Introduction

Since the mid 1990's a renewed interest in the full restoration of the 5 fold ministry, especially the foundation offices of Apostle and Prophet which has been neglected for Century's. The author of this booklet is a stanch believer that God is in fact restoring the misunderstood and much abused gifts, and that the restoration of these gifts in full operation are essential to fulfill God's Kingdom purposes.

One difficulty discussed by emerging Apostolic and Prophetic leaders surrounds the financing of extra-local ministries, especially apostles and prophets. Over the past several years, many fads, excesses, schemes and fraud has been perpetuated, some innocently, some maliciously. This booklet attempts to present a biblical and practical view of financing these two key foundational offices for the glory of God.

In 1948 God began to speak a word to His church of the importance of the prophetic and apostolic ministries. This move of God was known as the Latter Reign Movement. God began to speak through anointed leaders concerning the restoration of the Fivefold Ministry Gifts that Paul teaches about in Ephesians 4:11 when he says:

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers..."

There was a small segment of the church that began to hear and teach this word about the apostolic and the prophetic and associated matters. For those involved in these teachings, excitement was experienced and hope was ignited, as they anticipated a new and unique move of the Spirit.

The first emphasis on prophecy out of this move was personal prophecy. Paul mentions prophecy in a number of passages - Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

Romans

12:6 - Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

1 Corinthians 12 and 14

12:28 - 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.

14:3 - But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.

14:29 - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
14:32 - And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

14:39 - Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.
It took a long time, about four decades for this vital teaching to develop and spread throughout the body of Christ. In the 1080's, the prophetic became more broadly received in the church. The Lord began to set the prophetic in order, and to establish the gift in the body of Christ in a strong way. It became possible to clearly delineate between that which was of out in left field somewhere and that which was really the voice of God to His Body.

The prophetic gift manifested in the office of prophet and is still in a developing place today. Even some of the more renowned prophets, when you think about what God wants to restore, are pretty immature. We are in process as the Lord continues to develop His prophetic anointing and specifically the office of prophet as a foundation gift in His Body. 

Further, God continues to raise up men and women with established prophetic gifting.  of prophet is being manifested more and more Throughout the world, men of God are recognized as true Prophets in the House, with a mission to envision the body to be restored to the foundations of the Apostolic Church that Jesus is building. The Lord is beginning to show the body a greater revelation and maturity of this often neglected ministry gift.

God is always culturally current in the operation of His gifts. He meets people right where they are.  I struggled to the point of distraction with certain changes in culture, such as aspects of dress, body piercing, types of music, video craze and certain ways people think and act.   We must recognize that God does not get upset, nor throw people away because of their actions. He is culturally current, and meets people right where they are in their pilgrimage of life.  Please understand that when you get on the bus, and you get a word for somebody, you probably wouldn't get too much receptivity if you said, "Yay, verily thus saith the Lord, He has been speaking to me, verily about your life, I have a word from God for you?" I don't think today the average person is going to connect with that presentation and the language of Old English. But when you get a word for some one and you express it in a culturally current way, they are more apt to receive from you. For example, instead of King James one might state a question or share a word knowledge or a vision:

• Does this thought mean anything to you?
• I am sensing that you should ... what do you think?
• I see a lake with green grass and a white house does that mean anything?

Within our culture, God continues to speak prophetically, but will do so in terms relevant to the individual culture. Rest assured, God is speaking through the prophetic today. This gift is a foundational gift that is needed, wanted (or should be). It is coming to maturity for the sake of preparing the body of Christ to fulfill God's kingdom purposes. Today, many recognized prophets are speaking to the church words of preparation and encouragement concerning the Lord's direction both in the church and society.

At the same period of time the Lord begun to emphasis the restoring of the apostolic gift to His church. From 1948 until present, there have been those talking about the apostolic and some have recognized individuals as Apostles. The 1990's saw an increase of prophetic words concerning the restoration of the apostolic office and ministry. Today there formedn numerous groups, movements and concepts relating to the apostolic. I have heard distorted teachings as well as wonderful understandings about the apostolic taught. Many times the most unscriptural teachings can become the most popular because they appeal to the senses rather than the spirit of man.

I will clarify my meaning with a few examples of these ramblings about the prophetic and the apostolic:

1) Prophetic

• strange prophetic words being declared, especially on the Internet that relate to the "last days" (some predicting dooms day events, while others saying this is a time to get ready for a lot of prosperity)
• words that are not judged or held with accountability before recognized leaders
• (prophecy, whether given to an individual or to the corporate body, must be judged by true leaders that are recognized for their character and gift in the body of Christ)
• personal directive prophecy not submitted to leaders 

2) Apostolic

• a strong emphasis on titles
• men taking the office to themselves
• types of apostles not found in the scriptures (vertical apostles, horizontal apostles, market place apostles, women apostles
• broad conferring of the apostolic gift (seems like everybody is now an apostle) 

My opinion on this subject is not relevant, but a solid base of scripture is! Some take a verse and twist it to make it support their viewpoint which I consider a miss-handling of scripture.

We are in transition in the restoration process of restoring these wonderful and needed gifts to His church.  So hang loose brethren! In other words, we don't want to get too hung up on a particular narrowness of understanding, but realize that this is a process in the Lord changing our paradigm. If we are going to move with on with Jesus as He builds His, we must recognize what He is doing in the present. If we stay where the cloud was, we will end up with a dried up place. So we have must move with the cloud and move when it moves. The restoration of the apostolic and prophetic gift to the church is what the Lord is doing now.

