"Where does this fit in with the ministry? And if I have a Fivefold Business calling, how does that fit with my Ministry Calling?"

So in this first section I want to try and explain to you what these two different roads look like. This is so that you can find out which road you are supposed to be on, and how you can approach both ministry and business without any confusion.

A Mystery

The apostle Paul taught that the church was a mystery. In other words the revelation or pattern of the New Testament was not visible in the Old Testament. It wasn't even visible during the ministry of Jesus.

God gave revelation specifically to the apostle Paul, and He gave him a picture of what the New Testament church would look like.

It was very different to what people were expecting. It went right against all Jewish thinking. And for a while I think it blew everybody's minds because it just wasn't what they were expecting. It was so different.

Paul spoke about this mystery and he called it his gospel. In Romans 16:25 and 26 he says,

Now to him that is capable of establishing you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 

But now is being made known, both through the writings of the prophets, and under the instruction of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

And then in Ephesians 3:3 to 5 he says,

How by revelation God made known to me the mystery; (as I wrote before in few words, 
Whereby, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ). Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

So Paul received a specific revelation and he said, "This revelation is now being revealed to the New Testament apostles and prophets."

It wasn't there before. It builds on what God had before, but it has not been revealed before. It is a mystery.

The End Times Church

There is a new mystery which God is unveiling in this day and age in which we live, and it is this mystery of the end times church. You may have read about this plenty of times under the ministry side.

A Glorious Church

What is this mystery? Firstly the church is not going to disappear again like it did in the Dark Ages, to be totally demolished, destroyed and vanish away.

The Lord has been restoring His church, and Jesus is building up His church for His return. And when He comes, He is coming for a glorious and victorious church. This is the message and the mystery of the end times church.

Why is it a mystery? Because if you read all the prophecies in the Old and New Testaments you won't find it.

You will find the story of the anti-Christ, the falling away and everybody turning from the faith. And we have this picture that by the time Jesus returns, the church will almost be non-existent and He will have to come and whip us out quickly before we all die.

That is not what the end times church will look like. So why didn't the Bible tell us?

Because it is a mystery; because God didn't want Satan to know ahead of time what He was going to do. But now in this day and age in which we live, the new mystery of the end times church is being revealed.

A Prosperous Church

What is it that caused the church to go into the Dark Ages? What caused it to die and be destroyed? And what is it today that the church is facing that is causing it to battle to survive and to continue to exist?

It is the power of the world over the church. The church has to be subservient to the world. The world dominates and controls. The World System, under the influence of Lucifer and his cohorts, is set to destroy the church of God.

What power does the world have? It has financial resources. And what power has the church always lacked through the years? It is financial resources.

God has a new plan for the end times church, which will prevent this church from going the same route that the old original church went.

God has a plan to deliver the church from the bondage to the world. That plan is a brand new mandate that involves business.

Right now in this day and age in which we live, God is raising up a new breed of entrepreneurs who carry a Fivefold Business calling, not a Fivefold Ministry calling.

Difference Between Ministry and Business

I want to explain to you the difference between the Fivefold Ministry calling and the Fivefold Business calling, so you can have no doubt in your mind as to exactly what this new business calling involves.

I want you to be clear what your ministry and your calling will involve if God has called you to such a calling.

Basic Ministry

Let's look at the whole concept of ministry. In Romans 12 we read about all the basic ministries. I have covered this elsewhere and am not going to repeat it here, but there is a series of ministries that are mentioned.

These ministries are actually basic human needs. They are things like the need for encouragement, for leadership, for teaching and instruction, financial help, etc.

These needs can be met either by using spiritual ministry or by financial help. Here they are in Romans 12:5 to 8:

So we, [being] many, are one body in Christ, and every one members of each other. 

Having then gifts that vary according to the grace that is given to us, [we should use them], if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; 
If service, in serving: a teacher, in teaching; 

If an encourager, in exhortation: one that gives, with generosity; one that rules, with diligence; one that shows compassion, with cheerfulness. 

You see these are all basic human needs, and those human needs can be met in a ministry context using ministries that God has given. However they can also be used in a business context by using financial resources that God will give.

Gifts of the Spirit

We look now at gifts of the Spirit. These are not naturalistic. They are totally, 100 percent supernatural, and they come by the empowerment of the Spirit of God.

The spiritual gifts add enabling power to the basic ministries. If you take a basic ministry and add spiritual gifts to it, you bring that basic ministry to a new level and power. This is because you now add something supernatural to what before could have been purely natural.

This is very easy to see when it comes to ministry. You simply add spiritual gifts to meet these basic needs in a ministry context.

How do you now add supernatural gifts to meet these basic needs in a business or financial context? That is something you need to understand.

Leadership Offices

We have the lower levels of basic ministries. We have the supernatural empowerment of the gifts of the Spirit. And as we put these together they lead upwards into leadership offices.

What is an office? An office is a permanent position not a function. We taught under the Fivefold Ministry, that a person who is placed into office is placed permanently in that position.

I taught there that an office is what we are, not what we do. So a prophet in office is somebody who is a prophet, not somebody who prophesies.

Prophetic Office

The fivefold leadership can either be ministry oriented or they can be business oriented. That is new isn't it?

This does not exclude ministry involvements. If you are in the office of a prophet, your Prophetic Ministry is not the same thing.

We have proved again and again, that a person in Prophetic Office is not someone who prophesies, but someone who has authority to decree.

The Prophetic Ministry is something totally different. Somebody in office may function in Prophetic Ministry, but somebody who is not in office can still function in Prophetic Ministry.

Someone who is in a different office like a teaching office, can also still function in Prophetic Ministry because ministry is the lower level. It is a combination of the basic ministries and the gifts of the Spirit which is available to all of us.

Prophetic Entrepreneur

When we come to the business leadership offices, we are now looking at an entrepreneur. And if we look at the example of the prophet again, we are not looking at a ministry Prophetic Office. We are looking at a Prophetic Entrepreneur.

A Prophetic Entrepreneur is not someone who prophesies. You see if you realize that the spiritual office of prophet is not directly linked to the prophetic function, you will understand easier how someone can stand in the Prophetic Office as an entrepreneur, and not be someone who prophesies.

What does a Prophetic Entrepreneur do? He does something very similar to what the spiritual ministry prophet does.

The Prophetic Entrepreneur gives decree concerning business. The ministry prophet gives decree concerning the church and concerning ministries. It is a similar function, but a different direction and a different orientation.

So then can a person who is a Prophetic Entrepreneur function in Prophetic Ministry? Certainly he can, if he is a child of God and has a spiritual ministry. But it is not his office.

You might say to me, "I'm a Prophetic Entrepreneur, but I feel I should minister to someone prophetically. God has given me revelations and I have a prophetic word. I want to encourage and motivate and tell people the word from the Lord. Now I can't do it because I'm in business."

No, your ministry office is something totally different to your spiritual ministry. Do not confuse the two.

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