local church will be rebuilt on true apostolic foundations, many churches will re-evaluate their practices and shelve human foundations and practices, there will be an emphasis on equipping God’s people for service, many lay ministries will spring up doing great works for Jesus, some ministers will feel threatened by this move of the Spirit and will resist it, but for those who will yield to it and allow the Holy Spirit change their paradigms, they will experience fresh waves of glory.
The emphasis of the Church will shift from buildings and material things to building people and empowering them. Revival is coming and is even upon us yet many will not seem to realize it until they find themselves right in the middle of it. Jesus has promised to build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
In summary the apostolic restoration is the returning of the Church to the pattern and practice of faith as Jesus taught and the first apostles and Church practiced.
As we hold our apostolic leaders summits our one goal is to proclaim this move of the Holy Spirit and to help thousands of church leaders find their place in this move of the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith as they do this thousands of believers in their churches and ministries will be released to find and fulfill their destinies in God.