The Lord will restore that which
the devourer, even Satan, has taken away from God's
people. For only as there is a restoration of that which
has been lost, can there be a fulfillment of that which
the Lord has purposed. Once again, the Lord will eat the
good of the land and enjoy the fruit of that which He
has given them. He will restore true shepherds
to His people and He will cause
to cease the false shepherds and remove them from being
shepherds over His people. And He will raise up
shepherds who will feed the flock and lead the sheep
into that good land that has been prepared for
them.
Who are those
shepherds? They are the ministries who are called and
ordained by the Lord, that they should feed His sheep
and lead them by the still waters where they may drink
and be refreshed, and into green pastures where they can
lie down and find rest. The Lord's true ministries will
be restoredto His people,
even apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors
and teachers. There are five in number just as the
fingers on our hands. As a shepherd uses his hands to
care for the sheep, so will the "hands" of the Lord's
ministries care for those who have been committed
to them. Those who have been ordained to care for the
sheep when the ministries have done that work
committed to them are those local elders whom the
Lord will raise up from the midst of His people. They
will care for the flock and shepherd them. And from time
to time, as the need arises, He will send one of His
ministries to strengthen and help the people. But, when
the ministry has gone, then the elders will shepherd the
people.
These two groups will work together
for the benefit of God's people. The ministries will
lift up the elders and help them, and the elders will
uphold those ministries that are sent to them. Thus the
two work together for the upbuilding of God's people.
The ministries will not usurp the place of the elders,
neither will the elders try to fulfill the place of a
ministry. For both are needed. And the Lord's people
will not be torn between those who want to dominate on
the one hand, and those who aspire to that which has not been given to them
on the other. Again, there is need of both.
The ministries will have
greater ability in the Word and in the gifts of
the Lord's grace; and so they will have to be
careful not to dominate the flock and fail
to give them a chance to develop in that which
He has given to each one. Likewise, when no
ministry is present, the elders are also to help
the members of the body to grow and develop in
that which has been allotted to
them.
Through the direction of the
Spirit, the Lord will cause His ministries to
flow throughout the whole Body, so that the
benefit of that which He has given to them will
be ministered to all and not just to a few.
Therefore each ministry will be free to obey the
Lord and go where He sends and to do that which
is needed in a certain place among God's people.
Then He may lead him on to another place where
there is need. These ministries will be free to
go where the Lord directs, that whatever He sees
is needed may be met by those He sends. He also
does not want the ministries hired out or under
any obligation to any group whereby they will be
unable to move at the behest of His Spirit. They
are to be supported by the free will
offerings of the people so that their needs may
be met and they may be free to minister where He
places them.
When His ministries do minister to
a certain local group, they will not seek to take all
the prerogatives of shepherding
to themselves, but they will
work with the local shepherds to build up God's people.
Neither will they seek to usurp the place given to the
elders, but they will respect that position to which the
elders have been called and not try to take away that
which belongs to them. A ministry will only come to
strengthen that which needs to be strengthened and not
to tear down.