The purpose of this booklet is to help us consider the apostolic and finances.  This subject my not be inspirational for some, but my hope is that our understandings will be developed so that a more effective ministry will emerge.

We are living in what I call apostolic times. God desires to restore to His church the whole spectrum of apostolic ministry. This is a season that is demanding a shift in our thinking in order to fully embrace what the Lord is speaking to His church. If we are not willing to make this shift in our thinking from pastoral to apostolic, we will miss God, and we will miss what God desires to accomplish. It is necessary for us to stay fluid rather than locking into one particular teaching or movement in the apostolic. We must listen carefully to what the Lord is saying and be open to change. For example: "I didn't see that before. I didn't understand it that that way. I thought it was this way." A willingness to say, "yes Lord, I will obey your orders". Perhaps there is something more that God wants to say, the big question is: are we willing to make the change that He requires of us?

As a point of understanding, there will never be apostles like the original twelve or Paul.  They were the foundational apostles of the Lord, "The Apostles of the Lamb". They were with Him physically and saw Him after His resurrection. But the apostolic gift has never been taken from the church.  Men moved away from the apostolic as an apostate spirit crept in, but the gift is foundational to the work of what the Lord is building in the earth.  It might not fit man's structures, but it is essenional to the Lord's building.

 Obviously we are to judge what is taught, not by our church doctrine or our by traditions, but by the application of biblical principles and models. When it comes to a change in emphasis, or new areas of instructions, we must pay attention to where change is coming from. For example:

• who is speaking about the change
• how is it affecting the church
• what is the motivation behind what is being taught

 There are a lot of ways to evaluate a teaching word and we must be a people that are fluid in our thinking, staying in a posture of receiving from the Lord regarding what the Lord desires to affect in His church and in our life.

Every believer ought to be an historian, to some degree, because it is demanded of us understand history. If we do not understand what happened in the past, we may well miss what is going on in the present, and will surely miss the future intentions of the Lord. Why is history important?

I am persuaded that the church has been slow to develop, because she doesn't learn from history, nor does she understand history well. One reason for the ignorance of church history is the emphasis on denominationalism. Individual groups might know their own history, rarely will they consider the larger picture regarding the body of Christ. It is important to understand that God has been working in and through the whole church, not just individual groups. The inability to understand times of change is critical to hearing God's voice and what He is emphasizing at a particular time in church history. The New Covenant is about a massive paradigm shift in thinking. A shift from the Old Covenant and Moses church to the New Covenant in Christ and the church He is building.

This is he who was in the church in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, (Acts 7:38 KJV)

The religious leaders of Israel misunderstood Messiah appearing because they did not discern the times and seasons. God couldn't have been clearer nor more explicit when He prophetically revealed the events leading up to Messiah's appearing. He revealed what would occur in nations prior to the of Messiah's arrival. It is amazing how they still missed the day of the Lord's appearing. The Lord spelled it out for them, right down to the year, the events and circumstances. Sadly they were not willing to shift in their thinking. They didn't understand where God was going. They did not use their history to give them guidance to the present and future purpose of the Lord in Israel. 

The church is rarely, if ever better. We don't understand where we came from, nor do we are going other than meeting Him at His return. 

This lack of understanding history is often seen in the counseling ministry. Many people today have parenting issues and family genealogy issues that are at the root of their current problems. There is a mixed bag of family experiences people have in their backgrounds. I speak and counsel with those that do not know who their father is.  Is it any wonder they are confused about "Father God" as we try to help them enter into the new birth and a son or daughter relationship with the Lord. It is a problem because there is not a natural foundation in their life to relate. It is important to take them back before we can go forward. Through the counseling ministry we ask questions about their past in order to know how to help them in the present. It is important to discover what happened and how the enemy established a stronghold in the life of the individual. Just as a foundation and history is needed for an individual's healing and growth, so it is for the church.

Let me provide an example: Many of God's people are looking for an apostasy that is yet to come, when in fact it has already happened. The church has been in an apostate condition for centuries. Reformation and restoration is a significant part of church history. The Lord has been brining His church out of an apostate condition back to the apostolic foundations in order to fulfill His Eternal purpose in the church and in the earth. I call this transition.

 The church began on apostolic foundations, but became apostate by moving away from what the early apostles taught and lived out. The church moved from the reality of God's kingdom manifested in the lives of individuals and community to smalls and bells. It left the priesthood of the believer for a "priestly class", men lording over the church and God's people. The Spirit of God has been moving for centuries to restore the church back to the apostolic foundation of the early apostles. A foundation laid in understanding Jesus statement:

"I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail."

The obvious implication is that "the gates of hell" would attempt to prevent the church from emerging to fulfill the Lord's purposes.  For centuries the battle has been to establish the Lord's church in the earth. The apostate church is manifested with "a man" or "men" being on top, rather than Jesus the heard directing His church through the Spirit and the Word in the context of a committed community of believers, led by gifted individuals.

The apostolic is not about any man that is standing on earth. It is about the One who is seated in the heavens. If a man is an apostle, it is only because Jesus, the Apostle, is manifesting His apostolic nature in that man, not because the man is anything. This is true with any of the ministry gifts as well. If one is a prophet, The Lord Jesus who is "That Prophet", has given a portion of His prophetic gift.