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And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 1 Corint 11:24
Veteran, are you able to change your options?
First and foremost, The House of God is for worshipping Him and learning His Word with understanding. A lot of things done in some Churches get away from that. It was the priests duty to stand up and read the meaning of The Word of God to the congregation. The people then didn't have the language and idiom barriers that we have when they heard. So it's a duty of a pastor who is studied to impart the sense and meaning of God's Word to us in Church. Those two things are the main purposes for our gathering together at a Church.
"So it's a duty ofa pastor(every brother) who is studied to impart the sense and meaning of God's Word to us in Church"
I don't advocate going back any more than God does. But because the church is so out of order, I must say that the only time a Pastor taught in the early Church was when the Apostle, Prophet and Teacher were out of town. I Cor.12:28 And God has "set" these in the Church: first Apostles, second prophets, third Teachers. That Godly order has never changed, except when men have ignored it and created their own orders, from service order to pastors being the "set" man. Interesting that He gives the order after teaching the spiritual gifts. We don't see manifestations any where near Biblical Proportions in the westernized church world, due in large part to a dearth of Godly order.This Board has an order. The spiritual Army of God has order, just as the natural U.S. army does. No order, no peace, no peace, chaos. We should embrace the order of this board and stop the immature sniping and backbiting. There is nothing in trying to make yourself heard and right. Everyone is doing what they can with what they have. We should be nourishing each other, not attacking one another. No person, denomination, not the body of Christ throughout time and eternity has all the Truth.
When we attend a Church, what are we supposed to be there for?
[sup]1 Corinthians 14:26[/sup] How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
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What is the context of this verse?
1Co 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
Do you really think Paul was giving the church an "order of service," ie. bulletin, with this verse? or was he telling the church something else? (see 1 Cor 12 – 14:40)
I think Paul was telling us we should operate in the Spirit.
[sup]1[/sup] Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: (1 Cor. 12)
Is the church today operating in spiritual gifts, and is it led of the Holy Spirit? Mostly, the church is led by money (mammon), hierarchy, which goes directly against the teachings of Jesus, and one pet doctrine. The churches, and all the denominations have all chosen something that Jesus said, or Paul said, and made a church out of it, instead of walking in the reality of the fulness of the revelation of Christ.
Does the mainstream church operate in the Spirit? No. It operates in sermons... Institutions... Nobody wants the risk of letting God have his way and destroy all our ideologies.
The gifts in their operation are fluid as you noted, the yielded minister can manifest the particulars of any of the gifts.I do differ however on one of these gifts, as well as three being the total. One thing to keep in mind is the man is not his gifting, nor the gift the man.The evangelist though, in my view, is hands down the most misunderstood of them all. Eph. 4:11-13 includes the evangelist as a gift TO the Church, not the world(in the gifting). Certainly he is to share Jesus, as a mere man, as we all are. Paul in II Tim. 4:1-5 is preparing his ministry son timothy for the Church at Ephesus, v.5 says do the work of an evangelist. The work is described in v.2, rebuke, exhort, convince, with all longsuffering and teaching. How much rebuking is a lost person going to put up with? How can someone with no proper teaching receive exhortation? The evangelist is called and set in the Church. Like the smallest finger on the hand of God, digging deep into the ears of God's kids. I know many today don't recognize the Apostle. Consider II Cor.10:3-6, usually a spiritual warfare passage shows his work. Mat.20:16 the first shall be last and the last shall be first! Our Father began with Apostles and will finish with Apostles. There will be some who can be delt with and not run away. People that will allow an earthly father to be the conduit for The Father. Sadly, some can, some can't and some won't!It's the duty of those whom our LORD calls in that office by The Holy Spirit. Not all believers are called for that duty.
Apostle Paul was called to fill the offices of a pastor (teacher) and evangelist (preach The Gospel), as he was overseer of the Churches. But today most evangelists and ministers are also labeled as pastors, confusing the different offices. Each Church should really have all three.