Teaching

By George Bakalov In 1 Cor. 9:2 Paul the apostle says: "You are the seal of my apostleship" Think about it: a seal is the visible sign of someone's authority. We know we all want the seal of God's approval. But let's not be more 'spiritual' than Paul. He could have said to the Corinthian believers that they are the seal of God's power working through Paul.

But it is Jesus, the High Priest and the Apostle of our confession who has given apostles to the Church to extend the seal of God's Kingdom authority. The two worst extremes in the Church are the religious institutionalization and the post-modern socialistic leadership myth.

The first has to deal with dead religious institutions. They are over structured, over liturgical, over ceremonial and sickening ritualistic. The epitome of spirituality in these religious systems is the "arch" status of ecclesiastical hierarchy. I can't see this in the New Testament. Jesus is the Head and authorities who are truly from him are not positional, elected by the vote of man or vested with power from secular institutions. Rather I see the fivefold ministry, complete with gifts, callings and anointing coming from God, giving life and light to God's people.

The other leadership extreme is the post-modern 'socialistic' leadership myth. It's actually a poor reaction to the institutionalism of the apostate religious structures. The myth there is that everyone is equal and there is no such thing as 'authority'. It's this invisible 'socialistic' spirit in many charismatic circles that operates out of the mentality: "Man is sinful, has failed many times, therefore can't be trusted with too much authority". Cases like Ted Haggard's of course represent the 'empirical evidence' of this position and philosophy of ministry. The pastor or any other leader is casual, Vineyard style guy who never wears a tie, everyone makes sure they keep them humble by referring to him (or her) on a first name basis and everything good comes from God, regardless who the vessel is.

The problem with those two extremes is that they can never produce believers who bear the seal of an apostle because they don't allow apostles to operate fully in their midst.

As a result, we have so many free floating Christians, who have read hundreds of books, have watched everyone's TV show, listened to hundreds of tapes, have been to hundreds of conferences but still DON'T HAVE THE SEAL OF ANYONE'S APOSTLESHIP on their lives!

As a result we have a Church without authority and therefore without fruit. We think our being good religious consumers equates discipleship and ministry. Unlike the automobile, we get 'refueled' by receiving ministry, but we burn all our energy in survival and personal battles, while feeling like our wheels are spinning without any traction. We fail to translate our 'knowledge' into power and put that power to work for someone else. Possibly one tenth of Christians in the average church in America are actually working and actively ministering and up to 90% of the people are simply observers and consumers of what comes from the pulpit and the programs of the organization.

The truth is that most of us (in America) don't need all the smorgasbord of TV and radio personalities we are saturated with. The greatest need out there is the sent ones of God to be received by those they are sent to and be allowed to pour and impart to the Church what Jesus the Head has given them to release in the world.

- Ask yourself: do I have the seal of an apostle in my life? - Have I received an impartation from a living, breathing vessel of honor who carries true, living authority from God? - Does my 'knowledge' input translate into adequate spiritual 'output'? - Am I impacting others around me? - Do THEY see the visible sign of the apostleship on my life?

Or am I living in a spiritual Disneyland where I'm only playing a 'powerful' Christian, while waiting on someone to come and make my 'ministry' happen? Because people who have truly received an impartation, the seal of apostleship coming through a living, breathing man or a woman of God, are usually those who are making things happen, not waiting for someone to come and make it happen for them.

George P. Bakalov