This week we continue our study with Ephesians 4:14:

This mature condition is stated as being the result of believers being equipped by the ministries listed in verse 11. If we look at this in the reverse we could say that the reason for the immaturity and instability of Christians is their tendency...

This week we continue the study of the purpose of equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11 with what must be considered one of the most amazing verses in the Scriptures, Ephesians 4:13. It states that these ministries are given: “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 fulness of Christ.”

I greatly appreciate the renewal movements and revivals that have arisen in such places as Toronto and Pensacola....

For the last few weeks we have briefly discussed the functions of the five equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11. Now we will proceed to discuss their purpose in a little more depth, which is stated as being “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). So what does it mean to “equip” the saints?

We often think of equipping as teaching but it is more than that. It is even more than training,...

The teacher is the last of the five equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11, but it is foundational for all of the other ministries. To equip others will require teaching as well as training and impartation. However, the teaching ministry is one that focuses on imparting the knowledge of God’s ways, especially as revealed through the Scriptures, by the Spirit.

As with the ministry of the pastor, we do not have a New Testament example of one who was exclusively a teacher, though we have in Acts 13:1 a list of five men who were “prophets and teachers.” Obviously...

In our study of the equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11, our next ministry is the pastor.

Last week we discussed that there were over twenty people in the New Testament who are referred to as apostles, only a couple who are referred to as prophets, and only one who is called an evangelist—Philip. We do not have a single person in the New Testament who is called a pastor. This verse, Ephesians 4:11, is the only place in the New Testament where this ministry is even mentioned. This leads us to a very important question. How did this ministry,...