We are called to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, not just follow principles or doctrines. Knowing principles and sound biblical doctrine is important, but we’re called to follow a Person, not just teachings about Him. As we have been covering, to follow Him we must see Him. Our goal to follow Him more closely begins with seeing Him better.

         We are continuing the theme of what Jesus said before His crucifixion, that from that time on, we would not see Him until we say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” This indicates that, to see Him after He departed the earth in His physical form, we would have to see Him in those He sends. This should be the primary way we look for Him.

         As we see in Ephesians 4, when He ascended, He gave gifts to men, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Jesus was the Apostle, the Prophet, the Evangelist, the Shepherd, and the Teacher. By giving these ministries, He was actually giving Himself to His people. He called the church His body, so He could manifest Himself through it to do all He did when He walked the earth. For this reason, He said the things that He did, we would do also. 

         So, we should not recognize someone as a pastor just because they have a degree in pastoral ministry, or because they care for people, or are good counselors. Instead, we should recognize them as having this ministry when we see our Shepherd in them. Likewise, we should know someone is a teacher when we hear our Teacher in them. It’s the same with all the other gifts and ministries—we are looking for Christ in them.

         This does not mean that someone anointed to be a teacher in the body of Christ will be as good as Jesus was. As we read in Ephesians 4:15, we “grow up in all aspects into Him,” and so we must grow in the ministries and gifts we are given, as we grow up into Him. We should also acknowledge that if someone is manifesting just 10% of God, that is awesome! We can overlook all that is them, to see that which is Jesus, and thereby appreciate Him and them. 

         The church is now the Lord’s body that He uses to do His works on the earth. When we polled people coming to our conferences to see how many of them knew their gifts or ministries (which according to Ephesians all Christians have) we found that far less than 10% had any idea what gifts or callings they had been given. Of course, one cannot function in something they are not aware of. Think about that. How well would you be doing if less than 10% of your body was functioning? That is the present condition of the body of Christ. 

         Ephesians 4:11-13 may be the most important text of Scripture for the body of Christ today:

         And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 

         for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, to the building up of the body of Christ;

         until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 

         We now have many people calling themselves apostles and prophets, but how many are actually fulfilling their primary duty to equip the saints for the work of the ministry? Obviously, those who have “equipping ministries” are not doing their job well if less than 10% of believers even know their gifts and callings. 

         Could it be that the true biblical stature of these equipping ministries is yet to be revealed in our time? That has been my conviction for many years. The Scripture is clear we must have them to become the church we are called to be, so we must not settle for anything less. However, let’s not get discouraged about how we do not yet measure up to the biblical stature of being His body. Instead, let’s look at how much we can yet grow in Him!

© 2021 Rick Joyner. All Right Reserved.