Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Date: June 12, 2014 04:04AM
Thank You, Good most sobering points made, very helpful clarifications - we are in agreement about the care we are to have and the responsibility we have, for one another. These things of concern, these troubling matters , you have spoken about today in kindness with genuine concern - are just as valid today - as they were valid many years ago,
1st Timothy 3:1-6
It is a trust worthy statement : if any man aspires to the office of overseer, It is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle ,peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity, (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)
Here we can see what the scope of the ministry is about. The ministry is not about running one another lives in the way that the ministry came to control the lives of its members in TLWF..
In our generation - most of the men who were set into the church as ministries - ( were not yet aspiring to be overseers.) John brought to the attention of the church the men he believed should serve the church as ministries. And these men were set aside first and then later set into serving as a ministry - by the witness and agreement of all the members of the church.. John taught that until the church came into the same full mature stature - that Jesus Himself had in His relationship with the Father - until the church became mature - that God had given to the church, the help of the 5 fold gift ministry. And since the church was not yet mature - this gift for the church would remain as a gift for the church. And John was taking steps using the pattern of the early N.T. Church - to restore to the church the gift ministries, for the church.
Now - most of the men that were set in to the ministry back then - were the husband of one wife and they behaved in a manner that was above reproach - they were not addicted to wine. And over time - some of them, began coming together as friends -drinking on a regular basis with one another which became a part of their lives when they came together as brothers, as ministries - outside of church services - and some became addicted.
Not only addicted to alcohol but addicted to being with one another and they being away from their own families so much - they were neglecting caring for and being the husbands of their wives and fathers to their children - and - thinking what they were talking about together and the time they were spending with one another outside of their own homes, they believed that this was what was most important and while they were being stubborn, not having sound judgment, it was necessary for this to be brought to the attention of the ministry for the sake of their families and for the sake of the church they were elders and pastors for.
And when it was brought to the attention of John, as the overseeing ministry of the church - these certain ministries were given correction. They were to break their bonds with one another, they were told that they were acting like they were married to each other rather than being married to their own wives. And they were instructed to stop drinking together like this and they were to go home to their own wives and children after work and after church services.