The Plumbline

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping. (Psalm 18:30-32, 36 NLT) I have to ask - what 'way' have you chosen in life? Has it always been the 'right' way? Or have you been like me, choosing the 'right' way most of the time, but still finding the 'wrong' way kind of like a menacing 'pusher of buttons' on occasion? You do everything you can to avoid having those buttons pushed, but there are just times when there is no resisting in your own power and that is what you have been leaning on way too much. God's protection is there for us, but we choose to lean on our own resistance way too frequently. We think we have it 'handled', but don't even realize how futile that self-determi...

 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13) If you have been in church circles for any length of time, you have probably heard the term 'the five-fold ministry' of the church at least once or twice. Christ gave particular instructions as to how his body of believers would operate. The purpose of the five-fold ministry is really quite simple - to equip his people to do his work and build up the believers into a unified body of faith-filled, fully equipped disciples. The apostles are sent out to establish new churches - helping plant new churches wherever they are called. The prophets are list...